Shindo Life - (Naruto)
Shindo Life: A free-to-play VRMMORPG based on the popular manga series ‘Naruto’.
When the game launched 12 years ago, the aim was simple, as directly stated by the founder:
[“To provide a Naruto experience that encapsulates and enriches how the world felt during the early stages of the series with an emphasis on lore-building and player freedom.
The PVP in Shindo Life is a skill-based system where strategy and teamwork are not only promoted, but necessary.
In other words: it’s not about who can create the largest energy biju bomb. Only the smartest and most experienced will thrive.”]
But everything changed when micro-transactions attacked.
What was once a game where the only money a player could spend was on cosmetics soon turned into a competition of who could spend the most for rolls.
Rolls. Spins. Dolla-dolla bling-bling $$$
When a player first logged on and created their character, they were given 5 free rolls.
Rolls allowed players to spin for their chakra [ELEMENT] and character [BLOODLINE].
These included but were not limited to: [EYE BLOODLINES], [CLAN BLOODLINES], and [ELEMENTAL BLOODLINES].
It didn’t take long for thousands of six-path rinnegan MS wood release jogan byakugan tenseigan etc., kekkei genkai hoarding kids to flood the servers.
Even so, the game continued to thrive.
Factions, clans, villages… Rouge groups, trading companies, ramen shops… Cities, nations, and empires.
As was the freedom of Shindo Life.
The devs made a final quest that, if completed, would dub you the winner of the entire game — the ultimate bragging rights for all the sweats.
So players tried to beat the final quest. Tried and tried they did. To no avail
Eventually, through a sheer miracle, a party was formed of many high-rankers who agreed to team up and complete the final quest.
(This was a miracle because the freedom of Shindo Life allowed the player base to be extremely toxic. Players rarely got along with those outside their respective goals.)
It was all going well. The epic coalition of high-rankers was but inches away from the quest’s completion.
Until they were betrayed.
The culprit was a player called WakeyJakey, better known as Jake.
No one knows why exactly Jake did what he did. But the aftermath of his betrayal had devastating effects.
The server never recovered. The final quest became a fleeting dream, a whimsical legend to tell your children. And everyone took advantage of the power vacuum that followed.
War and strife at every turn. Backstabbing and snaking galore. So much that it became a cultural phenomenon.
Every news outlet ran the story with the same general gist:
[‘See! Look here! This game proves that humanity will never learn to get along!’]
However, every player could agree upon one thing: Their universal hatred towards Jake.
Jake became the internet’s most wanted. Take Logan Paul after the Aokigahara forest incident and multiply the backlash by x100.
To everyone’s surprise, Jake continued to play. He did not run from hatred. He embraced it.
For years, Jake survived as countless players chased him all over the server. Beating the infamous WakeyJakey was like a pseudo-final quest of sorts.
But no longer. After 12 years of non-stop action, Shindo Life was shutting down for good despite being at the height of its income.
Our story follows Jake after he finds himself trapped within the very world he once dominated, a captive player in the realm of Shindo Life.
“… Kinda like Overlord, but in Naruto.”
-ssyffix
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