Chapter 592: He An: Meeting Three Levels of Needs

Many of the members of the H4 club and the DGE club kept in contact after their three days of mock competitions. Team Leader Su felt that the player Huang Wang was rather interesting so he added him as a friend as well.

The DGE club then went to the other clubs.

In the end, Huang Wang actually updated his celebratory status today!

There might be no picture, but the words ‘in nameless restaurant’ were enough to make people feel unbalanced.

After the previous food blogger incident, Quanmin Reviews launched a wave or promotion for the nameless restaurant, making it so famous that Team Leader Su also heard of it.

Moreover, they even blocked the entire place down? It seemed like a privilege that only Tengda employees could enjoy!

As to why have a celebration party, was there any need to ask?

The DGE club slapped all the larger GOG clubs in the country in the face. They were almost invincible now. Such a KDA ratio really deserved a celebration party.

However, this state had other meanings to the eyes of the clubs which had been slapped in the face. Team Leader Su felt as though he had been provoked. The memory of being beaten emerged once again.

“We’re going for competition again, increase the training frequency!

“Practice those tactics we learned from the DGE club again!

“Our H4 club must not lose when the weekend match comes!”

Team Leader Su was furious.

On the other hand, the members of the IOI club were solo training while they forcibly suppressed the smile on their faces.

Two members whispered.

“Team Leader Su seems to be furious again; what happened to the GOG branch?”

“Not sure, probably because they were beaten by that emerging club. I heard they were miserable in their abuse.”

“I can only say that the GOG branch is too noob; they really make our club lose face.”

“Forget it, say less. Warm up quickly, we’ll have to fight in mock competitions with other clubs in no time.”

“No problem, we are not noobs like those in the GOG branch. The IOI championship hosted by Tengda this time will be ours!”

…

…

July 21st, Thursday…

At the cafe near Handong University…

It was time for the monthly lesson.

He An drank his coffee and started talking about today’s topic.

“The successful experience I’m going to talk about today is the shared needs theory. It is not only suitable for gaming; it is also suitable for other areas.

“This lesson today is a summary of previous sessions. Before this, Boss Ma, I want to test you first. Do you remember the contents of the previous three lessons?”

Pei Qian thought about it for two minutes before replying. “Choosing the target sales method for the game content, choosing the game type that is plenty in the market… allowing personal opinions appropriately in the game.”

He An was very happy. “Hmm, not bad! You remember well!”

Pei Qian laughed hollowly in his heart. How could he not remember them? They were mostly related to my own blood-filled teachings…

He An continued, “The three lessons previously ascended in difficulty; most of them were also talking about creating the game flow.

“First, choose the right game type based on market demands, and then correctly express yourself in the process of making the game. Finally, choose a corresponding method of sales according to the game.

“The material we are going to talk about today will be more difficult: how to analyze the market demand. The contents of the lesson today are the precondition of the first three lessons, which is also the most basic step.

“Boss Ma, you must remember that every step in making a game is important. The most important first step is to correctly analyze the needs of the market, choose the right direction!

Pei Qian nodded, listening seriously.

He had to admit that Teacher He might have spoken a lot about the case studies of Tengda, but the contents were definitely still filled with useful tips. It was akin to revisiting every detail from the mission to creating the game.

Such systematic knowledge might not be obtainable even if one was to pay money.

Pei Qian still felt that he had some benefits. Of course, it would be much better if Teacher He did not always use Tengda Games as examples…

He An continued. “A good producer would be able to analyze the needs of players and make a corresponding game to sell to them. But the important point was that, sometimes, players did not know what they wanted as well.

“They thought they wanted A, but they actually needed B. When you give them A at this point in time, they would think that you did not give them the A they wanted in their hearts and would still not purchase.

“Therefore, the idea of ‘giving players what they want’ is not wrong, but you will fail badly if you were to do exactly that!”

Pei Qian was silent for a short while. “What if I don’t give anything the players want?”

He An was taken aback. He paused before replying. “Then, I can only say you are awesome.”

Pei Qian pressed on. “Teacher He, I’m serious. Would not giving the players what they want will definitely fail?”

He An shook his head after considering carefully. “There is a small possibility that the thing you think players do not want is something that they really wanted from the bottom of their hearts. If that is the case, not only will you not fail, but you will reap huge rewards!

“However, such situations… are too rare; one cannot hope for it to happen!”

Pei Qian: “…”

Too rare? Cannot hope for it to happen? Why do I meet them for every game then?

He An continued. “If you want to deeply understand this question, you’ll have to understand meeting three layers of needs.

“The first layer is to decode the needs.

“The second layer is to dig deep into the needs.

“The third layer is to create the needs.

“Most producers would not even be able to meet the first layer. They will be stuck at decoding the need. In decoding the need, the producer would give the player what they want, but such a producer would usually fail. Sometimes, the players themselves did not know what they wanted.

“What they thought they wanted was generally different from what they really wanted; every player was different… with different positions, different tastes and biases. Their needs would naturally be different.

“If it was only to ‘read and make what the players requested’, then you would lose control of the entire project. That was a bad strategy.

“I give you a very simple example; some players saw the existence of the epic weapon and felt that this was rather expensive but selling well… so they suggested that your game should also have epic weapons.

“If you were to just ‘recreate’ the players’ needs and actually did it thinking that the players need this and would be able to make money, then it would mostly end in failure.

“Have you considered if it was just a small number of players that wanted epic weapons and most players actually hate them?

“Maybe what this player wanted was not the epic weapon but a nice looking appearance or privileges that were different from other players?

“Maybe you made an epic weapon but did not make it in an appearance that satisfied him; therefore, he wouldn’t buy it?”

“Obviously, if you don’t think about such issues, you will inevitably face failure.”

“You must first distinguish between the player’s requests, which to take up and which to not take up. If you cannot even do this step, then it would never be possible to make any progress.

“Therefore, the first level is to interpret the need. Interpret their true desire from their many needs, analyze these demands carefully… whether these demands are in conflict with the majority of the game itself or most players or not.

“You should only really do it after you have carefully demonstrated its safety.

“You’ll have to dig deeper into the demand as you get to the next level.

“Sometimes, a player could not even express what they want or realize what they want. For example, we may find a lot of players lost on the third day through data analysis, but if we were to do a questionnaire, they would find that there were no useful opinions.

“At this point, we have to analyze why we lose so many players on the third day? What is it that they are so dissatisfied with? Why do they need it?

“Unearth the hidden needs in players’ hearts that they might not be aware of through various clues. That is the second level.

“Being able to do this would make you a successful game designer in a general sense. You would not go wrong and you would have the ability to make a better game.

“As for the third level…”

“Creating the needs that the players did not have in the first place, that was the highest level! I won’t expand on this. It is too deep and complicated. They are often not duplicable either.

“That was because new demands would be widely accepted by players and would no longer be a new demand.

“At this point, I have only managed to peek into the door. It would be easy to mislead you to think there is a shortcut to heaven if I were to speak too much on it.

“Boss Ma, you only need to learn not to recreate the requirements but carefully interpret and dig into the requirements, that would be enough.”

Pei Qian was silent for a moment and asked tentatively. “Then… Teacher He, can you tell me who had reached this level of demand creation?”

He An: “Boss Pei of Tengda Games.

“Making something that most people originally did not like previously and made it into something that most people like, Boss Pei is the unique one among domestic game designers!

“Boss Ma, you are a good friend of Boss Pei. If it is convenient, you can ask him a little about his experience. However, I still have the same advice. Don’t try to mimic it rashly; it is very dangerous.”

Pei Qian: “…”

He did not know what to say for a while.