Hello, all my dear readers,

This is going to be interesting to write. If you’ve stuck around this far into the story, thank you. That’s going to be the last time I say thank you in this letter because the purpose of this body of this piece is to inform you of all of my thoughts. Think of it like the behind the scenes of the story as well as my own rationale for some of the choice I have made. If you’re still here I can guess that you truly love the story and I believe you deserve to have a voice in how it is shaped/reshaped. So please, do not be afraid to leave a comment. This page is for you all to be as candid as can be with me about how you feel about the story. So let’s get into it.

Backstory Redesign

I want to start by proposing two alternate backgrounds to the story (most changes would take place in the prologue but there would be minor changes throughout). It will probably be obvious I favor one over the other.

1- Instead of Jason paying for the game he has been invited to participate in an experiment. The game is a joint project by a videogame company and the psychology and computer science departments of a large research university (I would probably do New York University in honor of my Alma Mater). The project's purpose is to develop an AI capable of feeling (For now we will throw out any ethical questions about this). The setting in a fantasy world was agreed upon as a proper setting because it would help the Game Company best create AI that would fit its project types. The university wants a medieval world because it will draw out the raw emotions humanity has felt for the majority of its existence. In addition, they believe an AI grown with emotions based on the modern age would develop insufficiently. My inspiration for this is projects such as the Stanford Prison Experiment and the Milgram Authority Experiment (this would come out over time and attribute to why players do the things they do and stay inside the game). The experiment’s goal is to observe the brain waves and functions of players and slowly integrate those connections into the game’s AI. The project chooses terminally ill participants and certain highly successful people as the researchers think they would help to best shape the game world and make the most interesting choices (Also terminally ill patients might start treating the world like it's real). Players are required to sign an NDA which fixes the no information leaks problem some people had with the original story.

2- Jason is about to start his retirement when he is isekai’d into the game world (more thoughts to maybe come).

Cover

I would like to change it from the current pixel art. The scene I have envisioned is of Jason, Vanna, and Skippy on top of a tan/green hill looking down on Laxtar with giant waves in the top right and calm in the rivers and bay on the bottom right. For colors, I’m thinking lots of cobalt blue, grey, green, and a dark/icy tone.

Comments

I’m doing these in no particular order just what has come to mind. Please bring up anything I've missed.

Arbitrage- Yes Jason is buying wool cheap somewhere and selling it for more somewhere else but that does not constitute arbitrage. The transaction is not zero risks nor zero cost for Jason. He has to take a day to travel which if you want to break it down would include the wage of the worker, food, lodging, and an animal to transport the wool. It would be arbitrage if the people making the wool could just go take a day off and seller their wool but they have more valuable ways to spend their time.

The Game is too hard- I agree but I think this would be better rationalize with a game redesign. I envisioned that the world’s system was developed by the game company but the world was allowed to evolve on its own. In addition, the harsh situation is necessary for the experiment.

Jason Acting Out of character- Let me first say I never said Jason was a genius. If anything I more insinuated that he was persistent rather than shrewd. I didn’t want a perfect player so I wanted him to have some kind of setback early in the story. I rationalized this to myself by thinking Jason did not take this game seriously in the beginning. I agree Jason bribing the guards so much early on was a little too stupid but I don’t think someone Is going to go search for every possible place they can sell their wool the first day in a game (Keyword game, Jason believes this world is superficial). Also, I will note that Jason probably hasn’t had much experience with games due to his busy lifestyle. Finally, I think I slowly made Jason better at trading over the course of the first book. I will also not that while Jason did bribe the guards a ton most of his early wealth was in Skippy (animals go for a few golds)

Phoenix Stone- I think a lot of readers came too quickly to conclusions about this, and if they read up to the end of the story they would have seen the stone had meaning and was not just some random item but a plot tool to develop Jason’s character and his relationship with Byron. Yuuenchi flattered me with his review when he said the story was like the literary version of LitRPG. While I don’t think I’m a refined enough writer to be considered literary yet I do agree with his thought. I try to add layers of depth to the story and I’m sorry if you came expecting things to be straightforward like other stories where items are just items and skills are just skills. I will also add what is the point of a book if there isn’t something special about the protagonist (unless SOL is your thing). Also, the phoenix stone is more of a liability to Jason, he knew he couldn’t sell it and what’s the point of reviving when his starting character isn’t very developed.

Trials- I was trying to be abstract with this chapter. For example, the dragon scene represents that Jason was willing to take risks for money; the archer signified though that his instincts are to run away from physical dangers which is why he did not get combat class.

Well, that’s it. I’m sure there are still tons of points left to talk about so if you have any other things you think I need to refine, a question, or just a comment please write one below. I will try to address anything you bring up in this chapter’s comment section but otherwise, I go back to my policy of not responding to negative comments (that being said if you are mean I still won’t respond to you). I going to break my promise and say thank you again.

Sincerely,

MPH

WritingWaffle