?Finally finished with work for today!“ I exclaimed as I stretched my arms in the air while relaxing in my office chair.

  Suddenly someone places their hand on my left shoulder from behind.

  ?Good work today Tom. Starting next week you are on break right? Are you going to play the new SLOF-Second Life Online Fantasy?“ Asked my coworker Chris.

  ?Of course, but you already know that, don’t you, as you tried to take the week off as well.“

  ?Ah yes I did, I did… unfortunately our boss declined my request though… don’t you want to switch with me and take the business trip in my stead, so I can play starting from tomorrow?“

  ?Mh, even if I would like to, the boss wouldn’t allow it. Claiming I’m not good enough to take part in the negotiations with our new supplier, or making up some other bullshit. Because the only reason for the old pervert to make this business trip in the first place is so that he can spend time with you, our departments idol, I bet. As far as our suppliers are concerned we could easily do the negotiations online per video call.“

  ?Ugh please don’t remind me… I can’t stand this old fart and who are you calling an idol?!“

  ?That is what our coworkers started calling you, since the last company party. That dress was just divine.“

  ?S-Shut-up! Anyway, let me know your Account-ID so I can send you a friend request and join you as soon as the business trip is over ok?“

  ?Will do! Have a save flight and if anything happens you can call me any time.“

  ?Thanks! And don’t forget to eat and sleep!“

  ?Won’t happening, I already pre-cooked a couple dozens of meals, during the week, in preparation for the coming week. Though, I can’t promise you I’ll sleep much.“ I shouted back as I was leaving the office.

  The Virtual-Reality-Mass-Multi-Online-Role-Playing-Game or short VRMMORPG SLOF is the first 3rd generation VR game and also what people consider to be the first real full-dive Virtual Reality Game world wide. While the 1st generation VR games only allowed for sight and hearing, the second generation VR games already allowed for the human sense of touch being fully replicated in game. With the implementation of touch there was a need for many new regulations regarding VR games though. For example developers had to cut all feedback that could arouse our more animalistic instincts, for obvious reasons. The only exceptions are single player games with a specific age rating. And now finally, with the 3rd generation, the implementation of the remaining human senses of smell and taste are finding usage in game.

  Besides making meals I couldn’t do much in preparation for the launch unfortunately. As the developers behind SLOF didn’t make any open alpha or beta tests, only in-house testing to minimize the risk of data-leaks. Even the promotion videos didn’t give much information besides that there won’t be any limits in what we’ll be able to do. Which has led to a small shit-storm before the launch date, as it is common that most games have already detailed guides available online beforehand. So players don’t have to waist precious in game resources, or time, to figure out the most efficient way to level up, or to min.-max. their characters damage output.

  On my way home I stopped at my local Italien restaurant, to have my last meal eating out for the following week. Their gluten free pizza is just the best! When I arrived home, I brushed my teeth and took a long shower, then went to bed early, setting my alarm clock to 6 a.m. beforehand. As the devs of SLOF decided to have their official launch on Saturday morning so that most registered players can take part in this historical moment.

  As my alarm clock rings, I shoot out of my bed full of childlike anticipation shouting.

  ?It’s finally here, in one hour my new life starts!“

  I wolf down my breakfast which only consists of two slices of bread with apricot jam and a cup of Darjeeling. I brush my teeth, wash my face and put on a fresh pajama too. Then I’m getting my full dive gear ready. Only 10 minutes left before the game open its doors for all the excited players, including me.

  The nice thing about online games these days is that you don’t have to install anything anymore on your local device as all the data is stored at the servers of the developers and publishers. Making it a lot harder for people to cheat at the same time.

  And if the game stops it online services the publisher has to offer a offline version that every customer can then install on their local device.

  Before our government intervened it wasn’t uncommon for publishers to just take the game offline, leaving their costumers back with nothing in return for their money, to then bring the game back as a remastered version and charge them the full price again if they want to play.

  I’m laying in bed with my full-dive gear set on, staring on the huge white wall in front of me, with a more than colorful countdown, counting down.

  …

  3.

  2.

  Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

  1.

  ?Welcome to Second Life Online Fantasy, Player! In our wonderful world the possibilities are limitless and you alone will decide which path you’ll take. As it might be a bit overwhelming for some of you we have decided to add a little helper in form of our new Assistent AI called Nel. Now please enjoy yourself and don’t forget to read and agree to our TOS and Privacy Police“ ;)

  The TOS and Privacy Police were already available on the games homepage beforehand, it wasn’t anything completely different compared to what you can find everywhere else.

  After I agree to the terms I hear a high pitched voice.

  ?Welcome new player! I’m the Assistant AI Nel, but you can call me Nel. I will lead you through the character creation process and answer any questions you might have. Though do not expect to get a satisfactory answer to all of your questions.“ ;)

  ?Eh, ok. Hi Nel.“

  ?First please choose a starting body for the character creation. You can choose between a 3D scann of your real body or one of our many pre-builds.“

  ?Please use my 3D scan.“ I feel uncomfortable if my characters proportions are too different from my real body proportions and if I would choose a female body Chris wouldn’t stop making fun of me for weeks…

  ?Next please choose your starting race from the following three bases: Humanoid, Animal, Others. In the next step you’ll be able to further determine the characteristics of your race. For example if you choose Humanoid as base you can start as one of your typical fantasy game races like Human, Beast Folk, Fairy Folk, Demon Folk and more. If you choose Animal you can start as e.g. Cat, Monkey or Bird. As Others you can freely deform your character and the game will choose the closest resembling race from our extensive data bank. Please note that your starting race will have no influence in the treatment you’ll receive from the NPCs, or your options for your starting point in the game. Now please make your decision.“

  ?Are there any limitations on what weapons I can use with each race?“

  ?Every race will be able to equip every item, though it might not receive all the benefits of the equipment. For example a Wisp might equip a sword, but it will only receive the stat bonus from the weapon and won’t be able to make use of its base weapon damage for attacks. Or how would you expect a Wisp to swing a sword around? Though… it won’t be entirely impossible“ ;)

  The last game, I played as an elf, so this time I want something different to your base fantasy RPG trope races. But on the other hand I also don’t want to use Others as I’m not a big fan of deforming my character to an unidentifiable mess as others often do, if they are given a chance to… Something skeleton like might be nice than.

  ?The Skeleton race can be found under the Undead race tree of all three base races, which kind of skeleton would you like to be?“

  ?Does the Demon Folk has a skeleton variant as well?“

  ?Affirmativ.“

  ?Ok thanks, then please use my 3D scan to create one.“

  ?Creation complete. Do you want to use the automatic beautification function as well?“

  ?Uh, sure why not.“

  Mh, it didn’t really change much. Maybe the bones have a bit more of a lusters shine to it? Well whatever. Now let’s change the bones to the blackest of blacks they have. Embrace the void!

  ?Pfft! that looks edgy as hell lol.“

  If it is already this edgy let’s make it even more so. For the eyes I choose an icy-grey tone with a red layer behind to simulate a red-eye effect when my eyes get illuminated. My horns can be a bit more spiky too. Unfortunately there is no black smoke which I could add… Now I should be finished with everything.

  ?You haven’t made use of all the possible parameters that you are able to adjust. For the parameters that haven’t been used we’ll ask you again when your evolution makes use off them. Though you will be able to buy real money shop items too, to adjust your looks later on as well.

  If you are happy with your character please proceed and choose a name. Insulting and discriminating names are not allowed. The name can’t be longer than 30 characters. Each name will be unique and can’t be claimed by two players at the same time. Your character name will also replace your Account ID used for e.g. the forums and to send friend requests. If a player gets banned or deletes his account the previous used character name won’t become available again. Please make sure not to use your real life name for privacy concerns. Thank you. Please also note that Second Life Online Fantasy will not take any responsibility if the player decides to use a copyrighted name, thank you for your understanding.“

  ?Ugh, the most difficult part of any MMO… to choose a character name.“

  I was never good at thinking up decent names. Though with a limit of 30 characters I have a lot more freedom here than what I would have in other games. Also SLOF has the special characteristic that you can only make one character per account and only one account per person, so the naming restrictions might sound more harsh than they actually are.

  ?Mh let’s see if Ellis is still available as it is the first day.“

  ?The name Ellis is already taken, please choose a different name.“

  ?Ah well, I saw that coming…“

  I probably should make use of the space bar as the character is luckily not locked.

  After another 30 minutes of thinking I decided to go with ?Eisteufel“ or short ?Eis“ which translates into ?Ice Devil“. It isn’t really that creative but it matches my eye color and most importantly, the name wasn’t taken yet.

  ?Please choose your starting location. You can either use the list below, use the randomizer or use the search function. The starting place cannot be changed after you logged in for the first time, even with real money. So please choose carefully. In case of some unexpected bug, you might contact me. Nel if you haven’t already forgotten my name, for the unstuck function.“

  The list with all the possible starting locations was quite long, so long in fact that even after scrolling for a full minute I wasn’t even half past through. After some thought I decided to make use of the search function instead.

  ?Something far from other players would be nice as the monster in the starting zones tend to get pretty rare with that many players. Though it should still offer some convenience for selling and buying items. Also something with the aesthetics of a midivil village would be nice, as it would fit my skeleton character, without being to creepy like an abandoned cemetery.“

  ?The following places fulfill your conditions: the village of Langbach, the village of Immerwald, the village of Weitfelden, the village of Schneehausen, …“

  It looks like all the bigger cities have already a decent population of players… Schneehausen looks quite nice to be honest, but with nothing else but snow around it, it does look quite inconvenient for gathering resources. Guess I’ll go with Immerwald, having a big forest should be perfect for collecting resources and hunting monster for exp.

  ?You have chosen the village of Immerwald as your starting point, is this correct? When you log in I’ll help you through the tutorial for beginners. If you encounter any bugs feel free to call me. I wish you a fantastic time in our game Second Life Online Fantasy!

  P.S.: Don’t get caught being naughty“ ;)