It went bad . 'Well, it was a good idea, and well meant...' 'Oh SHUT UP will you. I mean it. Just put a damn sock in it for fk's sake!' (Tech Team's Bob and Bill having a chat after the fact) The system went live on January 10th., 2032. Near a decade's struggle was to pay off, with the most revolutionary concept in online massive multiplayer virtual worlds and games to become a reality. Even from the very start it had been clear that the system would be a nightmare to set up, and the major investment had to be in AI - Artificial Intelligence - as far as that could be accomplished. The numbers of factors to be measured and balanced was fantastic. A number of the longest running and most reslilient virtuals had been brought onboard, after much debate, much haggling, and a surprising number of actual fistfights inside and outside of boardrooms. Avatars from different "places" where to be able to travel across to other virtuals. Someone from, say WoW, would be able to hop into the Age of Conan universe. And vise versa. Bringing along not just the avatar, but the avatar's skills and gear. With 12 major virtuals, the BIG problem was to balance things. How to make it fair for all. Skills, how much they should count, as in how hard where they won. Same with all kinds of equipment. Then the fashion items - how to measure such things cross-platform valuevise. So the main job was math, after a fashion. And with the complexity of so many skillsets and virtual items, a model had to me made. A model that a smart piece of software could then use to calculate and define. 'Better pack up. We'l be found. Sooner or later. Every single one in the company.' 'Ye. First sensible thing from you today man.' (Tech Team's Bob and Bill having a chat after the fact) The smart system seemed to work, very well. After a few hit's and misses, but finally it was going. And fast, the making of the "model" for input and input's value's comparison had been the epic struggle. Programmers Everest with no oxygen. Way above the vertical limit, so to say. But the summit was achieved. Your Magic Sword from world A would perform in balance with how hard monsters where in world B. Tests where made. Your Knight armor from world E would protect in world J, according to a set value making it equally fantastic, or poor, as it was meant to be. And as it was according to the super-crossplatform equations for all virtuals you might drag it into with you. Altogether brilliant. And with the whole system performing to spec's, the tech's and the rest leaned back a bit and had a beer. Some had a lot of beers, and others enjoyed different stimulants (like brandy, ofc nothing illegal going on here), while the Machine was humming away. 'Mexico far enough?' 'Doubt it. Better check on lists of lands with less infrastructure. Spec as in bad net-access. North Korea still exists doesn't it? Go check that out for us man.' (Tech Team's Bob and Bill having a chat after the fact) So the system was increasingly trusted. With good performance reports came eager investors - especially one major manufacturer of training shoes (an item shockingly irrelevant as a "virtual item" in all participating virtuals) saw a product placement opportunity and went in heavy. Partners and shareholders celebrated. Cash flowed in. And more than a few people got somewhat lazy, feeling that the job was done, getting bored, wanting the next challenge. The system was left to itself there, a bit too much perhaps, near the end. Or rather the beginning. Everything seemed to work so well, the spreadsheets said it. And reading spreadsheets can get boring, especially when there never seems to be any surprises, never anything "off". Some got complacent where they should have been alarmed. 'Well. There's about 750 million pissed-off gamer's out there, and more than a few of them tech-savy and with resources. ' 'Pissed off and some unhinged mad ones amongst them, you bet.' (Tech Team's Bob and Bill having a chat after the fact) So on January 10th., 2032 it all went live. After about 11 hours some 47 players from a virtual called Entropa Universe had basically taken over WoW, and more from that EU place where pouring in there - and into the other participating games. After 9 days there where only ruins left in 11 of the 12 participating MMORGP's. Billions worth of virtual items changed hands or where simply lost. And according to the big system, it was all fair and square. Skills and weapons had been measured and balanced. Armors and other items the same. A few hundred million gamers where less than pleased, however. 'Guess we should have kept a closer watch there, at the end, on those balances the system came up with. I mean, they where correct, but we unleashed a monster didn't we...' 'Tell me what I already know. Now we run!' (Tech Team's Bob and Bill having a chat after the fact) The very end. Note... The concept of being able to travel between virtuals is something I'v been pondering for a few years. Could be interesting. Would be massively complex to set up tho. Maybe someone who reads this has some thougths and ideas? eras
that would be a great idea ... and just the same as they did for the japanese anime called Sword Art Online. what it needs added is Virtual Reality gear each of those virtuals would need to work with the same avatar creation software so you would look identical in every game you would need 1 central "hub" as a junction from where everyone could pick the game they wanted to play. however to make the balancing easier i wouldnt make it posible to take items from one virtual to the other ... only skills and your avatar and maybe a few carefully selected items (like starter gear that works in every virtual) that central hub should also be a meeting place (to socialize ... or even watch live streams from within the different virtuals) i would love it
Wouldn't all have to connect necessarily, you could have your avatar rendered in whatever avatar building software for the new game when you first Teleport to the game. Gameplay would obviously be different. Gear and skills, now thats the insane part to qualify. There may be some games where you get some enhanced skills, but if you don't do magic in EU, how would you do magic in WoW? It would certainly start with games that were moderately compatible. Sniper/Pistol/sword/knife skills are fairly popular in lots of games. Armor is too. So there are lots of possibilities. I think the hard part is getting other developers to agree whose skill points/XP systems would integrate with whom and how.
