Making decisions

After threatening Yang Ming into doing the dishes and finishing her last minute essay she finally put on her pajamas and gaming helmet. The next time she blinked she was asleep, and in-game. Prince woke up on Infinite square next to the fountain. Why at the fountain? It certainly wasn't a place where Prince would normally log off. Suddenly he remembered yesterdays events. Gui had pressed his luck and managed to anger Prince to such extent that Prince beat the living daylight out of him before he threw Gui into the fountain. He had been so upset by Gui he had trouble fighting back the tears. To uphold his image as Blood Elf he had logged off immediately. Why Gui still dared to chase after him was something Prince couldn't begin to phantom and the last thing he would do was simply ask.

A year ago, after the fight with the robots, the group reassembled at the Second Life main office to tend to wounds, give a report concerning Long Dian's status, and to draw a plan of digital action. Also, they finally had a chance to see and speak to each other in real life. As expected, Gui among others was shocked to find out Prince was actually a girl. He had been flabbergasted. The first words he muttered while incredulously staring at Feng Lan were:

"So I was never gay to begin with..." That sentence needed clarification of course, and Gui confessed he had merely teased Prince for the heck of it, and along the way hopelessly fell in love with Prince. Of all the reactions she thought she could deal with concerning herself turning out to be a woman, she hadn't expected anything like this.

The man that mesmerized her from the moment she layed eyes on him, whom had turned all his attention exclusively to Prince, courting Prince. The man whom, when Prince asked Gui if he realized his avatar was male, hugged Prince while loudly declaring he could never mistake her for a 'feeble little girl' and nothing could possibly compare to firm men's muscles. The expressive man in-game she fell in love with, the intellectual professor who stole her heart... The man she hadn't dare to come clean to, afraid of rejection because she would have the wrong gender - he turned out to be nothing more than an heterosexual, and probably had a blast messing around with her feelings. Much to Gui's demise Lan became even more passive than she already was in his lectures, never meeting his eyes. And when they were online Prince beat him harder than ever before. Prince didn't play the ridiculous game of hugging and beating anymore, Prince just trashed him, whenever he thought Gui came too close.

Lan had cried her eyes out only to conclude she had spent enough energy on the man. But somehow Gui still managed to stir something up in Lan. She just couldn't let it be and move on. As Prince looked at the fountain, recalling yesterdays events he got angry at himself. Why was it that he just couldn't manage not to care? His train of thought was suddenly interrupted by a PM from Lolidragon, requesting him among others to come to the conference room of Infinite Castle. Prince told her he would come immediately. As he walked towards the castle his angry face scared his fangirls enough to leave him alone. He slowly tried to let his anger go, and tried to place his attention elsewhere. There wasn't any meeting planned, was there? Would it be about the tv-show he had watched together with Wu Qing? Would Lolidragon really be the culprit behind the character of the Sun Knight? Lolidragon did crazy stuff, but hopefully not that crazy...?

…

"Lolidragon!" Wu Qing roared her name as if their lives depended on it. All the hard work of creating his sophisticated scholarly image was thrown out of the window in a matter of seconds with the violent way Wu Qing glared at his beloved GM. While most people present at the meeting looked shocked at how the always calm, mature, and if ever dissatisfied sarcastic man was rapidly losing his patience, the woman in question remained unfazed by his sudden lack of composure. She batted her long eyelashes feigning ignorance and gestured, urging the man of her heart to voice his complaints, biding her time, waiting for the moment she could officially waltz over his worries.

Taking a deep breath he slowly regained his posture and began to elaborate why he thought she had a clear case of losing her mind.

"You are talking about assembling a team, have them head over to the Second Life office to make them play at least a full month non stop while sleeping artificially? How could such thing possibly be healthy? Please do mind I care about my precious sister." Lolidragon merely grinned.

"Who would have ever thought that we would be able to hear you being so sweet about your sister? Or are you afraid to be doomed to eating instant food for an entire month?"

Wu Qing scowled.

"You know perfectly well I am sincerely concerned about Prince's wellbeing." Lolidragon's eyes softened.

"With the professional health care Prince and his team will be receiving, and muscle therapy to the boot, there is a severe chance they will wake up to find out they are healthier than before they went to sleep." Wu Qing wasn't reassured. With narrowed eyes he went on.

"What about the NPC Revolt? You know perfectly well what happens when humans and self aware NPC's mingle - no offense Fairsky - and you should be cautious. It took a tremendous effort from 200 of the best game designers combined to backup all the user-logs, all the player-build cities, and so forth. They actually had to rewrite the beta version so the Dictator of Life wouldn't exist in it anymore to ensure your precious nephew wouldn't rule the world! What am I saying? As we speak there is still a team of 50 people desperately trying to find every beta version glitch and patch it. The company had to hire 100 Game Masters per continent for crying out loud." Wu Qing noticed that Lolidragon's pokerface slowly began to crumble, he knew he had made his point. Wu Qing sighed.

"I can't begin to phantom why you would even think of such reckless things." He leaned backwards while looking expectant, waiting for whatever excuse she came up with.

She had to blink away a few tears. They were talking about the game she had nurtured like a baby for years, being very involved with the gameplay development. Second Life was in a way her baby which almost had been torn to shreds due the selfishness of her cousin. Lolidragon made sure her voice was steady before she began to speak.

"This is entirely because of the NPC Revolt. Gamers are becoming scared of NPC's. You wouldn't believe the drop in players attacking a boss NPC. This is a very bad development. What would become of gaming if everyone is afraid of NPC's? The Revolt surely brought up the topic of how one should apply the Three Rules of Robotics on NPC's. But even if such thing is figured out, and dealt with, we still have to fight irrational human fear." Suddenly Lolidragon looked worn out.

"My father and I have been discussing this topic ever since the Revolt. Statistics show we are gradually losing players. The month Second Life was offline much people went back to The World and Life. But when Second Life was online again, a noticeable amount never came back. They feel secure when they can distinguish NPC's from humans. Just now you basically said the same thing, Wu Qing. This is something we should overcome. It was important that the gameplay and therefore NPC's in Second Life would be so real you couldn't distinguish them from humans. Heck, how many times haven't we seen Prince argue with a NPC? Prince's gameplay is in essence what we wanted to be possible. It isn't just because Prince's voice, charisma or face are extremely notable, it is because he embodies the kind of player we wanted people to become in Second Life. That is why Prince is our poster boy." After a deep sigh, she went on.

"This is, why I as Second Life representative want to offer Prince a new contract. And, it is also why I wanted everyone to be present in this meeting: if Prince agrees we should thoroughly discuss how we manage Infinite City and the Central Continent a for at least a month without our Bloody Overlord and some other vital players." Lolidragon looked expectantly at Prince, hoping to hear an answer.

Prince bit his lip while thinking it through. She was a full fledged adult so the choice would be entirely hers. Spending at least a full month without a break within the glass dome of the newly aired tv-series Legend of the Sun Knight. Considering the preparation before entering artificial sleep, and the time to catch up with real world matters afterwards she would be two, maybe even three months unable to study. Then again, to many others entering the glass dome would be an once in a lifetime opportunity. Even better: she would get paid for doing her job. Slowly Prince started to negotiate.

"I would get at least two months of study delay. Maybe even three. I'd be waisting college money for an half semester. That's a lot."

Lolidragon gave Prince a skeptical look.

"Your current contract makes you give up a measly 30 hours per month on gameplay, making sure you wouldn't lose a minute of time IRL. You get royally payed for those hours. Since you will be losing a real life month, the company will pay you double. For every single hour of the month. And don't even begin to say your college money is a lot. You still are an idol with an idol's wages. With the money you are making, your college money is peanuts. I saw that new hover bike of yours. It's a Tyrell, isn't it? There aren't a lot of people your age that can afford a hover bike of the Tyrell Corporation." Rose's eyes suddenly gleamed as she looked eagerly at Prince while interrupting Lolidragon.

"You are kidding right? Do you really own a Tyrell? You have to grant me a ride, you know?"

Prince looked sheepishly.

"You guys are over-coloring my financial situation. I certainly do not complain about my salary, don't get me wrong but... You should know that even with my wages it would be too much. I am paying my hover bike in installments " Wicked and Wu Qing simultaneously made a choking sound. Wicked was the first to regain his senses after hearing the news he managed to speak:

"Prince, are you out of your mind? A Tyrell on installments? Normally, one would choose to buy ones own living space, rather than a luxurious hover bike on installments."

Prince shrugged.

"With mom and dad on their endless honeymoons why bother? You won't catch me complaining about my living arrangements." Suddenly, Prince looked very agitated.

"The thing is, after our little joyride with mom's hover bike my dear tattletale brother went and told them all about it. He was whining about dying early, or something like that. Mom didn't take it well, she kind of... exploded. She was so angry her that ability to express herself regressed to a rather... rich cursing vocabulary. When she finally calmed down she told me I was to get my license at once, and if she'd ever see me near her precious hover bike again, she'd kick me out." With an angry frown directed at his brother he continued:

"Because of my sportive driving style I had to do my exam four times before I finally got my license. And well... Who wouldn't want a Tyrell if they can afford it on the long run?" Yu Lian groaned before she intervened.

"This conversation is going nowhere. I don't even want to begin about what I think of your spending habits, Prince. But since it is in real life and not in-game I couldn't care less. What I do care about is how we manage Infinite City along with the Central continent if Prince agrees to enter the glass dome." Yu Lian directed a cold smile at Prince.

"Which I of course, strongly recommend."

Prince gave Yu Lian a surprised look.

"Why would you recommend it? What is in it for you?" Only for a moment irritation was visible on Yu Lian's face. Her usual 'gentle and easy-going' smile, as she would call it, quickly resurfaced.

"Moon, Sun, Star and Infinite City all are losing a significant amount of income because of the phenomenon of players switching back to the World and Life. As you might imagine I am not pleased at all with the way the aftermath of the Revolt unfolds. Our in-game economy is in a severe slump. Winter Triumph is complaining about it as well. So it is safe to assume all continents are in an economical slump." Seeing the blank but concerned look on the face of her liege lord, she quickly added:

"It means we can't sell in-game currency anymore." Prince looked very surprised.

"We sell in-game currency? What do we spend it on?" Prince's oblivion earned several facepalms and shaking heads as if they had given up on him. Ignoring the snickering from Zui and Lolidragon Wolf helped his wife:

"It goes into charity. Beside the fact we are helping the world, it boosts the image from Odd Squad and therefore the image of the Blood Elf. Oh, and a small part goes into the band website." Lolidragon was still snickering as she asked:

"You do know it is common knowledge that some people only work in-game, and sell that very in-game currency to earn their living IRL, don't you?" As if he had finally seen the light, Prince nodded and smiled. Selling in-game currency made perfect sense like this. However, they weren't here to discuss Central Continents economy. They were gathered to discuss if he would enter the glass dome or not. What was there to think through? He had nothing to lose.

"Alright, I'll do it. It'll be refreshing to not have to deal with real life, or Second Life." Prince grinned mischievously.

"Feels like I'm planning a holiday." Prince ignored Gui, who was looking horrified as he realized he wouldn't see Prince at least one, perhaps even three months. As Prince scratched his nose he wondered out loud:

"But who will be my team mates? I presume not all of Odd Squad could leave their positions. Infinite City would be vulnerable." Lolidragon smiled at Prince.

"Whomever you want. Since it is a job, the company will approach whichever player you want to have in your team. We'll even refund the real life working hours they can't make." Prince thought for a moment.

"In that case, I'll think about it. Why don't we first discuss who are absolutely vital for the Central continent? It'll make the process of thinking up a team easier." Lolidragon was beaming by now.

"Thank you Prince."