Ch.492Don’t Leave Creativity to the Users (4)

And so our users’ endless first verse, second verse, third verse, fourth verse…

—

Title: Which bastard submitted a Necromorph to the expo?

Author: Anonymous

Content: [gif of something moving that appears to be 3 humans fused together], [reported hate speech(?) image.jpg]

Holy shit

How is that not considered disgusting?

Only one has an intact upper body while the rest are fused at the bottom

Comments:

-[That’s actually the appealing part, you just don’t get it]

-˪[???]

-[What’s mixed in there? There seems to be something non-human in the middle]

-[Is it a chimera? Griyanar characters often make those kinds of things]

-˪[So chimeras can be submitted too]

—

Title: Did a legendary submission just appear at the expo?

Author: Archimedes

Content: [A robot made from cranes that were treated as ‘essentially decorative’ at the base (moving).jpg]

It’s a giant robot!

It actually moves using the crane wires!

[gif of it walking, running, and even combining with a starship in mid-air]

Comments:

-[?????]

-[How did they do that?]

-[This creativity contest is turning into a craftsmanship contest]

-˪[Wasn’t that the original purpose?]

-[There’s no explanation of its performance. Did you make it?]

-˪[No](Author)

-[Looking at other posts, they used like 8 work cranes, but NPCs are saying it’s less efficient than using just one]

-˪[You just don’t understand romance ㅠㅠ]

—

‘…Well, these people are insane.’

Anyway, while endless brain malfunctions continued like that.

From the users’ perspective, this was exactly what it was meant to be—a “fun mini-event that doesn’t require much effort”—and it was proceeding smoothly.

And along with that, as the administrators had warned in advance…

—

Title: Notice regarding the Astral Expo

Author: GM 9

Content: [List of users whose community functions will be blocked for one month and one week.jpg]

The listed users will have all community functions blocked in one hour.

These function restrictions include 1:1 chat and the trading market, so please understand.

We wish the rest of the Commanders a peaceful and uneventful time during the remaining event period.

Regards from the Administration.

Comments:

-[????]

-[What’s this?]

-[Wow, wait, this is the first time I’ve seen an actual admin post something directly]

-˪[That shows how pissed they are]

-[Admin punch! Admin punch! Admin punch!]

-[Admins actually doing work]

—

As many users had predicted before the event started…

Despite clear warnings, some users inevitably crossed the line, resulting in merciless executions.

—

Title: “Is there some kind of festival going on?”

Author: Anonymous

Content: [Image of a cameraman and a toad interviewing another toad.jpg]

“It’s not a festival, it’s an execution.”

Comments:

-[“Ah, I see… Wait, what?”]

-˪[What happened to the funeral? Why just an execution? lol]

-[Ah, those annoying bastards got what they deserved ^^]

—

Title: Real-time status of a certain clan.txt

Author: Anonymous

Content: [Chat room labeled as belonging to the Loki Clan, showing all members simultaneously leaving while the clan leader asks “Guys?”.jpg]

These must be the ones who got caught messing around at the expo

Everyone except the clan leader and a few others got banned from the chat lol

LOLOLOLOLOLOL

What a bunch of idiots

FYI I’m the deputy clan leader there

Comments:

-[LOLOLOLOLOLOL]

-˪[Don’t you manage your members properly?]

-˪[They don’t listen anyway, damn it](Author)

-˪[Then that’s fair]

-[Is this a kindergarten for raising precious little ones? lol]

-˪[Looking at their behavior, they’re no different from children]

-[As expected from a clan full of trolls lol]

—

Although in the process, a certain clan that had an unusually high number of these users suddenly had their chat room explode.

But the users who suffered such “damage” were an extremely small minority compared to those who didn’t.

Most users expressed joy at the news that those who had been terrorizing their vision and sanity were being executed(?).

—

On the sixth day of users chattering away, whispering and gossiping among themselves…

—

<Global Announcement>

<<<‘Astral Expo’ Voting Begins!>>>

<We thank the many Commanders who have enjoyed and participated in the Astral Expo!>

<Before concluding the Astral Expo, we have one final voting event for the participating works!>

<Participants in the voting will receive a small reward!>

<Expo Entry Voting!>

˪<Please enter the ‘Astral Expo’ management window and press ‘Select’ on the work you want to vote for!>

˪<Through this voting method, items ranked 1st through 5th will be produced as actual items!>

<Note>

<Each person can only vote 3 times.>

<Duplicate voting is not possible, so we appreciate your understanding.>

—

As the fun voting time arrived, just as announced in the notice the day before the event…

The galleries and chat rooms were in chaos with users hoping their favorites would reach the top ranks or first place.

The problem was that these “promotional” methods were excessive, perhaps too excessive.

—

<Global Anonymous Chat Room>

<Let’s all use polite and proper language to maintain etiquette.>

-[<Link to Expo Entry List>]

-[Now is the time to vote]

-[Art comes first!]

-[Huh, what?]

-[Dear fellow users, please vote for the statue made by our Artist Association clan!]

-[Wasn’t this a popularity vote? Why did it suddenly become a presidential election?]

-[Dunno]

—

Title: Today’s News) Real-time Expo voting status.txt

Author: News Boy

Content: [Image of voting encouragement discussions burning up in chat rooms and galleries.jpg]

Yeah

The rewards aren’t even that good, but everyone’s strangely passionate about it

Comments:

-[For honor!]

-[The ones making a fuss asking for votes don’t deserve them anyway]

-˪[Hey hey;;]

-˪[What?]

-˪[Fatal-casual killer]

-[But honestly, the comment above is right. It’s not like these things have any special functions]

-˪[It’s annoying when people make weird things just for self-satisfaction and then force others to vote for them]

-˪[Whoa, that’s going too far]

—

Across all communities, most users felt repulsed by such excessive promotion…

Finally, the morning after the vote count ended.

—

<Global Announcement>

<<<‘Astral Expo’ Event Concluded!>>>

<Thanks to the support of our Commanders, the 1st Astral Expo has successfully concluded!>

<Approximately 60,000 items were submitted, and after appropriate processing, they will be sold as ‘items’ in the trading market!>

<Additionally, the income from these sold products will go to the Commanders who submitted them, so we ask for your continued interest!>

<‘Astral Expo’ Voting Results Revealed!>

<1st Place: Perfect Implementation of Sol*noon Recipe Vending Machine (Ceaușescu)>

<2nd Place: All-Purpose Tentacle That Does Everything (Tenta)>

<3rd Place: Living Breathing Component Tree (Icarus)>

—

While the leading candidates for 1st and 2nd place spectacularly self-destructed.

In contrast, items that were ambiguous but “somehow practical” received concentrated votes.

And in the midst of all this, as you can see, I ended up in “3rd place” again.