Rob stepped into the now-familiar study of Dr. Glen Kingsley and dismissed his interface. "Hello, Glen."

Glen was sitting in his usual chair, but this time he was just gazing at the fire. "Oh, thank you for coming, Rob. You don't mind me calling you Rob do you?" He asked, not waiting for an answer. "I wanted to get your opinion about a few things."

Rob sat in the chair opposite Glen and said, "Sure, although I'm not sure why you're asking me. I'm sure you have an army of people that can help you."

Glen smiled timidly and said, "You are correct. I have an army of people who are more than happy to tell me exactly what I want to hear. Believe it or not, but the more successful you become, the harder it is to find someone who will just be honest with you. Sure, there are a million people who will give me their opinion, but I wouldn't really call that constructive."

Robert understood what Glen was talking about. He'd read some of the emails Sam started to receiving in the past few months. "I can see that. Anyway, I don't want to take up too much of your time. I need to get back to the game before too much time has passed."

"Of course. By the way, my study runs at game speed, so there isn't any time dilation issue here."

Robert relaxed a bit and said, "Oh, that's great. You must be exhausted after being in here for too long."

"Yes, it can be a little taxing. I don't do all my work here. It's mostly my private space. Anyway, enough about that." He straightened up and leaned forward. "Tell me about your first impressions of the game."

Robert contemplated his response for a moment and then remembered that Glen hoped to get his honest opinion. "Well, to be honest, everything about the game is spectacular regarding the senses and basic gameplay. The training tutorials were challenging enough to make me feel like I was actually learning something."

"Go on," Glen said, noticing Rob's pause.

"The problem is the guidance and goals are non-existent. The launch was terrible. Some giant paladin looking guy stands at the top of some stairs and welcomes us and then tells us to leave. No instructions. No goals. I think I get the point of it, but it's a little too open-ended."

Glen responded, "What would have helped? I think you get that I want this to be a different experience for players, but there is a fine line between too much guidance and too little. We opted for too little, I guess."

Robert leaned back, thinking about how he might have addressed it. "Well, I would have skipped the welcome message from Sir Huthred. I would have sent out a more personal message to all the players, letting them know what to expect. We were in Andhull, and a lot of people just logged off right after the announcement. A lot didn't look very happy. Maybe a clue or two about where to begin?"

"That might have worked," Glen mumbled while jotting down a note in a small book.

"Another thing I would have done. Before or at the same time as the launch, I would have made a system-wide announcement and provide some basic tutorials on the systems interface. I spent almost no time in my tutorial in that system. If it weren't for my friend Juno, I would be sleeping on the street until I figured out how the monetary system worked."

Glen put away his notebook and responded, "Thank you, Rob. Those are all good points. One of our limited six-month release goals was to learn more about what we can and can not get away with. Knowing how much we need to support the players is another question we want to answer."

"I'm happy to help. Was there anything else you wanted to know about?"

Glen looked more relaxed now. "For now, that's enough. Oh, I almost forgot. As I mentioned on Wednesday, some of the game's tasks and missions translate into real-world credits. You can always keep those credits in the game if that is what you want."

Rob straightened up in his seat and asked, "Do you mean I'm getting paid for giving you feedback?"

Glen smiled. "Of course. There is one hint I can give you about surviving in this game. Nothing is free. The sooner you start applying that to every interaction, the better. I can see that you've already earned a level in Bartering & Trading skill. Remember, everything is negotiable."

Rob thought about it for a moment and said, "I will kindly accept anything you want to pay me for my feedback, but I would give it for free."

"I know, Rob. If only that were an attitude that more people had." Glen's eyes glazed over for a moment, and he continued, "Well, I need to get going. Apparently, there are a few real-world issues I need to deal with."

Rob rose from his chair at the same time as Glen and pulled up his interface. "Well, if you ever need anyone to talk to, just let me know."

Glen waved as he punched in something on his interface and said, "Thank you, Rob. I'll do that." And then he floated away like smoke on the wind.

Rob chose to do the same as Juno and take care of a little business before going back to the inn, so he chose to log off of the Nexus and return to the real world.