Gordon Rammidge, known as Gordo to the few friends he had, as well as his online character name, pulled his virtual reality goggles from his face and dropped them down, carefully, onto the computer table top in front of him. He had finally defeated the ogres cavern quest in Dawnlands, and regained his position at the top of the players ranking, though it had taken him a week of playing every day for four hours. He got up from his computer an lay down on his bed, stiff and tired from sitting down in the one position for the last couple of hours . It had been a rather difficult quest, as the Chief Ogre had an unbelievable regeneration rate. Yawning, he relaxed back into his mattress and pillow, and nodded off.

Gordon was one of the few original players left who had joined Dawnlands in its beta stage, three years ago, and even with the limited play area and eventual release as a full game, he had yet to find another game that kept his interest, or even excited him. No other release since had the quality of gameplay, or variety that Dawnlands had, and the owners of the game still released expansions and updates, which was unusual for a game of its age. By defeating the Ogre Cavern Quest, added in the last update, Gordon had now completed every known quest or task within the game, one of the few players to have done so. He knew this before starting the quest, and he held out hope that more would be added with the next update. He knew every inch of the game map, as it was only covered an area of one hundred miles square. This was still large for these types of games, considering the amount of work needed to create realistic environments and local citizenry.

There were rumors of a land expansion in the works, to greatly increase the available surface area in the game, but these rumors had been around since the beta release, and most players considered this as hopeful wishing rather than creditable information. There had been, in fact, a lot of rumours going around about Dawnlands, such as technical development to create new and better methods of accessing the game, but again, this was disregarded as what could replace the VR Goggles, still the best equipment available anywhere. If there was better equipment, even in development, then there would have been press releases of this months ago, and there had not been. Gordon had chased down all rumors of this, as he always searched for better ways to increase the reality experience of his gaming. Every lead led to dead ends and false forum bragging by players trying to gain reputation among the gaming fraternity. The only advancement he had ever located was a hack to the current goggles that allowed a player to install new experimental codecs that managed to add a greater range of colors and sharpened the graphics a little, nice when first experienced, but not really noticeable after a while, and allowed a greater range of sounds and noises. Unfortunately these could brick a pair of goggles with any future, and legal, updates to the firmware.

It was while Gordon was sleeping off his latest gaming jaunt that the company released the information regarding the games latest, and greatest, update.

Gordon was woken up by the ringing of the phone next to his bed. It jolted him awake, interrupting a pleasant dream he was having. He was just about to be crowned king of the game, and a beautiful elven queen stood in front of him, the crown raised above his head, her well endowed chest leaning forward towards his face. He was awake before the crown had descended, feeling a little annoyed by the interruption , and reached for the ringing phone. Lifting it to his ear, he spoke. “Hello ?”

“Gordo, its me Tim. It’s been three hours and you hadn’t called yet. Wondered if something was wrong.” Came the voice from the other end, and it sounded excited. Tim was one of the few friends he had, living just down the street. They had grown up together, going to the same schools and playing the same games together. Tim had been the one who had helped him finish the last quest. Tim hadn’t joined during beta, being hospitalized at the time to have his appendix out, and had started playing when the full game was released. He wasn’t as avid a gamer as Gordon, but still enjoyed it enough to stay playing all this time. Tim was more of a sports fan, and preferred to play those types of games. Sometimes Gordon joined him because he knew it wasn’t fair if he only played Dawnlands with Tim.

“Ah.. Tim. Sorry, nothings wrong, been asleep since the quest. “ He sat up and rubbed his face to wake up a little more. “What’s up, you sound excited about something.” He looked out the window and saw that evening was drawing in, the clouds all pink and purple from the sun setting.

“You’re kidding. You mean you don’t know the news ? Wow, this must be the first time I have managed to beat you to the punch. I can not believe this, the greatest thing to happen, and you have missed it”

“Tim…. What the hell are you going on about?”

“No, I’m not going to tell you now, I think I will let you find out yourself. All I will say is that this is something you have always wanted, something big.” Gordon could hear Tim chuckling to himself at the other end. He then continued. “Look, just go and check the forums, then get back to me once you find out what. I don’t want to spoil this, now anyway, for you.” He hung up, still chuckling suspiciously.

Gordon stood up and ran one hand through his dark hair. It was damp with sweat from the afternoon heat. The call had him confused, especially with the cryptic remarks Tim had made. Greatest ? Big ? He still couldn’t get any idea from this, for he wanted a lot of things but couldn’t single out one that may have interested Tim. Must have something to do with the game, he thought, and all I want there, really, is a new update, but why would he say it was big ? Only one way to solve this, time to check the game forums.

Logging onto to Lands of Dawn forums, he was instantly aware something major was happening, for hundreds of new threads had been added since his last visit. Normally there would only be a handful of new entries, as just about everything had already been covered. He sat down, realizing he was in for an extended stint searching the forums to see what all the buzz was about, but in the end, the reality was only one thread was really required to find out what happened, and that was a thread headed Dawnlands, The New Beginning.

Topic : Dawnlands, The New Beginning

Poster: Energetic Entertainment

Number of views: 12,768,864

Number of posts: 36.547

Energetic Entertainment is pleased to announce to all its loyal players the release of the next generation of Dawnlands. This release can not be considered as an update, or even an expansion, for this is a whole new program, designed from the ground up to provide everyone with a greater gaming experience. The game will be much larger, much more complex and… much more real.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

This new version will be named Dawnlands, The New Beginning, and it will run separately from the older, original game. Players who wish to port their characters across to the new game may do so, but with a penalty, the main one being a reduction in levels, experience and some equipment. Game Money can also be transferred between the games, but as each use a different currency, there will be an exchange rate for doing so. Players who transfer their character across to the new game will have their older character deleted.

Dawnlands the original, will no longer be updated or expanded, as we now consider this game complete, but will host it as long as there are people playing it. Please note, players can not have a character running in each game, and any player found to be in breach of this restriction will have all characters, money and equipment deleted from both games.

Now for the good news, what can you as a player expect from the new game, well here are a few of the games features, and a more comprehensive list can be found by downloading the Game Manual here

Extensive playing environment covering 144 million square miles, or 12,000 miles x 12,000 miles (and expanding)

All game access costs covered by purchase of necessary equipment to play

New realistic graphics, sound, smell, touch and taste (dependent upon equipment used)

New intelligence feature, unique to NPCs, Monster and Creatures

Withdraw in game currency to real money (exchange rate applies – don’t expect to get rich)

In game purchases with real currency

All quests, tasks, errands and missions totally unique.

100% Player, NPC, Monster and Creature respawn – No living creature will die permaently

New NPC, Monster and Creature remembrance feature

New Heuristic Learning Protocol for non-playing beings (they learn from your actions)

Realistic creature behavior, including NPCs and monsters

Legally mandated time restrictions on daily gameplay, dependent upon player equipment

New Settlement feature, build your own towns, villages, castles…. even kingdoms

Brand new player management system

Realism factor 100% - You will really think you are there (equipment type dependent)

And much, much more.

Game items purchasable in game shop for real money., some items only available through real money purchase.

Now you can live a life in Dawnlands, The New Beginning, doing anything you wish. Players are not restricted to combat characters only and can own and run shops as well as many other things.

Read the Game Manual for more Information, as well as visit our home site for more information on required equipment and transferring your character

***Due to the advanced nature of the program current player equipment will no longer support Dawnlands, The New Beginning. Please go to Energetic Entertainment homepage to find out what equipment is required and what costs are involved.***

Thank You

Energetic Entertainment.

Sitting back in amazement, and a little excitement, Gordon thought about the information provided. It was just enough to get his attention, but he would need to download that game manual and really check it out thoroughly before he knew exactly what this game was about. He already knew he would transfer across, he had done everything in the older game, but needed to know what to expect when he did so. As he sat there thinking about what could be included in the game, his inbox dinged to let him know a new message had arrived in it. While he had noticed the messages arrival, he ignored it at this time. He didn’t have that many people he was friends with, and all of them would just have rang him if they wanted to speak to him. This was most probably spam, he thought.

His phone rang, breaking into his thoughts. He still had it in his hand from his earlier call, forgotten after he had started to read the game announcement. He looked down and saw the call was from Tim again, so he raised it and selected the accept button. “Tim.”

“Oh, Gordo, Decided to ring, couldn’t wait . Have you seen it yet ?” was Tims reply.

“If you mean the new game announcement, yes, just finished reading it. Pretty exciting stuff, but I haven’t finished checking up on some things about it yet, especially the mention of equipment requirements. From the sound of it, it probably means I’ll have to purchase either an update to my googles, or new goggles.”

“Dead wrong there, I have already checked this out. It won’t be using goggles.”

“What?” exclaimed Gordon. “How the hell can they run a virtual reality if it won’t take googles. Goggles are the only possible way to access any decent virtual reality program, all the rest of the crap in the shops don’t hold a candle to them.”

“Well, you would have been right last week, but it seems Energetic Entertainment have been keeping secrets. I have been on their site to check out what is needed to play, and they have three completely new VR systems there that are now available for purchase, but they aren’t cheap.” Tim sounded disappointed at mentioning this. “If I decide to play this new version of the game I better start saving now. For what they are asking it better be something worth it.”

Gordon was surprised at this, usually information on new technology leaked fairly rapidly onto the forums, and there hadn’t been even a creditable whisper to his knowledge. Oh, there had been rumors, but only the usual ones that had been around for years, and he had checked them all out thoroughly. Not one of them led back to anything that could be considered as believable. “Three? Wonder what they are?” he muttered aloud, nor realizing that this sounded like a question he was asking rather than just a form of cogitation.

Tim probably thought Gordon was asking him about them for he answered. “Well. First off they have a full face mask that you use while laying down. Uses something called a Picobot Transmission Shunt to connect you to the game. Sounds painful to me, but all the systems generally use this same system. Takes instructions directly from the nervous system. The mask will let a player access the game for up to four hours a day total”

“Wonder how they manage to do that.” Gordon interjected. “That could be dangerous.”

“Dunno about that, but they state that the system has been fully tested, and passed by the health authorities. Now, next they have a full body suit which basically does the same but allows a player longer time online a day, up to ten hours a day. The third option is a game pod, looks like a futuristic coffin to me, and will let a player stay online for up to twenty four hours continuous play before it makes you take a break.”

“Wonder why they have suck time restrictions on playing ? Seems weird to me, unless they have done this to make people buy the more expensive units to get more gameplay.”

“Well,” started Tim, ”from what I read on their site, the restrictions are health based. They have been implemented at the request of the government inspectors so that people using the equipment don’t suffer any physical harm . The better equipment have capabilities which monitor the players health while they play and maintains the muscular system .”

“Interesting.” Was the only reply Gordon had. Until he fully checked out all the information about all the systems, he had no way of really appreciating, or have suspicions about, any of the systems. He really needed to get onto the game site and have a look. Until that was done he wasn’t going to jump the gun and purchase anything that would ultimately prove to be unsuitable to his own requirements. “Look, once I have had time to really look into all of this, I’m not switching over. Give me a couple of days and I will let you know what I will probably do.”

“No problems, Im not even sure myself yet if I want to play the game. It’s a lot of money they are asking and things are a bit tough here at the moment.”