2011. A genius software engineer joins Blizzard Entertainment. His name is Kayaba Akihiko.
2013. Project "Titan" is greenlit. "Nerve Gear" and the "Cardinal System" are secretly developed and patented.
2016. VR (Virtual Reality) technology begins to emerge worldwide. It has a number of applications, but is foremost primarily used in entertainment.
2020. After years of silence and active speculation, Blizzard reveals Project Titan to be their latest IP, "Overworld" at Blizzcon. It uses Kayaba's patented systems to create a functional virtual experience. Players can be anyone they choose to be in the game's world, though the main features are centered on the life of a soldier/mercenary—thus placing the game in the online FPS/persistent world genre.
2021. Early alpha-testing impressions of Blizzard's new game are more than promising. Many testers are proclaiming it to be a true "second life" game, an experience greater than any of the VR games released recently. Later in the year, invite beta-testing begins. Millions of fans are outraged to find only a small number were invited.
2022. More and more players are allowed to try the game. The response is staggering. Fears of a lack in productivity for most players become more than jokes as news emerge of beta testers being fired from real-life jobs because of the game. China and a few other countries outright ban Overworld, citing its "corruptive" influence. Industry analysts speculate on the dangerous precedent Overworld and similar games have for the future.
2023. Overworld is launched.
It was the last day of the Campaign.
It was Blizzard's sixth Grand Campaign since they implemented this system. A massive war between the game's [Overwatch] faction and the [Omnic Alliance], pitting [Pub] versus [Pub], player versus player. A war to win glory and territory for each player's chosen side, and a chance to nab some sweet achievement bonuses for participating.
Each side's top veterans from all over the world coordinated their side of the conflict, capturing and recapturing key territories through thousands of grueling matches. From the virtual heat of Egypt to the cold cities of Sweden, the Campaign raged on, with major matches being livestreamed for all.
[Overwatch] won and held several new Asian territories, while [Omnic] had only barely pushed into Europe. Many players were already betting on a net [Overwatch] victory.
It all fell to Poland, now. One of the [uncaptured] territories belonging to [Omnic], its fall would signal a major setback for the faction's players, who had already lost ground in the previous two Campaigns in South America and the Baltic. Should Poland fall, [Overwatch] would win for the third time in a row—a humiliating prospect for diehard [Omnic] players.
As such, Poland in the last day bore witness to thousands of matches as players on both sides advanced or retreated, captured and recaptured map after map. Poland would be nearly engulfed in the [Omnic] color gold, only to be pushed back by the silver speck of [Overwatch]. [Pub] leaders and their flunkies from [Omnic] howled their frustrations in the official forums and in-game: How the hell did Overwatch get into Poland in the first place? While wise-asses and trolls bantered, the players fought, died, and fought again.
Poland Falls. Poland Stands.
Only the end of the day would see which truth came to pass.
The player cursed when he saw the feature loading on his VR. Another urban map. Poland had too much of those death-traps. It was boring, and hell to traverse, on any map condition: capture, run-n-gun, payload, etc.
At least his team comp looked alright. Ever since his [Pub]-mates signed off for the evening, he'd been going at it solo with random strangers. He wanted [Overwatch] to win, and he wanted to be there to see the results personally.
The map loaded fully. The other players, each pre-rendered Avatars in their respective [Classes], materialized. They each had their personal customizations for their Avatars, from baseball caps to masks to face-paints. He liked to think he was unique in staying true to his [Class]'s essence, unlike the [Reaper]-class now jumping around in a grunge outfit, his mask a dead-ringer from the Scream movies.
Well, appearance was never an indication of competence, he knew. He'd already scanned their [Class] builds, and found nothing amiss. All standard choices, the weapons load-out making sense. No noob-group this. They might just win.
The match began, signaled by a loud beeping sound. It was [Capture] style. They were the Attackers, and thus needed to capture three points on the map for victory.
He and the others ran in, his [Ninja] team-mate already moving up through the rooftops to flank. He was himself a normal [Soldier], and would take point. He watched his HUD closely, waiting for the tell-tale beep signalling an enemy.
There.
He fired, spraying the far wall fruitlessly. He thought it was another [Soldier]. He enabled scope-aim and ducked into the nearest building. He peeked out carefully.
Bulletfire came pounding from the other side. He ducked, before returning fire. A few bullets hit home. He continued the peek dance and watched as his teammates began to swarm forward.
This was his role. Perhaps a boring route for a [Soldier], but he preferred efficiency over utility. Other soldiers would trade their weapons for the chance to wade in and tank bigger hits, or forego their naturally high [armor rating] for extra mobility, to harass. He wasn't that kind of player, so he plugged away here, hanging back to suppress any frontliner coming through from the enemy side.
Zip Zip. The telltale sound of a [Tracer]'s footsteps nearby made him pause. Thinking quickly, he retreated into the building, activating [dash] to get up on the third floor, where it was a more open space.
He glanced down towards the alleyway and fired a few bullets down, to discourage the enemy [Soldier]. Up here, the [Tracer] was more vulnerable, despite having more room to maneuver. He more than outgunned the teleporting, extra-speedy [Class], but knew well the panic and confusion one could cause if he were stuck in a cramped space like the ones below.
The [Tracer] came up. He fired.
So began a dance of bullets. He jumped, strafed, fired, making sure to keep his aim on the enemy. The [Tracer] moved like it was in every place at once, but he didn't let that deter him. He weathered the enemy's attacks, activated his [First-Aid] function, and fired again, and again.
It was with cold satisfaction when his bullet scored a headshot, sending the dead [Tracer] sprawling to the ground. And he wasn't even close to half-health.
With the threat neutralized, he peeked back over the wall. No one seemed to be walking—
Wait.
No one was literally with him. His team-mates were all dead.
How the-
He heard footsteps. He turned to the source. He only caught a glimpse of black, the [Reaper]'s original mask, and a gunshot, before darkness.
He materialized, a second later, back at home-base. "What the hell?" he said.
"What the hell indeed," said one of his team-mates. "The fucker actually soloed us."
He resisted a sneer. A sneer would be seen on his Avatar's face. "I know what you're thinking," said another of his respawning team-mates, "But that dude's a real fucking force. You know he's [Hardcore]?"
That certainly threw him off. [Hardcore] players who were good players were legends. Typical [Hardcore] were noobs who didn't know how to aim, or move their bodies correctly. Bereft of "softcore" mechanics, like the HUD, and system-assisted aim, [Harcore] players fought like they were in the game, and not just controlling an Avatar.
"Let's do that again," said another player. "No surprises this time, now that we know what he's capable of."
Or so they thought.
The [Reaper] was unstoppable. Their next wave, a little more specialized in assassinating the enemy [Reaper], also failed. He ran around, panicked, when he saw the [Ninja] and [Beatstar] fall one second after another, then followed quickly by their [Healer]. He moved to cover, hoping to bait the [Reaper], but through an impossible trick shot, he was shot from the stairs above.
Next wave was the same. They all stuck close, hoping to overwhelm the [Reaper] with sheer numbers.
Alone, the [Reaper] divided them, using misdirection to trap the overzealous [Ninja] before running around, picking them off without a care in the world. He'd even thought he had the drop on the guy, when there came his shotgun barrel, aimed carelessly over the shoulder—bam bam, while he shuttled away to respawn in disbelief.
What the hell? He thought. Frigging [hardcore] tricks.
The next few waves were failures. Wave after wave did not make the [Reaper] more predictable. Rather, their attempts to kill him made them predictable. His team was majorly demoralized; or at least he knew he was. It was like they were a group of newbies, and they were being pubstomped by a veteran player. Their match naturally ended in Defeat.
"Kirito, huh?" the player wondered aloud, watching the results screen. "Sounds almost too normal." The player Kirito had acquired a considerable number of kills, and had been voted player of the game, even by his own team-mates.
And he'd done it while being [Hardcore]. The player shook his head. The defeat had left him with a bad taste in his mouth, so he opted to log out of the Nerve Gear, ending his gaming session for the day.
Unbeknownst to him, the mysterious [Reaper] Kirito continued his plays for [Omnic] through the end of the day. He flitted from match to match like a bird's shadow, scoring victory after victory. Sometimes he even brought back hopeless matches on the verge of losing right up to overwhelming victory. The legend of the phantom Kirito spread through the players like a low murmur.
Kirito became crucial to helping the top [Pub]s coordinating the Poland defense to consolidate their territories. With so many of [Overwatch]'s outlying pubs losing their matches, the faction failed to gain momentum, even while [Omnic]'s elite held the line.
The day ended with a stalemate. Because [Overwatch] had failed to capture Poland, [Omnic] was awarded the Campaign victory. Many in [Omnic] rejoiced. The reports of Kirito in the official forums faded into the mass of spam and flaming that inevitably followed as fans from both sides began their war of words. [Omnic] players were fierce in the defense of their faction.
Poland Stands, they chanted. Great is [Omnic]!
In real-world Japan, Kirigaya Kazuto powered down his Nerve Gear. He sighed, stretching his muscles, sore from the day spent lying down. He could still feel the myriad sensations of combat in his mind.
"Mission accomplished, eh?" he muttered, glancing down at his hands. Truth be told, he hadn't even intended to participate in the Campaign. He'd preferred to quietly level his [Soldier] through random matches in other sectors of the world.
But the news of Poland had stirred something in him, and so he'd switched to his [Reaper], his veteran of a hundred thousand battles. He'd not felt this... patriotic towards Omnic since the beta test. So much of the playerbase had turned toxic that he'd shut himself off from view, preferring anonymity instead of soaking in the celebrity status that many other elite players enjoyed.
Besides, being recognized as a pro gamer was the absolute worst thing that could happen.
Nothing in the world, in his opinion, was more terrible than that.
"Announcement: This Friday, famed Overworld developer Kayaba Akihiko AKA "Heathcliff" will have a special announcement to make to all players. Any who are interested are encouraged to log in between the hours of 0600 and 0800 PST and head to Danesfield Village at Australia Neutral Zone, where Mr. Kayaba will personally broadcast his message. We'd like to assure players that there's no special reward for attending, other than the privilege of hearing from one of our senior developers face to face..."
Glossary:
[Pub] - term akin to Guilds in MMORPGs, it is a player-made group which players can freely join. Differentiated from "pubs", the general term for players encountered on the allied or opposing side when opting to use the random match finder.
[Class] - Overworld's players are broken down into many distinct Classes. Each fulfill a different role in combat, but it is in the nature of Overworld that players can tweak their classes to be at least functional, if not effective, in any role. "Anything goes" is a motto often spread around by players to assure newcomers that they can play their chosen classes however they want.
[Omnic] - short for the "Omnic Alliance", in the game's lore it is one of the two factions controlling the world. They represent the chief Omnic race of artificially created robots, which have rebelled against their human masters at a global scale. Uses the color scheme gold.
[Overwatch] - In the game's lore, one of the two factions controlling the world. They represent order and suppression of the Omnic threat, though some Omnic players may still be part of Overwatch. Uses the color scheme silver.
[Hardcore] - a player who chooses to play in the experimental hardcore mode, which utilizes advanced sensors on the Nerve Gear to simulate ultra-realistic motion. The game is noticeably "harder" to play in this mode, in which players are not just controlling an Avatar, but an actual virtual body with roughly the same body cues. Blizzard has opted not to specially award players who use this mode. Hardcore status can be determined by the special Hardcore symbol next to the player's name.
AN: Shurpuff here. Not too long ago, a reader messaged me about writing something for Sword Art Online. I replied that I wasn't really into the series. Well, this one idea hit me last month while I was playing Blizzard's Overwatch beta, and it was kind of fun to transpose Kirito and co. into the virtual world that Project Titan "might have been".
This was originally a much longer oneshot, which contained banter between several background OCs about Kirito's exploits while explaining the various game mechanics to "Overworld" (cheesy title for the game I know). When I read it again, it seemed a bit boring to read. I'll probably only get to exploring those again if I decide to expand this oneshot. Which... at this point is 50/50, but we'll see.
Anyway, thanks for reading!