[Good Times Don't Last]: "Nobody told you?"
[Great Wei Boxing Champion]: "Told me what?"
"Okay, looks like everyone forgot to mention this mechanic. The way to get closed beta access in this game is for a beta player to sacrifice prey to an NPC in-game. That NPC uses the offering to shape a body, and once the player who made the sacrifice logs out, they can see a beta activation code in the game's backend. That's how [Shit Appraisal Master] got access. Of course, since you're here, that means there's more than one way to get it."
What?
Outside the screen, Cui Yuan, otherwise known as [Great Wei Boxing Champion], genuinely wanted to shove his head into the screen at that moment-what kind of bizarre mechanic was this?
New users needed beta users to help them gain access. This classic referral setup had only ever appeared during the early trial runs of certain websites, but even then, it was only to keep the community relatively stable.
But applying it to a game... what on earth was this company playing at? Didn't they want to make money?
As someone who more or less worked in a related field, Cui Yuan would stake his career on it: a game with this kind of entry barrier had no chance of becoming a massive hit. Even becoming a niche gem was the best-case estimate. The likeliest outcome was that it would flop by the wayside.
But... the past twelve hours seemed to carry a kind of magic, altering some of Cui Yuan's perceptions to a degree.
Thinking of the immersive experience he had just had, could it be... that they really were this confident they could build a multiplayer online gaming community whose connections were established entirely through one-on-one invitations?
Judging purely by the technology, they might really have grounds for that confidence, but... this game's marketing was every bit as absurd. Did this company have any normal people in it at all? If all else failed, they could poach him. There was plenty he could do!
Outside the screen, Cui Yuan gathered his words and asked:
"Do you know anything about this... Odin Game Company? I haven't found anything about this company so far, but this game's level of polish and technical prowess are ridiculously high. I honestly can't figure it out..."
"Haha, finally, someone noticed!"
A message from [Zhongde] suddenly popped up in the group:
"You're right not to be able to figure it out. Think about it, everyone. What's the biggest difference between this game and the mainstream immersive games on the market? Or rather... where is their technology strongest?"
[Shit Appraisal Master]: "Everywhere."
[Zhongde]: "...Seems like you're actually right... but, but you're making it really hard for me to keep going, bro."
[Good Times Don't Last]: "I'm a professional straight man. Whatever area you want, that's what I'll say."
[Zhongde]: "Immersion."
[Good Times Don't Last]: "I think immersion is where their technology is strongest (deadpan)."
[Zhongde]: "Exactly, immersion! Don't laugh, but the bed I'm sleeping in now is really narrow. If I move even a little, I can kick the wall. But over the past few days, I've tried all kinds of positions countless times, and I've found that as long as we don't press the logout button in that interface, no amount of thrashing around affects our bodies in the real world at all. You could say the connection between our brains and bodies is completely severed. I've been sleeping so well these past few days."
[Do Some Farm Work]: "So what are you trying to say? We've obviously noticed all this too."
[Shit Appraisal Master]: "My bed's pretty big. Didn't notice."
"Shut up!" × n
[Zhongde]: "Still don't get it? Do you seriously think this is technology that would be applied to gaming? Obviously, some mysterious organization is using a game as a front to experiment on us. That's the only explanation for everything we've experienced! Think about it. When you logged into this game, was there an anti-addiction notice? A version number? Warnings about flashing lights and 3D motion sickness?"
It seemed... there really hadn't been!
At that moment, all the players looking at their screens were startled!
Only then did they realize that the game's oddities had begun right at login. But because there were simply too many outrageous things about World of Disorder, that little opening sequence on the login screen had left no impression on them at all.
Only now, after [Zhongde] pointed it out, did everyone realize that this game didn't even have the most basic notices. It really wasn't how a game ought to be.
[Good Times Don't Last]: "You're actually right. Th-this... we haven't really been chosen as test subjects, have we? What should we do, then?"
[Zhongde]: "I don't know what you guys are going to do, but I'm going to keep playing. Since we can't change anything, why not learn to enjoy it?"
[Do Some Farm Work]: "So after all that talk, you haven't actually changed anything. At most, we'll keep an eye out when we play from now on. But since this company's game can sever the connection between our brains and bodies, I doubt they care what we think. Maybe they just want us to help train the artificial intelligence in the game. Think back. Isn't Ed, the only NPC we've met, exactly like that? He's pretty dim most of the time, but once certain keywords are triggered, he becomes just like a real person. My guess is that as the player count grows, the NPCs in the game might become more and more human."
[Shit Appraisal Master]: "I get this one. He definitely thinks he's been chosen, and now he's going to enter a virtual world, get all cuddly with a blonde sword saint AI girl, and beat some admin-abusing bastard to save the world while he's at it. Classic delusions. Give him five-million-times acceleration and he'll settle down."
[Good Times Don't Last]: "Makes sense. Maybe this mysterious organization's goal really is to have us help train AI. To keep these AIs from picking up bad habits, they need an invitation system to ensure the players are relatively normal and keep the riffraff out. There might be a pair of eyes watching us from behind while we play. If we do anything too out of line, we might lose our beta access."
[Great Wei Boxing Champion]: "Yeah, that's an interesting theory. Anyway, I'm thinking along similar lines. Although this game's origins don't look all that normal, our gaming helmets have an upper power limit. It can't fry our brains like in an anime, so at least we don't have to worry about that. As for what's really going on with this game, we can take our time finding out later. I'm heading to work now. If anyone wants to see their videos posted, send me your recordings."
[Zhongde]: "I've got to head to work too, but before I go, I need to stress one thing @Shit Appraisal Master."
[Shit Appraisal Master]: "What?"
[Zhongde]: "I like black hair."