God's Imitator

Li Renshu was stunned. Obviously, neither of these were good terms.

Although ’insurance’ was somewhat neutral, it still carried some negative connotations. As for ’Ponzi scheme,’ that was purely derogatory.

Wang Yongxin continued, ”Here’s what I’m thinking. All players who have deposited visa time into the ’Luxury Goods Fund’ can receive a certain amount of visa time as a ’dividend’ at regular intervals, such as weekly or monthly, just like insurance.

”Of course, I know the key to this matter is ’where does the dividend come from?’ After all, visa time is too scarce. We can’t just print money.

”My idea is that there are two sources.

”First, if a player has deposited one or two hundred thousand minutes of visa time in the fund and accidentally dies in a game, then that money can naturally become a ’dividend.’

”Second, if all goes smoothly and our community doesn’t experience any casualties for a long time, that would of course be great. It means our community has successfully earned decent returns from subsequent games.

”In that case, I’m willing to pay out of my own pocket to provide a backstop for these ’dividends.’

”Of course, my backstop alone will most likely not be enough. I’d need to bring in at least Lawyer Lin and Cai Zhiyuan. The best situation would be for the five of us to provide the backstop together.”

Li Renshu considered seriously for a moment and said, ”It can indeed be called a ’Ponzi scheme.’”But the biggest difference is that the mortality rate for players in this world is far higher than in reality.

”So much so that the vast majority of players won’t even live to see the day when the Ponzi scheme collapses.

”In the worst-case scenario, players die frequently, and this scheme can be sustained. In the best-case scenario, players don’t die, our community’s overall returns can be guaranteed, and this scheme can also be sustained.

”As for ordinary situations, we may need to carefully consider the dividend amount to ensure we can ’sustain it.’

”But no matter what, it’s still better than the current situation.”

Wang Yongxin nodded, ”Yes, so strictly speaking, I don’t think this counts as a scam either.”

Li Renshu let out a long breath, ”Let me think about it.”

A so-called ’Ponzi scheme’ is simply put ”robbing Peter to pay Paul” or ”getting something for nothing.” It promises investors high rates of return and pays the initial investors with money from new investors, thereby luring more people into the trap.

The more people who fall for it, the more principal available to cash out returns, and the longer this scam can continue.

In reality, a Ponzi scheme is essentially fraud. Its characteristic of spending more than it takes in means the entire fund pool will be drained sooner or later. Capital can’t keep flowing in excess amounts forever, and people’s confidence can’t be maintained indefinitely.

But in the New World, this matter seemed to be another story.

Because the mortality rate was too high.

In reality, when ordinary people die, their inheritance goes to relatives. But in the New World, dead is dead. Visa time would only benefit the imitators.

If players in Community 17 continued to die, then as long as the visa time of these dead players could remain within the community, it could be used to pay dividend returns to other players.

If players in Community 17 didn’t die, that would mean everyone could obtain stable returns from games. As long as they took out a portion of newly obtained returns to pay dividends, they should also be able to maintain normal operation of the entire system.

If this mechanism could operate smoothly, then players willing to donate to the luxury goods fund could gain real, tangible benefits: fixed dividends obtained at regular intervals.

Although there might still be many problems in the details, but... it was still better than the previous situation.

If they did nothing, the next time a player carrying one or two hundred thousand minutes of visa time died in a game, it would still be a huge loss for the community.

After serious consideration, Li Renshu said, ”I think this is a viable approach.

”But we should still be as open and honest as possible when explaining it to others, respecting everyone’s wishes.”

Wang Yongxin nodded, ”Of course. You decide.”

Li Renshu stood up, ”I’ll go find Lawyer Lin, Cai Zhiyuan, and Fu Chen first to discuss. If they all agree, the five of us will jointly provide the backstop for this ’insurance.’”

...

The next afternoon.

The 11 players gathered in the hall, and Li Renshu introduced the new motion to them.

From last night until this morning, Li Renshu had already found Cai Zhiyuan, Lin Sizhi, and Fu Chen separately to discuss this motion and generally reached internal consensus.

Afterward, Li Renshu refined the details of this motion and explained it to other players in the community.

”To be completely open and honest, this motion is to encourage everyone to deposit their excess visa time into the luxury goods fund as much as possible, to avoid another situation like Xu Tong’s.

”Of course, we are all deeply saddened by the departure of a community member. But from the perspective of the community’s collective interests, this is indeed a serious loss of visa time and a loss for all players.

”Of course, we will also try our best to provide additional rewards for players who deposit visa time.

”The specific rules are as follows.”

[New ’Fund Dividend Rules’ added.]

[1. Every week, players can receive dividends from the ’Luxury Goods Fund’ according to the formula: ’visa time paid by the player / total visa time paid by all players × current fund remaining visa time × 5%.’]

[2. When a player dies in a game, all the funds they contributed within the community will automatically convert into dividends.]

[3. Fu Chen, Li Renshu, Cai Zhiyuan, Wang Yongxin, and Lin Sizhi, these five players do not receive dividends. When dividends are insufficient, visa time will be deducted from their personal accounts to make up the difference.]

[The default is equal division among the five, but they can freely negotiate and adjust the division internally.]

Li Renshu continued, ”To help everyone understand, let me give a simple example.

”Suppose 12 players each donate 100,000 minutes of visa time into the luxury goods fund.

”Then, with no additional expenses, after one week, each player can actually receive ’100,000 / 1,200,000 × 1,200,000 × 5%,’ which is 5,000 minutes of visa time.

”Suppose during this period we spend 600,000 minutes of visa time purchasing special items. Then after one week, each player can actually receive ’100,000 / 1,200,000 × 600,000 × 5%,’ which is 2,500 minutes of visa time.”

After considering for a moment, Wei Yinzhang said, ”I think I should also join the group providing a backstop for dividends.

”After all, I actually benefited from the ’First Player Identity Card.’ I’m an actual beneficiary of this fund.”

Li Renshu nodded, ”Then of course you’re welcome to join.”