I was dying. No, it wasn’t some slaughter in Karma or caused by the musclehead’s training. Even Erestran could be said to be part of my daily routine, although a tough and often frustrating one.

No, real life sneaked up on me, sneaked up on a lot of gamer out there.

For a day now I couldn’t log into Karma. There was a system message preceding my plight that more than baffled me:

Please pay attention player!

Due to pending government law enforcement accounts from US citizens will be suspended indefinitely.

You will be disconnected from server in two gaming hours. Please move your avatar to a neutral or friendly zone to avoid death.

For further information please contact your local congressman or the office of Senator Shawn Davies (Ohio).

‘Who the fuck is Shawn Davies and who gives a damn about Ohio?’, were my thoughts in this moment. It was supposed to be the day I would be accepted as blacksmith apprentice. Shit!

To vent my anger I powered myself out in the training hall of doom. It was enough to calm me down until I logged out and was looking for the reason within the Net. With hindsight it was a good thing a head finished my coffee when I smashed the cup at my wall.

There was a reason I and the complete US of A were not able to log into in Karma right now.

Mentioned senator from Ohio, Shawn Davies, had a son in the early twenties. That’s not really uncommon. The problem was that local law in Karma punished his sonny, heavily. As repeat offender he was brutally executed in public. To make matters worse other gamer recorded the spectacle and put it online.

Long story short, he ran to his daddy and Mr. Senator was trying to sue Unicode and bring in a new bill to completely over-regulate virtual reality, game or not.

Unicode on the other hand did not really care and pulled the plug.

***

With another free week right in front of me I didn’t know what to do. Sulking wasn’t an option for me, too boring. After grocery shopping and some healthy cooking tryouts my enthusiasm was almost depleted. I probably had to work on that.

The Net was another option, but bothered the crap out of me. Asian and European players had a new sport in making fun of us, that there was a new dark continent. While always some random Canadian would pop up and claim that the other half of North America was still alive and kicking.

I was waiting for the next GON stream with Lilith Anihcam. There were ads everywhere for a big show tonight. With so much free time on my hands I wouldn’t miss this.

To bridge that gap I decided to write my congressman a flaming hate mail and spam quite a few Facebook and Twitter accounts with my opinion. A lot of people were pissed off either by the senator or Unicode or both.

With a bowl of chips and crackers on my lap and a beer in hand I was ready for some explaining. The stream was running on my big TV screen.

“Heya folks! Welcome to today's exclusive life stream on GON, the number one source for games and entertainment! I am Jason, your host for tonight.

There will be no need to introduce our guest for the interview. Most will remember our last stream that shattered the game industry and stupefied the gaming world. It was the start to a new era.

Welcome and hello, Lilith Anihcam, CEO of Unicode. It’s my utmost pleasure to receive you again in our studio.”

“Jason, good to see you.”

“Lilith, the country is in uproar. Millions of enthusiasts lost their purpose in life. That’s not an exaggeration; virtual reality has become a second life for many gamer. Almost two days ago Unicode pulled the plug. We are, I include myself, angry, frustrated, sad and just want to play. Will this issue be solved in the near future?”

“That is a question I cannot answer completely. It’s simply not up to me alone. Unicode is not into politics or cares about local power structures. Karma is one of our babies. If it’s not wanted we do not press the matter. It is pretty simple in the end.”

“Do you not care about the US gaming community? Wouldn’t it be simple to solve this issue?”

“Well, the senator made the personal problem of his son a public one. There was a reason that Karma accepts no minors as players. Virtual reality can be as harsh as reality. We do not employ thousands of lawyers for the concerns of every individual and the moral set that comes along with it. Common sense is the problem of the society and everyone’s parents.”

“Alexander Davies claims that he is mentally crippled for life and everything came without warning.”

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“I’m no psychiatrist, but the warning part was visible for your viewers a well. There was at least one screenshot out there that showed him in the pillory.”

“Oh, he was?”

“For a similar offense. That should have been some proper warning. As someone who attends a well-known university I would presume that he is not too intellectually constricted to understand a threat.”

“But, wasn’t it too harsh?”

“Karma is a game of life and death, with its own rules. It is not about being nice and fluffy for a juvenile audience, here everything goes. Rape is a crime severely punished in most parts of the human territory. For Orcs that would be nothing special if it wasn’t the wife of a higher ranked individual.

For a man it must be very hard to get castrated be the victim, get the rest burned out and than beheaded. The penalties for the death were high as well. That’s karma.”

“I guess many of our viewers watched the videos. It was hard for me to look at. Anyway, that is not really the point anymore. What can we as players do or what is Unicode willing to do to get things back to normal? You must be loosing tons of money soon.”

“Unicode is a company and we like to earn money, but I can tell you in all honesty; that is less important than you may think. We can produce now about half a million units per day. We have something like 15 million players in Karma with a worldwide backlog of 246 million, which is more than 16 month of waiting time. Logically it wouldn’t really matter much. But I think we may have a solution for the US players in sight.”

“Really? Can you give us some details?”

“Let’s say… there is a pattern.”

“Lilith, that is a hint I don’t understand.”

“We just want to make a point. We oppose blackmailing by governments, politicians or persons with power. If you don’t like it, don’t play it.”

“Blackmailing is a hard word to use.”

“Is it? Well, my time is up Jason. It was my pleasure to be here again.”

“I know your tight schedule is our loss. Thank you very much for taking your time and being here with us, Lilith Anihcam.”

Ah, my future wife looked as splendid as last time. I was angry with the senator from the beginning. After seeing this interview I wasn’t sure if Unicode wasn’t reacting to fast to prove their point. But the solution seemed in sight, hopefully.

Pregnant from tons of snacks and beer I went to bed and slept 10 hours like a baby.

***

Another day went by with me getting restless. I was even thinking about visiting my family. Nope, I wasn’t that desperate, yet.

Karma was still down for us. The media was outraged, probably due to lack of substantial news, and declared Unicode as new enemy of the state. Lilith Anihcam was unofficially the leader of the “New Axis of Evil” because she refused interviews with all TV stations, tabloids and newspapers.

What should be a PR disaster was free marketing for Unicode. There was a lot of attention before the incident, but now everyone was taking about it.

Thing strange thing was, Unicode didn’t bother to use the momentum; they kept quiet.

The bomb exploded almost exactly 24 hours after Lilith Anihcam’s appearance on GON.

One after another the news stations of the big networks were showing breaking news:

“This is Donna Richards, life in front of the Capitol, Washington D.C.

Senator Shawn Davies handed in his resignation just minutes ago. It seems he just resigned before the Senate would give a vote of expulsion in two days time.

We received this news directly after getting our hands on explosive material regarding the senator’s son Alexander. The senator used his power and a lot of money to hush and cover up the alleged sexual assault on two college students.

The victims’ names were not revealed. The prosecutor investigates and federal agents were very interested in that case as well.

It doesn’t seem to be a coincidence that all the information pop up after the senator tried to sue Unicode for mentally hurting his son, who was tortured for the same reason in the virtual reality game Karma.

This was Donna Richards, life from the Capitol.”

I received a new message on my smartphone:

Dear Player,

the US Server is expected to be online again in three hours. Your account has been reactivated.

We wish you a great game experience.

Your Karma team

Wow, that development was scary! Don’t mess with my bride-to-be!