Chapter 2

(Owner of Jupiter Enterprises POV)

“So what’s the deal with this competition you’re running?”, I asked Artemis beside me. I learnt that she had been heavily involved in the business aspect of this ‘Gods Online’ ensuring that the capsule past safety checks and that Jupiter Enterprise would ‘mortalise’ the process making it appear that the game and capsule were developed and that the capsule didn’t just materialize in the warehouses ready for delivery. Probably the most mind numbing and tedious process. The fact she was willing to do it showed that she was excited for the release. Which is… soon. They really waited a while before informing me. Artemis flashed me a dazzling smile.

“Well… It’s pretty simple. We as gods place a small part of our divinity into the game world. In the game we appear as gods which players and npc’s alike pray to. The competition is to see who can gain the most experience. And similarly to player’s experience represents potential power.”, She grinned at me. I really hoped she had everything thought out.

“And how do we gain… experience?”, I question her.

“Well there are fundamentally 3 ways for us to gain experience. Through prayer, through sacrifices and through monetary donations. Although the amount of experience gained has a lot of variables.”

“Sacrifices?”, I asked her quizzically. I haven’t had something sacrificed to me in a long, long time.

“Players can devote monster kills to their deity in return for faith and some assistance with the kill. The god then decides if they wish to take the monster drop or a percentage of the experience.”

“So why do the players choose to pray to us. In these sort of games only the priest and paladin classes pray to the gods. The rest only give cursory notice.”

“The simplest way is to grant unique abilities, quest and weapons to our followers. Pretty much meaning if a player doesn’t actively follow a deity then that player would miss out. What do you think?”

“Smart”, I reply smiling at her wide eyes. If it is as she says, then this could prove to be a fierce competition. I better get planning my faiths ability trees. Makes me even more annoyed that she’s delayed telling me.

“How is this going to be regulated, what’s to cheating?”, I ask the obvious questions and I can tell that she’s ready for it.

“It’s impossible to cheat. The game world mechanics ensure that we can only use the experience available to us and said experience is constantly spent on improve and strengthening our followers. And nobody would be pleased if a god somehow started to cheat. It could possibly break the world and force us to abandon the project on top of that.”

“Which would be aggravating.” And painful… for the culprit. Very painful.

“So which of our fine gods and goddesses are going to be competing”, I ask curious.

“Pretty much everyone. Some of the truly minor gods and goddesses are going to wander the game world granting quests and they will have hidden shrines which can grant additional bonus abilities.”

“By everyone…. You mean”

“Most of the Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Norse gods are involved.” And as if anticipating my next question. “Our Greek and Roman iterations are separate. You will understand when you see the available map.”

“What about the Norse and Egyptian gods?”

“They aren’t available to players at the start. They will become accessible once new races and areas are discovered. It was a long argument but as the brains behind the operation I put my foot down.”, she says while giving me a dainty little smile.

I guess that if I want to win I need to put in a little study time…