It was another normal morning for everyone else in the city that is called a melting pot. On August 20th, 2286 the morning sunrise blasted a wave of heat into New York City. On this not so special day, Mark could barely stop himself from staring at the streets.Mark had spent 6970$, half of his savings, to buy the virtual gear headset that he had ordered to play “Alternate Life .”
“Alternate Life” is the new fantasy game that takes place in the world called Alistaria. At first the game was treated like any other virtual reality games that come out every year just to die off a few years later because the game had reached its ending. “Alternate Life” proved the audiences wrong. “Alternate Life” was very engaging, magical, and visually stunning. The game play although not new, gave players a new range of freedom. Like the game’s name, it gives the players an alternate life in a world of fantasy. Adventure and quests waits players. Dungeons to be explored and conquest of land.
At first when the game had launched it received massive complains from players as being too hard. Normal games start with you killing cute bunnies or small fries and leveling up to start getting used to the game, but Alternate Life is so hard that 50% of the starters all fail the tutorial.
The tutorial is a simple start where the players are sent to a preset scenario of being a newbie and has landed in a town surrounded by a horde of monster. He/she has to survive the horde in order to pass the tutorial. Through the difficulties, the players are taught how the game works and given lots of freedom. The players can choose to corporate with the guards or try to sneak away from the catastrophe (assuming they have the mechanics and luck). The mission is cleared when the reinforcements arrive and the player is still alive. Because the players are all level 1, 90% of the monster hordes can kill the player in one hit. Because of the absurdity of the tutorial most players die within the first hour of the game. After a death of a player, he/she can’t access the game again until 24 hours later. But because the tutorial was failed, the players have to restart from scratch again.
Although 50% pass the tutorial and guides are made online by those who passed, guides are almost useless for helping the players. The distribution of the monster hordes are random, the attack sequence are also randomly generated. Each minor details that change from the story causes a chain reaction towards what needs to be done and what could be done. This also affects the type of quest that are possible for the players to accept. The guides can only give helpful tips and actions that have a benefit for the survival of the tutorial.Because of the difficulty, the tutorial was named “The Qualifier” because it was a test to see if one had the skill to survive and play the game.
“BTTZZZ, Delivery for package ID: 1257846 D12 A5 A8. Please enter preselected password to receive package.”
“Great my package finally arrived” Mark thought. “I better retrieve it and get it set up in my room before my parents yell at me again….” Mark lived in a house in New York City where many cultures of people clashed and met. His parents are part of the middle class. He graduated from a SUNY college nearby with a Biology major. He is 21, so considered an adult in society. He wanted to be a doctor but realized he just doesn’t have the skills. He has the desire to help people but no matter how hard he tries to take the MCAT, he just doesn’t do well. Facing reality, he gave up the path and decide to be a streamer. He loved games and he played a large variety of fantasy and adventure games himself through his 21 years of life.
Stolen novel; please report.
When he told his parents his decision to become a streamer his parents threw him out for a day to give him time to “think it through.” Of course, he did think it through and he plans to make money through the equipments. He had done some research in the game and found that rare equipments are the average. Any tiers higher become harder and harder to obtain. Although gears could be made with the blacksmith class, there are restrictions.
1) They had to be made by players who had blacksmith as the MAIN Character class and not as a subclass. The main class can’t can’t be switch and is permanent unless a start over is done.
2) When making a tier higher than rare, the craft has to be really well done by hand and with a deeper affliction by the maker. This prevented players who are very precise and good handiwork from making unique or higher tier over and over again to make money.
(Inferior -> Normal -> Rare -> Unique -> Epic -> Legendary -> Divine [-> Origin] )
(Grey- > White -> Green -> Blue -> Purple -> Yellow -> Red [-> ????] )
Mark had a passion for gaming and he has his own stream account that he streams on occasionally. He makes enough money for a few meals every time he streams. His final decision after the “think it through” walk was obviously met with much disapproval from his parents. His parents thought of him as “freeloading” but he is their son and there is nothing they could do about it. They can’t kick him out of the house and say they never had a son. At least his sister Carmen is in dental school and about to graduate. Their only regret was not restricting their disappointment of a son more and prevent his gaming addictions. Comparing the siblings was like comparing heaven and hell (not even earth….) for them.
Mark quickly entered his password “abcmath1958” into the entry. The robot opened the safe box in its chest and exposed the white box that lay within. The box was smooth and only had the words “Alternative Inc. Thank you for your purchase.” Mark quickly took the box and closed the door on the robot before it could say “..Come… Again”
Mark had waited a long time before he decided to get the game. “Alternate Life” had been launched for a year now but he wasn’t willing to spend his life savings for the game. He is very stingy and declined to spend money on games through his life. This was the first game he spent money on in the 21 years of his life! Looking at the headset, Mark felt confliction. He had spent almost 7000$ for this set of head gear that was only as big as his head. 7000$ dollarss!!! HIS LIFE SAVINGS!!!! He just hope he doens’t disappoint himself and actaully become a “freeloader” that he refuses to become. He doesn’t plan on being a Hikikomori for real… or so he hopes T.T.
With a bit of ambivalence he tore open the box and revealed the head set version 3. He wore the headset and lay flat on his bed. His hands on the trigger that will start his new life and career (hikikomori/ a real streamer). Closing his eyes, his neurons sent the final signal to trigger the on switch, leading to a new page in his life.
On this not so special day, Mark made his life turning point step towards becoming a full time gamer. He was just a speck of statistic of millions around the world that decided to adventure in Alistaria.