My name is Andrew Mackenzie, and I am about to start my new life in a new game.
Virtual reality games have been around for about 20 earth years now and I have been an avid player since the start of it. I even went ahead and uploaded myself to the virtual community 3 earth years ago. I figured since this was where I spent all my time I may as well let go of my physical body. I took horrible care of it anyway. I have a job as a streamer, with an editor, web developer, and general badass manager A.I. named Carlie. She manages all of my videos and game footage for me, as well as doing the same stuff for around a hundred other streamers. A.I.’s are monsters when it comes to managerial stuff and number crunching. Anyway, as I said before, I’m about to start a new game, but not just any game. Exile Online. Now you are probably thinking “Oh look, another VR game. Just like all the other VR games.” And I would agree with you on any other ‘just came out’ VR I’ve played in the last decade, but not this one. This one is truly unique in comparison to all the other games I’ve played. It has a huge amount of different systems, but they all stem from 2 massive changes.
First, the game has a long term log-in policy. This means that in order to play the game, you are actually stuck in game for at least 1 earth year, or 4 in game years, at a time. In addition, if you log out after that period, you have to wait another 1 earth year just to log back in. Now this seems crazy at first glance, but it’s actually a medical requirement because the game can give players extra sensory abilities, let you control extra limbs, and does knowledge and skill downloads straight to the player’s brain. If they didn’t have this policy your brain would fry from repeatedly switching from what is basically a massive sensory overload to sensory deprivation over and over again. But for me, this doesn’t matter since I’m logging in to stay anyway. I am virtual after all.
Second, the game hides all stats and runs them in the background. That’s right, you don’t know your levels, your ability scores, your health, mana, or anything. The numbers just don’t get shown to you. Instead, in situations where a player would need to know that kind of information, they give you an approximate descriptive word that tells you how strong and weak, or high and low, something is IN COMPARISON TO EVERYTHING ELSE. Want to know how much extra damage an enchant gives? It gives a low damage boost. How strong is that monster? It is moderately stronger than you. They have 7 levels, from lowest to highest its: slight, low, decent, average, moderate, large, and huge. That’s it. This change caused a massive ripple through all of the in game systems. Races are different, classes are different, skills are different, abilities are different, everything. It’s amazing and insane all wrapped up together.
And that is basically all the information I have about the game. The company behind the game, Gamers United, is very tight lipped about any in game information and all the beta testers signed very severe and binding non-disclosure agreements. Apparently the in game tutorial and help systems are very robust and informative, but Gamers United has also stated that a lot of the fun and draw of the game is going to be variability in character builds, discovery and exploration so the help systems probably only help on the basics.
But enough of that. New life, here I come.
Chapter 1
I speed through all of the form filling; setting up an account, connecting to my streamer account, Gamers United’s legal forms. I’m glad that’s all done. Now, onto character creation!
???: Welcome to Exile Online. My name is Zan, and I will be assisting you with creating your character.
Wow, that got started fast. As soon as I started character creation there was a bright flash and a beautiful voice spoke out. Looking around, I appear to be in an area filled with a pale white mist. I can’t see anything, no walls, floors, or ceiling, just mist. Well, and this amazingly gorgeous woman wearing a sleeveless white dress.
Me: Nice to meet you Zan, and thanks for helping me.
It always pays to be nice to A.I., learned that from a little thing called “Prior Experience,” especially when there is a possibility that they may be gods or goddesses in a game. They tend to be sneaky about revenge. Zan has long silver hair flowing down to the middle of her back, large breasts, wide hips, and a face I would put on a “Top 10 most beautiful women” list without hesitation, but the most striking part of her are her eyes. They seem to be a whirlpool of swirling ever changing colors that just suck you right in.
Zan: The first part is choosing a race. There are currently 98 races available to choose from. Once a race is selected, you will choose a gender and then modify your appearance.
Damn this list is long. It’s got the basic fantasy races, humans, elves, dwarves, and orcs, but then it has all these extra races, like elementals, dryads, draconian, and beast kin. What really drives the number up though is the number of half breeds. There is a half human half whatever for a good portion of the things on the list, you can do elven and dwarfish hybrids too.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Me: Do these races gain any starting bonuses? I’m not seeing anything mentioned on the list.
Zan: Races gain bonuses that reflect their biology, culture, and lore. However, these bonuses are not shown at this time and can be viewed once in game. This is done to allow players to choose a race that they are comfortable not only playing as, but living as, without worrying about optimum choices.
Alright, nice reasoning and I appreciate that kind of philosophy, but it doesn’t really help my decision. The problem for me is that I’ve always been a versatile and adaptable player. I can play anything, tanks, healers, damage dealers, support; I’ve played them all and been good at them all. Sure there are some I’m better at than others, but I’ve never been unable to do a great job in any role. So at this point I’m just picking a race I’ll enjoy to live as, but I’ll enjoy any of them. Gah! I’ve been agonizing over this for about 10 minutes already and I’m no closer to making a decision.
Me: I may as well just roll the dice and see what I get at this point.
Zan: I can randomly choose a race for you if that is what you wish.
Me: Wait! Seriously?!
The corners of her mouth twitch up.
Zan: Indeed.
That……sounds pretty amazing actually. I’ve always been of the opinion that playing with the hand you have been dealt is more fun than picking the best cards.
Me: That sounds perfect actually, although I would like to add something, if I may?
Zan: That will depend on what it is, but I am most certainly willing to hear you out.
Me: Can I not know what race I get until I get into the game?
She raises her eyebrows in surprise.
Zan: That is acceptable, but this would cause your gender and appearance to be based on your current appearance. Would you still like to do this?
Me: Yes.
Zan: Very well. Your race, gender, and appearance will be chosen when you transition into the game world. The next choice is of your starting traits.
Me: Hold on, can you explain traits for me?
Zan: Due to the lack of information and direction granted to players, as well as classes being earned in game and not started with, you will be provided the choice of starting with traits that give various bonuses or detriments to your character. Traits are ranked from 1-5, where rank 1 traits have the least impact and rank 5 have the most impact on your character. In addition there are positive traits, which provide positive bonuses, and negative traits, which provide negative bonuses. You are able to choose a free trait, with a maximum of rank 2. After that free trait, your traits must be balanced. If you wished to gain an extra positive trait that is rank 4, you would need to also take enough negative traits to make up for 4 ranks of negative traits. Did you follow the explanation?
Me: Yeah, but before you give me the list, can I randomize this too?
Now she looks absolutely shocked. Haha! I shocked a goddess! Achievement unlocked! (Not really)
Zan: I can, but are you sure? All the other players I have helped all considered this to be the most important choice they made in the character creation process.
I give her a smile
Me: Yup! When you take a chance, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, but it will always be interesting. I’m here to have fun, and this having a random character is going to be a blast!
She gives me smile and laughs.
Zan: I think you will be an interesting character to follow. Alright, I’ll randomize your traits as well. I look forward to seeing your adventures.
???: As will I.
I spin around to see who that last voice was. Standing behind me is another woman, but this one is wearing a form fitting dark blue pinstripe suit, with sky blue eyes, and sporting a pixie cut with bright pink hair. Where Zan was super model material, this woman was more my type, with just the right amount of curves in just the right places.
???: Keep on taking chances, and I’ll be sure to make them interesting.
I see her smile, and then the world flashes again and goes black.
You have gained a Blessing: Fortune's Smile"When you take a chance, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, but it will always be interesting."