Chapter 47: DCU Game System
[3rd Person POV]
Vgames office, conference room.
Ven was talking to his staff and taking in the reports for the initial feedback of the first Alpha test which was made by his people.
The reports were all filled with praises. Everyone was able to do a lot of things and tried a lot of features in the DCU main world. The converted games were all working perfectly as well. For the first night, no one went out to play a converted game full time apart from Bruce. He played Metal Gear Solid the whole time. He probably trained himself further with all that sneaking around. The reports even show he never used the guns. He was playing with close combat the whole time.
The rest of the employees spent their session exploring and trying out the main world and the satellites with its features. Some went hiking in the forests, some went mountain climbing, and some even went to relax on the beach. Overall, everyone was quite happy with the initial stage of the DCU.
Ven had planned to have his employees log in on work hours as well in order to make sure there were no bugs or collision problems.
"Sir how are we going to implement the time dilation?" -Staff1
"Initially, I wanted it applied on the whole thing but now, I was thinking it should only be applied on certain locations or structures. For example in our in-game Vgames office. We can set time dilation for the office building so we can get more work done in a short amount of time. We can also extend these facilities to certain research organizations." -Ven
"That's brilliant Sir! If say a certain group is researching vaccines or medicine, we can give them a lot of time within the game world for their research so they can get a lot of work done! This could significantly move humanity forward in terms of research!" -Staff2
"Yes but I don't intend to extend this to just about anyone. I want this time dilation controlled. I don't want this abused so I don't intend to allow any government to have any control over this. I intend to allow only those related to the betterment of humanity, technology and medicine. But I don't want any programs that weaponize anything. So make sure our legal team is given the heads up to make sure no government anywhere can force us to do anything." -Ven
Ven also planned to create an in-game Justice League headquarters and apply time dilation there as well. So any of the heroes would have enough time needed for creating cures or strategic planning against global threats.
He also wanted that headquarters to be in a separate space, not generally accessible by the public. Only certain accounts will be given access and it will be completely invisible as if it was an instance dungeon from games. There would be a Hall of Justice recreation in a far off in-accessible planet and the only way to get there was through an in-game menu from those with access.
"Let's talk about the game menu system. Has the programming team gone through the functions yet?" -Ven
"Yes Sir. We already have the base functionality programed which has Stats Menu, Skill tree menu, Equipment menu, Avatar menu, Inventory menu, Video and Still Camera menu, Streaming menu and Settings. The Inventory was already set as 200 slots so players would have enough inventory space for materials they earn from converted games or DCU activities. Of course we can create a purchasable expansion for inventory slots later on." -Staff3
"Alright, I want several concept art designs of how these menus would look and sound like by the end of today so get the concept artists working on it. And what of the DCU main shops? Have you set up the main Shop's layout in the Main Plaza?" -Ven
"Yes Sir. The actual shop is already designed like a mall and would include all the base cosmetics and would have several side shops for each category like transportation, furniture, real-estate etc. The main mall will only include In-game purchases and gears." -Staff2
"What of real world stores? Have you mapped out lots or places we will be leasing out to real world companies?" -Ven
"Yes Sir. We have an entire district worth of buildings and store fronts for whatever company. But when will we start negotiating?" -Staff1
"After we go public and announce it. The first week, people would need to see it first. Once they realize its potential, we can open our lines for negotiations and requests." -Ven
Ven had several places he could lease out to tenants for real world companies. For example Louis Vuitton wanted a store there. If they had a store opened in game, players would be able to buy in game equivalents of their products at in game currency prices and would have the option to buy the product's real world counterpart available either pick up or delivered to their address. This would make shopping doable via DCU. People can simply do their shopping in game and have the products delivered. Practically a more hands on approach of online shopping. They can actually try out the product in game so they can decide if they want the product in the real world. And Vgames would simply receive rent money for the stores.
Ven also had a team of experts discuss regarding conversion of in-game credits to real world money. He had financial experts, lawyers, any profession that could help make this possible, in the team to plan this out. And Vgames would merely take a small percentage fee for the conversion.
"Sir, what about R18 content? Are we really going to implement that?" -Staff1
"Of course. We can simulate anything and everything in game so why not this as well. Though I want the system very strict regarding age limit and consent. I want the consent warning prompt especially noticeable front and center before any R18 act is done. Players would need to select accept before any acts are allowed of the system will tag it as sexual harassment. And I want all accounts tagged as minors unable to even view any R18 content or player acts. The moment the system detects any R18 acts being done my players, only those 18 and above will be able to see them. Be it something minor as cuddling or ass grabbing to full on acts. To minors, players doing these acts will look like a huge black cylindrical hollow pillar would cover said players." -Ven
"Sir wouldn't players do illegal acts if this is allowed? Like maybe pr*stitution? -Staff3
"Probably, but first off, we won't be legally allowing this anyway. We will publicly say that this won't be allowed but we will not actively look for it either. If the players do this, they will do so but they will hide it from us. And our take from this is that, at least they will be physically safe and will not contract any disease or unwanted pregnancies. Since we can simulate the full experience anyway, we will be mitigating the downsides a little bit. And since the system will not allow minors to partake, this way, if criminals choose to do this in game, we would be reducing harm to the victims. It's not a solution for sure, but helps a bit. And we can leave the real world problems to the actual authorities or heroes." -Ven
"I see what you mean Sir. We can't solve this issue in the real world anyway. So we are looking the other way when it comes to in game so they can do it there and we have some influence to mitigate the harm and cons of said acts in the real world." -Staff2
"A sort of band aid solution to a long term problem. It doesn't solve it but at least it softens the blow." -Staff1
"I take it the same will be said with dr*gs?" -Staff3
"Pretty much. Since the game simulates real world effects, if people choose to create them in game, which they probably will, we will legally denounce said acts. The effects are in game so they will feel it, but their actual bodies won't so we can help a bit. And I want our system to notify local authorities of those who abuse such substances or consume it in large amounts. This way, authorities can send people to investigate if anything illegal is going on in their real world counterparts. After all, a dr*gdealer in game would most likely be one in the real world as well. By notifying authorities in secret, they are practically painting targets on their own heads." -Ven
"What about kidnapping then? How can we avoid avatar kidnapping?" -Staff1
"Just add both an unstuck button in the settings menu as well as force respawn to teleport them to the main plaza. Though force respawn would be considered a death and will have the usual death penalty." -Ven
"Speaking of death penalty, how will we set up the leveling system Sir?" -Staff4
"Planet doom will not only have PVP but also PVE. We can respawn random mobs in certain areas there as well. And playing other games would let players earn not only a bit of resources, but also EXP based on story progression and achievements menu. The stats of players accounts will affect their physique when it comes to offworld activities like other planets, space stations or moons. But the main world will be disabling everything so everyone is normal in the main base world." -Ven
Ven wanted to have the main world a powerless world so meta humans would have a place where they can be normal. Players can have several worlds where they can play around with powers anyway.
For example players increased their stats and earned certain skills or abilities. These will be usable in Planet Doom, or other planets that will eventually be populated with player cities or structures. They can play around with their powers on those worlds or space but just not the main world.
Aside from these systems in place, Ven also chose to create a few instances. These are like dungeons from other games where players would need to go through a portal of sorts and a loading screen would separate the overworld from these spaces.
Ven chose to create several of these instances, only accessible via menu directly to teleport them. One instance would be the space containing the Justice League headquarters in game. These would contain not only laboratories or strategy rooms, but also quarters and relaxation areas for people to unwind. Since this instance would be implemented with time dilation, members would be able to relax here as well.
Another instance would be an entire Solar system made for movie making. Ven intended to shoot films or cutscenes here. They would have the ability to use the Matrix FD system here so they can create entire sets or kingdoms in a short period of time so they can shoot anything needed for films or cutscenes for games. Unlike the Matrix FD which is separate from the servers used for DCU, this instance would be mostly focused on projects that can be done by several people at the same time. Like shooting scenes, they would need camera men, lighting, PA's, runners, etc. So this instance would cover the multiplayer aspect of said projects, where as Matrix FD is mostly for creating the base foundations of a game and can be done separately so they don't need to be connected to the network all the time. They can simply export the projects to be accessed by other people.
With this instance, Vgames can create entire worlds literally for a specific movie if they wanted. And they do not have to destroy the environment for it or even the sets themselves. So they can revisit said locations for sequels or reshoots.
This would also cancel out the expenses for traveling and flying out cast and crew for on location shoots. And this would also reduce the need for blue screen or fake backgrounds. Of course depending on the scene this can still be used but they can mostly create the actual worlds already so the actors themselves would be able to visualize better.
And since this is technically in game, they can even artificially alter player stats so its easier to do stunt work and remove dangers of the stunts. And since this was direct rendering and movement since this was VR, there's no need to manually animate the characters that much. The only thing they need to worry about was the lighting adjustments and making everything look real. Though with the combination of Fulldive VR and Unreal Engine, Everything was already realistic rendering.
With all these systems in place, Ven couldn't really get away with normal servers so once the fortress is open, he will create servers there and have a copy of Gideon be in charge of management of the DCU systems. With this much system in place, it's already impossible to monitor in real time and maintain unless he had an army of staff 24/7. So the most efficient solution was a proper A.I. And they already had Gideon so that should be enough.
Until Ven was able to access the fortress and make his servers, he would be unable to connect all the instances just yet. So for the time being, the Movie making instance was on an entirely separate server not connected to DCU.
The final system in place would be the DCU log in limiter. To make sure people don't lose themselves inside the virtual world, every user would be given a 10 real world hour limit each day. Essentially making sure people only log in to replace sleep. They won't be able to log in once the 10 hours were up till the next day or more specifically, the next 14 hours. This ensures people will still have their proper real world lives and would not miss meals and nourishment.
This also makes sure no one can make the DCU experience their full time job. For businesses, they can always hire NPC's to man their store anyway.
Even professional gamers, content creators and streamers would not be able to remain in the DCU for extended periods like they would a normal game. This means they would need other content for when they are out of hours.
After all, Ven intended this to replace sleep downtime not replace full lives.
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