Let's log off for a bit and think this through.

The character needs more gold even to go out with a blast.

Without the quests, and more loot to sell the options ran dry. It's like how real life is now, but there's one more thing to do before giving up.

And even if that's the only chance, I hate it with every cell of this body.

Real Money Trading, or RMT for short.

Some games ban it outright, others organize their entire economy around it. CineMraft even set up a page on their website to let players exchange platinum for credits.

So it's legal for sure, but damn, it's so revolting.

Opening the Big Red's doors to let the cool night breeze in, there is some stuff to consider.

Despite the ringing ears as the headset's off, it's easier to decide without the gankers in the way.

A ticking clock or not, this is a serious thing. After all, it goes against every principle I hold dear, swearing never to spend money on games.

Well, nothing IT-related in general. It might be laughable with those gambling habits, but they at least have a vague promise of an income.

Paying for something you can get for free is not only strange, it's sneered upon.

Even the arcade didn't charge for most games they got from the junkyard.

And it's not the lack of funds, it's because of the ones who make these things.

No, that's not accurate. It's right because, in a sense, nobody makes them.

It's all churned out by AI, only getting the approval of a few privileged humans.

And yes, sure, there is the thing about what to spend my limited funds too. There are so many things more important for survival.

In the Container Park, most of us don't get subsidies.

We eat what we can find, and make money on whatever is possible.

Even garbage has value, and so did my Dad, who could fix almost anything.

Well, he was garbage too, and beyond fixing.

Still not as bad as those techie CEOs who made the world this shithole as it is today.

Buying games must have made more sense back in the previous centuries.

While citizens earned pay and had some leftovers, they'd spend that on entertainment.

That means they'd give their money to others for their work, who could then spend it, and so on.

This is how capitalism worked, and it's all fine as long as everyone has a job and can earn more than the cost of living.

When AI became advanced enough to break this cycle, things changed fast.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Tech companies were the first to lay down their workers and kept raising their prices.

Screw those guys. Mom said, that's how Grandpa's family became homeless too, and it went only downhill from there.

With more and more people finding themselves on the streets the less they could buy. The world's economy collapsed before they knew it.

Guess who survived all that chaos, and came out even stronger than before?

That's right, IT. Almost everything they churned out was machine-made.

They only had to reinvest a fraction into research to keep themselves competitive.

They charged more and more until the hyperinflation crisis killed the euro.

Despite what everyone thought, the dollar went down with it. I suspect the history teacher was a communist since he taught about it with so much passion.

That's how the credit system came to be. The reality is, nothing changed, only the name of the currency.

The tech CEOs and shareholders were already the richest on Earth and could do whatever.

So forgive me if spending on games you can pirate and earn nothing back is unimaginable.

If the rich and those lucky enough to still have a job want to do it, they can, but it's not my Jazz.

The irony is that open-source AI programs are the best weapon against the techies.

When these became widespread, people went crazy protesting against them. They feared they'd take their work and were right about one thing.

The jobs were gone, but it wasn't the program's fault, it was the higher-ups who only cared about profit.

That's when their greatest asset became their enemy though.

Despite putting anti-piracy protection on their products, LLMs had no issue cracking them.

It was the outrage of the century when they outlawed the programs that made them rich too.

Thanks to their money and influence they succeeded yet the AI remained.

They moved underground, into the slums, deep into the dark web, and there was nothing to do about it.

Nobody could contest that they're useful since they improved life in many ways.

The issue was with the ones who controlled it and called the shots.

But after so many riots and wars, they created a 'utopia' where people could get to eat without working too.

They didn't have to worry about anything as long as they bent over to the techies and the government.

Eat those cheap third or second-grade rations and synthetic food.

Donate blood and vote for the right candidate. Always keep your government phone in your pocket.

Don't think, or contest what you're told, and then you'll have an acceptable life to their standards.

Of course, not everyone liked these ideas, and that's how the Container Park came to be.

And many other refugee camps, slums, outlaw settlements, whatever you want to call it.

It was simpler and cheaper for the government to ignore them.

Fund the police to protect those who do their bidding, and wait long enough until the rest dies out.

So yes, even if this game is not the worst in the world, and the cops would pay to play it, giving the devs money feels wrong.

Well, the developers aren't the only ones who trade in platinum.

They post offers too, fifteen credits for fifty platinum or a hundred for five times as much.

It sucks that for the one credit on my balance, they'd only give a single coin, but who wants to buy from them anyway?

No, there are player offers, meaning the money would go to a real human, instead of the techies.

It makes this sound less evil, and their low-value deals are better too.

Checking right before logging off, for the one credit one offer would pay three platinum.

It should be better as they can buy the large pack with a one-to-five rate, but CineMraft allows RMT for a good reason.

They tax it, and they tax it hard. Every sale only gives fifty percent to the players, and the rest goes to them.

Fucking bastards. But it still means, at least half the money goes to a player, rather than the company.

These are desperate times.

How much is the platinum-to-credit exchange rate?

The browser won't open and it takes a moment to realize why.

I took off the headset.

The ringing ears and the dystopian cityscape should have been a dead giveaway.

Damn. And it's been less than three days since Baldie gave that controller.

It's already hard to tell reality and the system apart, not to mention how addictive that crap is.

Okay, there's no way around it, it's time to sell my soul.