- Welcome to Royal Road: Elementarem Vim. Please enter your purchase id. –
A young boy stood in a white room that stretched infinitely in all directions. Most VR game titles
had more user friendly activation interface. Usually to help the mind of players absorb the change in perceived environment, players typically began in a lobby where an attendant would offer them coffee/drinks/snacks and ask them questions linked with activation process. Elemtarem Vim did away with all of that. Most users who logged on thought this was another marketing gimmick to distinguish the game from other VR games. The truth was far more simpler, Unicorn programmers did not have the time to design the activation interface. 11 months was too little of time to design and develop a new game and given the ideas Lee Hyun had, most senior level programmers estimated at least 3-3.5 years of production time and another 6 months of beta testing.
Lee Hyun skipped the beta testing, for him it was race against time. His precious money was now locked in with Unicorn. He only made the programmers focus on the main aspects of the game and completely overlooked the other aspects. So while most players thought this was done to attract their attention, reality was the game was still under development.
“RR2EV-PA-000-000-000-006”
- Unique purchase id, accepted. –
- This purchase is amongst the first 1,000,000 purchases. Bonus Skill points (SP) will be applied. –
- This purchase is amongst the first 10,000 purchases. Bonus Skill points will be applied. –
- This purchase is amongst the first 100 purchases. Bonus Skill points will be applied. –
With each passing bonus stat application message that popped up, the boy’s grin grew bigger and bigger.
Rewards in terms of bonus skill points for being the first to purchase online access to a VR game was very popular marketing tool. Even in its initial days Royal Road didn’t employ such marketing gimmicks (It was amongst the first VR games…that made a great selling point in it self). Lee Hyun would have made the first purchase of Royal Road, if they had offered bonus skill points. The reward of bonus skill points for being the first to purchase provided VR games a player base even before the game was developed.
Marketing guru’s considered it an excellent way to entice users into playing a game. Lee Hyun thought it was just good business sense. Unicorn was a cash starved company. With the initial hype setup 11 months ago, giving people the option to purchase online access early on, meant money inflow to the firm. Though players could not play the game, but when the game did go online, their purchase codes would provide them with rewards (such as bonus SP). With Elementarem Vim priced at US$ 99 yearly fees (which is considered a normal price), within the first three months of its release, it sold a million online access codes. Most of the purchasers were professional gamers and programming companies who would usually make small investments like this in games as a hedge just in case the game became very popular, they could always switch games and the bonus SP would add to their game play in the long run. Whatever the users reasons for purchase maybe, Lee Hyun helped Unicorn raise, $99 million in three months. Lee Hyun didn’t use a single cent from his investment of $50 million. He never planned to.
Select your avatar name –
-
“Weed.” The young boy had a cold malicious smile as he spoke that name.
-
Select your race. Royal Road: Elementarem Vim has 49 races. Currently only 4 races are
accessible. Please chose from Dwarves, Humans, Elves and Orcs.
“Info menu compare all race stats.”
A window popped up in front of the young boy.
Comparing all race statsDwarfBonus Skill Points (SP)/Stats: Increased Intelligence, Brute Strength,
Creativity, Defense. Anti-Stat/SP: Lower Patience and Fighting Power. Would like to know more?HumansBonus SP/Stats: Increased Dexterity. No anti-bonus stats. Would like to know more?ElvesBonus SP/Stats: Increased Wisdom, Intelligence, Health,
Elemental Affinity. Anti Stat /SP: Low Brute Strength, Fighting Power,
Defense. Additional Bonus: Looks of avatar will become more beautiful at every
level. Additional Penalty: Cannot choose certain professions. Additional Penalty:
Maximum weight carried – 50 Kgs. Additional Penalty: Can only wear light amour. Would like to know more?OrcsBonus SP/Stats: Brute Strength, Critical Hit. Anti Stat/SP: Lower
intelligence, wisdom and creativity. Additional Bonus: Can wear 6 levels of amour.
Additional Bonus: Maximum Stamina +50 base stat every level. Additional Bonus:
Critical Hit +0.05% every level. Additional Penalty: Low elemental affinity and
resistance.Would like to know more?
The young boy thought about it for a while and chose “Elf Race”.
-
Select your Elemental Affinity. Royal Road: Elementarem Vim has 21 elemental affinities. Currently 7 are accessible. Please choose from: Air, Water, Earth, Fire, Force, Life, Neutral. Please note, your elemental affinity determines your starting location and quests. Elemental Affinities cannot be changed once selected.
“Info menu compare all Elemental Affinity.”
Comparing all elemental affinitiesAirCan use mana to manipulate air.WaterCan use mana to manipulate water.EarthCan use mana to manipulate earth.FireCan use mana to manipulate Fire. Bonus Stat: Damage
dealt is 100% more than other elemental affinities. Anti- Stat: High Impatience.
Additional Penalty: Requires a container (can be gained in-game).ForceCan use mana to manipulate energy. Bonus Stat: High
resistance to primary elements.LifeCan use mana to manipulate life. Can be considered
similar to priests / healers.NeutralCannot use mana. By selecting neutral affinity, you
can defer your affinity choice. In case you do not select an elemental affinity
by level 100, you will be granted with additional bonus SP. Please note, a
neutral cannot chose an affinity after level 99. Additional Penalty: Any elemental
affinity selected will suffer from 20% lower attributes.
There was still too little information about the game. The concept of Elemental Affinity was not very well explained. But clearly in the new Royal Road, it seemed to be playing a major role. The title itself contained the words ‘Elemental Powers’ in Latin. Not choosing an element would be risky. The young boy needed more information.
“Info menu more detail on Neutral Affinity.”
This affinity was created for players who would prefer the old fashioned Royal Road. Neutral players also run the risk of ending up with the primary elemental affinity accidentally / unknowingly. Neutral players can use elements via other devices. However such element powers cannot match those with whose have selected a primary element (Affinity will suffer from 50% lower attributes).
- Would you like to know more? -
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
“No.”
Lee Hyun had made it simple for gamers. Either select a primary class now or decide later with a 20%-
50% lower attack power. The young thought to himself. “Neutral Affinity, eh?” Where there are risks there are bound to be great rewards. The only problem was, he could not re-use the bonus SP he gained from being amongst the first purchasers if he decided to change affinities later.
- You have selected Neutral Affinity. Please Confirm. -
Unfortunately the young boy too was lost in his thoughts to notice that he spoke ‘Neutral Affinity’ out aloud and that the AI was requesting for a confirmation. Still lost in deep thought, the boy was mentally imagining what the game could potentially be like. Theoretically, Fire looked the best. But he had no idea what a container was. He checked the Fire Affinity details, but found no description of it. One of the problems with being the first players was always the risk associated with it. Most pro-gamers had a rule to never join a game within the first week to 3 months of its release. They usually waited for others to try, goof up and learn from their mistakes. Even Lee Hyun had waited a year before playing Royal Road, waiting and preparing became a standard norm in the gaming world. But the boy was time pressed. He could no wait and watch like others. He knew someone from the inside of Unicorn who said that like Royal Road, Elementarem Vim would have non-repeatable quests. So essentially, given the high level
of gaming one could be assured that all good quests could disappear within a year and would never reappear. (All other VRMMORPG usually have some recurring quests, Royal Road was the only exception to this rule.) In a game like Royal Road, the entry timing and information makes all the difference. He had taken substantial risk by just playing the game the day it went online, there was no need to risk it further.
“Okay. I choose Win..”
- Neutral Affinity selected -
“Eh?” The boy stood in shock. What just happened? He didn’t select Neutral Affinity. He wanted to choose Wind!!
“Info Menu Help - Call customer care.”
“Hello, this WeiChi. How may I help you customer.”
“Hi, the AI selected Neutral Affinity for me. I didn’t get to choose my affinity.”
“Let me just check Sir….No sir, as far as I can see, you have indeed selected Neutral Affinity.”
“Wait a second! That’s not possible!!”
“Please see for yourself.”
A window popped in front of the young boy and a video replayed of how he ended up with Neutral
Affinity. The boy cursed himself. Then cried and begged the Customer Care to undo the accidental selection. But no matter how much he wailed or whined, they simply could not do it. The boy sat on the white floor as tears rolled down his cheek. His precious money, months of research were all made irrelevant in a single moment of absent mindedness.
The customer care representative could understand the child’s pain. He called up Jin Hyuna to see if there could be anything extra they could do for the child. She responded saying it would be unfair to other gamers if they increased bonus SP that nullified the 20% deduction in elemental or physical attributes. However considering the young boy being amongst the first 10 purchasers and only 10 years old, the admin should feel free to provide any other stat. The customer care relayed Jin Hyuna’s words to the young boy whose eyes were now puffed with all the excessive crying. He thought about it for a minute and then request that his “Luck” stat be increased.
The customer care, rechecked with Jin Hyuna, who gave the approval to do so. The boy continued with the activation process.
- You may alter your appearance. –
“Increase height to 6 feet. Long golden hair, blue eyes. Skin tone fair.”
- You may alter only two physical features. Alternatively, you may purchase further physical changes in-game. Please select again. –
This was a new twist. All VR games allowed people to alter their looks however much they wanted free of charge. This would surely discourage some players from playing, thought the young boy.
“Increase age of character to 20 years old. Increase height to 6 feet.”
The young boy was taking a risk. Increasing age meant multiple, physical appearance changes. Most games considered it as one change. Fortunately for him, Elementarem Vim did so as well. The young boy, now looked like a tall 20 year old man.
Your account has been activated. –
- Would you like to encash Royal Road or other game characters or items for bonus SP? –
“Yes”
- Please upload data…. Data received.… Would you like to receive Bonus SP or Bonus Items in lieu for your encashed characters and items? -
“Money.”
Sorry this option is not available at the moment. Unicorn management has decided to provide
monetary compensation starting next year for all items. However, you may lock your data with us it shall be encashed into monetary compensation. Alternatively, you may continue holding this data and encash it again next year. –
-
Before he could say anything, a window popped up.
Important Message from Unicorn: Complete your
personal unique quest, be the strongest player in the world or lead the strongest
guild and complete 3 SSS quests. If you fulfill these conditions you will be
rewarded US $1 billion. Total monetary compensation may increase overtime. Terms
and Conditions Apply.
The boys jaws dropped open. One billion US dollars. The amount of money was ridiculous. He re-read the message twice. So the rumors were true. Unicorn is desperately trying to gain players. The boy was just about to encash his Royal Road characters and items for an estimated US$ 200. He counted the number of zeros in a billion. (there are 9). He didn’t even know how many 200 dollars made a billion. (it is 50,000,000). The boy wasn’t the only one who felt the shock of the monetary payout. Every player received this message and were left with their mouths open. Everyone encashed their Royal Road characters and items for bonus SP, nobody gave it a second thought.
“Encash all characters and items for Bonus SP.”
- Items encashed. You will receive all bonus stat points to allocate upon reaching level one and
completing 20 in game hours. –
- Initiating Game, in 5, 4…. –
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Authors Note:
1. Editing Credits: Knaivvs
2. Selection of Gender option has been intentionally removed at the time of activation process / avatar creation. You will read more about this in the coming chapters.
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Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter?YesNo
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