FB: Chapter 93 – ENN Interview

“Welcome Foxy Blight,” Fred greeted me for the opening of the interview. After winning all three battles HeroTen had hired me for in a dramatic fashion, I had agreed to do an interview. Normally I would have refused since my popularity was more than enough, but there was a small but growing backlash over my domination in Exponential. After giving it some thought, an interview would work to nip this issue in the bud if I adjusted my tone.

“I am only here due to the growing outcry about my domination in the game. My advisors insisted,” I replied with a role of my eyes. I needed to appear authentic, not prepackaged like a politician. That was why I was so popular in these interviews.

“Well, it seems like you want to get right into it. People are saying you are cheating at the game or have an unfair advantage, your response?” Fred asked me. I hadn’t scripted this out beforehand, since it needed to be natural. Scripting this would be too obvious. With the analysis programs out there, they were quite good at telling if something was AI generated or scripted. I needed this to come off as natural as possible.

“Yes, I have an unfair advantage for two reasons. No, I am not cheating. Let me elaborate a bit. First, I am just better in terms of judgement and decision making. I have made a series of calculated gambles both in the real world and in game which have paid off. Most people who follow my exploits now, forget that I spent an entire year in the Murk Swamp working to get where I am today. Hard work combined with accurate guesses on how Exponential works. The second reason is my wealth. I use altars to rapidly gain experience like people have been speculating,” I replied.

“Altars, what are altars, since I want to be sure we aren’t mixing up terminology?” Fred asked.

“Altars are where you build a structure in the wilderness to assist in killing large quantities of monsters in a short period of time. This could be considered a first mover advantage, and it has allowed me to rapidly get the experience for my skills and to level 120. An example is using a cursed blood flower on an elevated platform in the Murk Swamp,” I replied. I knew people were rushing off to do just this. But I didn’t care about sharing this information anymore. Let people enjoy the Murk like I had.

“That is surprisingly nice of you, giving away information like that and not keeping it within your guild,” Fred said.

“A guild can’t keep information like that secret for long. And I don’t look to pull up the ladder behind me, its that there are so many people the ladder will be overcrowded with more and more players entering Exponential each day.”

“What about the complaints that the game is unfair to new players?” Fred asked me and I shook my head.

“That’s life. With a massive multiplayer game like this there are already a large number of beginner areas. Even with my information I know the Murk Swamp will never be a popular location. It just depends on what people are willing to do. You also have to remember that when I was a new player I had to figure everything out ahead of time on my own. I was better at doing this than the rest of the other players and I am proud of that fact. You aren’t going to be handheld to the top of the game. And once people start reaching a higher level, the benefits start leveling off, pun not intended,” I said.

“There have been calls for top players to donate funds to help new players. As the most powerful and one of if not the richest players in game, will you commit to helping fund the less fortunate?”

“No. If people are bad at Exponential, then that is their fault. Everyone has the same starting point in game. Its up to them to make the best decisions. As for when they enter the game, again that is something beyond my control and people should complain to Exponential Corporation instead of me. I am just a very talented, skilled, and amazing player,” I said with a smile.

“Before you ask your next question Fred, let me give the people watching a metaphor. I am like a top sports player. I had to work my ass to get here while the majority of people only see the action filled portions. I have the natural talent and  did the hard work to be here, very few individuals have both. That is why I am called the god player. Not because QAI rains down benefits upon me. Trust me, I wish it were that easy, but there have been large stumbling blocks,” I replied.

“Would you be willing to enlighten us on some of those stumbling blocks?” Fred asked. I put on a thoughtful look while I considered the question.

“A perfect example is the Dark Saint Gamabuturon. I had to run from him the first time we met, and it was a very close battle where I got Slice the second time. If I didn’t have a specific combat strategy to take advantage of the game mechanics to kill the level 230 Dark Saint, then things would be different right now. Unlike a lot of other people, I win and complete my quests which helps me get ahead. The higher you climb the more you will understand what I mean,” I replied.

“Thank you for explaining a bit, I am sure you will have the forums alight working out what you have said. There has been a growing peace movement, arguing that Exponential is too violent and there should be a better crafting experience,” Fred stated. I shook my head at this.

“People are idiots. The simple fact is that crafting has no relation to level of skill shards. The only requirement for crafting or alchemy is money. There are a lot of low level jobs people can do in game. They are just soul crushing and boring. Not many people want to be a porter or a street sweeper. Like in real life, janitors aren’t paid as well as sports stars but can get by, it is the same in Exponential. One does not have to fight to enjoy the game if they are truly motivated. The people complaining are just lazy and are looking for handouts.”

I was never going to please this demographic of the player base. The lazy people who just wanted everything rolled out to them on a silver platter like they were the best thing since sliced bread. These people were complete morons who had no concept of work, let alone hard work even in a VR setting.

These individuals could go screw themselves for all I cared. They would always look at me with greed and jealousy. That was just human nature. Giving away the information I had, would boost my favorability by quite a bit and stop any complaints in their tracks while making me appear authentic.

The only thing worse than a non-answer was a fake answer to these types of interview questions. Being the top player and guild leader required awareness of PR. I had done enough high level presentations in my last life to know how to handle high pressure situations without breaking down. The key was to focus on the moment and take a breath before opening your mouth. Making sure each word that came out was clear.

It also helped to practice these types of questions ahead of time, which was what I had my secretary Henry do for me. He made a list, and I ran through the questions one time, so I could have properly formulated answers ahead of time. Enough that I could give an authentic answer without sounding scripted and also not ramble with my answers.

“Your current favorability poll of players in Exponential has dipped from 88% to 73%. Coming on to do an interview has made people say you are concerned. What is your response?”

“I can’t make everyone happy and will play Exponential and lead my guild as I see fit. I have no doubt that the change in the poll numbers is due to the increased number of foreign players in Exponential.” I stopped myself from saying more. Anything else in regards to this question wouldn’t help.

“I am sorry to ask this, but this has been the most requested question by our viewers. A number of prostitutes have taken up your signature look in order to sell their services. Do you feel this is degrading?” Fred asked me. I knew this was coming and it was the only question he had warned me about ahead of time and got my permission to ask. I had approved of him asking of course, since I wanted this interview to be seen as authentic and watched.

While it might not seem like I cared about my poll numbers, I had been dipping in the US which was concerning. I needed to keep my approval rating high there to prevent congressional oversight. Not every Congressperson had blackmail I could purchase.

“I would say that people should go to Halfenbrook if they want the best experience for such things. The professional women there are part of the guild so they can wear our uniforms and I am told they have replica swords. For the really adventurous and premium customers some even have the skill Murk Barf which I would not recommend except for the truly daring. Also, there are men who cosplay a role reversal,” I said with a flirting smile at the camera.

Quant Z was building up the guild town to be the premier destination for player sex in game. All the top players had prostitutes pretending to be them. It was all about marketing in order to differentiate us from other such player built locations and NPC brothels.

We had the best of the best and Quant Z knew what the people wanted. In real life he was probably some overweight geek stuffing his face full of chips and Cheetos with pictures of waifus on his bedroom wall. Well not that overweight, since he wasn’t overweight in game and things would only be adjusted so much to prevent body dysmorphia. Still, he was probably some super geek and his behavior only seemed to confirm that, since he knew exactly what these types of people wanted.

That was where his true development talents lay. Creating a place of depravity to suck out all the spending money of the depraved player base. I also knew he was the biggest customer of his brothels. While I made sure he was paying out for services rendered and that there were no discounts. He had tried to label his actions as quality control.

“Would you ever consider something like that?” Fred asked.

“Well, who knows? One would have to investigate to see if I was earning money on the side like that. A lot of investigation,” I joked with a wink at the camera. It was disgusting, but I had no doubt revenue would double due to this interview. We needed money desperately and couldn’t turn away any source of legal revenue no matter how distasteful.