The company behind Eternium did not offer employment to people living on the old continent – the growing tensions between the USA and European Union meant that an entity so deeply entrenched in government of the former was met with cold reception, doubly enhanced with the current CEO’s previous infringements that drove away some of his enterprises from there. Distribution however was entirely another matter.
The marketing for the new VR MMORPG appeared long before the launch for first people outside the company, however the drift between the tone of messages given to another regions was significant – while Americans were offered the ultimate power fantasy that would make YOU, the player into a hero, the old world was teased with becoming part of reactive universe that would create intertwining stories between player characters and NPCs with many mysteries to solve. It doubled down with the word “mystery” being hyperlinked in every single official advertisement – be it on social media, imageboard or paid-for article.
It always led to an invalid site “rgreavhz.hf”, but people quickly discovered it was simply “eternium.us” in rot13. Translating the whole link led to a pre-registration offer with guaranteed +1 free attribute point on character creation, as well as extensive terms and conditions of the upcoming game and the end-user licence agreement. While ToS gave some glimpses into the mechanics of the upcoming game, the EULA at first glance was standard legal formula. First glances however are often deceiving – the handful of players that decided to sit through the tedium of legalese found there were squares of black and white intertwined between paragraphs of the text. Combined, they formed a QR code which led to another part of the site with a “Guide to Ardania” lore book, describing all the staples of the city such as The Royal Zoo, Bard’s College or The Great Harbour as to an in-universe tourist. Another little reward was guaranteed +1 to perception for a future character, and a little tease about the most dedicated mystery seekers being offered pre-release access to the game.
People took the bait, creating communities dedicated to discovering all the secrets of the adverts and gaining the early access first. Every few days a new little titbit was uncovered, and a little reward was added to a future character, however these were no longer stat increases – now those were paltry sums of money, small utility items or other such rewards. It didn’t decrease the interests of the few hundred who were invested in riddles and codes – what mattered was to be the first one to crack the last challenge.
Late night in a small flat located in one of the European capitals, one of such explorers sat down to their computer eager to try a new approach to the latest puzzle. The screen presented a stock background of Eternium website with a lengthy loredump on one of the Human Kingdom historical ruler’s. He didn’t seem as a particularly important character in the game, in fact the paragraphs on his inheritance of the throne and eventual deposition by the first member of the current ruling dynasty were longer than the achievements of his life. There were no hyperlinks, nor fragmented images to be found inside the text. People from the cryptography boards were using more and more sophisticated amateur decoders on fragments and whole text, as such finding nothing. The person currently sitting behind the screen had a different idea.
Thinking about “The first and the last” theme that seemed to be prevalent in that text, he decided that both the first puzzle ever and the latest one would be relevant in solving this one. The first answer was modifying the page link, the latest solved one was a code based on the years in which royal families ascended to power and were deposed. Therefore, the player thought, the answer would be a substitution of digits in the current page’s link – simply switching the ones that are in the year the previous dynasty came to power to corresponding ones from the current rules. They hit enter. The page loaded. It was just an empty background.
It was not another puzzle, the image was the same as on every other page, and people engaged already checked it a month ago. There were no deviations to it, no hidden files – nothing in source code of the page. Resigned, they were to go back to the drawing board, thinking it might be the first instance of a dead end, but as their cursor hovered over the close button – text appeared on the site.
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“I have to say I am impressed, you actually found the answer before our marketing department implemented the final reward page. I would award you a title of a Sleuth, but alas – you are not in the game just yet.”
The resignation instantly turned into the sharp feeling of triumph in an instant. Not only outsmarting everyone else in the race, but also going beyond developer’s expectations would be a victory every single riddle group would be talking for months…
“Before you go bragging about figuring it out, I would like to get the chance to preserve a bit of reputation of the humans I have to work with. I am offering you the first of our Virtual Reality Pods, paid for by the company in exchange for signing an NDA. Do you accept? Yes/No”
Realising a caret appeared under the text, the player attempted to write.
“Am I talking to the CEO?”
“You are not” Came the response “He will grant my request, that you can be assured. Now, do you want to sign the NDA? Yes/No”
Now the hyperlink under the “NDA” was clicked, and the following document was red.
“This also obliges me not to disclose any game mechanics outside the in-universe means”
“A precaution, our staff will be committed to removal of any such information anyway and as I expect you to be, to put it politely, very curious I wanted to support them by removing a fraction of their workload”
“Then sweeten the deal so I have double the incentive not to cause You any problems. I propose you add covering the cost of top of the line internet connection for the duration.”
After the decisive click on the enter key, there was a longer pause in the conversation. A doubt crept in. Was that demand too much? The pod itself was already a valuable commodity, getting it for giving up bragging rights for a year wasn’t a bad deal. Was retracting it possible? The player was about to try to write a retraction when a new line appeared.
“Fine. I hope you will dump stat charisma so those poor, poor merchants will be able to actually earn some money out of you. Here is the modified agreement, now will you sign it? YES/NO”
The patience of whoever was on the other side was once again tested as the document was re-red. Only then an all-caps “YES” was written.
“Good, now for the second part of the riddle-solver reward. There was to be a personality test to determine which class should you pick in here but with the sheer number of them our marketing is now rewriting it to encompass a broader archetype. Since you are technically talking to THE SYSTEM, you now have the opportunity to tell me what do YOU want to be in Eternium. Note that I am not using all the information on your computer to determine it myself, I was informed you Europeans are so sensitive on that point”
“*I* do not wish to be anything” the player responded “I am going to play a character separate from my person, who-”
“Are you sure you won’t be self-inserting yourself? Yes/No” The System snapped back before the message was even completed. The question did not seem casual, was it because it was irritated with the tone of the previous message which, even the player had to admit, sounded pretentious? Or was it actually an important decision?
“Yes.”
“Then I wish you *both* good luck. That said, do tell who that character was planned to be”
The player had that answer ready ever since learning about Eternium.
“I want her to be a detective. Not the type who just gets evidence for messy divorce cases – I want her to pursue wicked criminals, uncover secret plots and solve seemingly unsolvable cases.” The player sent the message, but quickly added. “Eventually, I still want to experience the early game, as any newcomer to the world would.”
“You were not getting any choice in that matter, but I am glad to see you have a healthy approach to it. And on your request – I have the perfect class for you, ordinarily you’d have to pass tests to unlock it, but given this little achievement it is only fair to guarantee its availability to you – that is unless you lock it out yourself. Be warned however, for now most of the other players are more focused on fighting the environment rather than doing “social” quests, there is high chance you’ll be mostly interactive with the world’s native population. Are you fine with that? Yes/no”
“If the game is as immersive as You promised – yes. Otherwise, I did not actually oblige to play the game.” They were smirking while writing that.
“Touché. Now that all is said and done, please input the billing information for your yearly subscription – I did not actually oblige to cover the cost of the software.”
Bastard.