I don’t have a tragic tale (not yet at least) of why I began gaming or why I game crazy hours. I am just into games. There is no melodramatic story behind me. I come from an average well to do family, with an average background, with an average everything…the sole exception being gaming. I am an avid gamer, I am uncertain why am I attracted to gaming the way I am…maybe it was the sense of recognition I hoped to achieve as a fantasy hero or the sheer boredom in my daily life that drove me to seek out something more exciting than the real world…. Virtual reality games are my escape from my real world’s boredom.

I believe it was the game Royal Road that set the bar for virtual reality games, with nearly infinite choices, infinite possibilities and real as possible graphics the standard was set pretty high. The game when it came out was touted to be a decade ahead of its time – whoever said that wasn’t wrong. It took nearly ten years after Royal Road’s release for other game developers to catch up. It also took that much time for players to be saturated with the game – not saying people are bored of the game just saying with more equivalent quality variety are now available and people have begun drifting.

I am one of those people. For ten years I have dedicated my sleep to Royal Road. I have a character level of over six hundred (that is considered above average only – high level players are closer to 900), fairly good equipment and belong to one of the best guilds – “The Grass Porridge Cult” (the name may sound funny, but we are all hard-core bad*ss).

However, after ten long years the game feels like a drag…it’s a never ending tale. I am not disputing the fact it is the greatest tale, it’s just that after ten years, anyone would want a change. I am not the only one who feels like that; there are many such users.

Unicorn Corporation too has noticed the distressing situation brewing but I guess they are helpless. They put a few expansion packs with new adventures and locations…it created quite a clamour but that fizzled out soon enough. Then, they roped in high level players like Weed (he’s more like a legend and celebrity) and Seoyoon (she has a guild dedicated to her…) to market themselves but the enthusiasm was short lived… basically they tried every marketing gimmick in the book and gave up. It’s not like their player base of over three billion would vanish in a single night. Even, their players didn’t know what they wanted….just the thrill was missing.

Thus, I began drifting away at some point. I logged in fewer times before completely stopping.

The problem with not being associated with Royal Road is that the world presumes you dead. I remember when I didn’t turn up for a week to Royal Road, my mother received many condolence letters at our home. One of my friends even sent a big bouquet of white flowers. Many people thought I had actually died in real life. So I made a casual return and assured everyone that I am very much a live…but returning can be very painful especially when you don’t understand yourself why you are so frustrated with the game.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

So you could say at some point I hit my saturation level and called it a day. This time, I bid farewell to everyone properly and assured them I am only quitting Royal Road and not dying.

This did not mean, I stopped gaming rather I was on the lookout for something different.

After experiencing Royal Road – let me say it – every other game feels like copy of it. The number of unique games can be counted on my one hand. There is:

1. Speed Drive: A racing game covering every imaginable (real and fictional) vehicle. I am not sure why this isn’t part of Sport’s Academy but it isn’t.

2. Sports Academy: Every sport and its variant imaginable with settings allowing for varied physics dynamics. You can even create your own sport here – someone created zero gravity soccer – it hurts. This game has been really popular with sports enthusiast – so much so that there are talks of holding the Olympics here in place of the real one….

3. Athenos –Interstellar: The Royal Road equivalent for space enthusiasts. This game is really catching on…but it tends to be quiet sci-fi and hasn’t quiet caught on yet. However, I am willing to bet that this game will be really popular in the future.

Every other game is just another rip-off of Royal Road. The other virtual reality multiplayer RPG games have new fictional creatures but they aren’t very interesting or different from the standard fictional Royal Road races. Example: elf gets replaced by Alvin race or something weird and stupid.

It wasn’t always like that, early on many developers tried experimenting with physics and gaming dynamics in their attempt to create something different from Royal Road. However, it never took off – people are most comfortable feeling and experiencing virtual reality from the senses of a human.

I have tried several games since Royal Road and my gaming-life crisis continues. I feel as though I am suffering from virtual reality withdrawal symptoms. There are times when I feel I should just suck it up and return back to Royal Road…but the thought of swinging my sword for a millionth time or casting another spell alone makes me nauseous…

I find myself asking myself, is there a game out there for me? A game which will reignite my passion for virtual reality? Give me the thrill that I seek?

Yes, there is…..however if you told me today that in the future I would wish I had never found this game…I would laugh and not believe you….but the truth is, I do indeed wish that I never found this game. This game has changed my life completely – turned it upside down and inside out.

“I fear not the darkness but that which lurks in it

I fear not the living but the dead that lay in the shadows

I fear not death but I fear not dying..”

Zonbi no Sekai: The stakes are high, the pressure is intense and success is liberating.