Skyrim, that was what this brand new game was called. Daniel had been browsing online for whatever games he could find that were not a generic platformer or something he had played before. It looked innocent enough, a decent store page that was slightly better than the average quality for most other games. What caught Daniel's eye though was that it was a Role-Playing Game. RPGs were Daniels's favorite game type but it was so hard to find one that was actually good. Maybe he should give this one a try? It was $20 to purchase which considering how everything costs $60 right now is damn good.
"Nothing ventured, nothing gained I suppose, let's do it." Daniel stated.
He purchased Skyrim and began the download and then.
"Wait, it's already downloaded? Ah crap I've been scammed again haven't I. Ah fuck it lets boot up the game and try to get my monies worth." Daniel muttered.
The game booted up and it presented him with decent graphics. The top-of-the-line 2GB of RAM computer is really proving to be much better than he game loaded quicker then Daniel expected and he was greeted with a beautiful HD title screen.
"Not a scam then? Or maybe unfinished?" Daniel pondered.
Selecting player Daniel was greeted with a very good customisation screen for his brand new character and spent a good few minutes marvelling at all the options. Finally creating his new character Daniel ventured forth into the world of Skyrim.
"Let's play."
[MCU Game Development System]
[Congratulations for publishing your first game, the Tutorial has been completed and you gained x1 Starter Pack]
[You have six active players you earn 6 CP]
[You have gained $120 which has been converted into 6 CP]
"Yes, all the points belong to me!" Sam exclaimed joyously before having a look at his sales analytics.
Skyrim was doing quite well already selling a few copies on the first day.
"Hopefully the word-of-mouth spreads quickly, I can survive off this income but surviving and living are two very different things indeed." Sam said.
According to his console, no one had claimed any of their free item purchases yet.
"Either they think it's fake or they are doing the smart thing and saving it for an item they specifically want. Wait no what am I saying of course it seems like a scam or a funny Easter egg." Sam sighed.
The concept of being able to interact with the world below by doing the impossible was exciting! Sam never left his mark on his previous world so given these weird cosmic shenanigans he might as well try and become famous.
"Not like I could actually go down to the planet yet anyway. Let alone not being able to get down there, showing up on everyone's radar as some random person with no history? No thank you! Or maybe I have a twin counterpart here?" Sam's thoughts were ablaze with rapid fire thinking.
"Boy, do I need a girlfriend." He whispered under his breath.
After spending a very long time looking through the possible companion summons, Sam had wanted to summon one as a friend or assistant but did not have the points to spare.
"I wonder if they have dating apps yet in the MCU." Sam laughed.
After all, he had used many dating apps for fun in his previous world and it had never turned out well. On the bright side they also did give him some funny memories to cherish.
"Enough of this nostalgia, time to get grinding!" He resolved, clicking onto his inbox and selecting the most recent system message.
[Would you like to claim your [Starter Pack] Y/N?]
"At least I get the option this time." Sam said in false anger as he selected yes.
[Rolling Starter kit…]
[You received the common roll "Daily Rations Deluxe x30"!]
[You received the common roll "Gift Power: Basic Mental Enhancement"!]
[You received a trash roll "Hairbrush"!]
After spending a couple of moments looking at the rolls Sam was confused.
"Wait a starter kit that is random? What kind of idiot designed this? Is everything going to be RNG here?" Sam considered darkly.
In most games starter kits had barely any RNG and normally gave people some things to help start out with. Hence the name Starter kit.
"Well let's have a look at that power. That looks like it could be useful"
[Basic Mental Enhancement boosts a person's natural thinking speed and memory recall by x2.]
"That sounds super useful, let alone overpowered for starting out! Now let's see what the warning is." He spoke excited
[Warning: Gift Powers may only be given to a player of your games, not to yourself or your companions/allies.]
"So, I get a super fancy power and I can't even use it?! The universe literally hates me!" He whined upset at the revelation.
Maybe he could give it to the winner of an event? Once Skyrim gets a decent following Sam has already written up some ideas for multiplayer. Some sort of global server was certainly a possibility, much like an MMO version of Skyrim but even better. Might as see when a good situation to gift
"That certainly brought my spirits down. Could be worse." He muttered as he looked around his abode.
Deciding to try and lighten the mood from that let down Sam went back to his super secret plans notepad and scrolled down to his ideas for events. Once multiplayer is established he could finally begin implementing his own ideas and play himself! Considering the amount of hours Sam poured into Skyrim in his old world it was no surprise he didn't want to play it here. But when it was customized more and multiplayer? Then of course he could make his mark on the world. Maybe he will be just another player, or perhaps go for the all knowing old man shtick?
"I could totally pull off the all knowing old man impression." Sam laughed.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Restraining himself before he bought a cane from the Cosmic Store, he did the calculations on how many cosmic points it would cost to actually implement his idea before he cringed slightly and slumped into his chair. He would need around three thousand players before he could add everything. The first thousand were going to be the hardest, but hopefully word of mouth would spread quickly.
"I wonder about everyone's reactions to the item creation? I bet they are having a blast with it." He laughed.
Everything was still slightly raw and surreal for him, it had only been just over a day since his new life and he felt strangely calm about it. He only freaked out for a few hours after he realized it wasn't some drug trip. He had not ruled out the possibility of this all being a simulation, but if it was, why not enjoy it?
"Real life could be a simulation and I tried to enjoy that all the same." He said in contemplation.
Changing the topic of his thoughts, Sam decided to see how he could decorate his little space house. According to this he could design it however he wanted. He could make it into a giant space station or into an amazing space ship. Not even the sky was the limit.
"I wonder what type of design I should go for." He muttered
Although unfortunately he could only use any technology from the MCU and not all of science fiction. Sam could certainly imitate other franchises however, the shape was not what was limited, only the actual technology. That was not the end of the world though as the Marvel universe certainly had many races with stuff he could steal or creatively borrow for his purposes.
"Come on, who wouldn't want to have their own spaceship." He whined to himself petulantly spinning around in his chair.
The sight of Mother Earth right below Sam would take some getting used to. Every time he looked it was as breath-taking as the first. The barren white walls of the room are not exactly homely compared to the sight below. At least he had his bed. Finding out he seemingly did not need to use the toilet anymore certainly was a panic inducing distraction when he learnt about it.
"Now that I think about it, I don't stink either, maybe that's my superpower." Sam snorted at the idea.
After spending some time looking at all the different features that he had access to due to the System, Sam began planning for the next phase with even greater detail, Global Multiplayer.
[MCU Game Development System]
In the house of one of the richest people on the Earth existed a being relatively new to the Earth. Some would rather see it as a soulless machine but to its creator he is a friend.
"Sir please do not forget the meeting you have with the board of directors in four hours and thirty-seven minutes." JARVIS spoke to his friend and creator, Tony Stark.
Said billionaire playboy was laying on one of the many comfortable and needlessly expensive sofas dotted around his house. Currently nursing a hangover after a night out incognito partying. Not normally his forte but it was a different experience for him at least.
"Jarvis be a dear and remind me that going incognito ruins most of the fun." Grouched Tony.
"Reminder has been set Sir; would you also like me to remind you that this is the second time you have set such a reminder?" Jarvis replied
Tony tried to laugh at that but instead only groaned. Forcing himself to sit up Tony brought his hands to his face in tiredness.
"Anything fun going on in the world?" Tony asked while getting up to make some basic food.
"Nothing worth mentioning Sir, would you like me to keep my metaphorical ears out for anything you would consider fun?" Jarvis inquired back.
Tony ignored him for a couple of seconds while making some toast and pouring some expensive vintage.
"Yea why not, anything to keep the boredom at bay you know? Designing these weapons for the plebeians in the military is fun and all but I need more spice in my life." Tony laughed as Jarvis responded with an affirmative.
Somehow Tony couldn't just party or pick up a gal every night, that ended up conflicting with schedules or people would just moan at him. Stupid board of directors.
[MCU Game Development System]
"Let's do something fun!" Lucy screamed as her brother beat her at Mario kart for the twentieth time in a row.
Lucy and her brother had been playing Mario kart for the past five hours, with their parents both at work and it being school holidays the two kids were stuck inside trying to have some fun.
"I'm having a great time." Cameron shot back as he went to start another game, only to have his hand blocked by his sister who stared into his eyes with a piercing haunted look.
"Listen, if I have to play another game of Mario Kart again, I'm going to lose my mind. I will end up going so crazy that I will end up fracturing my delicate sanity further then moral comprehension." She slowly berated
From the look on his face, she knew exactly what he was going to ask.
"No! We passed 'just one more' about five games ago. If I have to play one more bloody game, I'm going to end up burning your rare card collection." She threatened.
He looked like he was on the verge of tears before he realized she was just joking.
"Okay, what do you want to do then? We have exhausted nearly every game we have! And no, I don't want to play dress up! I'm a grown man of fourteen thank you very much!" He said seriously.
Holding in her giggle at the thought of him being a grown man with his behaviour, Lucy considered what she should do.
"I'm going to use the computer; you can play single player for a bit." Lucy said as she got up.
He instantly ignored her apart from a quick nodding of his head as his eyes instantly glued back to the screen. Logging onto their house computer she booted up her game launcher and looked at her library. Most of the games she had played she already played to death.
"Maybe there will be something nice on the store page." She thought out loud absentmindedly.
Clicking on the store page she instantly saw many advertisements for overhyped games that her friends had told her were terrible and not even worthy of being time wasters. Filtering by date released she looked over the top result.
"What on earth is Skyrim?" She muttered as she read the description.
"Oh, a role-playing game with brand new technology! I haven't played a good one in ages, and they are all so expensive. And this one only costs twenty to buy? I have enough allowance to burn anyway. Here! Indie developers take my money!" She laughed excitedly.
She clicked the download button before running over up to her room to mess around while it downloads.
After an hour she came downstairs to check on the update and noticed it was done.
"Oh, already done! Must have just finished. Sweet our new internet rocks, let's go!" She laughed.
After going through the character creation, the first cutscene and the basic tutorial, Lucy was already amazed at how rich in lore and how much freedom she had in this game. Shame that it was single player, but the title screen did say multiplayer coming soon! She had selected the highest difficulty as she always did in games, not because she was a prodigy at games or even very good. However, she remembered the wise words of one of her best friends.
"We play on hard mode not because it's easy, but because it will be more rewarding when we finally triumph!" She recited from memory out loud, the memory bringing a smile to her face before she focused back on the game.
Lucy spent a good few hours enjoying the game before she noticed she had a notification that she hadn't read. Opening it she looked at the message.
[As one of the first people to purchase and play Skyrim you have been granted an item boon reward. Simply select an item from your inventory in game to receive in real life.]
"Sweet! So basically, because I'm one of the first people to play I will get delivered an item from the game as a reward? That's cool of the creators to do." Lucy gushed.
Looking at her inventory she had a look around for what she wanted to get in real life. She had acquired a rare short sword that she could probably use for play-fighting with her brother and serve as a memento. Well and bragging rights of course! Selecting the short sword and redeeming her claim token she sat back with a content sigh.
When she leaned forward and opened her eyes again to play immediately was shocked into silence. For, sitting right next to the keyboard was the exact sword she had from the game.
"Woah." She exclaimed breathlessly
After a few moments of being shocked into stupor, Lucy regained her wits enough to pick up the sword and inspected it. It was surprisingly light, and she could feel something weird from the blade. But it certainly felt real
"Wicked." She muttered under her breath in awe.
She stood up and held the blade over her head, she could picture it in her head. Fighting off the evil bandits in her armor with her trusty sword bringing the forces of evil to heel. To become a superhero like she and her brother pretended to be and like she dreamed of. Someone to finally make a difference in this terrible world. She could see it now; in her glorious costume she would dazzle everyone with her undeniable beauty and-
"LUCY VALLIERE GOLDSMITH HOW ON EARTH DID YOU SNEAK A WEAPON INTO MY HOUSE?!" Came the cry of what was of course her father from behind her.
"Crap." She whispered.