Dark World Online

The year 2045 marked a golden era for the global entertainment industry. A giant entertainment company released various revolutionary products, including a groundbreaking game. Nyx Entertainment, the name of the company, celebrated its 10th anniversary by launching a new game.

The game, a virtual reality massive multiplayer online role-playing game (VRMMORPG) with a survival horror theme, sold over 1 billion copies within its first three days of release, breaking Nyx Entertainment's sales records. This success was due to the game's unique and original concept, where players had to survive in a world filled with terror and fear.

Additionally, the company made an unusual decision to open the game's servers for only 12 hours each day, from 6 PM to 6 AM for each time region. They claimed this rule was to avoid disrupting school and work hours, allowing most people to enjoy the game without affecting their daily activities. This decision was warmly welcomed, especially by parents who feared their children would skip school to play games.

In the game, players had to survive against various creatures from horror stories. One of the best ways to survive was to purify or tame these horror creatures. Nyx emphasized survival because each player had only one life. If they died, they had to start over from the beginning. The company reasoned that life is only lived once, so it should be used wisely, and they didn't want their game to be one where players could simply retry after dying.

Initially, this rule faced protests, but it intrigued players who loved challenges. Those who didn't enjoy challenges wouldn't choose a horror game anyway. Also, since there were no levels or similar concepts, hardcore players didn't mind the character reset rule. Moreover, players knew that items stored in their inventory would be scattered around their death location, making the game somewhat easier.

In this game, there were no typical missions, as the main goal was to survive. A week after its release, the game was enjoyed worldwide. This horror survival game was called Dark World Online.

-----------

A high school boy was in line to buy a physical copy of Dark World Online, or DWO. In an age where everything could be bought online, this boy preferred to queue in person because touching the product he wanted gave him a unique satisfaction.

"Oh, Akbar, long time no see! How's President Devil 15?" The store clerk, recognizing a loyal customer, greeted him.

"Bah, trash! PD is no longer interesting because they keep repeating the same concept with no creativity. The 15th series is the worst, with bosses that can find you no matter where you hide, even if all detection senses are destroyed."

"And after my research, it turns out that it's a feature where the boss chases players from start to finish. Plus, why did they shift focus from zombies and viruses to aliens and extraterrestrials? It's not thrilling at all, just annoying and boring."

"They've become complacent with the success of the earlier series and don't understand what players want. They only care about money, no wonder the game developer has been declining over the years. They don't care about the game anymore. My rating is 1/10."

Akbar's brutal and harsh comments shocked everyone in the store. Some were interested in trying the game because they hadn't played it yet, while others decided not to buy it after hearing Akbar's remarks.

"Uh, sorry, I thought it was a good game!" The clerk scratched his head after hearing Akbar's complaint, planning to return all copies of President Devil to the factory.

"Yeah, it's trash because it has so many issues. Oh, I almost forgot, I'll take this one, boss." Akbar handed over the DWO installation to the clerk, who gladly processed the payment and gave Akbar a discount.

The clerk was happy to accept Akbar's complaints and give him a discount because Akbar was a unique young man. Akbar Bari Suseno, a high school student famous for his game rating website, always gave fair and accurate ratings. His reviews were highly valued because he couldn't be bribed.

Akbar once rated an indie game created by university students, which caught the attention of a major company and was eventually mass-produced. On the other hand, he also rated a big company's game, which quickly became a failure as other players had similar experiences to Akbar's. This made Akbar's comments very valuable.

At home, Akbar immediately installed Dark World Online and prepared to try the game after dinner with his family.

[Welcome! Player 'AByyS', do you want to change your username?]

AByyS was the nickname Akbar had used since his first game. It sounded like "abyss" when abbreviated and pronounced in English. Over the years, it became his trademark, and he even registered it as his personal username.

"No need to change it."

[Alright! Next, please agree to the terms and conditions below.]

Akbar carefully reviewed all the rules, rights, and obligations before agreeing.

After agreeing to everything, Akbar was ready to try DWO.

[Enjoy your game, and always take care of your health. From Nyx Entertainment, we hope you enjoy our game!]

After this message, Akbar felt like he was sinking into a dark ocean, but he could still breathe. The overwhelming darkness could be a problem for players afraid of the dark, although Akbar knew that no one afraid of the dark would play a horror game like DWO.