I just started reading Awaken Online and was supersized to see that the creators/lead engineer of both our games had the same last name. I would like to say that I used a random name generator and that this is a pure coincidence.

[349] "Wha? Where am I?"

349 found himself in a black void of space.

"Hello, Jack Taylor. I'm Emilio Graham, the creator of this game."

Turning around, Jack saw a man standing floating behind him. The man was wearing khaki shorts and a blue Hawaiian shirt with yellow flowers. He had gray hair and appeared to be in his early fifties. Standing Floating a heads height higher than Jack, Emilio was staring at Jack through his glasses waiting for a response.

Trying to understand the situation better, Jack formed the most intelligence question he could.

[Jack] "Huh?"

[Emilio] "Your confusion is understandable. Allow me to try and explain what has happened to you. To fully explain your circumstances, I'll start with when you logged in."

Next to Emilio a screen appeared that played Jacks time in MO.

[Emilio] "You started in Area 5..."

Emilio continued to talk but everything he was saying was going over Jack's head. Jack couldn't understand where he was, how he got here, or why the creator of the game was here. By time he got his bearings back, Emilio had gotten to the part where he got to Area 7.

[Emilio] "After failing to surprise 228, you started to ask questions expecting him to answer because of the deal you made. However 228 quoted back to you 'Whether you succeed or fail I want you to answer all of my questions to the best of your knowledge, without charge, for the rest of the beta. If you succeed, I want you to use it again on someone else that's at Area 7 so we can talk face to face. If you fail, I want you to help me after the beta.' He insisted that because you didn't switch but you still ended up in Area 7, the experiment was neither a success or a failure and therefore none of the conditions in the agreement applied.

"You continued to try to convince him that instead of neither failing or succeeding, you had accomplished both. He in turn continued to refute your arguments causing you to become more and more irritated. Frustrated, you asked him where monsters that you could take your anger out on where before you take it out on him. He then pointed out that no one had yet to find a monster but only animals and that your best chance of success was the dungeon.

"After walking through the woods --"

[Jack] "Um, excuse me, but why am I here?"

[Emilio] "I'm not there yet, please hold your questions until I finish."

Not wanting to argue with the creator of MO, Jack obediently shut up.

[Emilio] "After walking through the woods in anger, you reached a dungeon. It was at this point that you opened your inventory to see what weapon you had. You had probably thought that everyone was given a standard sword as a weapon because when you saw that you were given an ax you were surprised enough that you seemed to forget your anger. If you had read the letter included in your inventory, you would've known that the weapons were randomized between a sword, an ax, a spear, a hammer, knives, and a bow. The bow of course coming with a quiver that resupplied arrows for the duration of the beta.

"After walking through the cave for several minutes, you came upon a set of trees. This is where I'll have to interrupt myself." Pauses the video and looks at Jack to make sure he's paying attention. "Why did you start chopping those trees?"

[Jack] "...207 had said that we could only keep stats, skills, or loot. I wanted to keep one of my magics so I had already decided to keep my skills. And since I couldn't find any monsters, I decided to try and get the tree chopping skill."

[Emilio] "Ah, a simple mistake caused by neglecting the letter." Nods his head with his eyes closed in understanding. "In the letter it was stated that all skills are magic related. If you want to chop faster you don't simply chop trees and earn a skill. Instead you can either use the speed, strength, sharpness, or other such magics to help with your task. Of course if you don't have a helpful magic you would then need an enchanted item. If you repeat the usage of magic in a specific way, it will in turn become a skill. Of course, the repetition of a task will help you to understand how to better go about it, even without any magical assistance."

[Jack] "Oh." Looks at the ground void under his feet while turning a bit red.

[Emilio] "Continuing on, after felling the apple tree you started on the orange tree. As you started, the owner came back from expanding her dungeon. Wh-"

[Jack] "Expanding? Was she digging the dungeon herself?"

[Emilio] "Please hold all questions till I finish."

[Jack] "...Okay."

[Emilio] "After she caught you chopping her trees, she gave you a stern lecture. Once you pointed out 228, she left before you could tell her more. After she left you took a nap until you were woken by the sound of the beta update announcement. After waking up you created a spell circle that fell the orange tree and went back to sleep under the lemon tree. During your second nap, quite a bit happened.

"The first thing to note is 228's and 461's real identities. 228 is my nephew and 461 is the son of my top investor for this game.

"Within the first 10 seconds of the update being implemented both of them contacted the GM's to report a bug. 228 informed the GM about how you transferred over to Area 7 without swapping. He felt that the imbalance of player numbers may disrupt the flow of experience gained. He continued to argue his point until the GM relented by agreeing to send you back to Area 5, but only after you died.

"461 on the other hand was throwing a tantrum. He ordered the GM to harm 'the traitor' in various ways. The GM tried to calm him down and reason with him but had no success. In the end the GM had to call me to help settle the dispute. Because I owed his farther a favor, I agreed that I would remove the traitor from the beta. 461 is a pain to deal with in game even more than he is in real life. However, I did enjoy the look on his face when I asked for the number of the player who I was to ban. Not knowing what to do he started to panic."

Sighs. "Unfortunately, you chose this moment to die. Wh--"

[Jack] "What?! How did I die?"

[Emilio] "I would ask you to hold your question until the end, but since we are close enough, I'll just end there. As to how you died, it was in your sleep. Due to the update, the tree you were sleeping under turned into a lemon variant ent which specializes in acid magic. Due to its' low level and the increase in the pain dampener you didn't even notice that it was slowly depleting your health. Also, please know that even though you won't be able to go back to the beta, you will be compensated when the official game is released."

[Jack] "..."

[Emilio] "...Any other questions?"

[Jack] "...Why the heck did the tree turn into an ent?"

[Emilio] "After the update any animal or plant that was enclosed in a dungeon was turned into a monster."