by R. H. Tang
DISTINCTIONMAN50000FAN100000000 would like to be your friend!
DISTINCTIONMAN50000FAN100000000 would like to be your friend!
DISTINCTIONMAN50000FAN100000000 would like to be your friend!
DISTINCTIONMAN50000FAN100000000 would like to be your friend!
The last player was the most impressive. He was sending and then canceling friend requests over and over again to spam Julian even more.
There was nothing he could do. Julian hit the only button he had access to—the logoff button.
Julian groaned as he removed his headset and set it back on his desk. The Selection was such a publicized event. The luster of being involved with it had really rubbed off on him.
He'd have to wait a while before logging on again. Nobody would recognize him on his own. Using a Guest Account was another option, but that came with its own problems.
You weren't allowed to keep your inventory after logging off. When Julian had first started playing in junior high, he'd been too shy to accept the game's body scan. Instead, he'd kept his parts and Credits with his childhood friend Felix, who was now an aspiring professional player just like Julian. He'd only created a real account after Felix's account hit the loot cap for the maximum amount of items he could store.
By then, Julian had become completely addicted to the virtual world of Overdrive. His reluctance to broadcast his image online had paled in comparison to his desire to keep playing. It was sort of like creating social media accounts to stay in touch with friends. Showing his face in the game had been a little strange at first, especially after years of using a Guest Account, but he barely thought of it now.
At this point, the drawbacks would be far much more annoying. He'd just wait and log in again later.
He knocked on Tyler's door to let him know what was happening. To his surprise, there was no response.
Julian frowned.
The virtual world of Overdrive was completely immersive, but you received an alert after specific real-world triggers—stuff like a knock on your door, the ringing of a doorbell, or, in worst-case situations, an emergency alert.
He knocked harder, but there was no sound.
Julian walked back to the main hallway, but he didn't see his friend's shoes. It seemed like Tyler wasn't even home yet.
He pulled out his phone, but his friend hadn't sent him a message.
His only text was from Emma, who was complaining about being stuck at the airport. Julian smiled and told her how he'd considered using a Guest Account after getting swarmed by DISTINCTIONMAN fans. He knew she'd appreciate it. Like Julian back in junior high, Emma used a Guest Account because she thought the body scan was weird.
"Wow wow wow. What a big shot."
Right after Julian finished reading her text, Tyler barged into their front hall, a look of complete surprise on his face.
"What is going on!"
He shook his head.
"Just how popular is this game? I've got people who are asking me about this stuff in real life! It's like 'hey, are you the tall guy who is Julian's roommate? Can I meet him?'"
4
Tyler had an incredulous smile plastered on his face.
"Man. A lot of people play this game! I know you said it was popular, but…"
He shook his head in disbelief.
"People just kept stopping me today to ask about you! Even had a few follow me all the way to the apartment."
Julian just laughed. Tyler was six foot eight, so it was almost impossible to miss him. Basketball team fans constantly stopped Tyler when he and Julian were walking together. It was pretty funny that the tables had finally turned. If Tyler hadn't started playing Overdrive to battle Brandon, the sudden attention would have been even more hilarious. His friend would have had no idea what was going on.
Of course, Julian never would have qualified for the Selection if it weren't for his roommate.
Using his years of competitive basketball experience, Tyler had devised countless drills to help Julian hone his skills. Melting his brain playing ten hours of Overdrive in a day was one thing, but playing to improve was quite another.
"It was the same when I logged on—I just had a bunch of people swarm me. I didn't even make it to the Forever Fortress."
He made a face.
"I'm a little surprised they recognized me."
In the past, only a few players had closely followed the professional side of the game. Julian suspected it was still small proportion—most players went on Overdrive to play casual missions, build cool Mechs, and hang out with friends—but the sharp uptick in numbers meant that it was still a ton of people. The Overdrive Corporation was even expanding to other continents. There were European and Asian servers now.
Tyler shrugged.
"Ah, I mean, the game administration put your guy's photos up everywhere."
"Yeah, I'm just surprised people care about the pics! When I look at the list of top players, I'm usually just trying to find out what Mechs they use and stuff, you know?"
Tyler smiled.
"That's because your main goal is trying to beat them. Think about it—there's a million plus players, right?"
"Yeah."
"So the top five hundred is just a tiny percentage. Most people won't even think about trying to beat someone like you. So for them, their main goal is more just to meet a top player, not to encounter them. If I ran into an NBA player, I wouldn't challenge them to a one-on-one. I'd try and get an autograph."
Huh.
"That's a good point."
It was basically a celebrity sighting.
"By the way, a few players mentioned we've got a pretty big Overdrive club on campus. They asked me if you were going to join again. What's that all about? Do you think I could improve if I went there?"
Julian bit his lip. He hadn't played with the Overdrive club since his second year, but he suspected that their skill level had remained pretty consistent. Back then, Julian had only ranked in the top one thousand, but he'd easily been the best player on the school team. Playing with them would be excellent training for Tyler. Carrying the more casual players on his college club team had led to Julian's growth into a top five hundred player.
"Yeah, for sure. That's probably the perfect place for you to train. If I had to guess, you'd probably be a top two or three player there already. That's pretty impressive for someone who's only played for a few months."
Tyler's dedicated approach to practice set him apart from other beginners. Tyler had only just started playing ranked games, but if Julian were to guess, his roommate could pretty comfortably climb up to the top five thousand. Tyler's main weaknesses were game experience and a lack of high-quality parts. TiggerLuvr888 had given Tyler the legendary Cerberus Roar, but the rest of his roommate's hangar was pretty barren.
Julian pulled up the school newspaper site on his phone. In the school sports section, there was a small window devoted to esports.
"Yeah, it looks like they didn't make the playoffs last year. Back when I played, I could carry them to the top sixteen, but we'd always lose in the first round. You should join. It'll be fun trying to make them competitive. Plus, they spend most of their time grinding for prizes. You'll be able to fill out your inventory."
His roommate frowned.
"Now that you mention it, some of the people don't even know why you left the team."
Julian blushed.
"Oh, it's because Winona's on it."
Tyler laughed.
"Oh, right. Winnie!"
Julian rolled his eyes.
"If you're going to join the team, you better not call her Winnie. She hates that."
"Wait, so she kicked you off the team after breaking up with you? That's pretty messed up!"
Tyler looked utterly scandalized. As someone who'd played sports his whole life, getting kicked off of any team horrified him.
"Uh, no. It's you know, more like after we broke up, she got the team, you know? In the 'divorce.'"
&
nbsp; Tyler laughed even louder. He knew Julian way too well.
"Did she 'get the team,' or did you just leave because you were too shy to go back? And you know, I wouldn't really call it a divorce."
Julian blushed even harder.
"Yep. The second one. Too shy to go back."
"Well, it sounds like they want you back. And it's not like things ended badly between you two."
"No, not really."
Winona was the club president now. If all these people were asking him to join the college team again, she probably didn't care. And Tyler was right. It wasn't like she'd kicked Julian off the team or anything. He'd just left himself.
"I'll do it after the Selection. I've got some stuff I need to do first."
The offers to pay him if he showed up on stream seemed pretty interesting, as did the interview. It'd be nice to have money when he was in LA. He could take Emma and Felix out to nice dinners.
"You're really going to rejoin?"
Tyler looked dubious. He knew how much Julian hated awkward situations. Playing with Winona again wouldn't necessarily be awkward, though. They still got along alright whenever they had a class together.
"Yeah, definitely. I'd want to practice with you guys even if I became a Fortress Master. It'll be good training for me too. I'm still very far from Brandon's level."
The last time Brandon battled against Julian had been a three against one. The Master of Minions had crushed Julian, Tyler, and Emma in a one-against-three match.
"You should join up with them now. It'll be the perfect training for when I'm in LA."
Tyler frowned.
"Will people get mad if we take their spot on the competitive team? Like what happened with Brandon and the Caliber guys."
Filling the World Championship roster for gaming clans was always fraught with drama. The clan leaders decided who made the team and wanted strong players to carry them. However, that sometimes left longtime members out in the cold.
Last World Championship, Brandon had joined Caliber Gaming a week before the tournament, claiming a six-year member's spot.
At the actual championship, he'd completely overshadowed the clan leaders, leading the entire tournament in kills despite playing as a supportive Grunt. The Caliber Gaming leadership was furious at his attention-grabbing play. They kicked him out of the clan as soon as the tournament ended.
"Nah, it's not like that for the club. They have multiple teams so that everyone who wants to play can join in. When I was there, we usually sent out an A, B, and C team and the try-out process was really fair."
Back then, Julian had been the superstar Ace of the A-team. Winona had starred for the C team, deliberately demoting herself so she could play as an Ace. Her control skills were much weaker than Julian's, but she knew some nasty tricks. She was always playing the most unlikely angles. Drop your guard for just a moment, and Winona's assassin Mech would stab you in the back.
"Also, to be honest, most of the people there know that they're bad. Almost everyone is unranked. For most of them, it's just about grinding loot together and being a social club."
"Perfect! Let me shoot them a message!"
Tyler smirked.
"Sorry, you guys can't have the Selection candidate, but you can have his roommate instead! Bit of a trade down."
"Nah, they'll be happy to have you. They actually practice right around now, you should go join them. You just need to show up."
"What about you?"
Julian pointed at the flood of notifications which covered his phone. He had over 250 waiting messages and hundreds of friend requests.
"I had some interesting offers from the people swarming me. Bunch of people who wanted to pay me to play with them."
A brief look of surprise crossed Tyler's face, but then he nodded.
"Yeah, come to think of it, that makes sense. What are they looking for?"
"A few people want stream appearances, but it looks like the majority just want to play some games with me."
"Oh, you mean like coaching?"
Julian scoffed.
"That's the kind interpretation. I think most of them are looking for a legal boost."
Playing on someone else's account was illegal, but pilots could queue up on the constructed ladder with whoever they wanted to play with. Raising someone's rank on the constructed ladder in exchange for payment was fine, so long as you played with them on your own account. Low ranked players wouldn't stand a chance against Julian. He could probably win a four against one all by himself.
Julian thought Tyler might judge him for boosting, but his friend didn't even know what that was.
"What do you mean?"
"They want me to play with them so they can get free wins and raise their rank."
Tyler still didn't see anything wrong from it.
"Okay, so?"
"Ah, forget about it. Still, it would be nice to have some spending money down in LA."
"Yeah, for sure! First time seeing Emma. Tell Felix I said hi too!"
Felix tried to visit them in Chicago two or three times a year. He and Tyler got along really well. Both of them were gregarious and outgoing.
Tyler entered his room and closed the door, and Julian heard the chime of the Overdrive start-up screen.
Instead of logging on, Julian opened the Overdrive app on his phone and started wading through the notifications.
The vast majority of messages were complete crap. A bunch were rude comments courtesy of DISTINCTIONMAN's fans. Julian winced and turned on the swear filter. The messages were a little easier on the eyes when they were just a bunch of asterisks. Fortunately, you couldn't spam messages the same way you spammed invites. Instead of appearing as a bunch of separate notifications, they all went into the same thread.
Julian sighed and muted them all. He'd long dismissed the Overdrive app was useless. After all, it's only purpose was checking messages and accessing the shop. You couldn't play on it. However, it was great for avoiding annoying people.
The DISTINCTIONMAN fans were the worst, but there were plenty of other nonsensical pilots. Some flat out asked him to hand over his spot in the Selection. These people didn't offer to pay him anything, so they didn't get banned.
Julian stared in disbelief for a while, then shrugged and deleted the messages. They probably thought it didn't hurt to ask.
The majority of messengers wanted him to join their team or appear on their stream. Adding a top five hundred player to your mostly casual squad was an easy way to climb the ranks on the constructed team ladder. Likewise, featuring someone who qualified for the Selection appearing on your stream would provide a small bump in publicity.
Julian was only was interested in the messages that offered payment. He didn't have time to play with everyone. He was boosting people for a reason.
Julian smirked and filtered his messages for the dollar sign. Emma would laugh if she saw him take such a mercenary approach. Then he gasped.
One pilot promised $500 for ten games with his team. All in all, the promised pay-out was $1400. Julian accepted all the monetary offers. Money was money. With $1400, he could visit Emma a bunch of times. She usually lived in Florida with her dad, and flights there from Illinois weren't cheap.
Julian summed the numbers up again and whistled.
$1400 for about twenty hours of work!
No wonder people were willing to risk permanent bans to boost other pilots. Julian wanted to become a Fortress Master, but there were many ways to go pro in Overdrive. "Legitimate" boosting paid a decent amount, but illicit boosting—where you directly played on the other player's account—paid far more. High ranks came with incredible rewards.
After Julian broke into the top two thousand and earned his custom pilot suit, he'd celebrated for two days.
If he were honest, he'd strongly considered paying for a slight boost to push himself over the top. But earning it himself had been so incredibly satisfying that he was glad he hadn't.
He frown
ed and wondered what the players offering payment would think. Then he laughed and shook his head. He was being stupid.
He was getting offered over a thousand dollars for just a few days of work. With rates like that, the customer was always right.
5
Julian spent the next two days before the Selection going through the paid requests in his inbox. Fortunately, the hype generated by DISTINCTIONMAN screaming for him had died down. Julian was a Selection candidate, but he wasn't a household name like vermillionangel or Brandon. If either of them showed up in the lobby without Privacy Armor, they'd get swarmed instantly.
Nobody recognized Julian unprompted.
The real problem wasn't being recognized—it was getting paid.
Julian soon discovered that collecting over a thousand dollars would be much more difficult than he thought. The player who'd promised him $500 paid without difficulties, but the one after that cheated him. Julian started demanding payment first, but that led to its own problems. About half of his "clients" withdrew their requests. They'd probably been planning to cheat him from the start.
Julian was at the last name on the list now, and he'd only collected $628 out of the $1400 he'd thought he'd receive. He wanted as much money as possible when he headed to Los Angeles. The Overdrive Corporation paid for free transportation and lodging, but you were on your own when it came to food and other entertainment. The first year Felix had gone, he'd spent the whole week stranded in the hotel.
13892—a player whose username was just a random jumble of numbers—was the last person on his list. When Julian shot them a request to meet, the other pilot brought two others with him.
The three looked like they were a few years older than Julian—maybe in their mid-twenties. That was good.
Some of the people who'd shot Julian messages had been high school students. He hadn't felt comfortable taking their money, so he'd just played with them for free. Maybe he shouldn't have. It'd taken a lot of time, and some of those kids had looked pretty wealthy.