Chapter 1 - Raffle Winner

*Winner*

Harold continued to stare unbelieving at the email, his jaw left hanging. With only three hundred slots available to enter the beta testing for Kingdom Shattered, while he had indeed entered into the raffle for the giveaway, he honestly never thought he'd have actually won. Kingdom Shattered was the most highly anticipated video game in the last decade. It was boasted to have state-of-the-art artificial intelligence for every NPC and graphics so advanced you couldn't tell the difference between the game and reality. All powered and hosted on the largest civilian quantum server ever put together. It already had millions of people around the globe chomping at the bit to play while the only actual information put out by the game company was that "It is a Virtual Reality First Person Strategy game" and it was promised to contain dozens if not hundreds of playable races for the players to choose from, each with their own unique strengths, weaknesses, personalized building infrastructure, and playstyle. While vague, it only served to cause the fan base to speculate about the game's potential even more.

Harold shook his head to clear it and focused back on the opened email. Scrolling down he started reading the contents.

*Winner*

Congratulations Harold Shultz on being selected to participate in the closed beta of Kingdom Shattered!

The closed beta will begin in two weeks time from this notification, on May 24th, and is anticipated to run up to one year. During this time the contestants will be utilizing the newest Full Immersion Virtual Reality(FIVR) gaming pods designed by DreamScape Enterprise. These will allow yourself and the other fellow contestants to remain fully connected for the duration of gameplay while taking care of your bodily necessaties. Participants of the event will have tickets provided to fly into location by the company. The first week will be physical and mental exams to ensure the beta tester is healthy enough to participate, as well as general orientation to the program.

We at Borester Games Studio understand that commitment towards the event will mean taking an extended break from the paticipants' lives and will facilitate by providing a monthly stipend to each beta tester. This stipend will be derived from a percentage of the revenue garnered from the tester's streaming. Each contestant will have a video stream from their FIVR pod providing live coverage for the duration while they are still playing in the event, giving viewers a way to watch and support their favorite players. Streams will go live simultaneously with the launch of the beta event at the end of the orientation week on June 1st.

This made Harold's jaw drop again. When he started reading the email and saw he might be gone for up to a year he had already started writing off being able to attend the beta testing. He worked part time as a substitute teacher, occasionally doing private tutor sessions around midterm and semester testing to make a little extra spending money. His budget was extremely tight, getting just enough days to pay the rent and bills while funding his gaming habit. If he took off working he knew he'd be able to afford things as they were for a couple months by taking the money out of his emergency savings fund, but no where near for a year. Especially with the end of the regular school season going into the summer where most of his money was made through the few bits of college classes he could sub for. With the company providing a way to make money while participating though he would be able to go.

Harold did some quick math in his head. 'Even if they only pay a dollar per thousand viewers...or every couple thousand. There will be millions of viewers and only 300 players, even less as more get eliminated. If I can get 100 thousand daily viewers, that's between fifty to a hundred dollars. And I'll be streaming all day every day, so every month that will be somewhere between 1,500 and three thousand.'

A wide grin spread across Harold's face. The possible revenue was actually more than what he made in a month being a substitute. He'd have to hit the 100 thousand follower mark, but he was sure that there'd be at least half a million people watching the streams per beta tester. He was confident he could probably easily surpass the mark, and the more he thought about the money the larger his smile grew.

He started skimming though the email again, fantasizing about the possibility of getting paid to play a video game. Having always been into video games Harold had often dreamt of being a professional gamer, but by the time he had finished college he had chalked it up to not being his destiny in life. Now though it seemed life was throwing his dreams right back into his lap. He was so occupied with his thoughts he almost missed a line near the bottom of the email and had to reread it.

...experience like none other. The special reward for the first ever round of Kingdom Shattered, the player who is able to come in first place at the end of the beta testing event will win a grand prize of one million dollars and their name recorded in the game's Hall of Kings for all time!

The Borester Games team is looking forward to meeting you and cannot wait to find out: Do YOU have what it takes to reunite the Kingdom Shattered and become its new King?

For the third time that day Harold wasn't able to keep his jaw from falling. 'One million?!?' He went back to read and reread the line several times over before he felt like his brain could think again. He had to make sure he hadn't misread anything, the company was indeed giving out a million dollar grand prize to the participant who was able to come in first place.

'That can't be...a million? A million!' he thought as he read the last couple lines again, getting more and more excited when he was sure it wouldn't disappear the moment he looked away. 'I could become a millionaire if I win! And just from playing a game! All I have to do is beat the other 299 beta testers and I'll be set on easy street for life. No more teaching part time, no more cheap take out. Lobster bakes and champagne here I come!'

Unable to contain his enthusiasm any longer he let out a loud cry as he leapt up from the chair at his computer desk. "WHOOOO!!! I'm gonna be rich! Ahahaha!!!" He kept up his exclamations as he bounded back and forth across his small studio apartment. Eventually his found his old green duffel bag and started stuffing it with several changes of clothes. Whatever else he thought he might need as he came across it went in after and soon he was struggling to close it. His antics earned him several dull thumps as one of his neighbors pounded on the wall between them, accompanied by muffled profanities.

Harold reigned in his shouting but the smile was firmly plastered to his face as he called landlord to let them know he would be going on an extended vacation and arranged to have payments wired over from his bank account for his monthly rent. Once that was taken care of he filled out all of the forms and required information that was attached to the email from Borester Games Studio and sent it back to them. Soon everything was in order and the only thing he had left to do was wait for the next two weeks to pass.