Escape from Darom, page 48
“The ban was denied?” Rani exclaimed in disbelief, “I don’t understand.” She looked back and forth between the two of them in confusion, “Startum Ironwolf was directly responsible for my death in-game tonight, and as of,” she glanced at her smart watch, “twenty-eight hours ago, the current policy was to issue a forty-eight-hour ban on players who were responsible for an Admin’s death.”
“Nonetheless, there is a process in place for such requests,” Doug said not batting an eye as her Team Leader spoke up.
“As the procedures in your Admin handbook clearly states,” Susan Suckles stated from memory, “any bans are to be sent as a ticket in the Support Ticketing system to be reviewed by first myself and then our supervisor for final approval. Only once the ban has been approved will the player’s account in question be flagged for a ban.”
Fuck, Rani thought as a sinking feeling began forming in the pit of her stomach. She’d figured the ban was an open and closed case and had made the decision on her own to flag that pig-headed ass’s account before he logged out for the evening. Partly, that was because she wanted to be the one to do it, and partly, Rani silently admitted, she wanted that annoying man to know that he’d fucked up by killing her in Darom tonight.
It was the same concept behind disciplining a dog when they made a mess on your floor. If you didn’t rub their nose in it during the act or immediately afterward, then they wouldn’t understand why they were being disciplined. It was the same method best used for training a man as far as she was concerned, Rani snorted in derision. Not that her department’s male supervisor would appreciate the simile, but the excuse might have worked if she’d had a female supervisor.
“That’s not how we took care of the ban the other night with Vengeance Burnslinger,” Rani calmly disagreed even as the sweat began running down the middle of her back, “When we discussed the issue, you said that if a player killed an Admin, then they would be banned for the next forty-eight hours. I was just being diligent and wanted to make sure the ban was implemented before I went home for the evening.”
“Let me stop you right there,” Doug said in a tone that silenced her flimsy excuse, “The night before, I specifically said that I would take care of implementing bans. That doesn’t mean the procedure wasn’t followed as required.” His face crinkled-up as if he’d smelt something unpleasant. “Not only that, the player Startum Ironwolf didn’t purposely target you and kill you. I checked the video of the event myself.”
“But he was responsible for my death,” Rani argued as Doug’s face turned an unpleasant shade of red.
“Hitlohtla Doombreath the Devouring was responsible for your death,” Doug said in an exasperated tone, “all that the player Startum Ironwolf did was trigger one of the special Easter Egg quests that we have scattered around The World.” Her supervisor ticked off a finger in an annoyed tone. “First off, the player had no control over the Wyrm-Ghast when it attacked the Nautilus,” he held up a second finger, “And secondly, he didn’t directly attack you or any other Admin in any way. You’re just pissed about being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“I fell two-hundred-yards to my death-” Rani angrily argued, trying to rally some sort of defense for her actions. This was unconscionable.
“And that had nothing to do with the player’s actions in question,” Doug stated as Susan nodded her head in agreement, “Just because you had an accident in-game doesn’t mean that someone has to be held responsible.” He shook his head in disgust. “You’re a V-MMORG Admin in the most popular MMO that has ever been released. Similar to a referee in a football game, that position means that you’re supposed to be a neutral arbiter in representing our company to the player base when dealing with unique issues that pop-up. Your job,” he poked the top of the conference table with a forefinger to emphasis his point, “is to fairly implement the rules of The World and represent V-MMORG to the customer; not take a vendetta out against a random customer that for some reason happened to annoy your personal sensibilities.”
“You don’t understand, Startum Ironwolf is an extremely difficult person to deal with,” Rani heatedly declared as she thought about Star’s smug attitude, “Shortly after I met him for the first time, he held me by the neck against a wall and threatened to cut my throat if I interfered with the quest he was running in any way.” She angrily thumped her chest. “I’m a freaking Admin!”
“Did he know you were a V-MMORG Admin at the time?” Doug pointedly asked, before her Team Lead could speak up.
“Uh, no,” Rani said, somewhat wilting at being called out on her obfuscating of the truth. She could’ve lied, but Rani had a feeling that her supervisor would’ve had no problem calling up the scene in question to review it for himself if she did, “that’s actually when I informed him of who I was.”
“Well, if he didn’t know who you were before then,” Susan paused, trying to understand why Rani had bothered to bring this up, “Did he grope you or …”
“What, sexually harass me?” Rani said, automatically filling in the blank for the other woman, “No, it was nothing like that.” A conflicted look flashed across her face. “It was a straight up, get in my way or screw up my quest and I’ll end you.” she snorted angrily, “That’s half the problem. The man doesn’t seem to care one way or another that I’m a woman or an Admin.”
“Really,” Doug exclaimed, sitting back in his chair to get his head around the problem, “If this player was so difficult to deal with, then why did you travel with him for so long?”
“How else was I supposed to keep an eye on his group of troublemakers?” Rani demanded, going off on a rant, “The forum is exploding with accusations about him. I swear, it took threatening to travel with his enemies to get him to take me along.” She missed the alarmed look her audience shared with one another as she continued in a huff. “Even then, he put me under guard like I, of all people, couldn’t be trusted.”
“I think I understand the problem now,” Doug carefully said, coming to a decision as Susan let out a patient sigh, “You’re upset that he’s not respecting your perceived authority.”
“That’s exactly the problem,” Rani happily replied, feeling a wave of relief wash over her that they understood her perspective, “It’s like he thinks I’m a-”
“Customer service representative for V-MMORG?” Doug dryly asked as she nodded enthusiastically, when her Team Lead let out an exasperated sigh next to her. To her surprise, Doug stood up abruptly as if the discussion was over, “Well, I think I’ve heard enough.”
“Doug, if I might speak in Rani’s defense,” Susan hurriedly said as Rani’s eyes widened in shock, “she really is normally a conscientious employee that does an excellent job. She shows up on time and works overtime as needed. While I know her personal attitude about the customer is a grave concern, my team is already behind on staff levels for the nightshift. I’ve worked with Rani enough to believe that,” she held her hands to stop her supervisor’s objections, “with enough remedial training that she could still be a benefit to V-MMORG and our team’s support operations.”
“Wh-what?” Rani uncomprehendingly stuttered in shock, looking back and forth between her Team Lead and Supervisor in confusion. They couldn’t really be serious about firing her over this!
“Deal with this Susan,” Doug said in a no-nonsense tone, “and I’m telling you now, if she doesn’t get a serious attitude adjustment by the next time we talk, I’ll have security escorting her off the premises so fast her head will spin.”
As the conference room door slammed shut, Rani was left looking at a very unhappy Susan with a look of sheer disbelief etched on her face. That feeling just grew as she was forced for the next hour to listen to her Team Lead explain all of her faults, especially the fact that the Admin team was quite literally a mix of Customer Service Representative and Official Referee. It was the most humiliating experience that Rani had ever been forced to endure. Even more upsetting was the fact that she was being required to retake her first week of training for V-MMORG all over again.
Oh, Rani could’ve refused, but Susan made it perfectly clear that if she did, her job was toast. She didn’t have the savings to tell V-MMORG to go fuck themselves either. Not that she would even if she did, Rani unhappily thought. V-MMORG was the hottest company to be working with on the market. Besides that, getting fired from her dream job would’ve been more humiliating than she could stand.
So, instead of arguing, Rani silently agreed to everything that her Team Leader said. Even so, the entire time, all that she could picture was Star’s smug face upon being informed that his ban was being retracted. It was so infuriating that she had tears in her eyes. Gritting her teeth, Rani suffered through the humiliation of being told she had the wrong attitude and that it would dramatically have to change if she wanted to continue having a future with the company. The only thing that stopped her from blowing her fuse was that she refused to let that smug jerk have the satisfaction of getting her fired.
By the time Rani had finished officially signing her disciplinary form, she’d lost an hour and half out of her life. Not only that, she’d completely missed going out for drinks with the rest of the Nautilus crew. While they’d probably still be out drinking. Rani had no desire to join them after this fiasco. The ass-reaming that she’d just received was way to fresh for that. Numbly stumbling out of the conference room, she slipped into the small breakroom that was reserved for the developer team and screamed out her rage at the entire situation as tears ran down her cheeks. As she leaned back against the closed door, her head suddenly jerked around as a familiar face peeked around the soda machine.
“Um, is everything alright?” Justin Mayfair, her crazy developer friend, softly asked, catching her completely by surprise. Seeing Rani jerk away from the door, he gave her an apologetic smile and held up a steaming mug, “How about a cup of hot chocolate and a friendly ear?”
“I’m alright,” Rani tried to say as she choked up unable to speak.
“You are definitely not alright,” Justin gently argued, pushing the mug into her hands as he firmly guided her to the lone table in the back of the breakroom, “Now sit down and tell me what’s going on. I’m not saying that I have any answers,” the older man good-naturedly warned, “but sometimes, just talking about a problem can ease its burden.”
It took a bit more encouraging, but before she knew it, Rani was spilling everything out to her work friend. Well, work friend might have been too strong a word for the relationship they shared. In actuality, he was more of a friendly coworker that she enjoyed talking with on duty. Nonetheless, getting the whole situation off her chest did make her feel much better. The best part was that Justin had let her go on without interrupting her to try and fix the problem.
“I think the most frustrating part is that Doug just lets him get away with everything he’s doing,” Rani finally finished, coming to the end of her rant.
“What do you mean?” Justin said, speaking up for the first time.
“No other players that I’ve worked with are doing what he’s been doing,” Rani exclaimed as the problem was obvious, “Look at what happened to Telrain!”
“I don’t understand,” Justin quietly said, “Wasn’t this Startum Ironwolf just as much of a victim as everyone else from this Cristiane Sekhmet player? If anything, it sounds like he ended up saving many of the digital personalities that were slaughtered and enslaved.” He shrugged noncommittally. “That has to count for something.”
“That’s not the point,” Rani complained, “he should’ve died in the Meteor Storm.”
“From what we discussed about the incident, you told me yourself that he was playing by the rules of The World,” Justin innocently said, before giving her a wink, “Or, is it that your more upset that he didn’t die like you in the final explosion?”
“Arg, that’s not it at all!” Rani exclaimed, burying her face in her hands in frustration. Instead of arguing the point with her, Justin busied himself making them another cup of hot chocolate. As he sat down and slid the steaming mug towards her, Rani forced herself to sit up as she tried to voice her conflicting feelings.
“It’s like the whole battle with the horde,” Rani explained, “They should’ve been wiped out but instead he managed to kill thousands of them by dropping a cliff on top of the army by breaking the rules with those Moonshine Elementals!”
“That was pretty awesome,” Justin admitted as she gave the developer an annoyed glare, “who would’ve thought someone would’ve combined the principles of modern-day chemistry like that.” Seeing the look, he gave her an indifferent shrug. “Wasn’t that Vengeance Burnslinger who did that and not your friend, Startum Ironwolf?”
“It’s all the same, they’re in the same guild together,” Rani exclaimed in outrage, “Why didn’t Doug ban them right then and there for cheating?” She angrily motioned with her hands. “He protected Startum Ironwolf for using his Dark Lance spell to ravage the entire invasion force and stop them in their tracks. What the hell is up with that?”
“Then, as an added insult,” Rani vehemently continued, “that same Vengeance Burnslinger guy created a massive mudslide that got them out of another impossible ambush. Do you know what Doug said when I reported that in?” Rani heatedly demanded, answering without waiting for Justin to speak up. “That his actions were within the purview of the rules of The World.” She threw her hands up into the air and screamed. “No one else is doing crazy shit like that and getting away with it!”
“Actually, there’s a number of players doing all kinds of crazy things all the time in the other starting areas as they open up,” Justin calmly said after taking a careful sip from his mug, “You’re just not hearing about it because it’s mostly happening in the other starting zones.”
“Really?” Rani said, caught by surprise at Justin’s admission, “Like what?”
“Oh, it’s all kinds of things,” Justin dismissively said, waving his words away, “It’s all kinds of things. Though,” he confided with a twinkle in his eyes, “the entire Italian peninsula’s starting area was almost overrun and enslaved by the Asterion Empire.”
“No way,” Rani exclaimed, momentarily forgetting her own frustrations as Justin wearily shook his head. That’s when his words consciously sank into her awareness, “What, what do you mean? Why would the Asterion Empire enslave an entire starting area?” She cocked her head to the side trying to picture that. “I mean, how would that even look like for players starting a new character?”
“It’s been a total mess. A massive guild called, Goon Squad, of nearly twenty-five thousand players joined all at once,” Justin explained, “Most ended up being split up between the various starting areas, but enough ended up in Italy that they decided to go toe-to-toe with a dumb NPC empire. You can imagine how well that went over.” He unconsciously scowled thinking back over that mess. “Luckily, the Minotaurs initial push was mostly stopped, but now we have three-quarters of the new players starting out as enslaved species in conquered cities.”
“So, I take it V-MMORG kicked the Goon Squad out and-” Rani began to say only to be cut off midsentence.
“Nope, players are more than welcomed to alter their own starting areas,” Justin said as a wry smile teased the corners of his mouth. And, while it’s somewhat of a shock at first, being a part of the Asterion Empire comes with a lot of benefits,” he shrugged, “At least, it does if the player in question is willing to work to learn the game and improve their situation.”
“That’s what I don’t get,” Rani said, completely flabbergasted at the developer’s admission, “Doesn’t V-MMORG want The World’s gameplay to be based on a more,” she paused, searching for the best concept to encapsulate what she meant, “equitable and inclusive experience?”
“Um, why would you say that?” Justin paused, giving her an odd look.
“Look, I’m not trying to say anything against what V-MMORG is doing with The World,” Rani hurriedly explained, not wanting to upset Justin, “but don’t most MMO style games focus on an experience that can be equally shared by the entire player base?”
“Not at first,” Justin thoughtfully replied, “but it became that way towards the end of the MMO boom. There was this belief that games should be something that everyone wants to play. Not only that, there was a major push to flatten the overall gaming experience.” Seeing the confused look on her face, he explained further. “Meaning, that no matter how little or much you play or your corresponding skill level that you should have the same gaming experience as everyone else.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?” Rani asked somewhat taken aback by the obvious distaste Justin had for the concept.
“Not at all,” Justin said, “it basically ruined the MMO genre for decades to the point that companies thought the age of MMOs had completely run its course.” Seeing that she wasn’t tracking, he explained further. “Take The World as a primary example,” he gave her an apologetic look, “and now that you’ve brought up equity and inclusion, I think I better understand part of your confusion with how things are being run.”
“The World is set up based on an equal opportunity, open-sandbox design,” Justin began as Rani cut him off.
“Isn’t that the same thing as equity?” Rani asked in annoyance.
“Not at all,” Justin calmly replied, “If the design principles of The World were based on equity and inclusion as you so succinctly put it, everyone’s gaming experience would be exactly the same. They’d have a set path for each class they would take to level up and earn experience or,” he gave her a weak smile, “they’d simply level up given how long they were logged into the game. That same concept is in fact what killed much of the MMO industry in the beginning of the twenty-first century.”
