More on this book
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Sigil of Rage – A magical sigil written in the Primal Tongue has been carved deep into your flesh, causing it to pulse with an unfathomable torrent of energy. When activated, Primal Rage suffuses your body, granting you +10 to Strength and Agility. While this ability is active, you are consumed by pure rage as your body is burned from within, dealing 10 points of damage per second. This ability scales per level.
In short, playing as a criminal in Ascend Online was like playing the game on Hard Mode. You had little margin for error, and God forbid, if you somehow managed to screw up, you were punished, brutally.
Playing as a criminal = hardmode
But when it started to play with your very memory, treating it like just another variable to be adjusted and controlled, it made me feel like the game was going too far.
messing with his memory, gone too far
Ascend Online took two different approaches in handling death penalties. In the normal scenario where an Adventurer died at the hands of a creature or another non-player character, a fragment of their spirit was left behind at the scene of their death, forcing them to recover their Soul Fragment, or accept a punishing loss in skills and experience. In the other scenario, when a player was killed by another player, instead of the normal death sickness, the dying player instead lost a small portion of their Renown or Infamy, depending on their moral bent. In contrast, the winning player received
...more
difference between pvp death and pve death
“There’s water in the coffee, Lazarus!” Goner stopped to look back at me, already halfway down the hall, shaking his head. “I think I’ll just stick to coffee for good now, it gives me so much energy!”
Goners love for coffee, kid afte rmy own heart
I kept trying to remind myself that it was all a game, feeling that I wasn’t the first player that had difficulty coming to terms with the realism that Ascend Online portrayed.
the game is too real
Feeling out of place as everyone began sharing memories of Fairfax, Molly and I did our best to stay out of everyone’s way, only to find ourselves actively drawn in and included. Despite only being initiates and members for a short time, everyone made sure to count us as one of the family, an experience the two of us found extremely touching. Up until that point, we had felt like outsiders, not yet having earned a place within the inner heart of the guild.
Now one of the guild. MMO guilds become like second familys.
Soothing our minds after a battle or coming to terms with dying? “I got crushed by a statue yesterday, and somehow…I’m okay with it,” I continued while tapping my head with a finger. “No mental trauma or anything in here.” “It just doesn’t feel ethical,” Molly replied. “Soothing bad memories, I understand…but taking other memories away…that seems too much for a game to be able to do. We’re just playing this game for entertainment, not to have our personalities altered.”
ethical questions about game altering players mind
“I know what you’re going to ask, Gavin,” Molly whispered, using my real name. “My reply hasn’t changed—not yet. I still need a bit more time. But for what it’s worth, I’m almost there.”
He doesn't know Molly's real name or identity.
“I am promoting both you and Molly to full guild members, effective immediately.”
Molly and Lazarus get promoted
Finding a middle ground between convenience and realism, the Auction House was one of the few places where the game allowed players to search for the items that they were looking for via a search menu displayed in their vision, rather than physically displaying the items on a stall or display like other merchants did within the city. While slightly unrealistic, it was the best compromise possible, given that the Auction House carried thousands, if not tens of thousands of different items. Putting each of them on display would have not only been a colossal task, but would also have made it near
...more
How AH works
“Sir, your orders are nothing short of mass market manipulation; you will cause artificial shortages throughout the city!” I heard papers being shuffled ahead of me as the Auctioneer rifled through a pile of papers the man had just dropped in front of him. “Is that illegal?” the man asked, his voice taking on an impatient tone.
Market manipulation
“Shut up and take my money!” I barked, practically throwing my money pouch at the Auctioneer. “There’s no time! Someone else might buy it!”
Shut up and take my money
“Before Quinn showed up, the last time I had anyone come visit me regularly was a man named Thaddeus, at least before he passed on.” William paused for a moment as he searched his memories. “He was always curious to see how I was doing and if I had uncovered any useful tomes that could aid the war effort, or to collect any dangerous ones that needed to be quarantined.” “Thaddeus Denarius?” Molly voice echoed with surprise from the far side of the room as she walked up beside me. “The old Patriarch of House Denarius?”
Denarius- stocking up on tomes, will we see more of this later
“And put Chomper on the streets?” Quinn countered, completely deadpan as he glanced towards William. “He’s too old now, he would never survive. He’s an indoor book through and through.”
Chomper- laughs
“You wouldn’t remember getting it,” William replied after taking a deep breath, his gasping and wheezing having finally stabilized. “The power of the sigils does not play well with mortal minds, and memory loss was—is—a common side effect.”
Sigils play with mortal minds
“Primal Energy and Æther are two completely different forms of energy, and the Chaos Stone only carries an affinity for Primal Energy.”
different enegery types
“Time is relative to a computer program,” Quinn said with a shrug. “If there weren’t any players plugged into the game, what’s not to say that CTI just sped up the rate of time when compared to Reality? You know, like one second in the real world is equal to a day inside the game. If these NPCs are as real as we think we are, they could have let the world’s history write itself.”
how the game could have been made
“Hindsight is a burden the survivor must always bear,” Stroud told me philosophically. “Do not let it consume you.”
Quote
A World Event has begun! Strife and Discord has consumed the city of Eberia, causing Eris to burn in the sky as a Lord reaches for power beyond his station. In his quest, he seeks to bring down one of the founding pillars of the nation, his hand forced by distant whispers in his ear. Unless the Lord is brought to heel, a new power will rise in Eberia with the morning sun, and woe to all who dare to oppose it.
World event
“Well, it was pretty expensive,” I replied while swinging the weapon in a low sweep, catching the man attacking Sawyer in the leg and severing it in a similar fashion as the arm before it. “It cost me an arm and a leg!”
quote arm and a leg
“You know the rule. “The fight’s not over until you get experience for it.”
Quote
Could that be the king?! Did he somehow renew the Geas and only have it affect Dorian?
Geas
“But that’s…that’s…completely unethical, though! How was that ever approved?!”
“Dorian and Edith are both working with The Holy Ascendancy of Eligos.”
Enemy faction
