Xu Tong was somewhat surprised, "A God’s Imitator’s imitator?"
Obviously, most people hadn’t thought that such a concept could exist before.
Cao Haichuan paused slightly, then explained:
"I believe we cannot simply assume two games are the work of the same God’s Imitator just because they’re similar.
"In fact, quite the opposite. I’m inclined to think that the more similar the games are, the less likely they’re by the same God’s Imitator.
"Why would there be ’God’s Imitators’ imitators’? ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ novel·fire·net
"Because the rules of all games so far have been public. Since all players can see them, then God’s Imitators hidden among the players can naturally see them too.
"’King’s Judgment’ received an S-level rating, so it will not only become an object of study for players, but will inevitably also become a key learning point for God’s Imitators.
"If a God’s Imitator is relatively clever, they can transform and apply the core concept, achieving a state of spiritual similarity without physical similarity. But if a God’s Imitator isn’t that clever, then the traces of imitation will be heavier, and there may be a lot of déjà vu.
"Just like many serial murder cases in reality, there are many cases of copycat crimes. If we determine they’re by the same criminal just because they’re ’similar’, we’ll often fall into serious misunderstandings."
Everyone had different expressions. Some nodded, some remained silent.
But regardless, coming from Cao Haichuan, these words were quite convincing.
Wang Yongxin frowned slightly, "Here’s the problem. If there are ’God’s Imitators’ imitators’, which now seems like a high-probability event, doesn’t this also mean we can almost never distinguish which two games are specifically the work of the same God’s Imitator?"
Li Renshu also asked, "Then Officer Cao, based on what considerations do you believe ’Childbirth Judgment’ is the work of a ’God’s Imitator’s imitator’?"
Cao Haichuan explained, "Motive. Ultimately, we still have to fall back on the God’s Imitator’s motive. That’s the most reliable method.
"If two games are only similar in rules, then there are simply two possibilities:
"The first possibility is that this is the work of the original God’s Imitator, who was just lazy, borrowed the original design thinking, changed some details, and created a new game.
"This possibility does exist, but we must consider that a God’s Imitator capable of creating an S-level game must be very clever and very good at hiding themselves.
"What great benefit would they get from making another similar game? The disadvantages are quite obvious: an overly distinctive design style would very likely make them easier to expose and be targeted by players.
"For a God’s Imitator, this is unsafe. Designing games with completely different styles each time would be better camouflage.
"The second possibility is that other God’s Imitators imitated their style and made similar designs. And the original God’s Imitator is powerless to stop this.
"For the later imitator, this behavior has all benefits and no harm: it can mislead players, pushing the hatred onto the first God’s Imitator, while also improving the competitiveness of their own game.
"So from a motive standpoint, does the God’s Imitator who designed ’King’s Judgment’ have more motive to create such a similar game? Or do other God’s Imitators have more motive?"
Everyone nodded in sudden understanding.
This was indeed a point they hadn’t thought of before.
Cao Haichuan’s deduction contained an important preset premise: God’s Imitators all try their best to hide themselves.
From what they could see so far, this preset premise held true in most cases.
So those relatively excellent God’s Imitators, whether designing A-level or S-level games, were definitely clever people who would carefully hide themselves.
When not urgently short on visa time, rashly using previous game frameworks to design would increase the risk of exposure. This wouldn’t be wise behavior.
Even if they wanted to make new games to achieve certain specific purposes, they would definitely try to distance themselves from previous games as much as possible.
They might even deliberately design some low-rated games as decoys.
Although from what they could see now, it was difficult for players to trace who specifically was a God’s Imitator based solely on game rules, or even guess which games were made by the same God’s Imitator.
But who could say for sure about the future?
There were many players like Cao Haichuan who were good at finding clues from subtle traces. Minute habits inadvertently revealed by God’s Imitators could all potentially become fatal flaws that expose their identity someday.
The cleverer the God’s Imitator, the less likely they would be to consecutively design similar games.
Although it couldn’t be proven at all, because it was built on some relatively solid reasoning, it could still convince many people.
Wang Yongxin thought for a moment, "We mentioned before that when God’s Imitators design games, they’re very likely to tend to utilize their existing knowledge systems.
"Just like ’Blind Date Game’.
"So could the God’s Imitator of ’Childbirth Judgment’ also be relatively experienced in this area?
"Maybe a more traditional, older male or female image? Otherwise it would be hard to come up with those three questions that hit young people’s knowledge blind spots, right?"
Cao Haichuan shook his head, "Hard to say. These three questions in Childbirth Judgment are indeed very difficult for players who haven’t learned the corresponding knowledge.
"But they’re not difficult for God’s Imitators, since they’re the ones asking the questions.
"Don’t forget, there’s a library area in the community with all kinds of books covering everything.
"As the answering party, of course there’s no way to find the corresponding answers from the vast sea of books. But it’s different if you’re the questioning party.
"A God’s Imitator just needs to find a time when no one’s around, go to the library area and casually flip through some reproduction-related books, and randomly pick a few questions.
"They don’t necessarily need to draw from their existing knowledge system.
"Of course, from the game content, this God’s Imitator should be relatively sensitive to gender issues and reproduction issues, but we didn’t see any particularly obvious tendencies. And even if there were, such tendencies would be relatively easy to hide."
Yang Yuting said, "Jiang He previously thought Li Jiang was the God’s Imitator for this game. What do you all think?"
Lin Sizhi shook his head, "Doesn’t seem like it.
"Zhong Yuanyuan participated in ’Blind Date Game’ because she confirmed she was absolutely safe in the game, and needed to work with others from Community 1 to stir up hatred and kill more players to earn visa time.
"That is, simultaneously satisfying both ’safety’ and ’profitable’ conditions.
"But Li Jiang in ’Childbirth Judgment’ didn’t meet either condition.
"He was neither absolutely safe nor able to gain much benefit from it.
"If Li Jiang were the God’s Imitator, the only explanation would be finding some excitement for himself.
"Jiang He felt Li Jiang’s words were confrontational and misled her into making some wrong decisions, but that was actually a bit of a misunderstanding."
Yang Yuting asked again, "What about Chen Yumei?"
Lin Sizhi still shook his head, "I don’t think that’s very likely either."
Fu Chen nodded in agreement, "Right, how could a God’s Imitator judge themselves? That would be too absurd."
Cao Haichuan provided a timely reminder, "The Gallery never said God’s Imitators can’t judge themselves. Although I also think this possibility is small, we can’t simply and crudely rule it out."
Lin Sizhi explained, "Although Chen Yumei seems to have escaped judgment, I don’t think this is quite like ’the God’s Imitator’s way’."