K-EM Enterprises: A Virtual Reality Adventure [NC]

[TheHangedOne]

Brilliant!

[nishi]

Interested to play a guy with a female avatar.

Is something like this (a bit cliche) welcome in this game?

[Esoteric Myobi]

Nope, I don't see any problem with that. =)

I suppose the only question when we start the game, is whether everyone would like to keep their players 'anonymous' until they meet in the virtual world? As in, would you prefer that everyone has already met in the 'real' world (all gathered in one meeting room at headquarters and given a rundown of the process) or would players prefer that perhaps they arrive at different times at headquarters and are received in private rooms? That way, when players arrive in the virtual world they'll be 'seen' by each other for the first time in their preferred avatar?

[Crovonovin]

I think the latter might be preferable.  That way you don't have the obvious derogatory comments towards those who decide to do away with the chunk for some muscle in the game world, and leave open the possibility for hilarious revelations later on down the line.

[Kunoichi]

Hilarious or traumatic, depending on who's doing the revealing and in what context, you mean. :P

[TheHangedOne]

I'm torn. On the one hand, the "Nobody knows whose behind the mask" idea is appealing to me...on the other hand, it's more realistic for them to all be at least vaguely familiar with each other; if not meeting in a board room, for instance, then what about when they're being put into the cryogenic sleep? At the very least, they might catch a glimpse into other tubes as they're being into theirs. I sincerely doubt each tube would be kept in its own room; that's a logistical nightmare of a sort.

[nishi]

if they were pricewinners, I would say they probably knew eachother beforehand.

This sounds like something big, you know like charly and the chocolatefactory, lots of press/media coverage etc for the winners ;)

although the not knowing identities before entering may leave the story open for nice twists.. BUT .. doesnt the story end when they get out? They would only see eachother at the end when they survived everything/found a way out?

[Esoteric Myobi]

Hrm, hard decision. I can see how each option would appeal. I suppose we shall decide once we're ready to begin.

In the meantime...we'd still need a few more players to obtain a full cast. :-)

[lore]

I am flexible. Either way.

I think not knowing might add a little more interest to the game, however, especially with characters like Mimi.

The anonimity of the winners could have been part of the gimmick of the contest, especially if K-EM had been advertizing the console as a means of reinventing oneself - 'Be all you can't be!'. Maybe there were a hundred (or however many) potential candidates, but only six were chosen from the pool to be lead into cryosleep. This would give the users the same experience as most everyone else who will eventually use the console. ...heh and one that is none too different from the one we are engaging with with eachother as writers on this board. 

In terms of the cryo room logistics, and them not seeing eachother if they are in the same room, that's nothing a few blindfolds and some partition curtains couldn't rectify.  ;D

[Esoteric Myobi]

Oh yes, definitely. I'm sure one appeal of VR would be the reinventing of self, as well as the ability to find 'paradise'. One thing that would be a selling point is how players can mold the 'world' to their liking -- something that will be elaborated on further in game. And yes, was thinking the same for the cryo room if we decide to go the 'anonymous' route. (We're cheap and can't afford individual rooms, but it's okay! We'll use nice curtains, really! ;D)

[nishi]

Hi guys! I was still interested in joining. Let me know if this character may be overpowered ;)
* I actually edited this post a few times *

Name: Joseph Arlington
Age: 29
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Heterosexual (may turn bi during the game ;) )

Appearance: Height: 1.86 m (6'1") | Hair colour: Brown | Eye colour: Blue |	Avatar Appearance: Height: 1.63 m (5'4") | Hair colour: Brown | Eye colour: Blue |

Physical Enhancements: Higher adrenaline/epinephrine production during a"fight or flight response" (typically in a dangerous situation), resulting in increased strength and speed as well as a faster reactiontime. These improvements are more than it would be compared to normale volumes of adrenaline, but without the negative side effect/dangers of an adrenaline overdose.

Positive Traits:

• Insightful
• Fast learning
• Great muscle memory.

Negative Traits:

• Bad with numbers
• Indecisive
• Submissive (as opposed to assertive, not SEXUALLY submissive)

Skills:

• Wall/mountain-climbing
• Excellent marksman
• Some martial arts

Personality:
Outgoing guy, talkative, charming personality with a nice sense of humor.

He is your average yuppie (short for "young urban professional"). You know the type: Has all the latest gadgets, more money to spend than whats average for their age, loves to party, socializing, networking etcetera. He is the type of guy that seems to live 24/7, has 700 friends on his MyTwitface Page which he keeps updating all day long, posting whatever random thought that runs through his mind. He loves wall- and mountain climbing, which he does once every two weeks with his friends. He can also be found one time a month at the local shooting range, where he practices shooting all kinds of targets with all kinds of weapons, just for fun. He manages his time perfectly, so that he still finds time for playing videogames. Like MMORPGs, where he is an excellent raid-leader on his (only) female characters. He is also a top-ranking online Super Streetfighter Neo XI player, known for his adaptive mindgames and flawless execution of special moves and combos.

His weakness is that tries a bit too hard to be friendly, often letting his opinion slide in favor of others. Because of this, he is not a great leader in real life , although online in videogames he has proven that he possesses the knowledge, insight and tact to lead people in any type of situation, whether in war or at the office. This causes him despite being a very social person, to prefer to be alone when doing things like exploring or sports.

He has a love for anything retro, like the antique laptop that he carries around as a fashion statement instead of it being actually useful, and the avatar, which he based on some old retro videogame.

Biography:
He grew up with rather strict parents, always pushing him to do well in school and get a good well-earning job. At a young age he started to play videogames, as a way to escape the pressure of his daily life. He had done some Wing-Chun kung-fu during highschool, but that was only because he wanted to get closer to a girl he had a crush on. But when she made it clear that she had no romantic interest in him after two and a half years, he quit those lessons.

Besides of that he never did much sports until during college he discovered wall-climbing. He truly loved the first time he took an introductory lesson with a number of fellow students, after which a few of them continued as a biweekly group. Something that they are still doing to this day, often going away for a weekend to literally hang out on some mountain.

Although he as a decent job at a large sales firm, he still craves the escapism that videogames brought him and even though he has a rich social life he still plays whenever he can. He had a girlfriend for six years but they broke up recently. He was actually planning on taking a sabbatical, to travel the world a bit, until he entered the contest of K-EM Enterprises.

Ons/Offs:
Joseph as a man has mainly vanilla interests. He prefers the girl on top of him, letting her take control, letting her please him, letting her do all the work. He loves cunnilingus as well as receiving oral sex from his bedpartner. As a female avatar he would probably try to stick to only be lesbian but probably fail at that.

Storywise, I don't have much offs except scat, though I doubt Joseph would be a willing participant at first when it comes to having sex with a man. You can use my personal On/off page as a reference, though I see this character more as a free spirited one instead of a doctile submissive slave.

[lore]

and the avatar, which  he based on some old retro videogame.

Ha perfect avatar choice. When I saw the images (both his avatar and his actual appearance) I thought 'This guy probably plays tomb raider the same way hipsters play NES games today' before I even read a word of your app. :)

[nishi]

lol thanks.

Actually, I am one of those hipsters you were talking about, although Nintendo is either too old or too new for me, since I prefer 16/32bit games or stuff older than NES :)

[nishi]

@lore before today I only skimmed through your character profile, but after actually reading it now, I realise that I have described almost the same psysical enhancement as yours!

Though not 100% the same, I do think they are similar, wont you agree? Should I change it?

[lore]

Only if you want to be a unique and beautiful snowflake :P

Otherwise is kinda funny if the two, who are do direly different. made the same choice.

[nishi]

just for diversity's sake ;)

I think i'll go increased muscle strength (can lift more and move faster) since it seems we dont have a muscle in our party yet ;). Ill update once I made up my mind

@Myobi: what is the limit of the chosen abilities? can my character have hulk-like strength (lifting a car with one finger) or does it have to be somewhat realistic? or for example if someone has enhanced vision would he be able to see a needle on the ground 3 miles ahead ?

[Esoteric Myobi]

Welcome to the game, anisha. =)

Hmm, that's a good question. I'd say that when used 'casually' it'd be a little more realistic. For strength, you wouldn't have trouble lifting things that you may struggle with in person (can't think of any examples right now, just woke up @_@). Though with more time, effort, and concentration used, I suppose it'd be possible to lift a car (not with one finger) or some other giant object for a short amount of time. This would leave you drained for a while afterwards though.

A simpler way of putting it I suppose, would be that in VR you become an improved version of yourself. The physical enhancement would basically be what your character could have done in reality if they were at their best. So in 'reality' when we can't reach our maximum potential, you reach 100% in VR. Yet when you try to go beyond 100%, it'll strain you.

Did that make sense?

-is totally rambling-

[nishi]

-- Oops.. accidently edited the wrong post, I am so sorry.. the post is gone now. It containt a few questions--

I asked about what having an avatar actually means. Would an avatar looking like hulk hogan or any body builder also have his strength? Would a paraplegic be able to walk without having to apply for "ability to walk" as his physical enhancement?

I also asked about how realistic those enhancements should be. For example someone had faster healing listed as enhancement, is that realistic? (not doubting or intending to flame anyone, just wanted to see what I could choose as enhancement)

[Esoteric Myobi]

Yes, I try to propose ideas and nudge players along a direction, though I won't tell you "You MUST/HAVE TO do this." I may be GMing this game, but this game will be molded by all of us together. ;D So really, I play off of suggestions and ideas from my players quite a lot. It tends to help me figure things out more, such as your questions.

To answer your questions:

Yes, avatars really are nothing more than just a visual thing. It just makes the players look different, so their skills and abilities don't change (besides the one physical enhancement that they choose of course). So technically, yes, if someone decided to make their avatar a fitter version of themselves, and in 'reality' they are incredibly out of shape then it would probably be something like this:

Player A only uses 50% of his strength IRL and can lift 25 lbs without a sweat. In VR, Player A would be capable of using 100% of his strength, and he has no problem lifting 50 lbs without a sweat. When trying for something heavier, it'll be more difficult and strain Player A.

That's just a general idea really. So in a way, they wouldn't be 'superhuman' they would just be functioning at 100%. So they MAY be able to lift a car, and they MAY be able to see an object 200 meters away, but even if they CAN do these things it'll be hard to do so and cannot be done often as it'll take a heavy toll on the player.

As for whether or not a paraplegic would be able to walk, I would say yes. The way that the console for VR is set up is going to be like electrical signals sent to/from the brain. So even if a person is crippled, this would not hinder them in the VR world.

Oh and, maximized muscle potential sounds fine. It would certainly make your stronger and faster, but not as fast as someone who chose to be light and speedy as their physical enhancement. Also, I accepted the increased healing rate as a physical enhancement since I believe it is one. While it wouldn't do much for offense, it would be a defensive enhancement. However, fatal wounds, if received, would of course still be fatal. (Though players cannot actually 'die' in the VR world, they will receive a penalty if they ever reach that point.) Hope this answered your questions.

[nishi]

Thanks for explaining, Myobi. As you can see I was editing my character sheet but accidently pressed edit on the wrong post, thus deleting the questions you answered.. sorry ;)

Anyway

Since my character is already in decent shape before entering the VR world, I chose "Higher adrenaline/epinephrine production in time of crisis" Basically this would mean a bit stronger/faster than he would have been with maximized muscle potential, but imho it would still be human/realistic, and imho sounds a bit more interesting than "he is stronger/has more muscles"

(and there had been cases of people lifting a car during extreme stress situations, because most likely the adrenaline powered their body to be able to do that)

[TheHangedOne]

You know, I've heard about that phenomena of freakish, adrenaline fueled strength, but the thing that never gets mentioned in most articles (but does in scientific journals) is that even with the adrenaline helping you, doing something like that does serious damage to the muscles, some times permanently.  Just an FYI, everything has a price, you know?  :-)

[nishi]

yes, I realise that. There was a story in newspaper here about a woman who lifted a car or something, rescuing some people who were underneath it from drowning.

Then an article about her one or two years later: It turned out that after her heroic actions, she suffered from amongst others backpains etc.. resulting her to not being able to work again. iirc she had insomnia from the pain it caused her, and she even had trouble walking or was it lifting things. It really messed with her.

That was why I mentioned "without the negative side effect/dangers of an adrenaline overdose.", but I did not had something like that in mind actually (I could use it as an emergency during the storyline if needed at a price), more like maybe 10-50% stronger/faster etc than my character would have without the enhancement . Since adrenaline (according to the short research I have done) will boost your strengh/speed/reflexes in a real life as well, though normally you wont notice it much mentally since you just take it for granted or are used to it.

[Esoteric Myobi]

Joseph's new Physical Enhancement seems fine to me. I just wanted to make sure, the part where there aren't any negative side effects, I'm assuming you mean from the simpler things? Such as, he may be stronger and faster in a fight, then after it's over he won't necessarily feel exhausted. However, if he were still to do something big, I'm assuming that while  he wouldn't be injured badly (depending on how big the feat is, I suppose) he would be considerably tired and unable to repeat the act for a while.

If I got that all right, then I don't see anything else that I'd make suggestions on.  ;D

[nishi]

With negative side I meant the general side effects as read here http://www.buzzle.com/articles/epinephrine-side-effects.html, but basically I put it there to prevent him from getting a heart attack or brain damage.

And yes after something big like flipping a car it would take some time to recover (although I do NOT intend it to be something joseph would do regulary unless the plot REALLY calls for it), but not like the woman I mentioned from that article who was damaged for life. I dont like playing a god, if I did I would have put something like skin made of liquid metal that can shoot lasers or something crazy like that.

[BigBuckBob]

skin made of liquid metal that can shoot lasers or something crazy like that.

I want to change my enhancement.