Now, where to begin? I guess the start is ideal, gives you context. Well, it all started as Project Zone; an experimental idea to further advancements in medicine by transferring the terminally ill into the Digital Frontier to save their lives after they're too far gone. As you can imagine, there was a lot of controversy around it. After all, pulling an individual's consciousness out of their body and placing it in a computer probably doesn't sound too humane. With that in mind, the doctor conducting the research into the process needed volunteers to prove that it could be done safely.

2000 of us volunteered. 2000 of us signed the waivers and said goodbye to our loved ones. 2000 of us strapped ourselves in for what would be either a bold new discovery, or our last day alive…

Only 300 of us survived the trip, but that was just the start of our job, it was also the hardest part. The next part was childsplay in comparison; we had to acclimate to the Digital Frontier so the ties to our real life bodies could be severed without risk. The doctor hypothesized that it would take about five years. So we explored, got to know our new home and sent feedback to the doctor. It didn't take too long for us to get bored, so we did what came naturally and asked for some entertainment. We think this is where Project Zone began its metamorphosis. It all began when the doctor came into contact with Square Enix and they helped him implement a MMO Final Fantasy game for us. That was around the same time we went from being volunteers to becoming the go to Beta Testers for what was to come. Over time, more games were added and we divided them into Zones based on either Series or Genre. As more RPGs like Phantasy Star, Dragon Age and the like were brought in, we came to call it Zone Q. We don't know why we chose Q, but that's what it is now. I ultimately moved to Zone B, where we keep the First Person Shooters. I've always been a Halo kid at heart, so that's where I wanted to be.

By the time our allotted five years had passed, we had amassed a large collection. Large enough to have a Zone for every letter of the alphabet and then some. We even started dipping into the Greek alphabet for the recreational and relaxation Zones. Of course, such a large collection of games you can not just play, but actually experience, drew a crowd. The instant Project Zone was proven viable and approved by the government, people demanded it be made publicly available. We managed to use it for its designated purpose, giving the Terminally Ill a second chance at life. But we all knew it was only a matter of time before the government caved in and the floodgates were opened. Five years. We managed to be a medical treatment for five years before a majority of humanity had migrated to the Digital Frontier and Project Zone completed its metamorphosis into Online Zones.

But our work didn't end there. We had to establish servers for every nationality. Train new Beta Testers to operate on those servers. Establish jurisdiction for each of us to abide by and make sure our students are doing their jobs. We redefined what it meant to be a Beta Tester. We weren't just making sure new additions were functioning properly, we had become the highest position in the police force. All 300 of us had suddenly become the most important people in the Digital Frontier. Enforcing laws, spearheading discoveries, building bridges. We did it all. Even discovering a new form of life.

Within the Zones, there were 3, now 4, types of beings that exist. Neural Nets, or humanity, AIs, who serve as partners to us Beta Testers, Programs, or as most call them; NPCs, and Anomalies, who are no different to programs, save for possessing thought patterns instead of coding, making them just as alive as a Neural Net. From our limited research, we've determined that they can either be born from the union between a Neural Net and a Program, though the chances are a very slim 6%, or they can spontaneously evolve from a program, which is much more likely. My daughter, Yami, is an example and proof of the former method, and is the first documented Anomaly. As for the latter, it's become our job to find and identify them, preferably before they go through an existential crisis.

It's been fifteen years since I first came here, and Online Zones is still proving to be a world of endless possibilities where everyone's story is just waiting to be told. This is Darkness, Beta Tester 174, signing off.

...

This is a project that I have had cooking for quite a while. I just needed to think of a proper backstory, and here it is. This idea is free to use as I always envisioned it as a massive scale anthology series where everyone has a story to tell and their own way of doing it.

Now the interesting bit; what Zones are there? Well, they are as follows:

Zone A: Sword Art Online

Zone B: First Person Shooters(Halo is the poster child)

Zone C: God of War

Zone D: Spider-Man

Zone E: All other MARVEL games

Zone F: Batman

Zone G: Superman

Zone H: JRPGs

Zone I: Assassin's Creed

Zone J: All other DC games

Zone K: Mega Man

Zone L: Elder Scrolls

Zone M: Mario

Zone N: Star Wars

Zone O: LEGO

Zone P: Dragon Ball

Zone Q: Role Playing Games(Final Fantasy is the poster child)

Zone R: Grand Theft Auto

Zone S: Sonic

Zone T: Racing Games

Zone U: App Games

Zone V: Fighting Games

Zone W: Online Games(World of Warcraft is the poster child, but Fortnite fans are change that, as if they have any say)

Zone X: Dating Sims(And Visual Novels, but that's not really advertised)

Zone Y: Pokemon

Zone Z: Legend of Zelda

Zone Alpha: Relaxation Area

Zone Beta: Main Hub and Market(basically where you go to buy additional avatars and DLC)

Zone Gamma: Minecraft

Zone Delta: Music and Dance games

Zone Epsilon: Movie Tie-ins

Zone Zeta: Horror

Zone Eta: School and Education(became necessary after the mass migration)

Zone Theta: Anime based games

Zone Iota: All Nintendo products that haven't otherwise been sorted(Metroid's already in B and Fire Emblem's in Q, so the biggest attractions here are probably Animal Crossing and Smash)

Zone Kappa: Any unsorted Disney products(Because if Nintendo get's special treatment, then Disney will demand it as well)

Zone Lambda: Miscellaneous Platformers

Zone Mu: Wrestling Games(They had to be moved out of V because they don't technically count as fighters)

Zone Nu: Sports Games(You will find everything but the Tony Hawk games here because those fill the most basic requirement of a RPG, so they're in Q)

Zone Xi: Indie games

Zone Omicron: Undertale(Had to be removed from Xi because the fandom was making the other Indie game players uncomfortable)

Zone Pi: Simulators(Flight, Truck, Goat, if it's a Simulator title, it's here, with one exception)

Zone Rho:The Sims

Zone Sigma: Gambling Games

Zone Tau: Bullet Hell Games

Zone Upsilon: Air Combat Games

Zone Phi: Rail Shooters(Because apparently there's a difference between these and FPSs)

Zone Chi: Arcade Games (Skeeball, Fooseball, Air Hockey, all the physical games you would find in an arcade)

Zone Psi: Cabinet Games(because people accused Zone Chi of false advertising)

Zone Omega: Map Makers (because so many games have them, they decided to remove them all and put them here)

Now that you know the basic structure, you're ready to tell your own stories. I only have 2 rules regarding the use of this concept; let me know you're doing it and make sure that you have my permission to claim that your character is one of the remaining 299 Beta Testers. Because I need to make a list to make sure the number doesn't exceed the declared 300. Other than that, go nuts.