"There is only a unified standard contract. This one should be to establish mutual trust between players and the club, with fewer schemes and more sincerity.
"Well, the clubs do have some problem with the contract.
"Previously, the DGE Club sold the players because the other clubs signed with us directly so they did not dare to play tricks.
"What kind of contract traps would they encounter if they joined freely?"
Zhang Yuan was very clear that under the current model, many clubs prepared actually-flawed contracts.
For their own interests, the club must lock down the most promising players at the lowest cost, and the players must also pursue higher salaries and more opportunities for their own interests.
The actions of the two could not be blamed and were for their own interests. However, the problem was that it would actually seriously undermine the mutual trust between the club and the players.
Clubs often offered high prices to snatch a certain star player; however, they would usually embed loopholes in the contract and wait for the player to be fooled.
That was like the routine of many e-commerce websites: gave someone discounts on the surface but charged them back somewhere else.
Everything was fine when they were discussing it, but they would be shocked when they signed the contract.
The result would be that players stopped trusting the club, and the clubs would stop trusting the players. It would become a zero-sum game in too many cases. The interests of the weaker party would be damaged.
Moreover, in most cases, the weaker ones were the players.
The big clubs had their own legal teams which gave them an absolute advantage when signing contracts.
The standard contract requested by Boss Pei was that everyone had to be sure of the price and not make any falsehoods.
Clarify all the previous complicated contract terms and only make changes in terms of time limit, liquidated damages, transfer fees, specific salaries, special terms, etc.
The special terms here were not to restrict players... but to ensure that the club's promises did not turn into blank checks.
For example, two clubs were competing for a certain player at the same time. The former would pay more and the latter could only pay less, but the playing time could be guaranteed. By then, the players would have more options.
Many times, players would be hesitant... not because they were greedy.
The contract from everyone was different. Those who gave more money may have hidden agendas. Those who gave less might not necessarily harbor evil intentions. How could someone make a hasty decision if they could not bring the contract back and study each slowly?
That was just like selling something; every buyer did not pay a stipulated price but a lot of complicated terms. Players could only expend a lot of energy screening them in case they were played.
However, the problem was that the players were not specialized legal professionals. It would take time and effort to find a specialized legal team, and not all of them were reliable.
Professional players had a youth career. Their lifetime income and prospects would be concentrated in the peak year or two. How could they not shop around?
The clubs also chose amongst many excellent players when they were purchasing them. That was normal business behavior with nothing to pick at.
However, a club's risk-taking ability was much stronger than the players themselves after all. Signing a wrong player would amount to nothing more than paying more for a porter.
Once something happened, an outstanding young player could risk his entire career.
Therefore, Boss Pei's target was clear. Make the rules transparent, without any deceit, so even those players without knowledge of the law could understand and decide for themselves.
Freelance players could contact all clubs, and these clubs would make their own commitments; officials would act as intermediaries. Whoever went against the contract would have to pay a penalty.
The club should not think about picking up leaks at low prices and letting players be slaves; individual players should also not think about taking high salaries and taking advantage of the club.
Everyone took a step back, not taking advantage of anyone; let the team member's income roughly match his value—don't make it too outrageous.
The secret shooting method was to prevent those wealthy clubs from maliciously raising prices and squeezing the living space of small clubs. At the same time, the interests of the players would not be harmed. The clubs could not collude to push prices. The truly powerful players could still command a high salary.
Moreover, this contract did not harm the interests of the club.
The interests of the club were mainly in three aspects: the attention, popularity, and brand awareness brought by the competition; the tangible economic benefits brought by sponsors; and the insurance that the team members would not be poached.
Boss Pei's supervision would not have any impact on popularity and brand awareness.
Sponsors and financial interests had not been harmed either.
The club could still sign long-term contracts with players and collect transfer fees. The interests in this regard were not affected.
However, if the club wanted to lock a player with a contract and yet arrived at a conflict with the player, it was impossible to hide it permanently... because the standard contract by Boss Pei obviously did not support this.
Boss Pei would always find a way to get them out once something like that happened.
This standard contract did not intend to let the club starve to death... but to let them eat less and spit out parts for the players.
In this way, players and clubs would establish mutual trust through Tengda's official intervention, and there would be no need to play schemes with each other. Whatever demands the club or players have on the contract could be handed over to the official party to mediate and resolve.
Of course, there was no absolute fairness in this world, but relative fairness could be pursued.
Was the contract given by the club fairer? Or was the contract given by Boss Pei fairer?
The choice was obvious.
That was because the clubs and the players tried to safeguard their own interests—which was beyond reproach, but it also meant that they would not consider the impact on the entire esports environment.
Moreover, Boss Pei was completely objective and fair in his position, and his determination could be seen from his statement.
Other event organizers have the same interests as the club. In many cases, they dared not or need not offend the club so the players would only suffer losses in silence.
However, Boss Pei's attitude was very clear—not biased towards the players but not biased towards the clubs.
Clubs that did not agree to this standard contract must have their own schemes in their hearts, thinking about playing some tricks with the contract.
If that was the case, then sorry... while he could not control other places, that club would not be able to participate in GOG esports competitions. He would rather give up the heat and resources that this club brought and maintain the fairness and justice of the entire esports system.
Zhang Yuan couldn't help but sigh, as he thought about this. That was the determination of a strong man to break his wrist!
In the short term, this move would inevitably cause dissatisfaction among many clubs and even cause the popularity of GOG esports competitions to decline and players' salaries to decrease.
However, in the long run, the entire ecology would be healthier.
The players also avoided huge risks even if their salaries were lowered.
Obviously, Boss Pei believed that it was 'cost-effective' because he believed that the importance of the healthy ecology of the league was far greater than the heat generated by several clubs. He believed that regardless of whether these clubs came to join in or not, they had the confidence to run the GOG league.
Now, taking advantage of the opportunity established by the GPL to establish the access system for each club was actually a precautionary measure.
It was because GOG branches of various clubs had just been formed not long ago. Even if these clubs withdrew, it would not cost much for Boss Pei to buy them up. The impact would be within a controllable range.
It would be even more difficult to establish these standards if enthusiasm really rose in the future.
It was like treating disease, preventing it in advance would definitely be better than having an operation when someone was dying.
As for why there were special regulations that DGE only needed a minimum transfer fee?
Zhang Yuan didn't understand at first; wouldn't that miss the DGE Club's interests?
However, thinking about it again, this was precisely an important supplement to the whole mechanism!
Many newcomers actually had no bargaining power at all when they had not shown results.
This was normal. After all, club buyers also had to take risks. Some players might play well in ranked matches but lose themselves once they get to the competitions. Wouldn't it be a total loss for the club that spent so much money on the players?
Therefore, contracts for newcomers were often very low.
However, that gave rise to a new problem: those talented players with real strength could only sign new contract contracts at the beginning when their commanding prices were low. They could not get the corresponding salary after showing results; they might even fall out with the club and be hidden away.
Many players had only one or two years at their peak, and if they were not careful, their entire careers would be ruined.
There was no right or wrong in this matter. It was for one's own benefit, but it would cause a kind of actual waste.
The talented newcomers would receive low salaries, and their mentality would definitely fluctuate, which would affect the performance of the game. If they were to fall out with the club and be hidden, this outstanding player would be buried forever, which was a loss for the entire league.
Therefore, as long as the DGE Club had a minimum transfer fee, it was actually good news for these newcomers.
If someone was a newcomer with strength and confidence in themselves, they could choose to come to the DGE Club first and not fall into loopholes of the newcomer's contract. If one played well, they would naturally be bought by a better club.
The DGE Club was equivalent to completing a screening on behalf of the other clubs but also gave a chance for the players to prove themselves.
For the DGE club, this was not a loss.
This move would allow more high-spirited and outstanding newcomers to squeeze their heads to enter the DGE Club. This could ensure that the quality of the new players in the DGE Club was higher than other clubs and always maintained a relatively high level of strength, which was conducive to maintaining the DGE Brand Value.
They might not compete, but by transporting these new faces to the league, they could have a sense of presence in front of the audience.
When the audiences realize that these new faces originated from the DGE Club, they would naturally pay high attention to the DGE Club.
Their sponsorships would naturally get better with higher attention. Moreover, other clubs may buy people from there. The transfer fee might be small, but there would still be something to earn.
Moreover, what was so wonderful was that this decision was something that other clubs could not learn.
DGE's operating model was different from that of all other clubs. They did not need to participate in the competition and did not need to produce results. They only needed to train players. There was no competitive relationship. In fact, it was only a mutual benefit.
What's more, this move could better maintain the ecology of the entire GOG league, and the entire Tengda Corporation could benefit from it.
Wouldn't it be cost-effective then... to sacrifice a bit of DGE's immediate benefits to obtain long-term gains?
Chapter 701: Boss Ma of Tengda, Reverse Live Commerce
Zhang Yuan took these two pieces of paper and analyzed them repeatedly. He suddenly felt that Boss Pei indeed had foresight!
On the surface, it seemed like there would be some contradictions between the official and the clubs, but it actually clarified the rights and obligations of the players and the club and lessened the need for struggles between the players and the club.
Everyone would stop making so much trouble, take one step back, and run the league in a down-to-earth manner.
In Boss Pei's view, a healthy and standardized league mechanism was far more important than short-term traffic, popularity, and profitability.
Boss Pei already had a solution for the neglect of training by various clubs after the international invitational tournament.
Just engage in GPL!
It was guaranteed that there would be matches during most times of the year and the points throughout the year would affect the number of places in the finals, which could ensure the training effect of each team.
Zhang Yuan was suddenly filled with motivation as he thought about it.
That was because Zhang Yuan could see the bright future of Tengda's gaming industry with these regulations given by Boss Pei!
...
Pei Qian and Ma Yang met at Fish-Catching Internet Cafe after they left the DGE Club.
The club agreed not to carry Ma Yang in games, but Old Ma had to cooperate for that to happen.
Previously, Old Ma said he would find new things to perform; Boss Pei wondered what the progress was like now.
Old Ma arrived when coffee was served after he reached Fish-Catching Internet Cafe.
"How about it? Have you decided on the new live-stream content?" Pei Qian asked directly.
"No!" Ma Yang sat down opposite Pei Qian and replied confidently.
Pei Qian could not help but be elated. As expected of Old Ma...
The confidence when he said 'no'!
Pei Qian nodded happily. "Are there any general areas you are considering?"
Ma Yang took a sip of coffee and said, "Brother Qian, I have self-awareness. My hobbies and things I am good at... apart from playing Gods Rising and GOG, there is nothing else.
"I really can't think of what I can do if I don't play GOG. It will be irresponsible towards the fans if my performance is bad, right?
"So I thought... why don't I just explore Tengda's various industries? For example, after the game is released, I will try out the new games; I will try new menus of Fish-Catching Take-Out; or I'll show support when Fish-Catching Internet Cafe were to open a new store..."
Pei Qian put down the coffee silently; a question mark floated above his head.
?
Old Ma, your ideas were so bad; I don't know where to start!
Aren't you ashamed to say that you have self-awareness? It was outrageous to say that you are good at playing GOG!
Moreover, don't promote Tengda's industries when I allow you to become an internet celebrity; wasn't that just stabbing me in the back?
Were you talking about 'wandering around industries of Tengda' or 'wandering around industries of Tengda to make money'?
That wouldn't do!
Pei Qian coughed slightly: "Old Ma, that is your fault.
"Excessive humility equals pride. This is not self-awareness but totally underestimating your energy!
"I am very touched, and I understand that you want to continue to promote Tengda's various industries. However, this is a waste of your talent!"
Ma Yang's eyes beamed: "Is that right, Brother Qian? Then, what do you think I should do?"
"Hmm..." Pei Qian fell into deep thought.
Yes, what should Ma Yang do?
With his IQ and ability, what can he do in the livestream?
It would be best to do things that spend more money, unprofitable... conducive to getting scolded easily, and yet harmless to the public.
Pei Qian thought for a while: "Why don't you... live-stream live commerce?"
Ma Yang's huge face was confused. "Brother Qian, what do you mean by live-streaming live commerce?"
Pei Qian explained: "In short, you start a live-stream and introduce some products to the audience."
Ma Yang's face was still filled with confusion.
He did not understand!
That was because there was still no clear concept in this world for that.
The current live-stream platform might already have basic live-stream functions, but it was still a pure money-burning and popularity-attracting industry for the time being. No one thought of actually using it to do live commerce.
Or perhaps, it would not be able to reach the volume of 'live commerce'.
The anchors would receive some advertisements and post them in their live streams to increase their income, but in general, the content of live streamers was still mainly on games, outdoor, etc.
The real live commerce would probably only appear five to six years later.
Therefore, Pei Qian felt that he could get Old Ma to do this since he would not succeed anyway.
Ma Yang thought for a while with doubts and said, "Brother Qian, that isn't right.
"Aren't we against consumerism? Why would I, a high-level executive of Tengda Group, promote something in sales?"
Pei Qian smiled. "Old Ma, great minds really think alike!
"Of course, I don't mean for you to do sales.
"On the contrary, your task is not to sell things to consumers but to weed out the bad saplings for them!
"You cannot exaggerate when you introduce these products. You have to pick at all its problems and explain all the bad parts of it!
"Of course, we seek truth from facts; we don't report falsehoods. All content must be reasonable and well-founded; otherwise, it will be slander."
Ma Yang nodded thoughtfully: "Oh...
"It would seem a bit interesting if you put it that way."
Pei Qian smiled slightly. It was more than a bit interesting; it was simply too appropriate!
The norm of live commerce was to get the goods first and then mainly introduce its advantages, let consumers buy them, and then get a commission out of live-streaming it.
Of course, the reason why that was better than TV shopping was mainly that they were generally genuine products and could indeed obtain cheaper prices than on the internet.
In particular, some industries had high profits such as makeup, skincare products, cosmetics, etc. They could be guaranteed to make a profit even after paying commissions. That was why some businesses were willing to cooperate with the live streamers and pay high commissions.
It stood to reason that Old Ma was not eloquent, and his sales ability was even more impossible to talk about. Those brand owners wouldn't pay to have him do live commerce for them.
However, one could never be too careful.
Therefore, he had to block off this route early on!
Let Ma only talk about the shortcomings of these products, not the advantages. There wouldn't be any brand stupid enough to take the initiative to pay for that right? Wouldn't that be idiotic?
Who would send their stuff to be criticized?
There could be no perfect products in this world. One could always find shortcomings if one wanted to.
Therefore, this time, it could be said to be triple insurance.
This model of live commerce was immature, and it would take at least five or six years before it would be recognized and accepted by the market. It was unlikely that Old Ma would cause any ripple.
Just talk about the shortcomings but not the advantages so it would be impossible for the brands to pay him.
Criticizing other products would not necessarily bring a good reputation. Many fake reviewers did that to others, which was viewed very poorly. They would definitely offend a lot of manufacturers enough for them to retaliate.
It was exactly this kind of thing that was said to be thankless.
Wasn't that pretty good?
It was better than Boss Ma publicizing Tengda's own industry and new products.
If the effect was good, he could even get Ma Yang to criticize their own products.
I criticize myself, do you dare to!
The more Pei Qian thought about it, the more he felt he should get Old Ma to try it.
"Old Ma, how about you start from this?"
Pei Qian pointed at the coffee on the table that he was about to finish.
Ma Yang's huge face became serious. "Alright, Brother Qian, I'll try!
"Hm...
"Ugh...
"This cup of coffee... is a little bitter.
"And a little sweet.
"The volume is acceptable, not too little.
"Drinking it can perk you up."
Pei Qian nearly fainted. "Its disadvantages."
Ma Yang reacted. "Oh, right, right, its disadvantages."
"Its disadvantage is... it's a little expensive? The latte art isn't good? No, its latte art is pretty nice actually.
"Hm..."
Ma Yang frowned as if constipated and unable to push anything out.
Pei Qian held his forehead with his hand.
What the hell are you describing?!
Obviously, in terms of Old Ma's ability, he couldn't even pick the right places to criticize.
The point was wouldn't it become live commerce if Old Ma couldn't talk about its problems?
Ma Yang had a lot of fans. He might want to criticize the product but couldn't find it; instead, he said a whole bunch of advantages.
The fans would think: oh, this isn't bad, buy!
The brands get to know about this and pay Old Ma to advertise for them...
No, that won't do! Definitely not!
There was also technical skill in criticism.
It was better to get a professional to do it if Old Ma could not do it.
If that was the case, then should he get a professional team for Old Ma?
The model in his mind wouldn't work otherwise!
Pei Qian coughed slightly: "How about this, Old Ma? I know that this requirement is a bit difficult for you; let's get a professional to do it.
"You continue to give out the Dream Fund on your Weibo.
"I'll give you some extra money so that He Desheng can give you a dedicated team to support you. These people have their own division of labor, mainly to help you write drafts on the problems with each product.
"Just memorize these manuscripts and just talk about them during the live-stream.
"You don't even need to memorize them; you can use a teleprompter or something to read it out."
Ma Yang was very happy when he heard that there was no need to memorize any scripts: "Hey? This is not bad, Brother Qian. I can do it!
"But, where do I start?"
Pei Qian thought for a while: "Whatever you want; it doesn't matter if you want to start with women's clothing, cosmetics, etc."
Ma Yang's expression changed: "Brother Qian, I don't have that kind of special hobby!"
Pei Qian smiled: "Choose your own then, but you must remember the three key points.
"First, talk only about shortcomings, not strengths.
"Secondly, the shortcomings must be justified and convincing, but don't deliberately discredit others.
"Third, don't be greedy. We do not take any money from brands that come to our door and try to pay us off to not evaluate their products, understand?"
Ma Yang nodded. "Alright, Brother Qian, leave it to me!"
Chapter 702: Initialization of Useful App
October 25th, Tuesday...
Handong University's family home district...
Yu Pingan got out of the taxi, took out his mobile phone, and glanced at the specific address and house number.
Today, he was going to visit Kong Zhemin, an old Arts Professor at Handong University.
Professor Kong Zhemin, born in 1946, was a first-level professor of humanities and social sciences at Handong University, a doctoral supervisor, and concurrently the Director of the Institute of Chinese Education of Handong University, the Chief editor of Chinese textbooks for primary and secondary schools, and a member of the Basic Education Expert Committee, editor, convener of the expert group for the revision of Chinese curriculum standards, etc.
In short, he was a deserving master in the Faculty of Arts of Handong University and even the entire domestic academic circle.
Yu Pingan had seen a lot of wealthy company executives, and there was nothing to worry about.
However, to meet a real master like Professor Kong Zhemin was completely different.
Yu Pingan calmed down and carefully reviewed the preparations for Useful App before going upstairs.
He came today to invite Professor Kong for cooperation, but this was not so easy.
After receiving the Useful App development task from Boss Pei, Yu Pingan immediately started to re-plan the entire department's business and optimize the staff structure.
Some people continued to develop and improve the functions of Tengda Life App while others were selected to form the Useful App research and development team.
Yu Pingan was totally confused when he received the mission from Boss Pei.
Because in his opinion, the 'useful APP' development cycle was too long, and it was extremely difficult to make a profit. It was really not a very good project.
However, he still strictly implemented Boss Pei's requirements and began preparations seriously.
That was because Yu Pingan emphasized one thing in software: 'iterate'!
It could be seen from the development process of its own department. From 'Top Student, Come Quick' to Tengda Life App; this App had been revised several times, the content was constantly adjusted, and the user groups it faced had also undergone tremendous changes.
It can be said that without the 'iteration' that Boss Pei had been promoting, the current success of Tengda Life App would not have been possible!
Therefore, the new project Useful App that Boss Pei was going to make—even if it does not seem to be reliable now—would always meet Boss Pei's expectations and achieve great success after iteration.
Yu Pingan was completely convinced about that.
However, Yu Pingan encountered more problems than he thought he would in the process of developing Useful App.
Boss Pei had already given the basic structural framework of this app: it would be a content production platform, which should be a tree-like structure.
The trunk part was a bit similar to the encyclopedia website: the root was a keyword and basic concept, the branch was the concept and explanation derived from this keyword, and the leaf would be the question and answer for a specific derivative concept.
Moreover, the structure of the entire app was like a forest composed of trees: the key basic concepts were related to each other, and they supported jumping around each other within the entry or in a large category (such as literature, physics, games, etc.) to search by category within.
In other words, the encyclopedia model and the question-and-answer model were grafted together—only a slight innovation in form, but it could greatly improve the efficiency of users in obtaining information.
However, a lot of time and energy would still need more work in details and content to realize the basic structural framework that Boss Pei wanted.
For example, how to design each level of the sub-interface of the app, how to arrange the page layout so that users could see the key information at a glance, or how to allow managers to freely add and delete entries or modify the entire tree structure...
These were the key issues that product managers need to worry about.
In addition, there was the issue of content output on Useful App.
Since Useful App was a content production platform, whether it could become popular or not would depend on the quality of the content above.
Specifically, it was nothing more than three points:
If the content was accurate and could have no error in information...
If the content was concise and free of spam...
If the index was convenient and enabled the user to find the content the user wanted in no time...
It depended on people in the final analysis.
If the content producers on the platform deliberately released misinformation and spam to defraud traffic, the platform would definitely not be able to make it.
Even if it was necessary to supervise, they could only use excellent producers to supervise less excellent producers.
When it came to some professional concepts, it would definitely be necessary to let the professional come forward to accurately determine whether it was correct information, wrong information, or spam.
So... where to find these excellent producers?
The first thing Yu Pingan thought of was college.
It was, of course, possible to invite the experts of various industries. For example, when it came to issues related to the Internet industry, it was possible to invite the senior executives of some Internet giants. These people must also have real talents.
However, the problem was that these big guys were all successful people. They must be busy with their own jobs and careers and might not have time to do these trivial things.
Moreover, there was a big difference between mastering knowledge and explaining knowledge.
Useful App was more like a platform for explaining knowledge. The encyclopedia model had developed to the extreme, which was actually a textbook. The questions related to encyclopedia entries were actually detailed explanations of the textbook.
Therefore, university graduate students, young lecturers, professors, etc. were the most suitable candidates and the backbone of this app.
The giants of the various industries could only be used as supplements.
Moreover, Useful App was an all-encompassing and mountainous task; where should they start?
The first thing Yu Pingan thought of was some basic knowledge.
Boss Pei said... Useful APP was a long-term plan, and some ambiguous issues would rather not be made if they were made wrongly.
Start with a certain field of basic knowledge, do a little bit, test water... if the effect was good, then extend it to more fields, and expand step by step.
The focus would not be on quantity but on quality, to ensure that this app truly deserved its name.
Therefore, he went to Handong University to visit Professor Kong.
Handong University, especially the Faculty of Art and Science, was quite supportive of this cooperation. In fact, cooperation between school and enterprise had always been strongly supported and advocated by the State, and it was nothing new for many science academies to conduct joint research with enterprises.
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences had less cooperation with companies due to its specialty. If this Useful App were to succeed, it would be a win-win attempt.
What's more, Tengda Group was based in Jingzhou, and President Pei had donated money to his alma mater time and time again. With this relationship, it would be much easier to talk about cooperation.
The only problem was that the college could not decide for Professor Kong Zhemin.
That was because Professor Kong needed to tutor graduate students, teach undergraduates, and do research. Would the old man have the time and energy to join the project as a special consultant? This was a question mark.
Therefore, if Yu Pingan had to do his best if he wanted to move the great Buddha that was Professor Kong today.
After calming down, Yu Pingan entered the family building and knocked on the door on the second floor.
After a while, the anti-theft door opened, and a gray-haired, energetic old professor looked up and down at Yu Pingan: "Boss Yu, right?"
Yu Pingan hurriedly said: "Prof Kong, you can call me Little Yu. I'm sorry to disturb you."
Professor Kong Zhemin smiled: "You are not disturbing me, please come in."
Yu Pingan followed Professor Kong Zhemin into the living room. It was almost the same as he imagined. The sofas and furniture were basically made of wood, which looked aged. Paintings and calligraphy were hanging on the wall, and the whole wall was covered with bookshelves that were filled with various books.
Professor Kong Zhemin poured a cup of tea for Yu Pingan, and Yu Pingan panicked a little.
After some small chats, Yu Pingan did not dare to delay Professor Kong's time anymore and went straight to the topic: "Prof Kong, my intention is that... as the leader from the Faculty of Art and Science should have already briefly talked to you... and I will tell you more and introduce the specific content of our app...
"I was originally in charge of the Tengda Life App business in Tengda Group, and now, I am responsible for this Useful App. It will be a knowledge-sharing community that combines the 'encyclopedia' and 'question and answer' models..."
Professor Kong Zhemin listened carefully and nodded from time to time, but doubt occasionally flashed in his eyes. However, he did not interrupt Yu Pingan but waited for Yu Pingan to mention everything, including specific structure, charging model, incentive model of the entire Useful App, etc. He started to integrate all the information and think carefully after he heard everything.
After thinking for a while, Professor Kong Zhemin said: "Boss Yu, after listening to your description, this software seems to be similar in positioning to academic literature search, which searches academic documents and academic papers. What is the specific difference between the two?"
Yu Pingan immediately replied: "Of course, there is a big difference.
"In layman's terms, the people we target are completely different, and the goals we want to achieve are also different.
"Academic papers and academic literature, including the textbooks of various courses in universities, are certainly the best and most cutting-edge knowledge. However, reading, understanding, and mastering these contents actually require a high threshold.
"For most ordinary people—even if they were shown this knowledge, they cannot understand it.
"If science is the goal, this efficiency is definitely very low.
"Therefore, the software we are making is mainly for the public, and we are committed to popularizing the expertise in these areas in a more accessible way.
"What we are doing is understanding professional content with lower cost, and we are more inclined to let users 'understand' rather than to 'completely master'.
"The biggest difference between this software and the question-and-answer platform is that the knowledge above is filtered. We will try our best to avoid spam. At the same time, there is a more advanced indexing mechanism to greatly improve the efficiency of knowledge acquisition."
Chapter 703: It Still Depended on Boss Pei's Personal Charm!
After serious consideration, Professor Kong Zhemin asked: "Can it be understood as a popular science textbook for ordinary people?"
Yu Pingan nodded: "Yes, you can understand it that way.
"We want to use the Internet to allow more people to see these contents and provide more efficient retrieval methods.
"At the same time, in terms of the content of the compilation, it is not too esoteric and professional for ordinary people to understand; neither is it too empty, vulgar, and useless.
"That is why I'm here, hoping to invite you to collaborate.
"You are not only an expert in the industry but also a professor who is loved by students, and you have a wealth of experience in writing textbooks. It is absolutely foolproof to have you to quality check these contents."
Professor Kong Zhemin was a little surprised.
"It sounds like a great thing for the future.
"However, this seems to be a very large project."
"There are a large number of categories in various courses for Chinese majors, such as ancient literature, modern literature, foreign literature, etc. Even if they are compiled and simplified into encyclopedias, the content is beyond imagination.
"What's more, the expandable content of the question-and-answer section is unlimited. This is not something that can be accomplished in a mid-term.
"I need to tutor postgraduate students so I might not have enough time.
"If a lot of people are working hard to do this, how would you want to pay, and how will you bear the cost...? Have you considered these issues?"
Yu Pingan was prepared as he hurriedly explained. "Prof Kong, don't worry, we've already considered them.
"This project was decided by Boss Pei of our Tengda Corporation. We can mobilize the entire group to do it.
"I also asked Boss Pei about the workload, his answer was: the best time to plant a tree was ten years ago, followed by now. It's precisely because this is a huge project that it cannot be delayed. If we drag on, nothing will be done.
"Even if the content was incomplete at the beginning—as long as the information in it is useful, it can attract users.
"As for manpower, don't worry. You are equivalent to the person in charge of this professional field. You will only be in the overall planning and will be the highest supervision. We will also invite some young scholars, professors, and outstanding graduate students to participate in these projects, and they will be responsible for different divisions of labor.
"We will fully protect the intellectual property rights of creators and, at the same time, set up a legal team to combat the phenomenon of manuscript washing and plagiarism and protect the rights of creators.
"Creators are paid monthly according to their star rating and workload.
"As for the distribution method and remuneration, all members of Useful App need to pay to browse, according to the usage time and page views. We will collect 10% of this income as the operating cost, and 90% of it will be returned to the creator based on the proportion.
"Of course, considering that there are not enough paying members in the early stage, we will provide a guaranteed remuneration for all creators. As long as the content reviewed and approved that month exceeds 10,000 words, they can get a subsidy of 2,000 yuan."
Professor Kong froze for a moment. "This subsidy will not change based on the number of words?"
Yu Pingan nodded: "Yes."
"This is streamlined knowledge. If the remuneration is linked to the number of words, there may be a slight flooding phenomenon.
"This subsidy is just a basic living guarantee, so that creators will not be missing out too much in the early stages.
"Of course, that is not encouraging compensation without regard to performance and slackers.
"When there are enough members on Useful App, their income will definitely increase. We will determine the income weight of each department and each creator according to a more complex algorithm—including creator star level, the number of views of written or modified content, the initial creation of new items, the number of content likes and the proportion, etc.—to calculate the revenue share for each section and each creator.
"This income is incentivizing."
Professor Kong Zhemin nodded slightly. "That makes sense."
Domestic professors should be regarded as one of the groups with the largest income variance, but more than 90% of professors did not have much extra income apart from salary and basic performance.
The lecturers of Handong University had an annual salary of less than 100,000 yuan, and the associate professors have an annual salary of less than 130,000 yuan.
Especially professors who were devoted to academic work in liberal arts majors. They were usually quite poor.
The subsidy of 2,000 yuan was not much, but it could be obtained as long as 10,000 characters were generated for Useful App every month—which was quite attractive. After all, that was not as difficult as writing a paper since it was mainly to organize existing knowledge.
Moreover, the content must be vetted and approved to be valid so there would be no unlimited irrigation, and there would be no 'spending money for garbage' phenomenon.
Professor Kong Zhemin carefully considered: "Mr. Yu, I can trust Tengda Group, and I can feel the sincerity in all aspects of the conditions.
"Moreover, this is a good thing for the future. I have been in education for a lifetime. I would be very happy if I can contribute to a wiki on the Internet.
"However, I want to ask...
"It should be difficult for your company to make money by doing this project? Is this some kind of charity project or a new business model?"
Confusion was in Professor Kong's eyes.
Indeed, the conditions in all aspects were quite good.
However, the problem was that these conditions seem to be too good. They were good for content creators and users, but not for the company.
Just set aside 10% for operating expenses; wouldn't that a big loss?
Even if someone was doing public welfare and raising the company's reputation, one should still pay attention to efficiency?
The current Useful App would take a long time to make, would burn a lot of money, and would have slow results. It wouldn't have much influence at all until it had real results. What was its gain?
Even if it was considered in the best case and became popular in a few years or even more than ten years later, who could consider such a long-term thing?
That was why Professor Kong was confused and felt that it was a bit strange.
Yu Pingan was silent for a moment and said, "Prof Kong, I also asked Boss Pei about this question.
"Boss Pei said... someone had to do it.
"He wants to create a pure land without rubbish for the Internet."
Professor Kong Zhemin was silent for a moment and nodded: "Yes, I agree.
"This venture... it doesn't matter whether it makes money or not, and it doesn't matter whether you succeed or not.
"The significance of this matter itself is very important."
Yu Pingan's eyes couldn't help but gleam: "Thank you so much, Professor Kong! With you, many things are so much easier!"
Kong Zhemin smiled: "Don't thank me; I should thank you. There are not many companies like Tengda with a strong sense of social responsibility.
"Boss Pei is indeed a very different entrepreneur."
Yu Pingan couldn't help but sigh. Sure enough, Boss Pei's personal charm was really too strong!
He could clearly feel that Boss Pei's words touched Prof Kong very much.
A big boss like him had long been in a stagnant state. He had achieved fame; he taught and did research every day. Money wouldn't be able to move him if it wasn't something he was interested in.
However, Boss Pei's words had moved Professor Kong!
The addition of Professor Kong Zhemin would not only add an expert to the literature section of Useful App, but it also guaranteed the professionalism and quality of various contents. More importantly, when Useful App were to be expanded to other fields in the future, it would be easier convenient to move the other experts.
When all kinds of experts from different fields gather together, a cluster effect would be formed: more high-quality content, more excellent producers, and naturally more and more users.
It was a good beginning!
...
...
October 26th, Wednesday...
At Otto Technologies...
The AEEIS development team was doing their work intensively.
The current artificial intelligence assistant technology was simply divided into two parts: front-end and back-end.
The front-end was mainly speech recognition and speech synthesis technology, which converted the user's spoken language into text and then the returned text result into voice output.
In the background, the program processed the user's request and returned the best matching result.
In general, the current artificial intelligence assistants on mobile phones were mainly responsible for four dimensions: device control and system function calls, third-party application support, dialogue and intelligence, and skill-learning capabilities.
The initial technology of the artificial intelligence assistant was provided by Xunke Technology, and various manufacturers were only updating and optimizing on this basis.
However, whether smart assistants were useful or not depended on how well the manufacturer had to optimize these four dimensions.
Chang You decided to focus all his energy on system function calls, dialogue, and intelligence during this development cycle.
Third-party application support and skill-learning capabilities were also very important, but these two had more content. Moreover, only some users may have that particular need so the priority was lower.
The so-called system function call was the user's voice control of the mobile phone system function.
For example, if the user said 'weather', the smart assistant would automatically display the weather page on the screen and read out tomorrow's weather conditions and temperature changes.
Similarly, calculators, calendars, memos, calls, text messages, etc. could all be controlled by smart assistants, which would bring a certain degree of convenience to users.
Conversation and intelligence were how the smart assistant would react when the user asked some more personalized questions.
For example, when asking 'who is your daddy?', some intelligent assistants would answer 'my dad is a product manager in the development department' while some artificial intelligence assistants will answer 'a group of smart people who dare to innovate'.
Strictly speaking, this point did not have much practical significance, but it would make AEEIS more recognizable.
That was because according to Boss Pei's requirements, AEEIS was an artificial intelligence with no emotions... so when all other voice assistants used anthropomorphic voices, AEEIS would use unsentimental mechanical voice.
Now that the lack of 'personality' had already been established, it must stand and cooperate in other aspects.
Only by making these personalized customizations and matching the character and voice of AEEIS could it show that this product had a high completion rate.
Previously, the day after finalizing the name of AEEIS, Director Zhu Xiaoce spoke to Chang You and wanted to ask for a name for artificial intelligence to be used in movies and games.
The two departments had cooperated as early as Tomorrow is Beautiful'. This time, they naturally thought of working together. Chang You told Zhu Xiaoce about what he was doing in AEEIS. Zhu Xiaoce readily agreed and gave the name to the movie and in the game.
They could then use the popularity of movies or games to promote AEEIS, why not?
Chang You came out of the conference room after he finished discussing some key functions with a few key members.
After drinking a sip of tea, Chang You found that the people-in-charge had refreshed a few messages in a small chat they had privately; one of which was sent by Yu Pingan.
This group is not used for chatting but sharing about what was happening in each department.
Yu Pingan: "Useful App has successfully got Professor Kong Zhemin onboard!"
Chang You put down his teacup, a little curious.
Useful App?
What was that?
Chapter 704: Poetry Master AEEIS
Chang You keenly felt that this matter was not easy.
One would know from the name that this was not an ordinary app!
Boss Pei's naming sense for it was strange.
The names of the various industries and products of Tengda Group were all appropriately named. Take the artificial intelligence AEEIS for example: it was connotative.
So what would be the content of this Useful App for him to dare name it this way?
Chang You immediately messaged Yu Pingan privately: "Is the Useful App a new project on your side?"
Yu Pingan replied in no time.
"Yes, Boss Pei personally requested for it!"
Yu Pingan proudly told Chang You about the specific content of Useful App, especially focusing on Boss Pei's vision and the goals of the first phase.
The more Chang You heard about it, the more he praised it.
When others heard about Useful App, they might think that it was just ordinary knowledge-based social software, but Chang You derived some unusual meaning from it.
Every time Boss Pei wanted to start a new industry, the people in charge of the departments would fully supplement Boss Pei's requirements and fill in the blanks for his intention.
However, they could not guess his true intentions no matter how much they imagined!
Boss Pei had reached a superb level in the linkage of various departments, which most people could not understand.
However, that did not mean that the heads of various departments had to give up thinking.
On the contrary, these people-in-charge should try to figure out more; only in this way could they keep up with Boss Pei's ideas and make continuous progress.
Work hard, and they would be able to see something.
Chang You immediately replied: "If you have time, can you make a trip to OTTO Technology? I want to discuss some things with you in person."
Yu Pingan: "Okay, then I will rush over now, and I will arrive in about an hour."
Yu Pingan didn't ask much. That was the tacit understanding and trust between the heads of various departments of Tengda.
There must be quite important things to discuss since Chang You asked him to go over.
...
An hour later, Yu Pingan came to OTTO Technology.
Chang You led him to the conference room and briefly spoke about the intelligent assistant AEEIS.
The two of them sipped tea while sharing the information they had.
Yu Pingan was slightly confused: "So does this smart assistant have any connection with the 'Useful App'?"
Chang You said very confidently: "Of course, there is a connection!
"Will the new industries pioneered by Boss Pei be unrelated? Think about his mind map!
"The shallowest connection had already linked Tengda Games, Fei Huang Workspace, OTTO Technology, and Useful app!
"The name AEEIS was personally named by Boss Pei, and it happened to be able to be used in Tengda's latest games and movie plots.
"As to the connection with Useful App...
"Do you know how the current voice assistants will deal with most problems they don't understand?
"They would jump directly to Qiandu's search result page.
"That will at least be better than just answering 'I'm sorry, I don't know.' "
Yu Pingan realized something: "Oh! You mean... Useful App can actually replace this?"
Chang You nodded: "Yes!
"In fact, the current artificial intelligence assistants have evolved in similar ways. When users ask some questions beyond the basic functions, they will automatically search for answers on Qiandu or Wiki.
"The problem is that the effect is very poor.
"That's because everyone knows that most search engines find things that are a pile of rubbish. There is very little useful information in it, and users rarely click in to read them.
"Moreover, this is not a problem that can be solved by the optimization function since the search engine itself cannot solve it. It can only be said that there is too much rubbish on the Internet. When searching for a specific problem, it is simply 'gold in the sh*t'. How can the search engine be optimized? To improve efficiency, it is also difficult to provide users with sufficiently accurate and useful knowledge.
"However, what if we link this function with the content of Useful App?
"Imagine it, that will become the core competitiveness of AEEIS's artificial intelligence!
"In the future, Useful App will actually be able to give the best solution if there is already a lot of information on the app.
"Furthermore, Useful App is also an industry of Boss Pei's, and we can only provide them to AEEIS for use—which will clearly distinguish us from other artificial intelligence assistants.
"At that time, other artificial intelligence assistants will be 'artificially retarded' and can only find a pile of rubbish while AEEIS has a strong knowledge base as support. The experience is definitely much better than other artificial intelligence!
"Isn't this the core competitiveness?
"The best thing was that the original intention of AEEIS was an 'efficient and labor-saving intelligent system'. It uses mechanical sounds and answers most users' questions in a very precise and concise way. This is how its personality settings are.
"Does it sound like a 'mechanical top student'?
"This point is exactly in line with the characteristics of Useful App since its information would be accurate, concise, and efficient knowledge. The combination of the two can be said to be a match made in heaven!
"Useful APP, if used properly, can become the brain of AEEIS, making it smarter than all competitors!"
Yu Pingan suddenly said, "That's it! It really makes sense!
"However..."
Yu Pingan hesitated and said, "Currently, there is too little content on Useful APP. I am afraid it is difficult to meet this requirement.
"We all say that search engines are not easy to use and wiki contents are garbage, but we have to admit that they started too much earlier than us. What's more, search engines search for the entire network content, which is large enough.
"And if the content on Useful App wants to reach this level, it will take a few years at the earliest..."
Chang You nodded: "I understand, so we have to make different characteristics for each stage.
"Since AEEIS couldn't achieve the level of 'wiki' at the beginning, we have to find a way to achieve the ultimate in a single field.
"You said previously that Useful APP plans to start with the field of literature?"
Yu Pingan took a sip of tea and nodded: "Yes, Professor Kong Zhemin is a great man in the field of literature and has deep research on ancient literature. This time, we are cooperating with the Faculty of Art and Science. Many professors and young scholars were studying ancient literature or modern literature. This is the first field we are setting foot in."
Chang You thought for a while and suddenly thought of an idea: "Then, I think the first feature of AEEIS can be linked with ancient poetry.
"For example, AEEIS can converse with the users in poetry exchange. The user says one sentence, and then AEEIS says a sentence. Either that or AEEIS and the user took turns to say the last sentence; whoever fails to continue will lose...
"AEEIS can use ancient poems to answer user-specific questions while chatting.
"Boss Pei said that AEEIS is an erudite and easygoing intelligent voice assistant. It doesn't swear, but it is so smart that it will offer 'concern' to you when it thinks you are stupid.
"I wondered, isn't this just 'swearing without dirty words'?
"In other words, this should not sound like cursing... but a feeling of 'yin and yang' or the unconscious contempt of the top students towards the flunkies.
"Just like in some film and television dramas, people with high IQ tend to be a bit toxic and will say some lines such as 'the IQ of the whole street is lowered by you'—which can actually highlight his personality!
"Speaking of this, there are a lot of words available in ancient poems, and they can be used in communication!"
Chang You took out his mobile phone and searched the Internet for 'poems that scold people without swearing', and the results were out in no time.
"Your body and reputation may be destroyed, but the rivers would not stop flowing; the ant thinks too highly of itself in its want to conquer the giant tree; even the rats have known their place, what about humans who did not; rotten wood cannot be carved, a wall of dung cannot withstand any weather; ignorant people who only knew brands...
"So many poems, so appropriate!
"In this way, the image of AEEIS will be even more perfect.
"The cold mechanical and electronic sound, efficient and concise answers... when the same question is repeatedly asked, it will show 'concern' to the user—which is very smart. There is also a wealth of knowledge reserves... it can use poetry and famous sentences to communicate with users...
"In addition to the basic functions, such personalized content can actually make users better remember AEEIS and stand out among the many intelligent voice assistants!
"With the continuous improvement of Useful App content, functions of AEEIS will continue to grow, and its areas of expertise will gradually expand in the future, such as all aspects of daily life and knowledge in various professional fields.
"In the future, AEEIS can even link with all apps of Tengda's other industries and become the center of Tengda's industries together with OTTO mobile phones...
"In short, anything can happen with imagination!"
Yu Pingan couldn't help but give a thumbs-up: "Vice-President Chang is amazing! I think that's exactly what Boss Pei has in mind too!
"If there is anything you need us to cooperate with, Vice-President Chang, just let me know."
"The content of our first stage is mainly for literary content, especially ancient poems. While making the content, we can also arrange for someone to cooperate with you to pick out those ancient poems that can express emotions and give them to AEEIS!"
Chang You nodded: "Well, thanks! At that time, the new version of OTTO OS and the newly developed fully automatic intelligent bar lifter will be equipped with AEEIS intelligent assistant.
"When the product is well-received, I will tell Boss Pei that I will use a part of the profit to subsidize Useful App's projects, and I will definitely not let you work in vain!"
Yu Pingan was overjoyed: "Thank you!"
Who said that there was absolutely no possibility of profit for Useful App?
It would definitely be difficult to make a profit by relying solely on the fee for each user when the knowledge base was not rich enough and the insufficient number of users.
However, while the project itself was not profitable, it could be linked with Tengda's profitable projects! Wouldn't it be enough just to make money together?
Anyway, it would be profitable for Boss Pei no matter which department made money!
Everyone was one unified body!