by Adam Horne
During the beta, most people farmed gold by hunting monsters. The most popular targets seemed to be goblins because they dropped actual coins instead of items that had to be vendored. This meant players didn’t have to run back to town as often to sell random items they found. Already, people were selling guides on how to reach the best places to make money, although there were no guides on how crafting worked. If anyone had found new crafting skills, they were staying quiet about them. Kevin figured that sort of information would be hard to find, at least until next month when the patents began to expire.
Kevin sent a message to Ben, saying he’d decided to try the game. He watched the progress bar on the download impatiently as it crept up. After a few minutes, his mailbox chimed with a reply.
Just got home. Ralphie’s totally wound up, so I’m going to take him for a run to burn off some energy. I’ll log on when I get back.
Kevin pushed a button on his remote to rotate the swivel desk to where he could reach the bag with the VR equipment. He fumbled a bit with the headset before he got the strap around his head. Having help to put on the device would have been nice, but he didn’t want to bother his parents each time he wanted to play the game. The haptic glove was easier; he held it between his teeth and slid his right hand inside. He didn’t bother with the left one since he wouldn’t be able to do much with it anyway. He lowered the headset over his eyes and saw the device had found the wireless network already. He entered the password and connected to his computer remotely.
The download counted down the last two percent while he watched and dinged when the file was done. He opened it, and a window with the words “Genesis Online” filled the screen. He pressed the button at the bottom to log in.
Chapter 2
When the game finished loading, Kevin was presented with a character creation screen. An alert popped up asking if he needed help designing his character. He selected the “Yes” button. While he’d played lots of role-playing games when he was younger, he didn’t know anything about this one.
Welcome to Genesis Online! The first thing you need to decide in making your character is what class you want to play. The class you choose determines your starting skills, although your character can eventually learn to use any skill in the game. So if you decide to change your class later, it’s as simple as learning a new set of skills.
Ben hadn’t been kidding when he said the game used a basic fantasy theme. There were only four classes to select from: Fighter, Rogue, Wizard, and Cleric. A fifth option at the bottom called “Adventurer” would allow him to pick any five skills. There was a warning saying this was best for players who understood the system and could lead to difficulty in getting started if the user chose the wrong combination of skills. Kevin had always liked playing sneaky characters, so he picked rogue and moved to the next screen.
Rogue is an excellent choice! You have been granted the following skills: Light Weapons, Thrown Weapons, Medium Armor, Stealth, and Sneak Attack. Next you need to distribute points between your character’s attributes. As a Rogue, the Dexterity attribute is important for you because it is used for most of your skills.
The attributes were very basic: Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Willpower, and Luck. Kevin read the descriptions and discovered each attribute was tied to the skills of one of the main classes. Dexterity was for his own class, rogue. Fighters used strength, wizards used intelligence, and clerics used willpower. Luck determined how often a critical success was achieved while using skills. A note beneath the attributes table said strength and dexterity were used to determine how many hit points (HP) a character had, and intelligence and willpower would determine mana points (MP).
All the attributes were set at a value of 5, with a plus and minus sign next to each one to raise and lower them. There was also a pool of 5 unspent points he could use to customize his character. Kevin figured out they could have a maximum of 9 and a minimum of 1. He set them all back to the default of 5 and pondered what to do next. He would have liked to talk to Ben, since he’d already played the game and could offer some advice. His friend probably wouldn’t be back from his run for a while, so Kevin decided to take a shot in the dark.
“Better lucky than good,” he said as he bumped the luck score up to the max.
He put the final point into dexterity but didn’t like having his main attribute so low. He also thought he might like to play around with casting spells, so he took two points out of strength and added one each to dexterity and intelligence. He clicked the button to move on.
Do you feel lucky, punk? You made some interesting choices in allocating your attribute points. Don’t worry if you find you dislike your current allocation, as you can get additional points while playing. Be aware that changing your attributes is much harder than progressing in new skills, so if you want to make any changes, now is the best time.
Kevin dismissed the alert and continued to the next screen to decide the race of his character. Like the previous selections, there were few options available: Dwarf, Elf, or Human. They each received a racial bonus to one attribute, strength for dwarves, dexterity for elves, and intelligence for humans. He felt that his dexterity attribute was still a bit low, and he liked the tall, skinny frame of the elf character, so he chose that. Each race also received a bonus to one attribute of choice. Kevin chose luck and the value rose to 10. Apparently bonus racial points could go above the normal maximum.
The screen zoomed in on the face of the elf, and several option menus became available to change his character’s appearance. Kevin chose medium length, brown hair that swept behind the pointed ears and extended down to the shoulders. He chose dark green eyes. The facial hair option was grayed out, meaning elves in this world couldn’t grow facial hair, although he didn’t mind because he would have chosen a smooth chin anyway. Kevin pressed the button to go to the next step.
Please input a name for your character.
Kevin typed in “Kelath,” the name of a favorite character he’d played in a game of Dungeons and Dragons with Ben in middle school. A checkmark appeared next to the name to show it was available, and Kevin pressed the button to confirm. The camera zoomed back to show his avatar’s full body. A character sheet appeared with his final stats:
Name: Kelath
Class: Rogue (Light Weapons, Thrown Weapons, Medium Armor, Stealth, and Sneak Attack)
Race: Elf
STR: 3
DEX: 8
INT: 6
WIL: 5
LUK: 10
Is this the character you want to play?
Kevin pressed the “Yes” button, and the screen faded to black.
Welcome to Genesis Online!
* * *
The loading screen showed a picture of a walled city with the words “Genesis Online” across the top in Gothic lettering. Kevin lifted the visor and sent a text to Ben with his character’s name while he waited for the map to load. Seconds after he returned to the game, the image faded out to show his character.
Kelath stood at the crest of a grassy hill overlooking a valley. A small stream ran down from the mountains to his left and wended its way into a copse of trees below where he stood. The sun was slowly sinking behind the mountains to the west, the sky dimming although he could still see well from the light of a mostly full moon. Computer graphics had progressed significantly since the last time he’d played a game like this ten years ago. Individual leaves on the trees swayed in the wind, and clouds raced across the sky. If not for the pressure of the goggles against his face, he would have believed it was real.
The goggles had an eye tracking feature that could tell what he was looking at on the screen and activate it if he pressed a button on the remote. His avatar performed actions based on his thoughts, although this wasn’t very precise. Sometimes he would go the wrong direction or run around in circles. He could also move using the joystick, which was easier although still not perfect, and pan the view by glancing at the edges of the screen. With a lit
tle practice, he was able to control the game using only his right hand without too much difficulty.
He examined his inventory. He was dressed in a leather shirt, pants, and boots. The haptic glove he wore gave feedback every time he touched something in the game, and his leather outfit felt rigid but flexed a little when he pushed on it. A long dagger, sharpened on both sides, hung in a sheath from his waist. Four throwing knives jutted out from holsters sewn into the arms of his shirt, and several more jingled in a pouch on his hip. He wore a backpack, which was currently empty. He’d have plenty of space to carry any loot he found.
He checked the interface next to get an idea of what actions he could take. When he focused on one of his attack skills, a tooltip told him how it worked.
Stab - A basic melee attack that can only be performed with a light weapon. Deals sneak attack damage against targets that are either unaware of your presence or focused on another player.
He also had an attack that slashed an opponent, causing bleeding damage, and the ability to throw weapons at range. Stealth was the only noncombat skill he could use. He tried activating stealth, and his character crouched down and took on a faded appearance, as if he were standing in shadows.
While he was learning the interface, several other people logged in next to him on top of the hill. Many of them pulled out weapons or opened their backpacks, just as he had done, probably figuring out how the game worked. A human in a faded robe recited a few words, and a magical barrier shimmered in the air around him. He ran down the hill towards the woods, and almost immediately another character took his place.
The flow of people was constant. As soon as there was enough space on the hill to accommodate a new player, one appeared. Kelath started down the hill, giving up his spot in case another player was waiting to connect. Most of the characters seemed to be entering the woods, so he followed their lead. The light dimmed as he went under the forest canopy, and the VR goggles darkened for a second to simulate his eyes adjusting. Again he was amazed at how much detail the developers had put into the game world.
The forest was filled to capacity with characters, some in groups but most on their own with a small buffer zone around them. None of them seemed to be doing anything, all waiting for something to happen. Kelath meandered through the trees, watching the other players and wondering why they didn’t move.
Fifty feet away, a bird swooped down and landed on a tree branch. A dwarf in chainmail raised a bow and loosed an arrow, striking one of the bird’s wings. The animal cried out in pain and swooped towards the dwarf, who pulled out an axe and closed the distance between them. After three fierce swings of the weapon, the bird made a loud squawking sound and collapsed to the ground.
All these players must have been waiting for mobs—wandering monsters—to spawn so they could kill them. Kelath watched for a while as more birds and an occasional rabbit appeared only to be blasted with magic or cut down in seconds. He couldn’t believe the developers would make the starting area so small, but maybe they hadn’t planned on such a big rush of players when the game was first released.
Kelath marched through the undergrowth, never close enough when a mob spawned to attack before another player killed it. Eventually, the trees thinned out until he found himself on a grassy plain that extended all the way down to the mouth of the valley. The stream snaked over the landscape to join a river far in the distance below. A path followed the flow of water and widened as it neared a bridge spanning the river. The plains around him were as full of people as the woods he’d exited.
Kelath jumped back in surprise when a rabbit popped out of a burrow right in front of him. A wizard standing on the slope below him recited a few words, and a bolt of ice flew from his fingers and hit the rabbit’s legs. A quarter of the animal’s health bar disappeared. It hopped towards the wizard, but one of the legs that had been hit was frozen in place, and the rabbit struggled to move. Kelath ran forward and stabbed the animal from behind with his knife. Floating text appeared above the rabbit’s head before fading out.
Sneak attack success.
Critical hit!
The red of the rabbit’s health bar shrank down until only a tiny sliver remained. The animal turned and lunged at Kelath’s face, but before it could connect, another ice bolt slammed into the creature’s back. The rabbit’s body went limp, bounced off Kelath’s chest, and dropped to the ground. The corpse glowed, indicating there was some kind of loot to be found. He leaned over and searched, taking a rabbit’s foot with a length of twine attached that could be worn as a necklace. When he straightened back up, he found the wizard standing in front of him, eyes pinched together in anger.
“You stole my kill!”
Kelath took a step back. “What?”
“I’ve been in this spot for an hour. Everything between the last tree and the bend in the stream is my area. That rabbit was my kill, and you stole it!”
“Sorry, I didn’t know.”
“I saw you pick up something. What did it drop?”
Kelath held out the rabbit’s foot he’d found.
“Never mind, I’ve already found a ton of those.” He sneered. “I suggest you find your own spot and kill the mobs there.”
Without waiting for a response, the wizard walked back to where he had been standing. He scanned around himself to check the ground he’d claimed.
Kelath looked around, dumbfounded. He’d never before seen a game where people were so territorial, but he’d also never seen one this crowded. Hoping to make amends, he approached the wizard again.
“Hey, I’m sorry I killed your rabbit,” said Kelath. “Would you like to group up so we both get experience?”
“And have to share the loot with you? Forget it, noob. Go find your own spot.” The wizard turned the opposite direction, ignoring him.
Kelath wandered off, a little dazed at how rude the other player had been. Whenever he stopped, nearby players would tell him to move along. He was halfway up the side of a mountain before he found a space that was sufficiently clear.
The farther up he climbed, the less people he saw, and he soon figured out why. Whereas new mobs spawned frequently in the forest and valley below, not many appeared on the steep mountainside. Occasionally a buzzard landed on a rocky outcropping close enough for him to strike with a throwing dagger. After nearly fifteen minutes, he’d only killed five and looted a handful of black feathers. After the last fight, a new system message popped up.
Congratulations! Your Light Weapons skill has increased to 6.
He opened the character sheet to check his skills. The interface window listed all the ones he’d received for free from the rogue class but no others. They must have been boosted when he picked rogue, because they all had a value of 5, except for light weapons which had just increased. Progress bars next to each skill showed how close they were to leveling. Some of his skills were almost ready to improve, but stealth had nothing because other than trying it for a second when he first logged in, he hadn’t used it yet. There was no indication of overall experience, and now that he considered what he’d seen while playing, he hadn’t noticed any messages about receiving experience points (XP) after killing mobs.
A small icon of a question mark was at the top of the skills window, and since he likely had several minutes to wait before another buzzard flew by, he decided to consult the in-game help system. A browser window opened and loaded a web site called Genepedia, and from the layout it obviously followed a Wiki format. The page explained the skill system. He scrolled down until he found the information about leveling.
Levels in Genesis Online are gained differently from most other online role-playing games. There are no overall experience points, so characters gain experience in each individual skill instead. A character’s class level is based on the five skills used by that class. Once all skills reach a multiple of five, the character gains a level. A character can learn any of the four main classes by attaining at least five levels in the skills specific t
o that class. Rumors speculate that new classes may be unlocked by attaining certain levels in skill combinations other than those used by the four main classes. If true, the feature was likely turned off during the beta test, as no new classes were discovered.
The whooshing of a buzzard filled Kelath’s ears, and he closed all the windows to see where the noise was coming from. The bird hunched over a hole in the ground nearby, looking the other way. He activated his stealth skill and slowly crept up behind it. When he was in position, he stabbed with the knife.
Sneak attack success.
The buzzard screeched and staggered forward. Its health bar dropped by about a third. Kelath pressed the attack, slashing across the bird’s wing, causing it to bleed. The bird’s curved beak bit down hard on his leg, and damage numbers danced around his head. He kept stabbing at the beast’s neck until it finally collapsed. He collected some feathers from the corpse and sat on the ground to regain his lost health.
He opened the skill sheet again and checked the stealth skill. It had gone up about a quarter of the way to the next level; he assumed the reason was because he’d snuck up behind the buzzard before attacking. He settled in for a long wait, because at the rate things were going, he would need to play for a while before he raised his skills high enough to reach level two.
Chapter 3
Kelath’s skills had reached level 6, and the light weapons skill was approaching level 7, when Ben finally logged into the game. Kelath received a tell—a message sent between two characters that only he could see—from a character named Througar, which Ben had used for his dwarven fighter when they played Dungeons and Dragons.
“Hey, sorry it took so long,” said Througar. “I had to run farther than I expected to wear out Ralphie, and I wanted to take a shower afterwards.”
“That’s all right. I got a chance to learn how the game works.”
“There are a lot more people here than when I played in the beta. I haven’t seen a single monster yet.”
