Dom opened the large white box that was placed on his bed, there was no clear branding on it of a company, with the only text the words World Conquest Online. The box had originally had a red ribbon tied around it, but Dom had removed that swiftly. Inside the box was a surprisingly thin instruction manual, lots of polystyrene balls and the World Conquest gaming headset itself.
The Headset was more like a helmet than anything else. It covered the back of the head with lots of padding, with the front of the helmet covering the cheekbones, over the nose and an eye shield to protect the eyes. Inside the helmet was a complex array of sensors that read and transmitted data for a fully immersive experience. Dom had no idea how it worked, but it looked comfortable which was always a positive start to any gaming experience.
Dom placed the helmet on his bed, whilst quickly grabbing the instructions manual for a glance. Part of him was tempting to just put it on his head, but he felt best to check if there was any setting up procedure needed.
[The World Conquest Headset can be used and played when both awake and asleep, giving ample comfort and protection whilst you game.
To start, please place the headset on to your head and allow for the internal padding to adjust to your head size for additional comfort. This should only take a few moments, once adjusted the game will load and collect DNA for sequencing, this will be painless and through the sensors on your head.
Each player once synchronised will be added to the singular online server and limited to one account per person. Headset's can be replaced if damaged, but will log in to the same account through DNA sequencing, which is your login. If your Character dies, do not worry as your account will allow you to create a new Character.
The game will run at a Three Times speed compared to reality, and the players will be capped at Eighteen real hour gaming sessions. This means that time in the game experience will be around Fifty Four Hours per Eighteen Gaming Hours.
If you have any queries at any point during your gaming session, please ask for "Game Support"]
Dom placed the instructions down beside him, a warm feeling of excitement as he firstly wasn't expecting to be playing the new game today, and he also couldn't wait to try it something new.
"Gaming whilst sleeping? Damn I may be on time for once!" Dom exclaimed excitedly. He stood up and headed towards the central room that he shared with Andrew and the others. Andrew was currently dishing out their noodles that he had quickly put together.
"Thoughts?" Andrew asked excitedly.
"Not what I was expecting, did you know that you can play it whilst you sleep?" Dom replied, some confusion in his voice as he hadn't heard of this before.
"I had seen that earlier, shocking isn't it. And the with the 3x speed and maximum of 18hours of play time, it means that if you play the full allowance, you are live in the game world for every 3 out of 4 days, or close enough when you think about it." Andrew commented, his face showing that he had done some maths that Dom didn't quite understand, but would trust him on it. "It should be fun when we get going, it will be interesting to see how it starts! Plus, you have no excuse for not getting up on time if you are sleeping in game!"
"Let's finish this quickly and then catch up later!" Dom declared, eating the noodles he really didn't want, with a surprising amount of enthusiasm.
"Yeah, that does sounds like a plan!" Andrew replied, taking his own bowl from the kitchen and heading straight to his room "I will try and work out the internal comms and get in touch as soon as possible so that we can meet up."
Dom headed to his own room and sat down on his bed beside the Headset. He leant down and grabbed it, feeling the light weightiness of it in his hands, before placing it on his head. The Headset made a quiet noise, before he felt the a slight tickling sensation as the internal padding cushioned his head comfortably, before he slowly lay down on his bed and waited for the game to load up.
...
The first thing that Dom saw was a bright white light that wasn't blinding but was bright enough, followed by light blue prisms that floated around the screen as it loaded. Sounds of waves crashing could be heard in the background, followed by the sounds of chimes.
[Game loading.....] the screen showed. Dom felt excitement throughout as he waited for the screen to finish loading. [....Connecting to global server]
Black specks of light appeared and dropped as if raining, slowly filling the screen until it was pitch black and Dom felt like his eyes were closed to everything around him. A small white light then appeared in the middle of his vision and started to grow, with the sounds and feelings of wind flying around Dom's head.
"Wow it feels so real!" He exclaimed to himself as the breeze seemed to pick up and flow past his ears.
[Game will now take DNA sequencing - Collecting DNA Sample]
Dom felt a slight stroke on his forehead, before it disappeared again. He put his hand up to touch his forehead, seeing his own hand in front of him as he did so.
[DNA sample collected, DNA sequencing completed - Dominic Lazarus, Welcome to World Conquest Online]
Suddenly Dom was stood on a floating white cloud in the sky. Around him was a never ending light blue sky with the occasional cloud in the distance. Opposite him was a woman dressed in a smart black business suit, sat on a chair with her legs crossed and an expression of excitement. She had long red hair, and a natural elegance to her. She had deep green eyes and held her head up high as if to show her authority. Causing you to feel that you were being looked down upon and that you needed to give her respect. Seeing this was just a game, if felt almost real when looking at her and Dom felt it was an impressive first experience so far.
The cloud that they were on floated above a gigantic world, with a large landmasses beneath them that was surrounded by the blue of a never ending ocean. What he could see of the Landmass was green and lush, and Dom was excited to get below and explore it.
"Welcome to World Conquest Online, I am Game Support, if you have any queries please shout for me during the game." Game Support explained politely, "Firstly please choose yourself a player name."
"WhiteWolf" Dom replied automatically, this was his gamer name across multiple games that he played with his small group of friends, so it would be easier to find him online. He had been known as WhiteWolf since he had first started gaming as a young teenager and even though Wolves were no longer his favourite animal, nor was the colour White his favourite colour, he felt he had to stick with it.
"Would you like to confirm?" Game Support asked him patiently, "Would you not prefer something like BigDaddy003, GeneralSlaughter671, RedHeadsAreBest2475 or ILoveBigBums"
"Yes, please confirm!" Dom replied confused, what sort of names were those he thought to himself!
"Denied." Game Support replied with a teasing smile, "Name must relate to your name, you only have one name."
Strange, Dom thought. What an unusual rule.
"Yes it is." Game Support relied, to Dom's shock. "Please remember that we are communicating through brain waves, so I can therefore hear your thoughts. I do, however appreciate you not mentally undressing me, unlike some of the young males that have joined so far."
"What should I be named then?" Dom asked, not daring to insult the Game Support, who seemed very human.
"Lazarus." She replied, as if it was obvious.
Dom had a real dislike for his surname, that he had inherited from his father as most people did. It was however his surname, and whilst he did have a dislike for it, he was used to hearing it shouted in class when he was late.
"As you have not declined, that is now your name." Game Support replied, "Well, let's continue. Would you like to slightly alter your appearance or keep it the same? Please note this can not be changed at a later time. You will however be able to purchase clothes and disguises throughout your World Conquest journey."
"Keep the same please" Dom replied, he would just buy a disguise, he expected Andrew and Alice would keep the same so the gaming trio would be able to recognise each other easy enough. He wondered if Alice could have persuaded Claire or Florence to join. She had a way of persuading people to do what she wanted.
"Interesting choice, respectful." Game Support replied, as if disappointed that she couldn't deny him or something again. "In World Conquest Online your spawn point will be decided based on your class, stats and decisions made during the tutorial mission that you choose. There will then also be some randomness to it. Would you like to hear more about the classes available?"
"Yes please." Dom said, he was planning to play as an adventurer, as they normally had lots of flexible stats on most games and would allow him to support Andrew's guild easy enough. However, little had been announced other than the basics, and he was interested to hear more.
"There are several starting classes, that can evolve in to sub classes as they progress: Warrior, these are guards, soldiers or mercenaries. Primarily that will fight for the countries Emperor, Kings, Lords or Leaders that are across the realm, a fun play style for the majority of gamers. Adventurers are for those driven by quest style game play, exploring the far reaching and unexplored zones, following quests set by Town and City folk. Lifestyle players who can take on a new identity in the game, trying and learning new skills and crafts, ever wanted to become a Baker or a Blacksmith?" Game Support started. "All of the above classes are key to the game and there are opportunities to move between the classes to learn corresponding skills. Nothing in the game is set and people can change as they progress, for example a Warrior Knight who enjoys Baking as a hobby, becomes a Baker Knight."
Game Support laughed to herself at the thought, whilst Dom looked at her with a confused look.
"Game Support, I have a question." Dom interrupted her.
"Go ahead, Lazarus." She replied with a smile as she emphasised the word Lazarus.
"Are you programmed with certain lines of text, or are you an AI?" Dom asked inquisitively, "I do not mean this in a rude way, I am just interested."
"Interesting, not many have noticed, I am an AI programmed by the game makers to manage and support the set up and transition in to the game, and to then support from a tech support perspective then onwards." She replied eloquently with a smile, "If that is ok, I will continue?"
"Thank you for explaining," Dom replied, with a slight bow in gratitude.
Game Support slightly bowed her head in response, whilst still sat in her chair, before continuing. "The roles can also evolve, depending on your relationship with the environment. A smart Warrior may become a Strategist, a talented Pottery Maker may receive a contract from a Kingdom and create their own large company. Do your family have strong familiar lines and strong support, maybe set up your family companies in the game? Have trusted friends, why not create a guild? So many options."
Game Support stopped talking and looked up at Dom in the eyes. A serious expression on her face now for the first time.
"There is one final class, it is mainly pre-arranged by the game developers and creators. Those with Powerful backings get the opportunity, however as the game master in this initial period, I can put people forwards, just a tiny few players with certain characteristics, in to the original challenge . If you perform well I can grant you an opportunity, and this is just an opportunity, to start as a Lord Class Player yourself." She continued, "If you pass, which is unlikely. Lazarus, you will be granted a Lord Player Class to create your own destiny, if you survive it could grow and hit unknown heights. If you fail, well you can play like everyone else, so no loss."
Dom looked at her in confusion, wondering firstly, why he was stuck with this game name! Secondly what a good opportunity, why was she helping him?
"Interested?" She asked, with a wry smile on her face. "Would you like to play the normal tutorial, or would you like to challenge the Lord tutorial?"
"I'll take the challenge, please. Thank you for the support and for the opportunity." Dom replied honestly, wondering if Andrew had similar options.
"Don't let me down." She replied, before his vision began to fade to black.