Игра. / The Game.: The Game.

"Don't get upset," Oleg shifted his crutches briskly, moving quickly toward the elevator. "The Principality is a good game. B-category, of course, but in the upper segment. There are a lot of students at the universities who used to be on it."

Camrad_RIP 29.07.14 в 15:54

All true, but there are far more A category players in higher education

Camrad_RIP 30.10.15 в 10:29

I had no illusions about the future - life had discouraged me. Your social index is made up of your parents' indexes, your school grades, your police and medical records, and evidence of participation in various government programs. It is clear that those who initially have the opportunity to study at a prestigious school (read: those whose mother and father earn good money), in the future get higher marks on tests, and their index increases, allowing them to count on benefits for university admission, and later to draw the attention of recruiters from large corporations. The system is set up in such a way that a hell of a lot depends on the starting kick.

Camrad_RIP 30.10.15 в 10:35

I don't have a father. My mother works as a manager in a small company that pays microscopic taxes, hence her low social index. I study well, but I am no genius. On the other hand, there are no health problems, as well as conflicts with the law, which is nice. In general, the index of the third category with the prospect of transition to the second.

Camrad_RIP 30.10.15 в 10:45

"Are you one of your class?"

Camrad_RIP 30.10.15 в 10:49

"Yes. The rest in the Werewolfs or even lower."

Camrad_RIP 30.10.15 в 10:51

Bad luck. My friends or good acquaintances didn't get into the Principality, they didn't have enough exam points, and with those of my classmates who did, I don't want to play myself. Some I don't trust, and some I don't agree with.

Camrad_RIP 30.10.15 в 14:51

"Too bad, it's easier as a team. First!" the elevator doors closed, accepting the voice command. Oleg scratched the back of his head in thought. "Well, what can I advise you... The main thing - is do not hurry. First, the newcomers get to the Nursery. It's a district of the city where the general rules do not apply. You can't fight except by arrangement quests are easy, no theft, and plenty of teachers, experience, and money are easy to earn. Most of the kids I know were trying to get to level ten quickly and go out into the Big World. Wrong."

Camrad_RIP 30.10.15 в 15:35

"Why?"

Camrad_RIP 30.10.15 в 14:53

"They didn't use even half of the capabilities of the Nursery. Look: what do you want to be in the game?"

Camrad_RIP 30.10.15 в 15:38

"Magician of Water or a Shaman. I like the programming."

Camrad_RIP 30.10.15 в 15:39

"Then why you do not take the Earth."

Camrad_RIP 30.10.15 в 15:39

"I have bad with math."

Camrad_RIP 30.10.15 в 15:44

"I see. Then here's an example about magicians. You can get initiation in the Nursery from Stepan the Sorcerer, Svetozar the Wizard, Nastasia the Witch, and someone else. I don't remember the name. Never mind. What do players do? Fifty percent go through initiation, gain levels and go to the Common City. Another forty percent go through initiation, learn some basic skills, gather skills and gain levels at the same time, and then leave. One-tenth of them realizes that the skills don't have to be taken only from the NPCs tutor and that you only have to pump the skills in your chosen class. These guys develop seriously and systematically, and any clan would be glad to get them."

Camrad_RIP 31.10.15 в 01:24

"So, I recommend you stay in the Sandbox as long till you will master at least one of the magical and one basic combat skills. Of course, it's difficult, but four months should be enough."

Camrad_RIP 31.10.15 в 01:29

"Why do I need combat skills?"

Camrad_RIP 31.10.15 в 01:33

"The first fifty levels, the spells do not help you." Oleg shrugged. "You'll be a lot of running and fighting. And shape will improve. Much better than exercises."

Camrad_RIP 31.10.15 в 01:39

How do you start high school? With a wet cleaning.

Camrad_RIP 31.10.15 в 01:42

It is better to wipe the VR-suit. And thoroughly, with chemistry. You don't know who used it before you did. Of course, the virtual cubicles are ionized regularly, and even once a month or so a lady comes with a robot cleaner. But I've always been squeamish and prefer to be overprotective in this matter. Some of the boys and some of the girls too are very dirty. If I had an extra two hundred thousand and a bigger apartment, I would have bought a private cabin, but "what we don't have, that we don't have". Not with our incomes.

Camrad_RIP 31.10.15 в 02:58

It seems that's all cleaned up. I can connect. According to the rules, the first immersion into a virtual environment is carried out in the presence and under the supervision of one of the teachers or at least a person appointed by them responsibly, but when in Russia were the instructions followed? The more so because by the time they were fourteen, every teenager at least once. has sat in the booths. At home, at friends', in entertainment centers, or wherever. So I undress, put my things in my locker, pull on my acridly smelling suit, trying to avoid the appearance of creases, stand in the center of the ball-shaped room, and softly command: "switch on. There's nothing under my feet, and yet. I lift myself slightly off the floor. That's it. From this moment until the end of my work, the geometric center of my body coincides with the center of the virtual cubicle. I can jump, somersault, and perform the riskiest acrobatic stunts, but my real position in space will not change.

Camrad_RIP 31.10.15 в 03:07

"Start."

Camrad_RIP 30.10.15 в 14:55

The lights went out, the walls receded, and the blackness of space with bright dots of shining stars stretched all around. It seems this screensaver was criticized by doctors, claiming that it developed agoraphobia in children. I don't know. I didn't have time to be frightened. A few feet in front of me appeared an image of a man in his forties, with a comfortable appearance and dressed in a strict conservative outfit. I grimaced.

Camrad_RIP 31.10.15 в 09:12

- Skip it. Go to character create.

Camrad_RIP 30.10.15 в 14:56

The program will not say anything useful, and it is forbidden by law to sit in a learning game for more than four hours. It is believed that staying too long in the virtual is bad for the growing organism, and no one exempted us from the study. We, in theory, should spend half the time to acquire new knowledge on an individual plan, in order to consolidate them in practice in the game. In practice, most high school students see hours in the VR as an opportunity to have fun for free and simple kill the mobs.

Camrad_RIP 31.10.15 в 02:37

So, what races are available to me? The computer-generated a human character based on the data from the personnel file, but the race and some characteristics can be changed. Rumor says this is the first of hundreds of psychological tests used by the government to collect information on citizens. Although, the game itself is one big test. I choose an elf (NPC characters are initially friendly to them, for me this bonus is important), I look at the distribution of points on the characteristics and take it without changing. Initial characteristics don't matter much, games like Principalities are not invented for fun.

Camrad_RIP 31.10.15 в 09:40

So, the name... Should I keep the real one? No, thanks. I'd rather be Andrei 1Little, the most decent nickname on the list of available names. Clothes, some money, a map in my purse. That's it. The character's created.

Camrad_RIP 31.10.15 в 09:55

Today's VR is not much different from reality. Especially, when the rendering and sensory effects are supported by a powerful server. No, if you want to find out which of the spheres you are in, you can. There are methods. They are, by the way, studied in the Magic of Illusions. It would be necessary to get some skills. But if you don't focus it's hard to tell the difference. I could have sworn that I was standing on the side of a village street, like many in Russia even now, a faint breeze slightly tousling the long hair on my head while dogs barked and the wheels of a passing cart squeaked, and voices chattered:

Camrad_RIP 31.10.15 в 14:46

"Vaska, bastard, where are you going!!"

Camrad_RIP 31.10.15 в 15:38

[untranslatable village noises]

Camrad_RIP 10.11.15 в 03:49

"Again, newbee on the middle of the road. Hey, kid!"

Camrad_RIP 31.10.15 в 09:43

I looked around. I was watching a man in his forties, he was wearing short boots, long pants and a white shirt, belted with a rope.

Camrad_RIP 31.10.15 в 14:48

"For the first time in our village, right?"

Camrad_RIP 31.10.15 в 09:44

"Yes." I nodded.

Camrad_RIP 31.10.15 в 01:45

"Then go to the marketplace," he waved his hand, indicating the direction. "There's always a lot of work for beginners."

Camrad_RIP 31.10.15 в 01:47

"Thanks." I thanked him for the advice. Quests will be useful to me.

Camrad_RIP 31.10.15 в 02:23

The market square in Sandbox is only one, it's hard to get lost. Especially since I downloaded a map from the forum and more or less navigate the village. Just the initial location for all players is slightly different: the same NPC can give a quest to dig a garden, deliver letters, or present a skill. Or may not give anything at all and scold you in a rude way.

Camrad_RIP 31.10.15 в 15:00

I reached the marketplace, with stalls full of merchandise, shouting vendors, and players with nicknames illuminated above their heads, scurrying about the marketplace with a businesslike attitude. A typical village square, except that there's no equipment, and people don't have PDAs or virtual glasses. In the forum, they wrote the technology will appear in the big world but will be used with respect for the spirit of the world. Let's see what the developers came up with...

Camrad_RIP 31.10.15 в 15:23

"Good day, are you Headman?"

Camrad_RIP 31.10.15 в 15:03

"Let's say," the stout, gray-bearded old man with a staff stretched out, not very friendly. "What do you want, boy?"

Camrad_RIP 31.10.15 в 15:06

"I was wondering if you had a job for me."
* * *

Camrad_RIP 31.10.15 в 15:29

Day four, I'm getting the hang of it. Still, there are a lot of differences from the usual games, but there are also similarities. For example, a hackneyed task to kill rats in the barn of the fat Miller, or the delivery of letters from one end of the village to another (okay, at least there is logic - the letter is called a love letter and demanded privacy, that is, do not talk). That's what I want to deal with the rats now.

Camrad_RIP 31.10.15 в 15:44

I did not have time to complete the task of clearing the barn yesterday, the timer went off, and I was thrown into the real world. I will do it today but first, get an initiation to the magician from Nastasia the Witch. So that not only waving a truncheon. Yeah, I earned some weapons, and I got a couple of levels in the process. Interestingly, the dexterity, strength, and other stats didn't change at all, but there were a dozen useful skills like "first level crushing weapon with 1% damage bonus" and the like. It's understandable. Stats go hand in hand with skills that I haven't gotten to yet.

Camrad_RIP 31.10.15 в 15:52

"Wow, it is a real hospital here."

Camrad_RIP 31.10.15 в 15:55

Nastasia, judging by the crowd of sick people in the courtyard, was a local healer. I was not smiling to sit in line, and my attempt to sneak past the sufferers almost led to the loss of life or at least health. Fortunately, I think I figured out in time to help drag in the emergency room of a huge man with a leg wrapped in rags. Around the stretcher immediately rushed the assistant, and I had time to ask the witch about the initiation. Instead of answering, Nastasia literally brushed me off:

Camrad_RIP 01.11.15 в 04:17

"You will work ten days."

Camrad_RIP 31.10.15 в 15:56

Immediately a message popped up before my eyes: "Congratulations! Your wizarding abilities are now active! You have the right to choose one starter spell," and a list with a reminder below it that I can't leave the Sandbox without paying my debt. That's a shame because now I'll be wasting ten days, or so it seems.

Camrad_RIP 01.11.15 в 01:31

I shrugged, chose an Ice Arrow from the School of Water, and went to the barn. I had no choice. All wizards pay something to their teachers when they initiate. The principle here is that you can't get something important for free only to earn it. Svetozar, for example, requires to help the peasants to build a house or pave the street, harvest, or anything else in the same manner. That's the kind of educational moment, man.

Camrad_RIP 01.11.15 в 01:53

Near the barn, there were already a couple of players in good equipment as for the initial levels. They had been playing for a long time, or they focused on leveling up, i.e., pure playing. I wore the standard rookie pants, the same boots, a shirt, a hat received in payment for minor services, a stick, and on the side, the bag with a few pieces of bread. But whole twelve pieces of silver and eight potions of life and mana. For a mage is necessary. But potions could not be seen, so it is not surprising that they looked at me with mild disdain.

Camrad_RIP 01.11.15 в 04:36

Miller did not require killing all the rodents. The job has a few grades. Ten tails - the minimum level, the assassination of Rat King counted as excellent. Well, let's see how things go. I walked around the barn, waited in the shade for five minutes without moving, and with a "feeling of great satisfaction" at a favorite proverb of our physics teacher, I saw the gray-nosed snout appear from the crack.

Camrad_RIP 01.11.15 в 09:34

Now I had to figure out the spell. The icicle appeared in my hand, changing its weight depending on the amount of mana I put in, and, frankly, my eyesight wasn't perfect. It was clear that the first icicle I'd thrown was about half a meter away from the rat who'd jumped out into the open. Fortunately - or unfortunately, as it became clear a few seconds later - unlike its living prototype, the beast did not try to escape. It rushed toward me with a furious squeal, overcame the meters that separated us in a matter of moments, and bit my boot with a triumphant shriek. Damn! It hurt! It was the very realism of sensation, the quality for which school games are criticized by numerous committees of mothers, doctors, and human rights activists.

Camrad_RIP 02.11.15 в 03:23