Stuck In The Game

There's this game, a massively multiplayer online rpg. It's supposed to have "better then life" graphics. Frankly, no one really cared at first. It wasn't a triple A game and it wasn't published by a big company, so it wasn't advertised so much, but, players seemed to be really into it and, with time, the fan base grew up to become one of the most played games of the generation.

Played in a virtual reality, the plot was pretty cliché. "You awake in a new world and find yourself new powers. A choice opens to you as you discover the world around you is in chaos. Will you bring balance or submerge your foes in darkness?" Pretty lame right? But for a game done by a team of six, it was surprisingly good. Graphics were good, though they weren't "better then life", the missions were intriguing, the raids were challenging, the bosses were hard, the environment was well placed and thought out, really, it was a good game.

Like most MMO, that one was focusing on cooperation and had a clan system. Clans were listed in Power Points, which were the damage given by its players versus the damage given. Quite an interesting concept, really. Most would be based on the amount of players, or their kills versus deaths ratio, maybe even in their overall equipment stats, but no. In order to be truly competitive, it was set for a damage ratio and, on top of the leader board, the Blue Flame, with a score of 1 342 to 1. Meaning for every single hit taken, the Flame would return over a thousand hit points. Of course, this clan was focusing only on player versus environment, which meant missions, side missions, quests and raids, but still, 1 300 to 1 was an impressive ration.

On second place was the Red Passion with a score of 800 to 1. Of course, if they weren't so often battling in the area against other players, they could easily step their score up, but, for a mixed clan, it was a good score.

The Blue Flame was regarded as the only clan capable of finishing the game. Most of their players were pretty hardcore and it was even spoken some of them left their jobs for the game. I guess, at this point, we pretty all left our jobs for the game. A certain day, actually, on New Years Eve, a raid was planned by the clan. One that, if beaten, would allow access to the last level of the game, which was described by the developers as "life changing".

That night, millions of players joined in. The popular clan had even planned on streaming their battle on the large screens in the safe zones, the cities. Of course, they had to ask permission to the admins, and since it was good "television" and the clan was the best, it was accepted. So millions of players, including yours truly, started the game to see the battle. The raid started nicely and, as things went on, their score, which was constantly updating by the way, went up and down like a yo-yo until they reached the raid's boss. At the time, i really wished to be part of it. To be in the action, but one of Flame's rules was not to let new members in on dangerous missions, let alone raids.

Ah yes, i suppose i should let you know, i joined the Blue Flame a day prior to their raid. I applied to join and, with a score of 983 to 1, i was accepted, but still too low to be let in on the dangerous feat.

Oh, yeah. Back to the story. The boss appeared around midnight, and it was really cool to start a new year with an intense battle.. but then the game froze. The raid was over, with no win or lost. Players were back in the main hub and, graphics were boosted. By a lot. Graphics felt real. They were finally as good as real life. Not better but as good. Little did we know they were real. The leaderboard was set back to new, every clan back to 0 and so were all of our stats.

Most players were pissed and some even planed to leave and never come back, but as they couldn't seem to log out, reality slapped us in the face. We were in for a big time. Not only did we had to start everything up, but the difficulty was set high, as we were attacking the last two levels of the game.

Long story short, a lot of people died and, as the Blue Flame slowly vanished, i made my own clan. The Royal Purple. I started alone.. i still am alone, but i made it to the leaderboard. Second place! Not bad for a little girl, huh? Well, it's been something like six months now and still isn't any hope of finishing this level, not to mention the end game level, but, where there's life there's hope... Or something. Anyway, i got me some cool armor, a sweet lazer double canon and a pretty badass reputation. I'm not in a hurry to get back to my old cashier life.

See you on the next quest!