One thing Karma had in common with your run of the mill mmorpg was a widely used race system. Just the selection and the choices you could make in the beginning seem lacking.

There were Humans, Dwarfs and Halflings. That’s it!

All three races had their strengths and weaknesses, naturally. You received various benefits and handicaps according to the traits.

The differences were negligible after your character creation. But with Karmas none existing level cap starting choices would eventually reveal huge consequences later in the game.

That was one of the main reasons Martin took his time for his character. Thinking things through was advisable due to the fact that every player was only allowed one. It still felt not completely right for him without all the information game designers usually make open to the public.

Other races either known or hidden were only available after unique or rare quests or by reincarnation. There were no clues from Unicode how the last one should work out in game.

But that wasn’t too much of a stick and there were a lot of carrots dangling around. Some races you could play where shown with screenshots on Karmas web site. There were some Elves, Orcs, Goblins and even a freaking huge Dragon on display.

“A Dragon? For real? Somebody wants to be a 30-ton lizard? Hilarious!”

Browsing through that sparse information it felt like that there could easily be 50 plus hidden races.

Karma was a game without regular classes. So, there was neither “You reached level 20. Please choose your new class.” nor “Go to your class specific trainer when you reach level 10.”

Still, every occupation was possible and every profession could be learned if not for racial restrictions. A Dwarf for example wasn’t blessed with much charm or charisma. Being a bard would be disproportionate harder.

***

I was decided to tread a certain path already. There wasn’t much thought to invest anymore.

That did mean I only had to wait for another hour, sixty-something nail biting minutes.

It was the perfect time for a shower and a relaxed breakfast. At least I tried to be relaxed without looking at the clock every few seconds. But I didn’t want to start with an empty stomach. Who knows how long I was going stay in game.

Good thing I ordered my FIVR set in advance one day after watching GON’s stream. Since Friday last week it stayed beside my bed on a small desk, ready to be worshipped and used.

999 bucks for the hardware was no freebie but totally reasonable from my perspective. The monthly fee of 49 USD wasn’t that cheap either. But I easily could live with it when Karma was as good as the previews promising.

It was a good thing that the delivery was on time. Otherwise I had to plug out the toenails of my employers controller to relieve my frustration. Well, it didn’t come to this. Not that he wouldn’t have deserved it from time to time.

Ok, all preparations are done. I was fed, cleaned and ready for bed. Why bed? One of the conditions to use the Unicode FIVR set was to lie down. The helmet would even show an error when not in certain positions.

“What the heck? Not now!” Due to my excitement I had to use the bathroom again. Positive expectation often had a direct correlation to my innards and their activities. Maybe I should mention that in my next session with the therapist as well.

Back on my mattress I took the helmet in my hands and was intensely looking at the holy grail of future gaming. Did I hear sacral sounds in the background? Must have been my imagination.

I powered the device on and placed on my head. With slightly sweaty fingers I was waiting what would happen next.

The first time I tried the helmet for fun and because I was curious I almost ripped my eyes out. There were a thousand warnings in the manual stating to be carful as a first time user and to handle the process by the book.

Despite this I was totally surprised when the full immersion virtual reality set, FIVR in short, got attached to my eyeballs. Idiot me tried to strip-off the helmet immediately nonetheless.

Big mistake!

There was only a short pungent pain because the emergency cutout worked instantly to avoid physical damage. I guess I wasn’t the only one with problems to implement something I read seconds before. The developers were doing a good job. Thumps up!

The good thing about that incident was; it was prepared now and the personal authentication and calibration done. The first time it took several minutes and was now just a matter of seconds.

***

Woah, you could now see something. You couldn’t call it picture or animation or something else you would for the standard graphics. This was the virtual world, at least a virtual room.

What was that interesting looking thingy, a three dimensional counter? There were still 11 minutes and 24 seconds left until Karma would go officially online.

No problem. There was already an option shown to create a new character. I “clicked” it with my hand. There was no pointer.

“Oh, I have a virtual body. Interesting.”

The overview made it very easy for me to choose on of the three races. With every change my body was changing too. A big mirror was reflecting my image. As Dwarf I felt ugly and fragile as Halfling. Both races weren’t something I was looking forward to. A Dwarf’s strength would really help when I would forge glorious armors and blades. While I did not want to look like some hairy bodybuilder midget a Human was the only way for me.

I could almost see glimpses of my dream realized.

Please choose you race.

“Human.”

Please choose a name for your avatar.

“CrazyB.”

The name was not registered yet and can be assigned.

Your character can now be adjusted according to your wishes.

The option I had a minute ago to change my race was missing now. My facial features in the mirror seemed to match my real self. That was one of the things you could not really mess with during the character creation. I felt no need for it anyway.

A few modifications were still available, more than enough for me.

I didn’t change my height. There was nothing to complain about 1.83 m and I was used to it anyway.

The boring brown hair color was changed into silver white with a mix of blond. My eyes kept their hazel color.

The best thing for me was the change in age. To get rid off more than 10 years in a blink of an eye was great. Now I was 23 again and my belly shrank with age. Minor details.

I was still wondering who wanted to have scars or tattoos from the beginning. Sooner or later one, the other or both would come in game more or less automatically. Well, there were always people trying to be more than unique.

“Finished!”

Yep, I looked good again. I felt good. I probably could even date again. Maybe with different clothes.

After my preferred player name, CrazyB, was highlighted a short disclaimer became visible.

You will now log into Karma for the first time. In this game are virtually no boundaries for your opportunities. All stats will be determined after initialization. According to the rules of rebirth every action has its consequence, positive and negative. Those decide the main criteria for a possible reincarnation. We take no liabilities for a displeasing outcome due to your life and play style.

There is only one account with one character per person available.

Please make your decisions with utmost care!

Please choose:

1. Confirm character and log in

2. Restart character creation

3. Log out

I had no really to think about it to confirm my decision. My adventure could start!

Finishing primary scan, starting initialization. Please have patience.

Initialization finished. Character adjustments start; extremities and skin may prickle.

“Woah, that tickles.” I had some uncomfortable thoughts about insects. But it stopped as fast as it began.

Adjustments finished. Start in 3, 2, 1…