“Because you’re going to be my solution: the fix to my problem so that I can keep my job and so that the game I love doesn’t fade away,” Xun Guan said. “If the devs upstairs won’t write the code to generate a new endgame dungeon, then I’m just going to have to make one myself. I wanted to start with encouraging regular PVP at the top level to keep players interested and keep the content feeling fresh, but with the massive potential level and item losses that come with PVP, the endgame players were too cowardly or passive to off each other and start a war. It takes a full day of grinding to recover from a single death at those levels, so I can’t blame them for not wanting to start large-scale conflicts with each other. Yet, without them, the game isn’t going to last. That’s why we’re going to have to start here at the bottom.”

Lucas could see exactly what she was asking of him. “Wait a minute. You mean to say that you want me to stir up trouble and create a player-versus-player environment on noob island? The starting zone?”

“Bingo!” Xun Guan cheered. “Your reward: a chunk of cheese!” She tore off a large handful of gouda and tossed it to him.

“That doesn’t make sense. Even if I make this area into a PVP zone, that won’t change the endgame at all. The top-end players will still be just as bored, and you’ll still lose subscribers at the same rate as before.” Lucas caught the cheese, only then realizing that he had automatically gone from simply hearing her out to actually thinking about the logistics of her plan. Admittedly, his mind was now racing to point out each and every flaw and pick them all apart.

Xun Guan nodded. “Right. The endgame will still be awful. There is no immediate plan we can put together to fix it, but this world was built on a lot more than just what people do once everything else has been accomplished. This game is built on alts and how fun they can be to play. Since players can’t respec or change their stats, they roll new characters all the time. Some people start over every time there’s a new content patch. Or, hell, they used to.”