Gathered in the town square are villagers and shopkeepers, NPCs that had been programmed by the EDE to leave their homes and shops to gather for this historic occasion.
Wesley looks around at all the faces, and frowns.
“So you noticed too?” Lucious whispers.
“What?” Diana asks in a low voice, confused about the subject of conversation.
“Only NPCs are invited. There are no players here,” Conrad notes after a glance at the gathering.
“Exactly,” the leader replies.
The four are gathered on the left end of the stage.
Suddenly, a golden portal appears on the other end of the stage, and a finely dressed noble walks through the portal, followed closely by a half dozen heavily armored bodyguards. The noble is wearing a crown that is an exact duplicate of the one worn by the just defeated Regent, and the man is holding a golden scepter in his right hand. The guards each carry a shield with the emblem of the “8” painted in blood red on the shield, signifying infinity. All men are wearing blood red capes, with the “8” emblazoned in white.
The noble slowly walks along the stage, until he is in the middle of the stage with his entourage standing right behind him. He turns to face the gather townspeople and speaks in a rich, baritone voice. “Greetings, my fellow citizens. I, King Richard the First, am honored to present you with the brave, valorous heroes who have lifted the Curse of Castle Eternia.” The King finally turns to face the players. He lifts up his arms in their direction. “I give you The Strangers!” he exclaims.
The NPCs roar with approval and start to chant, “Strangers! Strangers! Strangers!”
“Please come to forward, to the center of this stage,” the king implores them.
Wesley says in a low voice, “Guys, wave and smile at the cameras. Let's go!” He starts marching towards the center of the stage.
The remaining party members march in single file with practiced military precision, in the order of Lucious-Diana-Conrad. Remembering their leader's advice, the three wave and smile at the common citizenry.
King Richard smiles broadly, knowing that the feed is broadcasting live and in real time. The King graciously waits to allow the gathered common folk to shower their appreciation on the players. After a minute has lapsed, he finally raises his left hand, asking the commoners to stop. He turns to look at Wesley. “You must be wondering what prize is in store for your party,” he says with a broad smile. The host pauses for a moment for the anticipation to build among the audience. “First, each member of your party will receive one million experience points for finishing this campaign. I understand that this award will push some members beyond the current player level cap. WoE will lift the cap restrictions to accommodate your party members. Also, the runner ups, The Archangels, will receive half your award in experience points. The third party finishers, The Gunners, will get a quarter of your award.”
The common folk clap their hands and cheer enthusiastically. More powerful players mean more able protectors for Starter Town.
The Strangers politely clap in acknowledgment of their award.
King Richard raises his hand again. “Second, Starter Town will receive an expansion in size. We all know that the town has seen prosperity due to the increase of players into the World of Eternia, and Starter Town is right where the player's immersion into this world begins. Therefore, the Western section of town will be expanded to allow for player housing. The Strangers will be provided a choice of prime real estate to build their permanent headquarters. Players will now be able to build two story houses that combine living quarters upstairs with commercial shops at street level. Additionally, Game Masters will maintain an office for players to report in game bugs, and violations of the Terms of Service agreement.”
The citizens cheer more loudly this time. An expansion means a greater inflow of players, and more business for everyone.
The noble raises his hand, and the gathered townspeople quickly quiet down.
“And last but not least, the developers behind the World of Eternia is pleased to offer small ownership stakes in the privately owned company, Eternia Development & Entertainment, Inc., in exchange for consultancy work to further develop WoE as a leader in virtual reality based gaming.”
“Wait, you're offering us jobs?” Wesley blurts out in astonishment, verbalizing the surprise of his teammates.
The King's eyes light up at the players' flustered reactions, as the true purpose behind the campaign is finally unveiled. “Yes,” he grins like a devil.
Chapter 18 – Decision
King Richard continues. “I understand that you will have questions for me, and you will also require time to discuss this wonderful opportunity amongst yourselves. I will return within an hour.” He turns back to the gathered common folk. “Thank you all for coming. May the blessings of the Gods of Eternia be with you.”
Snap. The King snaps his fingers, and the entire landscape changes suddenly. The players find themselves sitting around a conference table. The NPCs are gone, along with Starter Town. The four are no longer decked in party costumes; instead they have been refitted with conservative business suits, ties and shirts for the men, and jacket, blouse, skirt, and stockings for Diana.
King Richard is sitting at the head of the table, dressed in a charcoal gray suit. “Now that we can speak privately, please allow me introduce myself again. My name is Richard T. Gibson, the founder and CEO of Eternia Development & Entertainment, Inc. I'm sure you have a lot of questions for me. I will answer to the extent that I can if I know the answer, or else I can follow up with you via a private message to your WoE player account. So let's get the ball rolling,” he smiles and folds his hands on the conference table.
Wesley raises his hand and speaks up. “I think I speak for the four of us when I ask what you expect us to do? After all, you have a successful product with a million players world wide. How can we help your company?”
The CEO smiles again. “There are several ways to answer that question. First, let me talk about your presumption of success. Take for example the game with the greatest commercial success in terms of online paid subscribers—World of Warcraft ('WoW'). At its height of popularity, WoW had twelve million subscribers in 2010, and declined every year since then to roughly six million subscribers now, in the year 2016. Compared to that subscription base, WoE's five hundred thousand subscribers base isn't a lot in the grand scheme of things. EDE is always searching for ways to improve the player experience with our product, and we believe you are well qualified to help us improve the game that you all love to play. Our game designers are really anxious to pick your brains, and we think a consulting contract is the best way to go,” he answers.
“But what are the ethical and practical implications?” Wesley replies. “If we agree to help you, we will no longer be just players who can quit at any time. We will be on the hook and committed, as employees, for the length of the contract, for however long the duration,” he notes.
“Yeah, I'm busy enough with my day job on Wall Street. I joined WoE looking to unwind, not to take on more work,” Lucious chimes in.
Diana and Conrad nods in agreement.
Richard's face is still smiling, but the smile has lost some luster as he senses the tides moving away from acceptance of the offer. “My friends, I think you have some misconceptions regarding the work involved. We know that you have busy lives, families, and careers. No one here is asking you to drop what is important to you, that you worked so hard for, in order to assist us,” he shakes his head. “I know I wouldn't accept that kind of offer. We want you as consultants, meaning that we want to ask for your opinions on certain aspects of the game or missions that you have undergone. You will be serving primarily as a private focus group, where our researchers will solicit your opinions as players. We are not going to have you sit at a desk in our office forty hours a week. We're going to send you surveys and emails soliciting your opinion. We may set up a private server to discuss things,
just like what we're doing right now. We are respectful of your other commitments, and appreciate the time that you can devote to interact with people from my company.”
“So how long and how much?” Conrad asks, moving straight to the important points.
Richard's eyes light up at the question. “We're asking for a one year commitment, and will ask that you sign non-disclosure agreements. As for compensation, we're offering each of you one-tenth of one percent interest in the company.”
“Isn't that kind of low?” Lucious complains.
The CEO smiles again. This kid has balls to try to negotiate for a better deal. “On the contrary, the offer is quite generous. My company will eventually go public, and when that happens your ownership stakes will be quite valuable,” he explains.
“But the reverse could be true too,” the Wall Street trader retorts with skepticism. He is starting to dislike this guy, whose smile resembles a shark. If the company goes bankrupt, then our stake in the company will be worthless. They are not really shelling out anything monetary on this contract.
“Nonetheless, you will be in position to prevent that from happening. Your assistance with our game developers will ensure that our products, particularly the upcoming expansions, will lead to increased sales and subscriptions, and thereby increase the value of the company and therefore your own shares,” Richard replies.
“Would you give us time to discuss this amongst ourselves?” Wesley requests politely.
The company executive nods. He stands up and leaves the room.
The Strangers watch as the CEO closes the door behind him.
“You know they are still listening in on this room right?” Diana says.
“Of course! Our avatars are still inside EDE servers. Only an idiot would believe that EDE is not monitoring our in-game activities,” Lucious scowls. “And why do I get the feeling that the whole 'Lift the Curse' thing was nothing more than one big interview for this job?” he adds.
“You mean you're not happy with the bonus of one million experience points?” Conrad teases the younger man. “You were complaining about how unfair EDE was for limiting mages to level fifty before. Now you can keep on power leveling you character.”
“Yeah, I think EDE changed its rule specifically to accommodate you, Lucious,” Diana agrees. None of the other players on the team have bothered to grind and level up his or her character to hit the previous level fifty cap. However, the experience bonus have probably put each of them over the cap as well. The game tallies up experience points only after the mission is completed and the players have logged out of the game server. Otherwise, players will have an incentive to camp out at respawn points for monsters on the outskirts of Starter Town and other villages, solely for the purpose of grinding for experience.
“So are we in or out?” Wesley asks, seeking to turn the group's attention back to the issue at hand. “I assume that the company wants a package deal with us, an all or nothing proposition. In other words, if one of us declines, then we'll all decline.”
“I'm in,” Conrad says suddenly. He's already twenty seven years of age, and still haven't reached the Major Leagues yet. It's time to widen his career options with a Plan B.
“Me too,” Wesley says. He's retired, and not interested in playing another FPS again to kill time until his teammates could show up online.
“I'm also accepting,” Diana speaks up. “With insider access to WoE, I could conduct a case study on player behavior for my doctoral thesis in psychology,” she explains.
The three turn as one to look at Lucious, who is shaking his head.
He sighs and starts to speak. “I have the most to lose if this consulting gig eats up time from my regular day job. And quite frankly, I don't trust the CEO. I feel like there's something important that he's holding back, something that would significantly impact this job.”
Diana puts her hand over his on the table. “I understand your concern regarding the consultancy work's demand for your time. But I don't see how this job would interfere with your Wall Street job. You log into WoE during evenings and weekends, anyway. I would think that would also be the time when you will perform your consulting tasks as well. If anything, this job could negatively impact how much time we have to play the game. So I think your fears are a bit misplaced,” she explains.
Lucious squeezes her hand in return. He looks around the room, and sees that everyone else really wants in on this opportunity. He sighs and says weakly, “Fine.”
Epilogue
The video stream ends on the laptops, and the lights are turned back on a moment later. There are half dozen laptops on the oval shaped, fine mahogany conference table. Sitting in front of the computers are five men and one woman, all dressed in conservative business attire.
“Thoughts?” asks a pale but youthful looking man, who is seated at the head of the table.
“EDE is desperate,” remarks the platinum blonde sitting to his left.
The other men around the table nods in agreement.
“My source told me that the offer has been accepted,” the pale man reveals.
“No matter,” says the middle-aged man with a dark complexion at the other end of the table. “We're going to continue with our plans for a hostile takeover of EDE.”
World of Eternia:
The Match
by Antony W.F. Chow
Chapter 1 – Expansion
Whoosh! The warrior sees the staff coming down on his head, and instinctively raises his shield. Clang! The blow is surprisingly heavy and the defender starts feeling an uncomfortable buzz in his left hand. The warrior tries to jab at the now wide open opponent in the midsection with a sword thrust. The tip of his blade goes off course when a Tonfa suddenly knocks his blade downward, hitting nothing but air.
The staff wielder twirls her feet like a ballerina to her right, yielding the fight to her comrade.
The newcomer to the battle twirls the Tonfas in both hands, demonstrating a high degree of proficiency with these Okinawan martial arts weapons.
The defender steps back as he examines the Tonfa more closely. Made of red oak wood, the length of the long arm is some twenty inches long, with the short handle about a third of the way down. It is the first time he has fought against a Tonfa fighter; thus the warrior is tentative in his approach against the newcomer, a petite girl with a slender build who is bouncing slightly up and down on her toes like Bruce Lee. Let’s test her, the warrior thinks as he swings his long sword at her midsection.
The Asian looking girl holding the sticks suddenly stops twirling them, and she easily hops away from the path of the sword slash. The new opponent turns the Tonfa stick in her right hand outward, so that her reach is extended by half her arm’s length. She quickly counterattacks with a jab of the Tonfa at the warrior’s face.
The defender sees the counter and quickly raises his shield to block the jab. Suddenly, the warrior’s shield is jerked to his right, badly exposing his left side. Before he can react, the warrior feels a light tap against his left kidney. Ping! The Tonfa stick smacks against his steel plate armor, and does minimal damage. However, the knight immediately realizes that a full powered thrust would crush his armor into his flesh and cause a massive reduction in his avatar’s health bar.
“Yield?” a girlish voice asks.
The warrior drops his long sword. “Yield,” he sighs. Peering down over his left shoulder, the warrior sees that a Tonfa has been flipped around, so that the handle has gripped the edge of his shield. That’s how I got exposed like that, he thinks ruefully.
Clap-clap-clap! “Well done, Alice!” a female voice says, praising the Tonfa fighter.
“I just got lucky, Trish,” the Tonfa fighter replies modestly while looking at her sister, the staff wielding monk.
“Not luck. It took some skill to pull that trick on my shield,” Wesley notes as he bends down to grab his sword from the ground. “You jabbed at my face to lure my shield up. While I lost sight of you for a s
plit second, you flipped your other Tonfa stick to grab it by the shaft. And then you used the stick handler to grapple with my shield and pull it into my sword arm. Your tactic left my arms tied up and I became vulnerable to a strike at my side or back,” the ex-Marine verbalizes the replay in his mind.
The petite fighter bows in acknowledgment.
Wesley bows back just as deeply. He turns to face the Eternia Development & Entertainment, Inc. (“EDE”) representative, who has been watching the fight from the sideline.
The EDE employee is wearing a long sleeve, navy blue shirt, blue shorts, and black tights, along with a blood red cape that denotes his in-game status as a representative of the King. Only officials of the Kingdom are allowed to wear this cape; the penalty for violating this edict is death and permanent ban from the online game, World of Eternia (“WoE”). "Any noticeable lag in your reaction time?" the game representative asks the beta tester regarding the new Virtual Reality equipment.
Wesley shakes his head. "If anything, it seems like my avatar’s reaction time decreased slightly and allowed me to move faster in the game. It's exciting to see how the game has evolved from a basic dungeon crawler game with a VR element to now include a real life combat simulator. In fact, I think this oriental expansion and the multiplayer online battle arena (‘moba’) especially for WoE will be excellent additions to the game,” the beta player offers his opinion.
Mark Whitney, the project manager for the expansion, smiles at the comment. “I’m glad to hear it, Wesley. Richard will be pleased,” he replies.
Wesley frowns slightly at the mention of Richard T. Gibson, the enigmatic founder and CEO of the company. Wesley was merely a member of the player group, The Strangers, when the party was invited to participate in a special campaign to celebrate the first year anniversary of the online launch of the game last year. The Strangers successfully defeated the evil Regent of Castle Eternia, and lifted the Curse. Among the prize was a one year consultation contract with EDE. Wesley, a retiree from the military, had some free time to help EDE test new product developments, like the upcoming oriental expansion and the new virtual reality equipment. However, none of the four members of The Strangers particularly like Richard, and they have been suspicious of his motives ever since they met him at the conclusion of the ground breaking anniversary campaign.
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