“Good Afternoon. This is Jill Ankerton and today, we have a special treat for you gaming fans out there. I am honoured to moderate a panel-discussion about the future of gaming and e-sports. Now, two months after the beta of “Road to Purgatory” launched the gaming-world is feeling the effects. But what will those effects look like in the future? What will change for the e-sports world? Is it the End of an Era?” Jill, a petite brunette is shown, sitting in the middle of an oval desk.

“To discuss this, I’m joined by,

Tobiuno, former captain of Team Razor and current Guild-Leader of the “Blades of the Realm” one of the leading guilds in the Road to Purgatory-Beta.” The camera pans to the first guest to her right, a maybe thirty years old man, looking rather fit but otherwise unremarkable.

“Acrasia, current healer of Team Amarantine and star of the ad-campaign ‘Hone your Craft’” On the first seat to the left sits a beautiful woman, long, blonde hair reminiscent of a lion’s mane and dressed in a business-costume tailored to show off her considerable attributes.

“Katerina Aneissa, a video-game critic and blogger,” seated next to Acrasia, a slender, dark-haired woman smiles into the camera.

“Eve Langley, press-coordinator of the International eSports Assembly”

Next to Tobiuno a tall, slightly overweight woman smiles into the camera.

“Rowan Mason, community coordinator for Hailstorm Entertainment's CoW-division.

On the last, open seat on the left side, a good-looking, blonde man smiles and gives a small wave to the camera.

“And, last, but certainly not least, Vulcanar a member of Pantheon’s ‘Road to Purgatory’ development-team.”

The camera pans to a small-ish man, sitting on the right side, looking slightly uncomfortable.

“Now, our topic today is the future of gaming and esports and I want to thank you all for being here. Let’s start with Mr. Mason. Where do you see CoW in the future and what do you think will the official launch of Road to Purgatory bring?” Jill asks.

“Thank you for having me, Jill. To answer your question, Road to Purgatory is only the last in a long line of challengers, all charging at us, trying to wrest the throne from CoW. They all have failed and I don’t doubt that CoW will prevail once more.” Mason answers with a slightly arrogant smile on his face.

“Those are strong words. What do you think about them, Vulcanar?”

“Strong, certainly. But also uninformed. Trying to predict the future, without adequate information is a fool’s errand. I have no doubt, that by this time next year, everyone will be on the Road to Purgatory.” Vulcanar states with a small smile.

“Eve, what are your thoughts?” Jill tries to de-escalate, her ploy of creating tension using the two company-representatives had worked a little too well.

“From an eSports-perspective it is incredibly interesting. In a way, Road to Purgatory does not quite fit the normal eSports categories. It might even be more in your ballpark, Jill, to create coverage about a digital world.”

“You mean, for GNN? If there are plans for something like that, I can’t announce them. We will have to wait and see.” A smiling Jill not-announces.

“It would be worthwhile, I’m sure of that. The Mundus, the world of Road to Purgatory is incredibly vast and wide, I could imagine that there will be huge demand of coverage, to bring interesting parts into focus. Not just for gamers, but for everyone, everyone who wants to see incredible wonders.” Tobiuno breaks in.

“You certainly are taken with the game. According to sources in Team Razor, you have all but quit playing CoW, only playing the absolute minimum required by your contract, focusing on Road to Purgatory. Do you plan to leave Team Razor entirely?” Jill asks.

“I really don’t know. Currently, Road to Purgatory has me in its grip, and I’m not sure if I can go back to normal gaming afterwards. It is just so much… more.” Tobiuno states, with a slight glow in his eyes.

“Which brings up an interesting point. Can Road to Purgatory be safe for public consumption? It is a new technology and while there are studies about its safety, I for one wonder about the long-term impact on one’s mentality, being thrust into what amounts to a warzone day after day. Is it too realistic?” Mason throws in.

“We have completed all necessary tests and a lot more besides. There are no safety concerns and if we have missed anything, which I highly doubt, the beta-tests will uncover it.”

“I have a question for Vulcanar.” Katerina pipes up and a small groan is heard. “Is it true that everyone is locked to their own sex and female bodies are weaker in-game? Isn’t that incredibly sexist?”

“I don’t know about sexist. It is realistic, which is what we strive for. Male and female bodies are different. The exact extent of the differences is dependant on your species. For example, a male mandrill is three times the size of a female. Is that sexist? No, it is just biology. We strive to make Road to Purgatory a game that is both fair and realistic. In addition, there are species that are universally male or universally female.” Vulcanar explains in a slightly exasperated voice.

“And can you tell me if there is a special protection for females, so they don’t get raped ingame?” Katerina continues.

“No, why would there be? Again, we tried to make the world realistic. That includes any kind of violence, even if it might be disturbing for some. You can always use a force-logout, which will leave the ingame-avatar behind.” Vulcanar explains and Katerina looks shocked.

“Now, let’s not go down that rabbit-hole, shall we?” Jill intervenes. “Acrasia, why don’t you give us your perspective?”

“Yes, give us the perspective of someone who caused their team to go 1 / 6 since she joined it.” Tobiuno breaks in, causing Acrasia to bristle but ignore it.

“Sure, Jill. I don’t think that Road to Purgatory will manage to take off. There are far too many problems, mainly the time-commitment needed to play at the highest level. Sure, only a fraction of players manage to play high-level eSports but that does not stop them from enjoying the game in general. If you want to see even half of Mundus, you need to commit hours upon hours to the game. In addition, I doubt that there will be much of a market for content, it is simply too bloody. One of the biggest consumer-groups is excluded from the get-go, as the game will certainly be rated mature. It would not surprise me if a lot of countries will take a very close look at it, as it is such a new form of media.” Acrasia says with a vindictive smile on her face as she continues.

“Meanwhile, Amarantine will take the off-season to gel together, we had a few growing pains but from next season on, I’m sure our fans will get to see the quality of gameplay that they are used to.”

A soft snickering is heard from Tobiuno. To prevent open murder, Jill tosses a question to Katerina.

“As a video-game critic, were you invited to play the beta, Katerina?”

“I have yet to receive a capsule, the company seems to have prefered male critics on their draw. Maybe, they want to hide the open misogyny in their game.”

“Oh, will you cut it out? What would you have to offer, other than stating that spears are phallic objects and using them to stab someone is akin to rape, so every spear-user is a violent, misogynistic rapist.” Tobiuno cuts in.

“Could you tell me a little about the process you have used to determine beta-participation, Vulcanar?” Jill tries to cool the rising tensions.

“Honestly, I can’t. As far as I have heard, there were three pools. One for especially accomplished gamers and I would guess that Tobiuno landed in there. Those got a preferred draft, because we wanted and needed their opinion. The second was a general pool, for everyone with random chanced drawings. And the last pool was for the press, giving them a limited option to come to us, letting them play for a bit on prepared characters. Simply because, it is true, Road to Purgatory is an incredibly time-intensive game and the current beta-testers are trying to test as much as possible. I don’t think they will manage everything unless we give them a small push here and there.” Vulcanar states.

“Oh, and I can tell that it was not impossible to get beta-keys as a female. I happen to have one, even if I’m sadly limited in my time. But I greatly enjoy the time I get to spend in Mundus.” Eve jumps in.

“And we have all seen that Titania claims that she has one as well. She has written a slightly cryptic post to that effect, but I have yet to hear more. But the world of Mundus is incredibly vast, so even without news, I have no doubt that she is out there, kicking ass and taking names.”

“With that statement, we go to commercial.” Jill manages to get out, before Tobiuno gets murdered on camera. Both ladies on the left are already sharpening their nail-files.