Weise and some other developers of Sword Kingdom were currently in a staff meeting looking over a report about planned scenario changes for the game. For starters, with a larger player base then they initially expected, the average level of players was lower because of crowded hunting grounds. Even with concurrent patches and releases to fix this, the issue still remained.
In addition, to the lower level average to high player count, there was an issue with professions. There was a large number of crafters, so the price of goods drastically dropped. Since there was less valuable gear and items being made, the most uncommon and valuable items were being hoarded. Making anything over epic is very expensive and only possible for elitists. However, that wasn’t the biggest issue. The companion system broke the system and a lot of them were treated as slaves instead of partners like they were designed to be. An example of this would be the auto-farming bots of the last century.
However, this wasn’t the main issue since a lot of staff members are familiar with player patterns in these kinds of games.
“The player guild Crimson Phoenix has taken over Ravenroot. The Millennial Dragon guild has taken over Swordpeek on the same day. On top of it all, seventy percent of the humanoid non-human species were killed off.” (???)
The person next to Weise, the lead designer for the anthropomorphic species of Sword Kingdom, gave a disheartened sigh. The common trend for professional gamers is to make human only realms by conquering everyone else.
“LAAW, what is your prediction for who will become the ruler of Sword Kingdom? Which guild should we look out for?” (???2)
A holographic sphere appeared in the middle of the table as the AI responded.
“With the current state of the game, the two guilds in question have less than a forty percent chance of conquering the world of Sword Kingdom.” (LAAW)
Everyone was speechless that the super AI behind Sword Kingdom and a lot of other Green Corporation games gave such a number. The AI has already witnessed several games ‘conquered’ by different players, so it’s knowledge of what may come is based on experience rather than prediction. A woman in her mid-twenties named Dr. Leerie was the most surprised.
“Still, eighty percent isn’t that large of a deviation.” (Dr. Leerie)
The sphere shape seemed to turn and face her as it responded.
“Incorrect, Professor Leerie. I did not state that each guild has a forty percent chance. I stated that they have a forty percent chance combined.” (LAAW)
Dr. Leerie’s face soured at the AI’s clarification.
“Elaborate! What super powered NPC country can hope to stand in the way of users in a years time?” (Leerie)
The sphere projected a hologram of the map of Sword Kingdom.
“First of all, the NPC’s are much more advanced in this VR game than previous installments. With Professor Weise’s additions to the intellectual matrix, individual identities have become possible. The player guilds are acting like business as usual even though they have been unknowingly digging their own graves, as it were. This means that a tyrant ruler like in the game Vast of Space eight years ago will occur once again. Save for a few hardcore individuals that fought back, that game could no longer grow.” (LAAW)
There was a pause as everyone thought about the players that stopped playing when a tyrant guild all but conquered the game, leading them to shut it down.
“As I recall, no one stood a chance against that guild.” (Dr. Leerie)
“Incorrect, Dr. Leerie. There was one individual that controlled a sector of space that the guild could not conquer. This is where ninety percent of the non-Ion Federation players retreated to.” (LAAW)
There was another pause.
“That’s irrelevant. Let’s move back to the topic of Sword Kingdom.” (Dr. Leerie)
LAAW transformed back into a sphere and responded.
“Incorrect again, Professor. The same individual who controlled that unconquerable part of space now plays Sword Kingdom.” (LAAW)
