Chapter 1329: Show House In The Game
Ding Xiyao had already arrived at the entrance of the house after the camera changed.
Players who were intermediaries could inspect the house before asking customers to visit it and know what to do.
At the beginning of the game, there was no time limit for inspecting houses. What’s more, there would be some hints in the game so that gamers with a lack of knowledge in this area could understand the advantages and disadvantages of this house.
As the game progressed, there would be a time limit for inspecting the houses. There would also be fewer hints. It was equivalent to increasing the difficulty for players.
Players could even choose to challenge themselves. They would not participate in this segment at all. They would receive customers on their first visit to the house. They would not prepare in advance and would rely on improvisation.
The higher the difficulty, the richer the reward.
Ding Xiyao had been a real estate agent before. She had much more professional knowledge in this area than ordinary players. However, the content of this game was relatively unfamiliar to her after all. Thus, she decided to follow the standard process.
If he could adapt to the gameplay quickly, he could try to increase the difficulty.
Ding Xiyao walked around the various rooms according to the most basic movement method that she had already contacted previously.
He could only say that the situation was worse than he had imagined.
Previously, the computer in the shop had the floor plan and photos of these house types. However, when he arrived at the scene, he realized that the photos could often be ‘photoshopped’. He could not believe it at all.
It was obviously noon when they took the photo. The sun was shining brightly, and the entire room was bathed in warm sunlight. As long as they adjusted the light and found a good angle, the photo would be very confusing.
However, it was a cloudy day outside, and the lighting was not that strong. Thus, the entire room looked much worse.
In addition, many details were naturally exposed.
For example, there were some nails and dual glue marks on the wall. They were probably left behind by the previous tenant. The kitchen stove and cabinet were filled with aged oil stains. There was a second bedroom window that did not look too closed. There would definitely be a leak, and so on.
Details that would not be displayed in these photos would be exposed during the viewing of the house.
However, whether customers could see these problems depended on the person.
After Ding Xiyao raised her hand and pointed with the controller to some areas, there would be a probability of a notification icon appearing. At that moment, she could consume the number of notifications and obtain the official notification.
For example, in the kitchen, tenants who were passionate about using the kitchen to cook and had higher requirements for hygiene would have higher opinions on these aged oil stains. tenants who did not need the kitchen would probably not come in to take a closer look.
However, this function was not omnipotent. It was just like how many detective games or secret rooms escape games looked for clues. If players did not realize that there might be a problem here and did not point the controller to the key area, there would not be any hints.
Of course, some extreme players could point out all the rooms with their controllers if they did not find it tiring.
After discovering these problems, intermediaries could choose to solve these problems or choose to ignore them in order to facilitate the transaction.
The solution would be to pay out of his own pocket and take out a portion of his own funds to hire cleaning or repairing the furniture to fund this problem.
If he chose to ignore it, he might be exposed by the tenants who came to see the apartments. That would prevent the transaction from being achieved or he might not be discovered.
Of course, there was a way to make up for being exposed on the spot. They could try to bluff him or reduce the rent.
In this aspect, the protagonist in the game had much more authority than the intermediary in reality.
After all, in the setting, the protagonist’s identity was not to hit workers. Instead, he would be the boss and employee at the same time. He would be responsible for profits and losses.
Ding Xiyao quickly looked around the house and found a few key questions.
This was her old job after all. It was a breeze for her and there was no need for system notifications.
She even had some strange ideas.
Ding Xiyao switched on all the lights in the room and felt the brightness of the room.
Then she looked up and pointed the controller at the light bulb in the living room.
Indeed, the light bulb became highlights and an interface popped up. That meant that the light bulb could be changed!
After a simple selection, Ding Xiyao chose a relatively cheap but very bright ceiling light. She easily replaced it after choosing.
In fact, it was not just the lights. All the furniture and appliances in the room could be changed. The problem was that the sofas, television, wallpapers, and the like were too expensive. Ding Xiyao did not have much money to change them now.
This was a small trick that Ding Xiyao had learned when she was an intermediary previously: If the lighting in the room was not good, the lighting was not good, or the air was not smooth and there was a strange smell, then all the lights would be switched on before customers came to the room, and the windows would be opened in advance to dissipate the smell.
That way, tenants would ignore the problem of light and poor ventilation to a certain extent. Even if they found it, it would be after signing the contract.
At that time, even if most tenants were not satisfied, they would have no choice but to live here.
Ding Xiyao was not sure if the game was that smart or not, and if increasing the lighting would increase the probability of customers completing the transaction, but it was worth a try.
After all, wouldn’t such a free management simulation game be playing tricks and freedom?
As the original light in this house was relatively dim, there was no substantial improvement even if it was opened. Thus, Ding Xiyao spent her own money to exchange for the living room light to increase the brightness as much as possible.
There was no good solution to the problem with the kitchen. He could not afford to hire cleaning services, but there was an option to ‘do it yourself’ in the game.
He held the controller and gestured at the oil stains. It was equivalent to wiping them personally. Even though some aged and stubborn stains were difficult to completely remove, it looked much better than before.
Of course, not all problems could be solved on their own. Some problems had to be improved at a high price.
Just like that, Ding Xiyao handled everything in the room within the scope of the funds. She tried her best to understand the flaws in the room.
After that, he could invite tenants to view the apartments.
Ding Xiyao was still a little nervous while waiting for the tenants to come over even though she was already considered an old fox.
After all, this was her first time bringing someone to view a house in the game.
Not long after, the doorbell rang. The first person to come was the man who had worked for several years and had a higher income.
Ding Xiyao had arranged for these three groups to come one after another. The reason why she let this brother come first was mainly because Ding Xiyao felt that she had the highest chance of negotiating the highest price with him.
The other two groups were a couple who had just graduated not long ago and two girls who had just been working for more than a year. Their financial conditions were not good.
What’s more, young couples placed more emphasis on cooking. It was just that the kitchen in this house was not very hygienic.
On the whole, the man who had worked for several years and was in the working class had the best economic conditions. He also did not have high requirements for the kitchen. It was most likely that they would be able to reach a deal at a high price.
Of course, it was precisely because this brother had been working for several years that he might not be weak in terms of nitpicking. He was not easy to fool. That would depend on Ding Xiyao’s ability.
Ding Xiyao could not help but be stunned when she opened the door with the VR controller.
This brother⦠was so realistic!
That was because this was the first time Ding Xiyao was seeing someone in this game.
Doubt VR glasses were the same as all VR glasses. They were limited by technology. At the moment, it was still difficult to achieve clarity that could be passed off as fake. There was even a slight grille effect. However, there was a clear difference between the scene and the characters in different games.
The real estate intermediary simulator had obviously reached a relatively extreme level of clarity for the characters within the technical level.
After entering the viewing mode, players would tacitly follow the tenants who came to view the houses and answer their questions.
The tenants, who were NPCs in the game, had a certain pattern of movement. There was a relatively fixed route when looking at different rooms.
However, the focus of one’s attention on the room, the questions one would ask, and how one would respond to players’ answers would depend on the character’s settings. It was extremely random.
During this process, players naturally did not need to really speak. Instead, they used the controller to choose the options on the screen to introduce and answer.
First, he briefly introduced the basic situation of the house. Then, customers would ask questions about some details.
The gameplay at this stage was similar to Interactive Fiction.
The conversation options that players could choose depended on their observations in the room, their preparations in advance, the players’ level, experience, and other factors.
At the same time, many follow-up conversations could only be triggered after the corresponding options were selected.
What surprised Ding Xiyao was that the NPC’s every move was quite realistic. He moved naturally, spoke smoothly, and was very eloquent.
The voice chat between NPCs and players had obviously been recorded in advance. That was because the automatic voice would definitely feel like it was forcefully pieced together. It could be heard immediately.
The NPCs in the game would not give people such a feeling.
Ding Xiyao was a little curious. Could this game have dubbed and motion captured the voice of all NPCs? Wasn’t that too extravagant?
Would there be similar situations in the future? For example, would there be similar problems back and forth?
Just as she was thinking about this, she heard the employee ask, “The lighting in this room looks good, right?”
It was not a direct question. It sounded more like a casual question.
Three options appeared in front of Ding Xiyao. They were three different attitudes.
The first was a positive attitude and brainless praise. The second was a neutral attitude that spoke vaguely but would not deny it. The third was to tell the truth.
Ding Xiyao could not help but hesitate.
Obviously, the first attitude would help to facilitate the transaction. However, this brother would definitely find problems after moving in.
If he had a third attitude, he would feel more at ease. However, he might lose this client. In order to salvage the situation, he would probably have to reduce the rent.
Ding Xiyao found it difficult to make a decision. However, seeing that the conversation was about to end, she could only choose the second attitude.