Class competition

"Dear students, I believe you are aware that our Computer Science Department at WHU is different from other universities. Besides submitting individual theses for graduation, we also require a team project. This project can be software or a website. In short, you can allocate tasks according to your expertise and collaborate to complete this project. I've already informed you about this earlier. I wonder how your preparations have been going lately?"

Professor Huang Hai, from Class 3 of the 1998 batch at WHU's Computer Science Department, began the class by probing the students' progress.

Of course, this wasn't about completing the project right away, but at the very least, students needed to have a clear idea.

"Professor Huang, we're planning to develop an instant messaging application."

A student named Lin Qifeng stood up and addressed Professor Huang.

"Oh, instant messaging is quite a promising software. How's your preparation going?"

Professor Huang was interested in this topic.

Currently, the most popular software on the internet was QQ, an instant messaging app. It had changed the way many people communicated, including Professor Huang himself, who used QQ regularly.

"Professor Huang, we've divided our tasks. I'm working on the user interface design, Li Nan is handling the backend..."

"What about the features?"

"The features are mostly similar to the mainstream instant messaging apps available today. However, we've added an interesting feature."

"What feature is that?"

"Cloud storage."

"That sounds intriguing."

Professor Huang Hai nodded and gave praise to Lin Qifeng.

In fact, creating an instant messaging software wasn't particularly difficult, and its program wasn't overly complex. Ordinary university computer science students might struggle to develop such software, but for students from the top ten universities, it wasn't too challenging.

However, while the program might not be complex, what was challenging was how to market and promote it.

Professor Huang was curious to know if Lin Qifeng had any plans for promotion and operations. "Lin Qifeng, do you have any plans to market this instant messaging software?"

"We already have a plan in place."

At this point, Lin Qifeng became a bit excited as he continued, "We've contacted Sina, and they have shown a lot of interest. They've already invested 100,000 yuan in us as a pre-investment, and this 100,000 yuan doesn't even take any equity from us. If we successfully develop the software, Sina has agreed to acquire it first."

"Excellent, very good."

"Huang Hai was quite pleased. 'Well done, Lin Qifeng. I hope you all keep up the good work.'

Graduating from college with the attention of a major player like sina.com was an achievement in itself. Even though it was just a 100,000 yuan investment, which Sina might not even care about, it still indicated that these students had taken a significant step forward. Even the 'Lei Jun' who graduated from WHU back then couldn't boast of such an achievement.

"Now, everyone, continue. I won't call out names. Please take turns."

After Lin Qifeng, many students stood up one after another to report on the projects they had been preparing. However, it was a pity that, perhaps because Lin Qifeng's instant messaging project was outstanding, the other students' projects were far less impressive. Huang Hai only offered symbolic encouragement and some feedback.

"By the way, Wang Chang, you've always been a diligent student. Why are you so quiet today? You're the last ones left."

Although Professor Huang was a professor, he was quite easygoing in class. Wang Chang was the class monitor and had remarkable abilities, having previously interned at major companies. Professor Huang held Wang Chang in high regard.

"Professor Huang, I just wanted to hear what the other students had to say earlier."

"It seems you deliberately saved the best for last, Wang Chang. So, what is your team's project? Share it with everyone."

"Our project is a virtual item trading website."

"Virtual items? That sounds interesting. Tell us more."

"It's a gaming website where we offer virtual items such as game equipment, in-game currency, skill books, and so on. Of course, we don't intend to limit ourselves to just a gaming platform. Through this platform, we plan to expand into various other areas in the future."

5173 couldn't solely focus on virtual item trading. Chen Yu's goal was to establish a gaming portal. However, before moving in that direction, he needed virtual item trading to attract traffic. Therefore, Chen Yu had stricter requirements for Wang Chang's team when designing 5173. They needed to leave room for future expansion in the website's framework. It wouldn't do to have to rebuild everything when transitioning to a gaming portal.

Thankfully, Wang Chang's team had the technical skills to meet these demands.

However, before Wang Chang could finish, Lin Qifeng chimed in with a smile, "Wang Chang, I thought you had something more groundbreaking in mind, but it seems you're just creating a gaming website."

"What's the matter, Lin Qifeng? Do you have any objections?"

"No objections. I just feel that your choice of project is rather uninspired. If you don't have a better idea, you might as well join our team."

"That won't be necessary. I believe in our gaming website."

"Heh, Wang Chang, I think you've got your priorities wrong. Gaming websites don't have much future potential. What's promising are instant messaging, office software, antivirus software, and the like."

"I don't agree with that. While instant messaging, office software, and antivirus software are good choices, I must say that our gaming website is not lacking. Moreover, your instant messaging software is just a copy of QQ."

"Copying QQ is not something we would do. I apologize if I didn't mention some crucial features of our instant messaging software. I believe that with these features introduced to the market and Sina's investment, we might not necessarily crush QQ, but we can certainly capture at least half of its market share. On the other hand, your game website—don't get me wrong, it's not that I look down on game websites, but currently, there's no well-known game website in the market. Furthermore, even if we don't talk about game websites, most games themselves aren't profitable. If games aren't making money, what makes you think your game website will?"

In 2001, online games were still in their infancy, and not many people could see the potential for gaming to generate substantial revenue. While there were games like The Legend of Mir 2, King of Kings, and Stone Age at the time, they hadn't gained widespread popularity, and some had even shut down after a short period of operation. Even the real success of The Legend of Mir 2 was still in the future; it had just begun its open beta phase, and its profitability had not been publicly disclosed.

However, when Wang Chang conducted her research on internet cafes, she had witnessed the revenue-generating potential of online games. Additionally, her recent conversations with Chen Yu on QQ, coupled with his guidance, had made her even more optimistic about the prospects of the online gaming industry.

"Online games will be the most profitable internet product in the coming years, surpassing everything else," Chen Yu had told her before.

"I can only say that your vision is too limited. The internet is constantly evolving, and it's moving so fast that even we can't keep up. You have no idea about the revenue potential of online games."

"Alright, let's make a bet."

"What are we betting on?"

"Three months from now, we'll see whose project is more outstanding."

"Okay."

"Don't agree so easily. What if you lose?"

"You tell me."

"If you lose, you'll be my girlfriend."

Lin Qifeng's words caused an uproar in the classroom.

"Fine."

Wang Chang clenched her teeth and replied, "But if you lose, you'll have to get lost as far away as possible from me."