World of Eternia: The Complete Collection

by Antony W. F. Chow

  “I want you to consult with The Strangers and get their feedback on this before we finalize the number of participants in this match,” Richard interrupts.

  “Fine,” the project manager readily accedes to the demand, and continues with his argument. “Finally, the number of players on each side has to be equal. Virtuous Gaming may have trouble getting many players to participate, especially given the cost of the virtual reality equipment and higher end computer specification requirements. I’m sure VG could set up especially equipped internet cafes around the world to bring in players for this match, but they may not get enough VR equipment from us to do so,” Mark explains in great detail.

  “You do bring up some good arguments,” the CEO admits. “Let’s do it this way. See how many VR sets we have in stock, and offer to rent them out to players as part of the entry fee for the event. If this means only a thousand players can participate, then we’ll go with that number assuming that VG agrees to it and our player consultants think this is workable. Also, you need to think about how to decide who will participate on our side. Will you do a special invitation to players, or draw lots from those interested in joining? Review our database of players, and figure out a way to ensure that our very best players will represent Eternia in this match. Do everything you can to ensure that we will win the match,” he orders.

  “Yes sir,” Mark replies.

  Chapter 44 – Player Input

  “Hello Wesley,” the King’s advisor greets the cavalier.

  Wesley looks around the small tavern, and finally locates Mark in his blood red cape sitting next to the hearth.

  As soon as the player consultant joins the EDE employee, Mark uses his special privileges as system administrator. He turns the area surrounding the hearth into a small instance, in order to ensure complete privacy between the two. “How are the players reacting to Richard’s acceptance of the gauntlet from Virtuous Gaming?” Mark asks out of curiosity.

  Wesley sighs. The issue has been contentious in the forums. “There are two camps that have emerged. One faction is very supportive of this decision, and many players in this camp are quite eager to participate in the inter-company match. The other camp is completely opposed to it, and there is a further subset of players in this camp that turned into fear-mongers who believe World of Eternia’s server shutdown is imminent,” he explains.

  “What is the split like?” Mark is intrigued. He had been far too busy to keep tabs of the forums to check the mood of players lately.

  “It’s hard to take the forums as gospel, since an overwhelming majority of the player base doesn’t bother to spend any time there. But if I were to give an estimate based on my in-game conversations with players in Starter Town, I would say the opinion is sixty-forty in support right now,” Wesley replies. “Of course, sentiments could change in reaction to whatever rules EDE and VG decide to adopt for the match,” he adds.

  Mark nods and decides to take the opening that Wesley has conveniently created. “I want your take on this. What if we decide to limit participation in this match to, say, five hundred players on each side or even less?” he asks cautiously.

  Wesley stares at the younger man blankly for a moment, and lets out a whistle. “You’re going to upset a lot of supporters because they are really looking forward to playing in the match,” he replies quietly. “In fact, some players are actually delaying their vacation plans until they hear more about this competition. However, I understand that bandwidth is an issue since the virtual reality equipment uses a lot of bandwidth for each player. In fact, players groups are usually segregated into smaller groups via instances inside dungeons, and party size is limited to twenty players at most,” he points out.

  Mark nods again in confirmation. “Yes, the virtual reality equipment soaks up a lot of bandwidth, and the growth of the player base has been hampered, to some extent, by the bandwidth requirements for World of Eternia. Even Starter Town is instanced when players enter various shops,” he explains. “Let’s discuss the logistics a bit more. From a player’s perspective in organizing members for this raid, are five hundred participants too many for leaders to handle?” he asks.

  “In military service, the answer is no. The lines of communications are always open for orders and feedback and supporting information. It gets a little bit trickier in World of Eternia because we lack a private messaging (‘pm’) system that operates contemporaneously,” the player notes. “The closest ability that we have in the game is the divine sphere’s Communication spell, but the continuous mana drain makes it tough to keep the channel open for long.”

  “I will ask our engineers to create a quick patch to add that form of communication in-game,” Mark responds. “What else?” he presses eagerly.

  “If a pm system is in place, the commander should be able to give orders to be carried out, shift attackers and fortify lines of defenses as necessary. As long as both sides have equal numbers, it doesn’t really matter how many players get to participate in this match,” Wesley notes. “The advantage will go to Eternians, though, because of our extensive experiences with the virtual reality environment. Players from Virtuous Gaming will need to practice with the VR headset and gloves, and also get used to the stings from taking damage,” he frowns. “Would it be possible to turn off the biofeedback loop function?” he requests. “I think this would encourage more volunteers for this match.”

  “I will have to confer with Richard for permission to turn off the loop, but I think I should be able to convince him,” Mark answers, “especially if this would allow EDE to get the very best players from World of Eternia to serve as our champions.”

  “Indeed,” the player consultant replies. “This is the number one request from players, to turn off the hated biofeedback loop.”

  “If it was up to me, we wouldn’t have the biofeedback loop function in World of Eternia. I personally don’t see the value of delivering a miniature shock to players as a form of punishment for taking major damage to their in-game avatars,” Mark admits. “However, Richard wants to ensure there are consequences to players in the virtual reality setting. Now that I think about it, it may be a tough sell to convince the boss to turn off the loop during this match,” he vacillates.

  “There is a strong sentiment amongst the players to boycott this match if the loop function will remain active during this event,” Wesley warns.

  Mark winces at the threat and sighs. “I’ll let Richard know how strongly the players feel about the loop then.”

  Wesley changes topic. “Back to the issue of participants, due to bandwidth and server concerns, you said you’re looking to limit the number of participants for the event. What’s the worst case scenario in terms of numbers here?” he asks.

  “WoE regularly handles twenty player raids with no problem. When the Church of Eternia commissioned a special raid to Mount Zissley to mine Zisslean ores, the Church sent in sixty players. However, the group was split into three parties of twenty players each. Assuming that our company doesn’t rent a specific server and dedicate lines to this event, I would say maybe fifty players from each side?” Mark estimates.

  “That is kind of low,” Wesley comments.

  “I agree. Richard was originally planning to purchase new, dedicated servers to host the Oriental Expansion, and use revenue from sales of the expansion to fund the cost. If we’re going to slim down the inter-company event, and not devote any extra budgetary resources to the competition, then yes our existing servers could accommodate one hundred independent players in one gigantic instance,” the EDE employee explains.

  “You’ll let us know as soon as you figure out the hard number of participants?” the player asks.

  “Of course, Wesley. EDE also recognizes that players will need time to strategize how to defend the portal,” Mark says.

  “Defend the portal? You mean we’re not doing a tower defense style of match to protect Starter Town?” Wesley asks.

  Mark slaps his forehead. “Thanks
for reminding me. The objective will be to defend the portal located in the We Tang Kingdom, and to prevent the Virtuous Gaming players from entering the portal. If even a single VG player manages to use the portal to enter Eternia, we lose.”

  The player consultant shakes his head incredulously. Defending Starter Town versus defending the portal require vastly different strategies. Keeping his annoyance in check Wesley asks, “I have two follow up questions. First, will Eternians be allowed to set up defensive perimeters beforehand or after the start of the match?”

  “We haven’t gotten that far yet in our discussions,” Mark shrugs sheepishly.

  The player takes a deep breath. “Okay. Second question—will there be a time limit for the match?”

  “Again, VG and EDE have not reached that point yet,” the project manager repeats.

  “In that case, please take my advice,” Wesley begins. “Regarding the pre-setting of defense, you could go either way. You could allow players to set up defenses surrounding the portal before the match begins. Or, you could begin the match but have the attackers appear from a distance. The time it takes the attackers to reach the portal would then become the time allotment for defenders to set up the defense around the perimeter. And this, in turn, will determine what kind of structure, spells, etc. may be placed by the defenders. Theoretically, you could have a castle built around the portal if there is enough time provided to the defenders. Or the defense could be very rudimentary, consisting of, for example, trenches and wire fences surrounding the area, and pikes to prevent chargers from breaking through.”

  “I will have to discuss with Richard which scenario is preferable for the cameras,” Mark replies.

  “Of course,” the consultant barely avoids rolling his eyes. Eternia Development & Entertainment, Inc. needs even more publicity than they already received from the challenge, he sighs silently. “In that case, I also suggest a time limit for the competition to maybe a handful of hours. If the match takes too long, you’ll lose your viewers,” he cautions.

  The project manager nods. “Yes, people do tend to have short attention span.”

  “The anniversary mission that The Strangers participated in last year took over ten hours to complete,” Wesley reminds the EDE employee. “It was a miracle that people bothered to watch the stream until the curse was lifted.”

  “With more players involved in this event, it could eventually turn into a war of attrition,” Mark speculates.

  Wesley shakes his head. “You don’t want to turn this into a war of attrition. It is not fun, and players, especially from VG side, will simply turn off their VR equipment and drop out. You definitely don’t want that to happen because it would mean that EDE wins by default,” he advises.

  “Wouldn’t that be an ideal outcome?” the EDE employee asks.

  The player is taken aback by the question. “I mean, sure I want Eternia Development & Entertainment, Inc. to win, since I have been with you guys from the launch of the World of Eternia. And I would imagine that if Virtuous Gaming wins, my one year consultancy contract could be terminated a bit early,” Wesley notes. “However, as a player I would not be satisfied with winning by default, and I’m sure that a lot of players on both sides of the tournament would feel the same way.”

  “Okay. Well, you have given me a lot to thing about for this competition. I will need to discuss your concerns with Richard and then with my counterparts over at VG. But I will be sure to check with you before finalizing the parameters of the event,” Mark says.

  “That’s what I’m here for,” Wesley smiles. “I think my wife is calling me. I have to go. Please keep me posted,” he says.

  “Will do,” the manager promises and waves goodbye before the consultant logs out. “What do you think?” he asks aloud.

  Richard removes his Cloak of Invisibility and allows the precious garment to drop on the floor. “I think people need a reminder of who is in charge,” he says in a low voice as the chief executive trembles in anger at what he just heard. How dare they threaten to boycott this event! “We will grant the players’ wish to turn off the biofeedback loop; that will be my primary concession to them for participation in this event. But once we win the tournament, the players will have outlived their usefulness. I want you to find out who exactly threatened to boycott the event; identify the traitors by name and give me a list. Afterwards, we will quietly remove them from World of Eternia,” he orders.

  Mark can only stare at his employer in stunned silence.

  Chapter 45 – Pushback

  “I don’t know about this,” Lisa Huffman shakes her head.

  “What would you suggest then?” Mark Whitney replies while trying to keep his tone civil. The two are back at Lisa’s office at Virtuous Gaming. “I understand you want to have as many participants as possible for this historical event. However, it is not feasible for us to have thousands of players at the same location fighting each other. The lag would render game play nearly impossible for the players,” he points out.

  “If bandwidth is the issue, then we simply need to reduce the amount of bandwidth utilized by each player by lowering the settings somehow. And as I see it, the biggest drain on bandwidth is the virtual reality equipment. Can’t we simply turn it off somehow?” she asks.

  Mark repeats her head shaking gesture. “The most important aspect of World of Eternia that distinguishes the game from others is the incorporation of a virtual reality component. World of Eternia is the world’s first Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (‘VRMMORPG’). Without the VR component, WoE will be nothing more than another Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (‘MOBA’),” he replies and then tosses in an ultimatum. “It is absolutely critical that WoE uses the virtual reality equipment for this tournament. This is a red line that my employer insists on, or else he will cancel the event.”

  The VG representative folds her arms and leans her elbows on the desk. “I should point out that your side would have a massive advantage if the tournament will utilize VR equipment. The reason is that our players won’t have experience with the VR environment or the equipment. How will the champions of VG overcome this experience gap?”

  “You are approaching the problem too narrowly,” the EDE representative replies. “I know I shouldn’t be suggesting this, to be honest, but if I am looking to recruit players to represent Virtuous Gaming I would go to other game forums to look for players. Also, what’s there to prevent you from soliciting at WoE’s forums? Depending on what incentives or compensation you’re offering, I’m sure you will get a lot of applicants seeking to play mercenaries for your company,” Mark suggests.

  “Fair enough,” Lisa concedes. She was going to broach the subject of poaching WoE players via the EDE forums. I guess this means we have express permission to do so now, she thinks as Lisa crosses the item off her mental to-do list. “And I assume you will make the virtual reality equipment available to us?”

  “I’ve been given permission by Richard to rent out enough VR headsets and gloves to cover your players for the tournament, yes,” Mark confirms. “I don’t have a price yet, but that’s something your business folks with work out with our counterparts.”

  The VG negotiator stares at her counterpart in silence.

  Mark meets her stare, and neither party is willing to back off.

  Finally, Lisa sighs. “Okay, let’s say that Virtuous Gaming agrees to rent the VR equipment from your company and participants use this equipment for the event, how would we know that the rentals won’t be faulty?” she asks.

  “Oh that’s an easy one to solve,” Mark replies with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I was thinking of sending the equipment over to you a week before the event takes place. This would allow your players to practice with the virtual reality equipment and therefore narrow the experience gap a bit. This would also provide time for your players to get replacements for any equipment that turns out to be defective.”

  “What about training facilitie
s?” she asks.

  “If you wish, you could have your representatives create player accounts in WoE; we offer a free thirty days trial, so your players can practice with the equipment and not have to pay anything out of pocket. If you want to set your own server for your players to practice privately, I could send over a few engineers to your office to set something up,” the project manager offers. “If you want the private option, I would appreciate as much advanced notice as possible so that I could arrange for my guys to set this up quickly. It’s up to you which option you prefer.”

  Lisa Huffman decides quickly. “I think it would be better for my VG players to simply sign up for trial accounts in your game and practice with the real thing,” she replies. Besides, the private server may have different settings from the real game, Lisa notes to herself. I wouldn’t put it past their boss to pull a dirty stunt like that.

  Mark nods. “We could automatically raise the levels of your players’ in-game avatars to the game’s current maximum level of sixty, and let them feel their way around the game. We will need to know exactly who will represent Virtuous Gaming though,” he notes.

  “We will let you know when we have gathered our players. We may poach current Eternian players for this tournament. So we’re settling for a hundred man tournament, then?” she asks.

  “I think that would be the ideal size, yes,” the project manager agrees. “Besides, the staff will have a field day coming up with a marketing campaign revolving around a one hundred player tournament,” he adds.

  Lisa’s mind flashes quickly to Priscilla Lombardi, the secretary and public relations liaison for Charles. I wonder what sort of publicity campaign she will come up for a hundred players, she ponders.