The Game

[Mirage_GSM]

So… Don’t expect any literary greatness from this.
It’s just some stupid idea I had. The last time I had a stupid idea like this, I started writing hexameter verses, but this won't be anywhere near as demanding.
It’s not technically a crossover, though many ideas are from a single source of inspiration. You’ll see what I’m talking about shortly.
This story is not really going anywhere at the moment. I guess I’ll just keep writing a bit until I run out of funny ideas. Well, ideas that I hope you will find funny…
Also, please excuse the crappy formatting. I might fix that once I have access to something with a real keyboard and a mouse again :-\
Anyway, please enjoy!  

Chapter 1
Sighing, I watch the progress bar inching its way towards completion. When I finally gave in to all my friends’ urgings to try out this cool game, I didn’t expect the setup process to be this tedious already: Half an hour to install the game, followed by no less than four consecutive patches to download and install from the internet! I certainly hope this is going to be the last one…

It turns out it is. I finish the setup and start up the game. I really hope this is going to be worth all the hassle. So far, I’ve mostly been playing maybe a bit of Civilization or the occasional Solo-RPG like Mass Effect or Venetica, but everyone tells me this game is going to rock, and I just have to try it out.

I quickly set up an account and watch the – rather unimpressive – introduction video. Something with a hospital bed, a dripping IV and a heartbeat monitor…   Off to the character generation.

Gender? Male. I don’t really like playing female characters, even if they’re nice to look at. It just breaks my immersion with the game. Venetica managed to pull it off somehow, though the scenes where she was talking to her fiancée were a bit awkward.

Ethnicity? Well, I’ll probably stick with Japanese. I didn’t read the manual yet, so I don’t know what kind of stat boni the other ethnicities would confer. I guess the default should be a safe bet.

Disability? What kind of question is that for a character generation? I quickly scroll through the list of available options. Heck, I haven’t even heard of most of those conditions before. Frustrated, I click one at random. Arrhythmia? Whatever this is, I can always make another char if I don’t like it.

I fiddle around a bit with the appearance of my character, but the end result still seems a bit generic. Well, I’ve never been the creative type.

Name your character.

And my lack of creativity strikes again for the second time in as many minutes. I hit the randomize button. “Nakai, Hisao.” Well, why not?

Are you satisfied with your character?

I confirm and am rewarded with the message that my character has been saved.

Next up, I am supposed to choose a server. There are a lot of servers to choose from, each with several cryptic acronyms behind the name. One column I identify as the language, so I make sure I choose a Japanese language server.

Again an introductory video is running, but this time it is more elaborate. Guess this is something like my character’s backstory… My character… What was his name again? Ah, there it is… Hisao! Hisao is standing in a park, snow is falling everywhere around him…

I watch the events unfold, I see a mysterious girl approach him, I watch their conversation unfold, I witness their mutual confession.

Great, this is going to be one of those sappy… Wait, what’s happening now? Something’s wrong. He’s having a heart attack? What the…

The story continues to develop as Hisao awakens in a hospital and spends a lot of time there recovering. During that time I also learn what Arrhythmia actually is. Guess I should have read the description, but now that I’ve come so far, why not stick with it?

In the final scene of the video, Hisao’s parents and his doctor decide to send him to a school for disabled students. It’s called Yamaku Academy. So this is probably going to be the setting for the game. I have to admit, this game has me hooked more than I expected to already, and as I am looking at another loading screen, I find myself looking forward to the coming experience.

[andros414]

A KS MMO? Oh hells yeah! Where do I make an account?

[acewing905]

Intriguing idea, to say the least. I assume this game is an MMO and all the girls will also be player avatars... and might even turn out to be men? Eager to see where this goes.

[andros414]

Intriguing idea, to say the least. I assume this game is an MMO and all the girls will also be player avatars... and might even turn out to be men? Eager to see where this goes.

In the world of the intarwebz, we should all know what "girl" stands for: "Guy In Real Life." o-0

[BlackWaltzTheThird]

Hmm. A story where KS is not the setting but the subject matter. How curious. Colour me interested, I'll be watching this.
Cheers, BlackWaltz.

[Roamin12]

This could be interesting.

[Scissorlips]

Definitely an interesting premise! This could go all sorts of places that I'm sure haven't been explored before, looking forward to seeing what happens next.

[Mirage_GSM]

Chapter 2
After the game has finished loading, I find myself standing in front of a huge wrought-iron gate, probably the entrance to the first dungeon or something. I pass through the gate and walk through a lush garden with some well-maintained gravel paths. It is amazing how well the immersion works in this game. Already I’m not thinking “Hisao” but “I”…

As I near the entrance of some kind of large building another figure walks up to me. It has to be another player, because I can’t think the game designers would place anything so garish in the game. The name floating above his head is a jumble of Xes and ascii-signs that I don’t even try to memorize. The guy is easily a head taller than me and his shoulders twice as broad. He’s wearing a leather jacket with iron studs and his head is partly shaved clean. Is this what they call a Mohawk?   The other player runs up to me and without a warning punches me in the chest…

I double up and the screen turns a shade darker.

You have been killed. Dou you want to respawn? [Y/N]

I see the other player do a little dance over my dead body. Then a message pops up in my chat window: “LOL n00b!!11!!eleven!!!”

I fight down the urge to punch the guy somewhere really painful and click on “Respawn.” I am again in front of the gates and make a second attempt on entering the grounds. This time I do not even manage to get within sight of the building before that punk appears again and punches me into oblivion.

On my third try I attempt to run past him. I run towards the right as soon as I am through the gate and cut across the lawn. Moving the camera a bit, I see that he is running after me, but at least he doesn’t seem to be coming closer.

After a few seconds I notice a small indicator in the bottom right corner of the screen flashing with an increasing frequeny, first yellow, then red. Suddenly the screen flashes a few times, and I am dead on the ground again.

You have died from exertion. Dou you want to respawn? [Y/N]

My chat window is being spammed by continuous messages that all read “LOLOLOLOLOLLOL” or some variant thereof. As I respawn at the beginning a message pops up.

Hint: Characters with Arrhythmia or similar disabilities may die if they engage in strenuous activities like running for an extended time. Watch the indicator at the bottom left of your screen to check your current heart-rate.

Frustrated, I drop the mouse, pick up my cell-phone and speed dial a number. It takes only a few seconds for Ken to answer his phone. “Hey, wassup? Did you already install the game? I’m sorry, I can’t come online just yet. My mom had me mowing the lawn until a few minutes ago and now I have to drive my sis to her ballet lessons. I think I’ll be able to join you later tonight.”

I have to wait until the flood of words has subsided to a trickle before I manage to get a word in myself. “Uhm, yes, I installed it, and I also created a character and started a game, but there’s this asshole of a player who kills me every time I try to start playing.”

Ken doesn’t miss a beat. “Oh, that’s no problem. You probably chose a PvP-server to play on. Bad idea. Only small kids and assholes hanging around there. You should really change to a RP-server, that’s where all the fun is… Well, technically there are also PvE-servers, but I think they’re kind of boring. Here let me give you the details of the server I’m playing on…”

He proceeds to give me the name of a server which I diligently write down.

"Sorry, bro, have to hang up now. Got to get going, or sis will be late. See you later online.” With that he breaks the connection, and I return my attention to my computer.

--------------------
So... This chapter is a bit silly and does little to advance the story, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity for a cheap joke.
Next chapter will introduce more characters.
Also, now that chapters are going to include actual in-game dialogue, I am faced with a problem similar to the one in US of M, only here I don't have to differentiate between languages but between chat channels. I do NOT want to resort to colour coding, so I'll probably be stuck using (), [], <>, and maybe even {}...

[acewing905]

More, please.

Not sure whether I like the new name, though. It sounds... weird, IMO.

[Roamin12]

PvP and PvE in a KS MMO? Doesn't seem to fit well to me, but then again a MMO version of KS doesn't seem rational to me, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

[Mirage_GSM]

Well, Ken said PvE was kind of boring and you've seen what PvP was like...
The premise of the story is "What if KS were a MMORPG, and if it were, how could one make it work?" Obviously it would not work all that well in reality, but that was part of why I thougt it was fun to write it anyway. Like I said, the only part that would be even remotely interesting in such a setting would be RP.
I haven't decided on all the personalities behind the characters yet, but you have only one guess, as to who the one you've met so far is going to be

[Mirage_GSM]

So... I hope the formatting for the different channels is more or less self-explanatory. Feel free to suggest improvements.

Chapter 3

Luckily, changing servers doesn’t seem to be a problem, and soon I am once again wandering the gravel paths of Yamaku Academy – this time unimpeded by any leather-clad brutes.

I enter the large building at the other end of the courtyard and find myself standing in a large entrance hall that is empty except for a lone figure next to the stairs. Strange – I would have expected other players to be here in a game as popular as this one.

I decide to examine the lone person more closely. It appears to be a middle-aged man with an exclamation mark floating over his head. I guess this is an NPC then, and I can probably get a quest from him.

I move up to the NPC and initiate a conversation. A textbox opens, and the NPC introduces himself as my homeroom teacher, Mr. Mutou. Great… I thought textboxes were a thing of the past since even before Mass Effect introduced voiceover and choreographed cutscenes.

Anyway, it seems like my first quest is simply to follow him to my classroom. That seems easy enough to do, provided he doesn’t take off at a run, which would probably make me die before we get there.

I accept the quest and to my relief Mr. Mutou begins walking up the stairs at a leisurely pace. I follow him until he comes to a stop in front of classroom 3-3. The exclamation mark above his head has changed to a question mark, so I should probably talk to him again.

Another textbox. I receive a small amount of XP and am offered another quest. This time he asks me whether I’d like to introduce myself to my classmates or whether he should do the introduction for me. This is followed by a short tutorial about the group-chat interface.

Oh, why not, it doesn’t look like it’s too hard to handle. I tell him I’ll introduce myself and accept this quest as well. Mr. Mutou opens the door and enters the classroom with me following shortly behind.

Now I know where all the players are… It makes sense in a way, since this is supposed to be a school setting. Still I can’t imagine why anyone would come home from school in real life and then sit down to play a game where you have to sit down in classrooms again. Maybe half the players in here are really middle-aged people pining for their school-days…

Those are the thoughts that go through my head as I take in the characters sitting in the classroom. Most of them look like normal high school students, but the occasional bandages or missing limbs remind me that in this game every character is supposed to have some kind of disability.

’Hakamichi Shizune’ has invited you to join class “Class 3-3”. Accept? [Y/N]

I let my gaze roam across the assembled classroom, until I see a blue eyed girl with glasses sitting next to the window. The name over her head reads Shizune Hakamichi. She has to be the group’s leader or something.

I accept her invitation, switch to group chat and begin my introduction. [Hello everybody! This is the first time I’m playing a multiplayer RPG, so I don’t have much experience yet. I hope we’ll have much fun together.] I think about what else to say. I’d rather not share any personal information with people I don’t really know, and besides I don’t know if that’s even common around here…

My musings are interrupted, by a message in a different colour from the group-chat message I just sent. <No, this is a RP server, you have to stay IC.> A few seconds later this is followed by <In Character>.

I look at the sender, one Shiina Mikado. That has to be the pink haired girl next to the group leader. I think the message she sent me was a private one – one that only I can read. Thinking quickly, I continue my introduction. [Uh, I mean, my name is Hisao Nakai. I’m from Tokyo and I like reading, cycling and playing computer games. Nice to meet you.]

I notice the – I guess the appropriate word is avatar – of this Shiina is making some complicated gestures, but I have no idea what this is supposed to mean. Is she a mage? Are there even mages in thjs game? I might have to read the manual.

The avatars of my – I guess I should call them classmates – all erupt into smiles, except for those of a boy called Takashi who looks like he just bit into a lemon and a girl named Suzu, whose head is lying on the desk and who has the ominous letters “AFK” floating over her head right below her name.

I emote a small bow and notice that the symbol above the teacher’s head has changed to a question mark again. I talk to him to get a few experience points again and accept my new quest to take a seat next to Misha and follow the rest of the lesson.

As I walk to my seat, I receive another message from Shiina. <You’re supposed to roleplay your character all the time here. So, please always stay IC whenever talking normally or when using group- or club chats. You can talk OOC – Out Of Character – in tells like I do now and it’s sometimes okay in whispers, when only those right next to you can hear you.> She has to have been typing a while for all that.

I sit down. <Thank you for helping out, I guess I have a lot to learn about this game.>

I just started typing more questions when the teacher addresses the class:

Class quest. Subject: Science, biology. Type: Group work. Please form work groups of 3-4.

And not one second after that:

’Hakamichi Shizune’ has invited you to join a workgroup. Accept [Y/N]

I accept and address Shiina with another question. <What is this class quest?>

It takes her a moment to reply <That’s this game’s equivalent to school lessons. You have to solve problems depending on the subject in small minigames and get XP depending on the results. In group works you work together with others and the XP is shared.>   <Oh, and while you’re in a workgroup, all your regular lines are automatically changed to whispers.>

I see Shizune making the same kind of gestures Shiina has been making earlier, but she doesn’t say anything. Instead Misha starts talking again. <Less talk and more work, Misha, I don’t want to be held back by you two gossiping during group work.>

<Wait, I’m Misha.>

I`m a bit confused. <What’s going on here>

Misha seems to have expected the question, since her answer takes only a few seconds. <Nevermind. The time limit for this quest is 10 minutes, and after that is lunch break. I’ll explain everything then. Use your desk to start the minigames.>

I do so and the view zooms in on my desk. The task consists of trying to put some strands of DNA into the correct sequence. It is fun but not quite trivial. It seems like they do take the ‘school’ part at least a bit seriously…

[acewing905]

School work in a game. I don't think I'd wanna play that, IMO. Anyway, overall good chapter.
One thing, though. Even Shizune's chat has to come via Misha? Don't you think such a case would be rather impractical in a real game?

[Mirage_GSM]

Well, she IS playing a mute character...
The explanation will follow in the next chapter.

[griffon8]

Mirage, sometimes you seem to give yourself the most interesting tasks. Writing KS as an MMO has got to be one of the strangest.