*A New Challenger Has Appeared!* (MonkeyToe x VioletRose)

[MonkeyToe]

Fred Hunt was just waking up to another day at the College For Virtually
Designed Environments. Not only did the school he went to specialize in
video game programming, they were the first organization to perfect a fully
integrated virtual environment. Though they were still in Beta Testing, VDE
students were able to design, program, and link in to any virtual reality
environment they could think of. Then students acted as Beta testers for
other students games, each student being graded by their peers based on
both the feedback and on the scores of the players.

It was cutting edge and Fred was at the top of his class. Leading an elite
team of designers, artists, and programmers, Fred was projecting that he
was going to graduate as Valedictorian. That was, so long as he could keep
his rival from overtaking his scores. The problem their was that the rumor
was that his rival was in the final stages of developing another game that
was sure to put her over the top. In order to deal with that, Fred had
secured himself a beta key to her new game. His plan was to infiltrate and
pilfer any secrets he could use to gain the upper hand again and ensure his
scores remained above hers.

Fred got ready for the day by grabbing his morning shower and a quick and
easy breakfast in the college cafeteria. He made his way over to one of the
Virtual Reality lab rooms. Plugging in the information for his rivals server and
game information he selected a random character generator and logged in.
He wasn't sure what kind of game he was in for but he knew that he had to
get a head start at getting his bearings in the new world so that he could
gather the information he needed and get back to programming his newest
game as well, an MMO designed to take place in a gritty urban fantasy
setting where magic and monsters roamed modern day cities. There was
still so much work to be done on it that he wondered if he was going to be
able to finish it all and still have time to spy on his rival's game. Even so, he
laid back and relaxed as he plugged in, waiting to come to in a new world.

 

[VioletRose]

SerenitySalvator rubbed her eyes, it had been a long night in the virtual reality lab silently working on glitches and kinks in her new game. Only three weeks until the full beta release date for the students. The College For Virtuality Designed Environments, being one of the first to perfectly perfect the VDE experience this game would complete her dream of valedictorian and send her rival packing. At least that was what she was planning.

Serenity had high hopes and high expectations for this game, and so far she had accomplished everything she wanted but she wanted more now. The original idea was to mix every game type and style into one universe, allow the player to choose a setting a go. If you wanted a first person shooter, well you got it in many different ways. You could battle aliens, or zombies, or monsters and even real people in a war zone. If a player wanted the thrill of fast driving, high speed chases, well they got it. So far her game covered everything, but Serenity wanted more, so she did more.

Listening to students around campus, and being a social networking junkie she had a brilliant idea. Why not creat a world that mixed all of them together, instead of trying to be someone on the Internet why not be who you wanted, live the way you wanted, act the way you wanted in a virtual world. Instead of faking who you were in real life, play the person you really want to be.

As you enter the virtual world you would be given options for your character. The game giving the player a chance to be who they wanted, if they didn't like it they could start over. Why not be rich and famous, sweet and sexy even evil and cruel? It was your choice as you entered. Serenity was certain this would secure her valedictorian spot this year.

Deciding to spend a few more hours inside her world taking notes and finding glitches, Serenity made a quick leave for coffee. As she returned she saw Frank entering the lab next to hers, with an eye roll she ignored him and entered her lab. Plugging back in she entered the world, her character standing in time square. The night sounds of music, traffic and people filled the room. Serenity looked around to see if any of the select few students who had the beta key were on.

 

[MonkeyToe]

Fred spent a good deal of time easing into Serenity's game. The character
design engine was amazing. There was a litany of changes and
customizations a player could make to customize race, skills, and
appearance. Fred had no doubt that she must have spent countless days
and nights working on the designs and programming to get this just right.
And it had paid off. Fred made a mental note about each step in the
process before he designed his character, a futuristic soldier wearing
pristine and light weight body armor and carrying a weapon straight out of
science fiction. Fred frowned as he finished. He would have his work cut
out for him to match the work Serenity had put into her game.

Fred loaded up in the middle of a city unlike any city he had ever
experienced. Though the street he was on was built like some medieval
township complete with cobblestone streets and horse and carriages, in the
distance he could see massive skyscrapers that reached endlessly into the
blue expanse above them. Flying cars whizzed around above them. Patrons
on the street seemed just as mixed. Soldiers from both World Wars walked
the streets next to blacksmiths ands bakers while mystical wizards plied
their goods to what looked like a family of modern day tourists. The variety
in this game was incredible and it felt just as real as it looked.

Turning another direction, Fred could clearly hear the lively music and
conversation of a busy square. Making his way through the streets towards
the noise he eventually emerged in a busy town square. The first thing he
notices was the name of a nearby player that was marked as another
student. Fred made his way over to her and smiled as he approached.
"Pretty amazing game," he said conversationally, "And I only just
started. How long have you been playing?"

 

[VioletRose]

Serenity was wandering around the square, finding odd things that she would have to adjust. Thankfully she thought of a special addition just for her profile. It was a notes area, a simple swipe of her hand and it appeared. As she was adding notes a voice drew her attention. Closing the note pad closed she turned. Hearing the compliment she smiled to herself. "It is a a pretty amazing game. But I have not played long."

Checking out this characters choice of wardrobe and weapons he was carrying. "Seems like an odd choice of clothing for the city life, don't you think?" She questioned. Standing in time square she wore jeans, a black haltertop covered in sparkles. Serenity had not really customized her character much since she wasn't really playing, she was still working on things. Once she was ready to release the game she would spend the time customizing.

Glancing back at the character she grinned. "How do you like Serenities game so far? I think it's great, couple different ways to play but I still see aspects that need work."

 

[MonkeyToe]

Serenity was wandering around the square, finding odd things that she would have to adjust. Thankfully she thought of a special addition just for her profile. It was a notes area, a simple swipe of her hand and it appeared. As she was adding notes a voice drew her attention. Closing the note pad closed she turned. Hearing the compliment she smiled to herself. "It is a a pretty amazing game. But I have not played long."

Checking out this characters choice of wardrobe and weapons he was carrying. "Seems like an odd choice of clothing for the city life, don't you think?" She questioned. Standing in time square she wore jeans, a black haltertop covered in sparkles. Serenity had not really customized her character much since she wasn't really playing, she was still working on things. Once she was ready to release the game she would spend the time customizing.

Glancing back at the character she grinned. "How do you like Serenities game so far? I think it's great, couple different ways to play but I still see aspects that need work."

Fred look over himself and smiled, feigning embaressment. "Right," he
agreed with the other player character he was chatting with. "I guess I got
carried away with the character generator."

Fred had to swallow hard to get through his next sentence. "It looks
awesome," he said, pretending to be just another Beta tester checking out
the game. "Except I'm a noob," he motioned at his out of place clothing,
"This is my first time logging in actually. I was just about to start checking
the environment out when I saw there was another player in the starting
area."

Fred looked around, taking in the scenery surrounding them. "Listen," Fred
said as he turned his Avatar towards the other player, "Since I am pretty
new and all maybe you could show me around? I was going to sit through
the tutorial but who has time for all of that really?" I give you a smile. "We
could start by finding me something more approriate to wear? I'm Kent by
the way," Fred introduced himself with a fake game. He didn't want the
news to get back to Serenity that he was scouting her game.

 

[VioletRose]

Serenity grinned to herself, one of the first compliments and so far it was good. "Yeah she really out did her self on this game. Always fixing and redoing things." She looked around and tried to stuggle a yawn. Checking out his profile, he had just started. "Well Noob or not, you have choosen a good night to log on, Serenity is about somewhere in the game. I'm sure she would love to hear the compliments."

Serenity started bringing back up the notepad when he asked her to show him around. Crap, I have a lot of work to do. she thought to herself but smiled. "I can probably do that. But the tutorial is a big help. I recommend checking it out." She pointed down the street. "I'm Ren." She replied. "Let's start by getting the clothes situation changed. If you open your inventory, you should see the amount of diamonds you have." Her avatar started walking down the street. "Diamond is the currency in the city life style." She grinned looking over her shoulder. Kent?? She thought to herself, quickly adding a note to scope him out to figure out who he was. Trying to determine which person used that name with gamer profiles and who her beta key got out to.

 

[MonkeyToe]

Fred looked over his interface for a few moments before he found the option
to get into his inventory. "Ahhhh, I see it," Fred admitted as he saw his
newbie player balance highlighted in the corner of his inventory window. "I
assume everyone gets a base amount to start off with?" Fred asked as he
played with his options and configurations of the inventory set up. He also
found and opened his character window, showing him his current equipment
setup. Sure enough, he was outfitted for wartime operations in space. "I'll
just take store my weapons so I don't cause a scene," he murmured to
himself out loud as he inspected the options.

The option he chose, however, did not unequip his pulse rifle. What he
thought would disarm him, actually disrobed him and Fred ended up standing
in the middle of the busy square stark naked. "Shit," He cursed while trying
to dodge behind a bush as he frantically tried to get at least his clothes back
on. "I hadn't...uh... expected this level of detail," He noted in embarrassment
as he noticed his rendered body was fully anatomically correct.

 

[VioletRose]

Serenity nodded. "Yeah, Serenity trying to make this game as if you are living a double life. Living, Working, and having fun." she stated as she herself checked her user panel. "You get so much to start out with for housing, clothes or how ever you wish to start off." she stated as she closed her panel just in time to see him dodge behind a near by bush.

"Well most know Serenity enough to realize she surprises everyone with every game she puts out, this is by far the best I have seen created this year." she smiled as he reappeared. Pointing down the road to a long strip of stores and restaurants. Once they had obtain clothes for him and got him settled with commands she shrugged. "Well it is getting late, and I know Serenity will be jumping on shortly to do changes and tweaks." she glanced at the tower clock. "Got about an hour, what would you like to do?" she questioned, surprisingly enjoying this character.