Brockodile
Being Contracted by Wona
April 12, 2057
Hi everyone,
I’ve got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that the offer to work for Wona was everything I hoped it would be . . . except for one tiny thing. The contract they offered to me included a NDA (Non-disclosure agreement), which means I can’t keep my promise to provide the inside scoop on the company’s activities on Lucid Blogging. I asked if I could have some time to think about it and they agreed, but they didn’t seem happy about my hesitation.
I’m a little apprehensive of their motives for keeping everything a secret. Sure, they might not want anyone to spoil what they had in store for the game, but the NDA involved everything I did in relation to the company and its dealings. When asking me about what involvement I’d had in the gaming community, I did mention Lucid Blogging, so I’m pretty sure they know what I’m giving up.
The real question is if should I let these suspicions get in the way of my dream? Heck, I only have about 500 hundred people following Lucid Blogging, and don’t get me wrong, I appreciate every single one of you, but I don’t even know how many of you actually read these posts from beginning to end anyway. The only reason people do read it is because of my growing ties to Wona, so if I choose this blog over Wona, I’ll lose any reason why people would read it anyway.
It’s a hard decision but my reason for writing this blog has always been to share my passion of VR gaming, and who am I to sacrifice an opportunity to be involved with this new innovation as a whole just so I can stroke my own ego? It’s a hard decision but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity I’d be giving up.
What do you think?
Brockodile
Goodbye
May 1, 2057
Yes, this is it, you didn’t read that wrong.
If the title didn’t already make it clear, this is going to be my last post on Lucid Blogging. I’m sad to let go of something I’d been writing since I started high school, and whether or not I stay in school next year is another thing I’m on the fence about. Considering I’m going to be working a near full-time job, AND WITH SCHOOL, I wouldn’t have that much time to write on here anyway. That being said, I am hesitant to let it go, if my silence for the last couple of weeks wasn’t obvious.
So this is me saying goodbye to all of the followers I received over the last two years. You have to admit that I wasn’t the best at keeping this thing regularly updated anyway. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy sharing this stuff with you. There’s something strangely cathartic and thought organizing about summarizing what’s happened in the last month. It really puts everything into perspective. I also enjoyed all of the positive and constructive feedback I received from my readers. You guys helped justify my own passion, and I loved meeting with you at the VR conventions. I hope this doesn’t break my contract, but I’m sure a few of you will be joining me in Wona’s recruitment training soon anyway.
So let me give a conclusive statement so I leave no one confused on what I’ll be doing and why I’m going to stop writing on Lucid Blogging. After being impressed by my dungeon submission that I designed with Wona’s software, I was offered a job as a game designer along with sixteen others (the number of people wouldn’t break my NDA, would it? Screw it! It’s my last post after all). Along with this offer, I confirmed my position as a beta-tester of the Dream State after it is produced along with these others. This involves being among the third set of people to try out the Dream State Drug (DSD) Malcolm Mirth is working on, as well as the new Dream Engine the Wona Company is designing. Stopping this blog is a precaution that I don’t leak any crucial information, and from what I just divulged to you, this is probably a good idea.
So with that final statement and my place in the history of gaming set in stone, I will leave you. Hopefully the next time you hear from me I’ll be getting an award for game design or even running my own team under Wona. In any case, let me give you some final words of wisdom that my fourteen (turning fifteen) years of life on this planet has been kind enough to give me. Don’t waste an opportunity. If life gives you lemons, you find some way of making a lemon inspired VR gaming device out of them. Finally, if you find yourself being approached by the leading company in a billion dollar industry, bring your A-game and maybe you will be given the same chance I have.
That’s it from me, Brockodile out.
Brockodile
Wona is Corrupt
January 10, 2060
I’m not posting this as Brockodile. I’m posting this as Brock Driver, the name of the person who foolishly signed on with the Wona Company three years ago. Don’t get me wrong. I wouldn’t be using this blog unless I had any other way of getting this message to the public.
Of the sixteen people who signed up with the Wona Company in 2057, only two of those people still work for the company. Of the fourteen others, six of them have some kind of mental illness and the other six are dead from DSD overdoses. Those first six were in the first trials of beta-testers, the next six in the second set of trials. Fortunately I was in the third set of trials with the last three, but that didn’t stop me from getting to know those who came before me.
Even now, Lucas Nix, Paris Flaugh, Ray Cranel, Kristie Tein, Michael Joslin and Malic Milano are wasting away in Wona’s mental hospital, which, from what I’ve seen of them, is no different from being locked in the company’s own insane asylum. Because of the contracts we all signed, none of them, including those that died, will ever be compensated or discussed openly in the media. I’m writing now to say what no one else will. Wona’s drugs killed six young people, and ruined the lives of several others, including my own.
I will not stay quiet about this. I will make sure Wona pays for the things they did, and I have the evidence needed to back up my words. On my last night in Wona Laboratories, I broke into their Database office and stole a folder of the six videos showing the beta-testers overdosing and dying. This will prove Wona’s malfeasance and have the public decide their future. No doubt after this I will be tracked down by their people soon enough, but I have a backup plan. Be on the lookout for this in the news in the near future for I have friends with their own website that will get the videos very shortly.
If you don’t hear from me again, it will mean they got me and shut down this blog. You might hear about me facing prosecution charges. I don’t care. So long as the evidence is out there, Wona won’t be able to escape justice. If not through me, through someone else, they’re not getting away with this. You can decide their fate once you’ve seen what I have witnessed firsthand.
Brockodile
______________________________________________
Evidence Piece #6:
Archived in the Wona Company’s Database Collection after the deletion of Lucid Blogging.
This story comes from the world of Stuck in the Game. If you liked it, get the whole book here:
After a terrible car accident paralyzes seventeen-year-old Noah Newbolt, he is hooked up to the innovative Dream Engine—a virtual reality helmet that immerses the player in an online fantasy game. The Dream Engine keeps Noah’s mind alive while doctors frantically work to heal his body, but dying in the game could send Noah into a coma, forever.
Meanwhile, Noah’s girlfriend, Sue, is suffering injuries from the same car crash, and the doctors grow confused when she seemingly fails to connect to the game. Then Noah encounters a mysterious avatar who suggests the last remnants of Sue’s consciousness are being held prisoner in the most dangerous part of the game.
Noah takes it upon himself to rescue Sue, allying himself with a group of high-level players. But as he rises through the ranks, his high status earns him the ire of top players across the world. Can Noah stay alive—and awake—long enough to save Sue and escape the game?
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About the Author
Growing up in the small town of Timaru, New Zealand, Christopher Keene broke the trend of the males in his family by following his mother’s more artistic career path. Moving to Christchurch to study a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature, he stayed on to do Honors because of the creative writing course it provided. In his spare time he writes a blog to share his love of the fantasy and science fiction genres in novels, films, comics, games, and anime (fantasyandanime.wordpress.com). Christopher is dedicated to reading and writing fiction in the hope of publishing a popular fantasy or science fiction series that he can be proud to see on a shelf in his favorite bookstores.
First in the Game Page 2