New: Raw Valence (free, open-ended, www, human, fantasy, space, modern, rpg)

From: donotreply@pbm.com (PBM List Autoposter)

Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2008 23:09:04 +0000

Name:		Raw Valence
Email:		shatterverse zat gmail.com
Frequency:		Whenever
URL:		http://rawv.xvrealm.net
Type:		steam punk, apocalyptic, modern, war, high fantasy
Last-Update:		2007Sep24
Keywords: free, open-ended, www, human, fantasy, space, modern, rpg

Description:

[W]e all have our own little worlds, don�t we? Just a place to escape to
at the end of the day or maybe when we get mad; a place for us to
recollect ourselves when stress gets under our skin. It�s cleansing, it�s
good for everyone. But what about something more than day-to-day anxiety?
A tragedy, an atrocity, a murder. That little place becomes bigger and
bigger, it becomes more real than ever and before you know it, the
desolate valley of reality is just the forbidden lands in your world. Lost
within this world, you often find yourself alone and happy, but the real
world is still moving ahead while you�re hanging back. A little later,
well all too soon for you, you�re brought back to reality and this big
world becomes suppressed.

[A] young child knows exactly what this is like, to have to push this
large escape from reality into his head, but he was determined to have his
world one day. The boy suffered abuse at the hands of parents, guardians
and others that he assumed were supposed to protect him. And for a while
his world flourished, but day after day he was wrenched from solemn
happiness and shown how painful the real world could be. He refused to
live like this any longer and began to plan out a new world. With no help
at all, he built a whole new world, one of fantasy and technology, magic
and wonderment. Races of all kinds co-existed, some peacefully, others
hatefully. But pen and paper wasn�t his goal, the boy was going to make
this world into his own reality. With technology growing more advanced by
the year, the child sought to make his dream come true. Video games seemed
like the best medium, they were versatile, anyone could play them, a lot
of people did and who wouldn�t like the thought of having a new reality to
exist in? The boy thought everyone had their own little worlds, too, he
just wanted to share his with reality.

[R]eady for acceptance, the boy presented his idea the best he could,
taking months to learn what goes into making video games. For such a small
child, he had a very big brain and coding and programming was nothing more
than a tedious middle man to his goal. With the concept, the presentation,
the codes and programs needed, he was still shot down. See, his goal
wasn�t just a game on the screen, it was a game inside your head. He
wanted people to live and breathe this new world, he wanted to live in it.
Complete Virtual Reality wasn�t quite in the reach of modern technological
advances. People wouldn�t be able to feel the world around them, breathe
the air or see everything as clearly as if you were there yourself. It
wasn�t possible. Like all worlds we escape to, it was just an idea in his
head.

[I]nsisting that this world be created, the child set up a network of
rogue programmers and artists, figuring he could make the game underground
and slowly bring it back to the big corporations to show them his dream
was well within his reach. Sadly, even these radical cyber punks couldn�t
piece half of the boys fevered dream into one big world. The game, yes
they could have made it just as expansive as he wanted it, they could have
made all limitless races, but the technological specifications were
already being pushed. Completely mind-altering virtual reality? It just
wasn�t something done in their time, and they were sitting there wondering
if they would even want something that unethical as living in a pretend
world. They abandoned the project and the boy kept searching and
broadcasting his idea to those who would listen. And day after day he
dealt with reality, his reality, the reality he was forced to see, but
when the world went to sleep he fought to bring his world into creation.
Bruise after bruise, broken limb after another, he wasn�t sure how much
more his body could take, but he knew he wouldn�t rest until he stood on
the plains of his realm.

[S]ympathetic to his ideals, a little fly on the wall urged the boy to
keep searching, to tell more about the story, to give it a taste of this
world. He couldn�t take the real world and this urge to fall away into his
world got stronger. The boy went away for a very long time. Literally.

[H]e returned, however. A month of the boy�s absence. A month of not
hearing the boy push his idea on underground forums and cyber circles. A
month of no pain, abuse or stolen innocence. A month to make his world a
reality.

[E]ager to present himself all over again, this time knowing they couldn�t
deny him, the child laid out completely different technological specifics.
New design, new codes, new route of programming, everything. With it came
some things they hadn�t even seen before, though they couldn�t deny that
playing on this new design and technology was surprisingly smooth and
aesthetically pleasing. It wasn�t too hard to make copies of the hardware
he brought to them and within a year or two, the boy�s world launched on a
global scale with the enigmatic name of �Universe Op: Nova Id�. Set up in
arcades and computer gaming centers, the new game quickly became the
hottest thing in pop culture. What made it so appealing was the depth it
submerged its players.

[R]ealism. The reviews came in and that was the headliner to each report.
It wasn�t just a game, it was the most realistic game ever made. It was
almost eerie how real it became, how more and more people spent time
playing than working. The life in the character�s faces and the breath
full of air you could take in from the rolling hills of just a video game.
The boy had succeeded at introducing his world to reality.

[E]veryone was so busy marveling at the wonder that had graced the gaming
industry that they didn�t even question how such a technologically
advanced game came to be. Interviews were filled with empty answers, tours
kept viewers from seeing the core of the game�s making and overall people
were left in the dark. It was possibly better that way because the boy
refused to acknowledge questions of how his world came to be. It was his
world, his rules, his law and no one was going to threaten it ever again.

�You�re in a field and across the horizon you see a storm. It�s coming
fast. And you realize that it�s not just the sky that�s getting dark, it�s
the ground as well, you look harder and it�s a swarm of sickly looking
creatures. Your first instinct would be to run and acting on that gut
feeling you take off with your tail between your legs. Then you notice
you�re not alone, there are others just like you trying to run, only
they�re running in the opposite direction. Why? Because the same swarm is
chasing after them. You have two choices: Flight or fight. In reaction you
grab your sword and you can feel the cool metal in your hand. In moments
you�re engaged in the most nerve-wracking fight for your life as hundreds
of these swarming beasts come upon you and the few unfortunate souls that
happened to be in the same area as you. If you make it out alive then
you�ve got another story to tell the boys back home. If not�game over.�

�When you�re not logged in, your personal character continues on with his
life as if you were never there. He collects food, hunts and fends for
himself in your absence. �Why play if he plays for me?� You might say,
well because without you directing him, he has a whole new personality
that may or may not be aligned with the goals you have for the game. It
all depends on the history you create for your character � an actual
background for your individual character that other players can read.
There�s a story to every character and it�s only limited by the player�s
imagination.

��Not to mention the ability to create any kind of race you want. You
follow guidelines and helpful instructions on building a race, a class for
your race and the abilities both race and class have. The looks of the
character is completely up to you, hundreds of body models for you to mold
and shape into the perfect representation of the character you have in
mind. The customization is the most advanced part of the game next to the
look and feel. There�s only a small bit of linear play and that only comes
with potions and small items that effect your base stats, there is
absolutely nothing holding you back.�

�A strange part of the game that gives it that ominous feel of a
world-wide story event are these clues that you come across. Sometimes
it�s a number, other times it�s a word or symbol. You know there are more
because everyone�s talking about them both on and offline. It�s really
quite exciting, especially when you meet someone whose clue matches right
up with yours. To coincide with this feature, the game�s company releases
clues to the players almost sporadically in an enthralling ploy of viral
marketing known better as �Alternate Reality Game�, a fitting scheme for
the game itself.�

�...And the best part is the game field. It takes place across a variety
of themes ranging from modern structure such as skyscrapers and city
streets to Neo-Victorian cities that seem to blend 18th Century technology
performing science fiction functions. Such as a matter transporter that
works off of steam, or dematerializing lasers that need to be wound up
with a key and given coal to power itself. This is perhaps the widest
theme to the game, a �steampunk� design used in tandem with magick. Then
you have the alien fields where creatures unlike anything you have seen
before are likely to attack you in actual swarms across barren deserts,
marshy swamps and even ruined alien cities. The A.I. is difficult to work
around and it feels almost like an actual hunt � and you�re the prey!�

�The dialogue of the NPCs, both the guides and the guild leaders is really
natural and sometimes pretty funny in their misanthropic tones. The guides
would rather you jump off a cliff than proceed sometimes and the guild
masters� often taunt you for not being the highest rank in your class, the
world is just too real for a video game!�

�I have to admit, when I saw what I would be wearing I was a bit nervous.
You�re given a pair of contact lenses that, how they work is anyone�s
idea, give you your screen. Your eyes are your screen. You see everything
either from your character�s point of view or a third person view bird�s
nest style. Then you have these small circular patches that you place
behind your ears and they act as the audio, giving you all the sounds of
your world. The gloves aren�t hooked up to anything, but you still move
your hands as if you are the character, having to perform the correct hand
gestures (which are a little too simple at times) to pull off a spell or
attack your enemies with your weapons. You move like you have the weapons
on hand and if you don�t, there�s always your fists. To top it off, you
have a device that looks like some collar with electrical nodes starting
at the base of your spine up to the back of your skull. It�s a sensory
machine, or so I�m told, that lets you feel, smell and taste your
environment. It�s brutal because pain can carry over.�

�Universe Op��, ��Nova Id��, ��Is the most��, �Realistic game ever��

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