Cryo-Scape 2052

You had to complete quests to attain better weapons and gear. Even a vehicle. But given the system introduction at the beginning, I should have started this game fully equipped with a support team and an organisation for backup along with an enemy to target.

It depended on the types of weapons that would be available in-game would be. From my memory of these types of games, you started with a melee weapon. Then you would be able to progress to something slightly better. It depended on what type of game this was.

I remember playing one game years back where you started with an axe. Just a single axe. The first guns that you could find were single-shot only and you had to reload each time. I had to pick a fight with gang members selling drugs just to get hold of a normal 9mm handgun. Died six times during my first attempts before I was able to recruit a melee companion and beat them one by one to grab the gun. That save and load function saved me in the end.

Scum save be my friend.

Given my current circumstances, it was unlikely that I would be able to pick up a military-grade rifle. At least not given the current conditions. That damn in-game error had caused all of this.

[Player XXX gains one point in radiation sickness. Due to the basic tutorial initial mode, this is current negated. Raddy radiation says to take your medicine to feel better!]

Raddy radiation? Is that a mascot?

Wasn’t the purpose of playing a video game to be some kind of superhuman who could just gun down bandits and had recoverable health bars or a rechargeable protective suit? How about self-healing nano-bots?

It would be worth a try just to prick my finger with a blade to check my healing rate. The damage would be minimal and even if I didn’t heal it would be worth it. I could find a way to force enter a combat situation, and then loot two opposing forces when they fought each other to the death.

‘System, what’s my current level at right now?’

[Player XXX you are currently level 0. You can accumulate XP but access to full character build and skills is only accessible once the initial tutorial has ended. The system allows limited-combat functionality].

‘I’m level zero and an eight-year-old child. Not that much compared to a well-trained and equipped soldier with an organisation backing me up. But it’s a start. What skills can I access during this time?’

[System Skill choices are limited for initial tutorial mode. Non-combat available skills: Pickpocketing, stealth, persuasion, empathy, mechanical learning. Do you want to activate a skill?]

‘No combat skills available...did I enter a thief-style game instead?’ I asked the system.

[Player XXX's combat skills are limited by the system for self-protection of the player for the initial tutorial mode. Do you want to activate a skill?]

‘What a pushy game system. I want to access my User Interface; how do I do that? Even at level 0, I should have basic stats for my character.

[Your User Interface takes the form of a virtual interface. List of your class, attributes, and skills viewable. Only you will be able to see and access it.]

I breathed out in relief. ‘At least that’s some good news and about my level?’

[That will also be viewable through your interface. Please be aware that other players will be able to see your level and job class.]

‘Great, so my level will be… what do you mean other players?’ I needed to take a moment to process what was going on.

Chapter 2 – Not an Engineer

[Cryo-Scape 2052 is trending to become an extremely popular game. You are playing the pre-launch beta version.]

‘Right, so I’m not playing the game then I am living inside it. Why am I being classified as a player?’

[Player XXX, you chose to enter the game so have the opportunity to become a player before the game servers become open to the general public. This is the closed beta version.]

I took a deep breath after hearing that. ‘Ok, let’s narrow it down. I have questions to complete, and this is still in the initial tutorial stages. And my character build still needs development. There should be something here to give me an initial edge over other players. Pre-launch version, right? That means that it’s more than likely that I’m not going to meet any players yet…but it will surely get busier. Is this a separate server and are there other servers with different players from different regions of the world?’

different regions of the world?’

[Pre-launch version contains bugs, only select individuals chosen for this early version. Additional content from the developer will appear in future updates. There are no in-game testers presently.]

‘Future updates? I’m in a game that the developer hasn’t gotten entirely working yet. I guess that one of those bugs affected my character choice then, seems like the updated content could be different factions or areas to explore then. Worth being a kid then as no adults have come to chase me to finish my job for the day yet.’

[Game Hint: In-game quests don’t last forever! NPCs have their own lives as well…]

I felt then that I would need to make the correct choices here. There was no point in wasting experience points just because I wanted to explore the setting. Hot cooked food didn’t wait to keep being tasty, it just cooled down and lost the flavour. The same effect would happen for the NPCs in this setting, I didn’t expect the level of realism that was on offer.

In my experience quests in an MMO were usually rinse and repeat with the same scope of quests available in a game. There would be fetch quests, hunt quests, escort quests and boss fights. Each NPC would just repeat the same thing over and over to every player who happened to come along looking for XP or items. That could be the main reason for the popularity of this game Cryo-Scape 2052, a truly adaptive MMO with artificial intelligence giving an organic development to the game.

Either that or they tapped into an alternative world and just managed to insert players somehow. All of this philosophical thinking didn’t change my actual situation though. In any video game, a new player who didn’t know the rules or lacked equipment or experience in gameplay was usually a dead player. I didn’t yet know if there was going to be a save and reload function or not, or even if the system allowed it.

So, if I made mistakes then I wouldn’t lose the game, I might just stop existing, which meant it was time to start learning about what was on offer. May as well see what my starting class was and then build on my foundations.

‘System, how can I access my interface? Does it have to be through physical, or vocal activation or are other options available?’

[Can access through non-verbal thought. Think about it!]

I thought about the interface and a large blue virtual panel appeared in front of me. On the bottom right there were different icons. Rather than touch them I instead thought about my current status and job title.

[User XXX Current Status: Undernourished, minor radiation sickness, temporary low health penalty, temporary development penalty, temporary growth rate penalty.]

-Job Title:

-Level 0: Young Slave of Tartarus, Imprisoned One, Non-Believer of the Gods]

‘…. Young Slave of Tartarus? Imprisoned One?’

I didn’t like the look of my current status though; it looked like my current job title had directly affected my health. That reflected my circumstances though, that old guy with the beard and robe talked about the gods. My parents and surroundings looked pretty poor and ill-equipped as well, so my title was to be a slave.

Wait, what was the deal with radiation sickness? I took a look around me, it looked dingy, grey and a bit dark. Didn’t appear to be a post-apocalyptic wasteland to my eyes, I knew that the genre was a popular one and the introduction to my previous character set showed me that nuclear war had already occurred. The main issue is that I didn’t have a concept of the amount of time that had passed since then. All of those notifications about radiation points that were blocked…

Wow, I was so lucky. Seriously, dead in a week unless there was a medicine to help me find a cure. Blood transfusion? Lead-lined suit? Magic medical nanobots that cured you of the illness. I wondered how many other slaves were suffering from the same problem.

Radioactive fallout wasn’t something that I wanted to deal with, I remembered that it was meant to pass away over time but then video games weren’t the same as reality.

[Player XXX gains one point in radiation sickness. Due to the basic tutorial initial mode, this is current negated. Raddy radiation says to take your medicine to feel better!]

Throwing those thoughts to the back of my mind I decided to focus on my skills. It would have been better to have a starting kit and decent character build, even a fixed build could be adapted over time.

One useful skill for a slave would be something like the ability to avoid a beaten or to take more physical punishment. My endurance would be higher at the cost of my strength, a skill that related to living a lifetime of enduring the pain and humiliation that built up my willpower.

That wasn’t fair at all. I guess though that most video games spoilt the characters, to begin with, imagine starting a new game where you started with nothing. Even a weapon and a special ability were given, or a chance to work towards further abilities. Why couldn’t I begin the game as a reborn vampire with a cool sword and a nice catchphrase like woe to the conquered of something?

Every single character had something special that happened to them though, I would get my magic sword or gene enhancement medicine later that would give me an edge over the rest of the players. Otherwise, the game would be boring…

Time to focus on available skills, I changed my thoughts to in-game skills and the interface changed to a different screen. This time it had a green tint.

Another screen appeared in front of my eyes.

-Empathy: Understanding the feelings of others can give you hidden options. And make you a better person.

-Mechanical Learning: Your mind is a machine. Each stat suffers a permanent decrease, but you make up for it by getting a tiny percentage increase in a skill or ability every time you practice it. This applies to all passive or active skills. The percentage amount required increases per level. Fear the person who practised the same punch 10,000 times to get good at it!

-Pickpocket: Gives you a chance to steal items from others. Or even plant items instead.

-Stealth: Make like a ninja and hide. While moving.

-Persuasion: Sometimes having a silver tongue helps you make others do the work on your behalf.

Not much to think about really. I hoped that I didn’t turn out to be some kind of gladiator or have to fight in arenas for the amusement of others. Given that there were no combat skills available on the list it would be pretty unlikely I reckoned.

‘System, do I need to make a character build now or am I permitted more time to explore the world?’

I thought that I had been sitting by myself for quite a bit of time now and even if it were my birthday and I was a kid there could be someone looking for me.

[Game Hint: In-Game time, Character Events will still proceed even without you being involved. The world doesn’t revolve around you alone!]

‘Yeah, that’s not an answer to my question but it does help explain. Are the in-game hints automatic or something? It would be pretty difficult to see a screen if I engaged in combat or interacted with an NPC.’

[Player XXX: All system functions are not accessible during combat or interacting with any NPC character. In-Game hints will end after the tutorial mode has ended. You have the option to leave them off after.]

‘Basically, I have to wait until the end of the tutorial stage before I have any real control over system options…fine then.’

‘How about my character build then? Do I need to complete it now or can it be done later?’

[Player XXX: You can choose your character abilities now or delay your choice at each stage of levelling up. Character build is available for selection but be aware of current penalties.]

‘Right, the penalties like minor radiation sickness. I noticed that it better not hinder me too much.’

[Game Hint: In-Game Survival System is active. Hunger, food, sleep, water, and radiation damage are all in effect. Remember to count your rads! DNA doesn’t like changing too much!]

‘Did someone activate this MMO on insane lifestyle mode or something? Hey system, are the rest of the players playing through this level as well?’

[Player XXX: That information is currently unknown. Game Cryo-Scape is still in the early testing phase].

I gave a deep sigh. ‘You do know that you’re a rubbish player support mechanism, don’t you? I feel like you’re more like a personal torture device designed to gather evidence of my actions to make life even easier for the standard player base. I need to see my character build now.’ I focused my thoughts on my in-game character build and the following appeared in front of my eyes:

Player XXX: Character Build

Level 0: Slave

Age: 8

Skills: Not currently selected

Health Points: 6

Strength: 2

Dexterity: 2

Awareness: 3

Endurance: 2

Intelligence: 4

Luck: 2

Charisma: 0 (1 temporary)

Available Character Allocation Points: 0

Weaknesses: Unknown radiation count, minor radiation sickness, the strength of a slave, malnourished, prisoner.

‘Looks like I’m pretty weak from looking at my stats. System, can I see the stats of NPCs, other players, or anything else?’

[Player XXX: Seeing the stats of others is available in-game presently. You can see the level and titles of other players. Some skills will enable you to see more as you progress. Don’t look at the sun or you’ll go blind!]

‘What does that even mean? Fine, I can’t see the stats of others but I’m able to see my own. That makes it hard for me to measure standards against others.

At least it gives me a much better idea about my strengths and weaknesses. I wonder if my age is related to my current stats, given enough time I should be able to break through a whole load of limits. I just needed to survive through a radioactive childhood first.