“It has been a month since the Massively Online Adventure Game called “Divine Mortality” has been released. Many people who have played the game praise it as the beginning of a next generation leap in gaming history, a master class game with few flaws alongside amazing technology and design. On the other side, skeptics and critics are claiming that the game simply does a good job at forming an illusion for the player, causing them to see in only rose-colored lenses. Yet, the truest test that both sides can adhere to is whether Divine Mortality can survive in the long term? Specifically, financially?

Divine Mortality is a game that was already unlikely to exist. A very ambitious project that can only be fueled with passion and dedication, and of course, money. Developing a game is no easy task. Developing a good game is even harder. Developing a high-class game that goes above and beyond with little marketing is tremendously challenging. Almost everyone who now knows about Divine Mortality and is currently playing it has only learned about it due to sudden announcements which shocked the internet. It was a week before the release of the game that the public saw the first cinematic trailer uploaded on the internet. Many people online were excited and are still excited about Divine Mortality's existence, yet the percentage of people who buy and play the game is small. This is simply because the game is demanding to run. A VR helmet and VR controllers are recommended as the "right" way to play the game. There even exists an official PC-console that is dedicated to running Divine Mortality just as how the developers designed it to optimally perform on the highest graphical settings. Yet, players are also able to play on the latest console or a high performing computer, with their controllers or mouse-keyboard (respectively). However, the game and the developers do not hide the fact that there are certain differences between each device style, and so there will be some obvious challenges or bonuses for using whichever device. At the end of the day, it still depends on what device is available to the player and what their choice is. But it is clear that using a VR helmet and VR controllers are the best way to play and experience Divine Mortality. Freedom of movement, freedom of perspective, dynamic controls, and a simply more immersive experience is what Divine Mortality offers and is able to successfuly do it well. It is not to say that Divine Mortality is a perfect game without its bugs, certain missing features, inconveniences, but it is overall one of the best games in history because it is able to bring grand dreams into reality (or vice-versa).

It has been a month since the Massively Online Adventure Game called “Divine Mortality” has been released. And so far, it has not only survived but is thriving. It has made a lot of money. But it seems like the game is slightly keeping up and earning a steady stream of profit due to the ever growth of the game. The first week of Divine Mortality saw an obvious need for more servers for players to play on. Even though the servers are able to fit in around a remarkable 100,000 active players each, there is still simply too many active players logged in. Now, after a month, the game supports 30 servers with varying sizes, all with their own “Overworld” which players explore, interact, build, and exist in. While player activity is still in question for the next several months, Divine Mortality currently supports around 2.5 million active users. While the gaming market and industry has grown considerably over the years, for an MMO-like game, it is nonetheless impressive. For certain, Divine Mortality deserves much of the praise it has been receiving. Let us see where the Overworlds go next.”

Leafman: “Damn right! This game is praiseworthy! Give it aaaaall the praises. Like- how can this comment even say that the game “looks bad” because “the graphics are weird” …stupid!”

An elf was standing on top of a large smooth stone inside a cave. A cave that is lit up by little glowing light blue gems stuck in the rocks on the bottom, sides, and ceiling of the cave. It looked cold and damp on Leafman’s screen. But he did not feel it, not the temperature of the room nor the weight of his character. From the perspective of another player called AySon, who was approaching Leafman, it looked like Leafman was stuck in time because his character’s model was not fluid as everyone else’s in the guild.

AySon: “Just because we’re waiting for the guild leader to return from going to the bathroom, doesn’t mean you should be tabbing out every second to read online articles.”

Leafman: “ayyyy-SON! C’mon. That guy is going to be afk for a while, we’ve got time.”

AySon: “Yo but bro, I keep telling you that the wave is going to come in 5 minutes. So, we need to ACTUALLY hurry and mine all these gems for the quest.”

Leafman: “Really 5 minutes?! I thought we had…like 20 or something.”

AySon: “No not at all”

Leafman: “Also, why bother mining so much when we could sell it on the market. More money means we could buy better equipment and then we’d be able deal with this wave”

AySon: “You’re right but this is like one of those one-time quests. We need to do it now if we want the town mayor to allow us to establish our guild house. Plus, we could always come back here to grind. No need to hurry. Well, besides right now!”

LeafMan: “Fine fine, I’ll start playing”

Leafman leaves the online article page open and hides his internet browser. Instead, he opens up the Divine Mortality again after tabbing out of it not too long ago. He is one of the few players in his guild who plays the game on the traditional keyboard and mouse on his computer. The game runs well, but he has to lower the game’s graphics settings down. Unlike AySon, Leafman doesn’t see or “feel” the weight of the situation. The cave is dark aside from the glow of the gems and the torchlight. It is cool and interesting looking. But it isn’t as terrifying of a place as it is for AySon.

AySon: “Looks like the guild leader is back. I guess we should join back with the rest of them and leave the place”

Leafman: “Ya for sure”

…

FeeNix: “Wassup. Not much? Then get up. Let’s leave this place. Uh, I believe this way for the save-base. I’m sure. Come on sirs and girls. Can’t think of many words cause right now I’m in concerns.”

AySon: “FeeNix, my man, can’t rhyme for a dime?”

FeeNix: “Shut it or ya gonna taste my sublime fist in yo face or Leafman’s mace for days.”

Leafman: “You still don’t sound ace, man”

FeeNix: “Damn, well carry on with the plan”

After FeeNix parted ways with Amulet Pond in Susana, FeeNix went on to do some Petty Quests in Susana. There he met up with one of the first proper guilds in Divine Mortality called “Knights of the Phoenix”. It was obvious to FeeNix that he should join a guild called like that, so he did. He was lucky to enter, despite annoying some of the members with his constant rhyming and attempted rapping, the guild wanted a warrior-monk type character, so they allowed him in. However, a couple weeks later the guild was already falling apart with internal conflict and arguments. It was not really related to FeeNix, but it bothered him because the guild wasn’t worthwhile and too strict for its own good. So, he left the guild and formed his own one for fun, a little bit as a joke and slightly out of spite because the previous guild used “Phoenix” in the name. This new guild was called “Nomads of the Griffin”. Nomads instead of ‘knights’ to note a more informal attitude to the guild. And ‘griffin’ instead of a phoenix simply because it’s another mythological creature that FeeNix knows about that also flies.

It was not long that FeeNix found himself as an actual Guild Leader in his new joke. It is actually made up of around half the members of the Knights of the Phoenix. While the griffin guild doesn’t see itself as rivals, the reformed phoenix guild does as they see FeeNix’s separation as a clever move to split up the former guild in two. But most members of the griffin guild do not care. The game has been out for only a month, and they couldn’t bother to care about the petty drama the ensued.

Now the Griffin Nomads find themselves in the southern side of the Holy Lands, particularly in a cavern system inside several small mountains that are externally an extension of the High Peaks Mountain range. Here they are collecting purple gems called “Deep Amethyst”, which is supposedly magical and holds medium-high value on the market. There are a lot of them, but they take a long time to mine. But the biggest problem with them is that they are found in dangerous locations in the world. In the Hinterlands, northern lands, and in mountainous and cavernous areas such as this place. It’s called “Fur Monkey Cave” because it is inhabited by large squirrel-like creatures that are particularly vicious. They are not particularly underground monsters, but they regularly inhabit closed room environments in great numbers before dispersing outside. However, at this moment, they are only just beginning to disperse outside in large numbers. So, the Griffin Nomads have been rushing to collecting as many Deep Amethyst gems as possible and running out of the cave back to town.

FeeNix:

“Calling back in my mind, howls and shrieks, frightening shit just won’t emit (game design is lit)

Poor Fred’s gonna come back and cause a fit. Got stuck in place, logged out before we all left in a chase. A race!

And now I’m linkin and thinkin about that distinct guild with the same name as mine self, how lame!

Basterds shook up our hopes and took all our big dollar soaps. Forced us out of big towns. Now we gotta settle for this holy prairie, a place where NPCs are producin a lotta dairy. Good place for our first compound.

Everyone, is this sound? “

Leafman: “Yeah it’s sound, but your raps aren’t. “

Sprite: “Leafy! You should stop criticizing our Guild Leader…and talk to him properly!”

Leafman: “You guys are still on about roleplaying this much? Even when your Guild Leader is rapping all the time?! Isn’t that like…uh, not immersive?”

Gerald: “Exceptions shall be made. But alas, I do not understand what you mean by “not immersive”.”

Applepie: “Quite so!”

Leafman: “Alright guys, tell me…did you even understand what FeeNix said about Fred?”

Sprite: “Yeah! He said that Fred got stuck in the cave because he decided to log out before we left.”

Leafman: “Okay good, so how about the “holy prairie” and “lots of dairy”?”

ApplePie: “Well this is indeed a Prairie, is it not? Look at all this beautiful sea of grassland!”

Leafman: “Yup this place sure is a prairie, but what did FeeNix mean about that?”

FeeNix: “Yo Leaf, don’t tell them anymore! Or else gonna cause them grief and disbelief in me!”

Gerald: “Come on then, let us get back to town already”

…

The group continues to head back into town. Usually Sprite, a short female Himenian support character, is very jumpy and active in the game. She does this by often extensively using the abilities her VR controllers give her. Leafman notices that Sprite isn’t stretching her character around or isn’t bothering the group with cutesy emotes.

Leafman: “Hey Sprite…I can see you are still thinking about FeeNix’s rap…want me to explain it?”

Sprite: “I-I don’t even need to see your character to know by your voice that you have a very evil grin on your face!”

Leafman: “Hey…but come on, aren’t you curious?”

While FeeNix is the one farthest away from the group leading them back to town. Gerald and AySon have noticed that Leafman is getting awfully close to Sprite.

Gerald: “What is that cretin of an elf saying to poor little Sprite! Don’t tell me…that villain is doing as you other worlders call “sexual harassment?!!”

Gerald is not an NPC. He is just a dedicated to his role as a knight from the Overworld.

AySon: “Yo Gerald, calm down! Before you lash your sword at Leafman, I don’t think this game is that extensive, okay? Anyways, I’ve known Leafman for a while and I’m pretty sure he’s not a sexual harasser, but I do know that he is a bit immature… a “man child” if you will.”

Gerald: “Man-child you say? What a hideous sounding creature…we must put a stop to-“

Sprite: “KYAAA!”

Gerald: “OFF WITH HIS HEAD!”

Sprite: “I can’t believe our Guild Leader would mean something like that!!!”

Leafman: “WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!? Don’t you hear how he sounds and even think about what he raps about!? Like come on, it’s obvious!”

Sprite: “W-w-well I don’t understand you other worlders!”

Leafman: “You’re also one as well- “

*DONK*

Leafman looks at his monitor in disbelief to see his HP drop to half, he rapidly moves his mouse to the side to turn his camera and see’s the big Sunmel dark furred cat man in a suit of armor and a longsword staring back right at him. Even without a VR helmet, Leafman was terrified.”

Gerald: “Care to explain, ELF?”

AySon: “Hahaha”

…

…

FeeNix: “I’ma go submit the deep amethyst to the mayor, he better admit us a base or I’ll cause a fit at his place.”

Gerald: “Go Guild Leader and good luck! While you work on that quest, I shall have Leafman admit his defeat!”

Leafman: “I already did! Now let me out of this cage!”

Gerald: “No, you must suffer for what you did to Sprite”

Leafman: “I told you I didn’t do anything! What’s so wrong with explaining something to Sprite?!”

AySon: “Hey, on the bright side you get to spend some time reading more online articles”

Leafman: “Very funny…”

Applepie: “Super funny hehe!”

Leafman: “Shut up dwelf!”

Gerald: “Properly apologize now or I’ll carry you back into the cave personally. That might be good actually, you could then help Fred escape after he descends back to this world.”

Sprite: “Umm. Gerlad. It was honestly not a very bad thing he said to me. I believe it’s righteous to let him go…”

Gerald: “Are you sure miss Sprite?”

Sprite: “Yes…I am.”

Gerald opens the cage and Leafman’s character stumbles out.

Leafman: “Ya know, the way you two are talking makes this situation sound a lot worse than it is.”

Sprite: “H-how can it be worse than what-what you told me!”

Leafman: “Again! You guys are taking the RP too far! Are you sure the Knights of the Phoenix isn’t the correct guild for you two?!”

Sprite: “I…I had no idea…wait no, I do not believe it!”

Applepie: “What do you not believe?”

Sprite: “I could not believe that our Guild Leader, FeeNix, is such a hedonist!”

Gerald: “A Hedonist?!”

Meanwhile AySon is quietly cracking up laughing in the background

Sprite: “Yes…if what Leafman said is true…then, I had no idea that such things attracted FeeNix.”

Gerald: “Such… things? *Gulp*”

Sprite: “The Prairie is this town of course…this area…but the dairy…there are no cows here, correct?”

ApplePie: “I’ve only seen sheep-like things, but no cows.”

Sprite: “Then the words…” a place where NPCs are producin a lotta dairy“ refers to the large bosoms of the ladies in this town!”

AySon: “NPC’s breasts hahaha”

Gerald: “My goodness! Such words FeeNix decided to rhyme like that so casually! We must keep this a secret everyone...”

Leafman: “There’s nothing to hide!!! Everyone in the guild already knows that- “

Gerald: “SHHH…quiet!”

…

Leafman: “Yeah… I don’t know how this roleplaying guild plans to be one of the best…”

FeeNix returned 5 minutes later back to the inn where his guildmates are staying at. The town where they are at is called White Dragon. In the lore of the Overworld, White Dragon was a fortress which guarded the southern Holy Lands from the northern edges of the High Peak Mountains. An ancient fortress which was already long unused by the great theocracy that reigned previously in the Holy Lands. The culture of the people who inhabit the area, primarily Lumenians and Himenians but with a sizable Sunmel population as well, is different from the rest of the Holy Lands. It is akin to the western side of the High Peak Mountains, distantly similar to the Mountain Folk on the Orchard Hills side of the range. There are two main theories for the town’s name origin. One is that the town was once ruled or part of an ancient cult religion that worshipped dragons, not unlikely an occurrence in the world of Divine Mortality. The second, likely more plausible theory, is that “White Dragon” was the name of a tribe. One of the many tribes that might have inhabited the area. A third theory, but a minor one, is that a Lesser God once was a White Dragon (a nonexistent color for dragons) but there is no telling where this idea came from.

Either way, after a month of playing the game. FeeNix has not only formed a guild but established a guild house in the town of White Dragon for the “Nomads of the Griffin”. The town’s buildings are small and relatively impoverished, but the agriculture and herding business around the town is prosperous, so it is often visited by traders. But most importantly, FeeNix understood that a location such as this one was optimal. While it is located in southern Holy Lands, it is about equal distance to the Free Counties in the north, Orchard Hills in the west, and Kingdom of Graypine as well as the Remnants of the Lunar Empire in the east. If the guild wants to explore dungeons in the Holy Lands, they can do so right away. If the guild wants to do business in Orchard Hills, they can do so easily. If the guild wants to explore the north of the map, they can do so right away by following the highways built by the Kingdom of Graypine in their territory. If they want to PVP, they can go to the Lunar Empire. And if they want to meet other players and guilds, they can go to the Free Counties.

The guild house itself is at the very least mediocre. FeeNix doesn’t care as long as the guild has their own place to call home. Leafman thinks that the price was too high, and the guild got scammed a little. Gerald believes the place is perfect because it is a matured medieval structure in the middle of the grassy plains. The house is actually not a house but instead a vertical rectangle stone keep. Like a castle, but nothing fancy (yet). The edges were damaged. But for the most part, it’s all intact. The inside is made out of wood or was supposed to be. Most of the wood was weathered away and a rough floor remains. There are also many windows where windows should not be at. As the keep was likely part of a larger construction, it sits on the edge of the town as part of the damaged ruined walls that have partially sunk into the ground. While nobody in the guild yet knows how parts of Divine Mortality’s sandbox aspects of the game work, there is a simple understanding of that the game has set up a parameter around their guild house, potentially protecting it from other players and NPCs. To what degree, is still unknown.

But if there is one thing everyone in the guild can agree on… is that their guild house is really cool looking! The space it has isn’t huge, but for a guild that has around 50 members, it is more than enough!

FeeNix: “Yo listen up everyone!”

(Applepie: “he didn’t rhyme this time?!”)

FeeNix: “I’ll talk properly for the first time, I don’t plan to do this often, so listen well… As many of you might know, I didn’t start the Nomads of the Griffin to compete with the Knights of the Phoenix. Nor did I plan for us to become a competitive guild. I did it for fun and as a joke. Many of you guys are also higher level and better geared than I am. Some of you probably know the game (only a bit!) more than I do. So, I might not be the best Guild Leader. I don’t even talk properly or communicate well enough… But I did not expect anyone to join this guild, yet here you all are (most of you). We’ve only been playing the game for a little bit together, but it looks like I’ve discovered many friends recently. You guys… I’m not the best player in this game, can’t you see I play as a fist-fighter?! And I am not the best Guild Leader for you guys, but I’ll make sure to forge our group into something fun, comfortable, exciting. Even if we aren’t successful in everything, I’ll make sure to…to have this place and our group remain as home for us all in this game!!!”

Every guild member present, standing or sitting, all cheered in excitement and joy. Whether they were loud or quiet players, they all equally supported FeeNix’s surprise speech.

Leafman: “Sprite…are you crying?!”

Sprite’s character in full motion turned around to look at Leafman, you could not see the tears on the character model’s face, but you could see the person in control shake and hear their quiet tears. Sprite’s character had a smile on her face, but it was not long before she started moving her character around in a dance. Leafman joined in with her and so did everyone else in a emote spam to celebrate their occasion. While none of the players could taste the drinks their characters held up in tankards and covered themselves in, many players extended their celebration into the real world with their own food and drinks. The guild had no right in becoming so cheerful, but it did. Maybe it was because the game was simply fun and enjoying it with other players was an amazing experience. Maybe because all the guild mates bonded with each other and understood that FeeNix was serious in his gratefulness because he decided to speak normally. Or it was simply a mixture of all these factors which bundled up the Nomads of the Griffin into becoming a group that was both joyful and determined.

Everyone praised FeeNix for being a relaxed Guild Leader, and then they all started praising each each other. When everything started to quiet down in both volume and emotions, FeeNix got everyone’s attention again.

...

FeeNix: “Everyone I need your attention again, just so I can mention this as well. There’s a convention that I want as all to attend, so let’s extend this current occasion for our first upcoming INVASION!”

Everyone: “A INVASION QUEST?!”

FeeNix: “Yup, prepare to go there!”