Chapter 142: The Stator Rebellion Part 4
"If there is one advantage that players have that NPCs do not, it would be the ability to log out of the game and pass on information through the real world."
"Because of the realistic and brutal and potentially mental scarring nature of Dynasties Online’s gameplay and world, an option to leave must always be available no matter what."
"This means that players can log out and tell a faction leader of their situation in a matter of minutes when it would normally take many in-game days and even months to get important back to them."
"But there is always a penalty for leaving the game when you are in the middle of a scene, war, or combat situation, and the game servers do not naturally shut down."
"So later in the game, only those players who are bought and paid for by someone else would be willing to suffer these drastic consequences."
"Because if the player is not present, then an AI or illness will take over their character, and the results may not live up to the player’s expectations."
"With the worst outcome being the destruction of the dynasty itself."
James Larent, creator of Dynasties Online.
....
Rusty Jaguar was sitting around a burning campfire, the smoke. Bright orange sparks flew down from the whetstone he ran across the blade of his iron woodcutter’s axe, making it razor-sharp; despite not being a traditional weapon, it was more than capable of severing a limb or two and dealing a large amount of damage to a lightly armoured opponent.
Being one of the players who had joined Stator in his crusade to take over a kingdom, he had been waiting for three in-game days, nearly half of someone’s allotted daily time since arriving around the steamer’s army camp, for the signal to attack only being able to eat sleep and chill with the 14 other players that he was with making the players get bored very quickly. They all cursed the game system for not implementing any sort of fast travel mechanic, forcing all the players to walk to each village, town and city themselves, just like they would have to do if this medieval world was real.
Rusty Jaguar was one of the lucky players. He had an occupation that had a makeshift weapon, as many of his companions did not have anything that could resemble one and were without enough money to buy one, as weapons and armour are usually rather expensive, costing at least 5 gold, which would then leave them without food eventually dying of hunger as there was not enough game in the forest to sustain even if they have a water supply.