New Eden Live to Play, Play to Live

Staring at his screen with anger, Alexander let out a long sigh.

”Another defeat. Seems I still can beat him. ” He said, with an exasperated tone.

On his computer, the game almost everyone played nowadays was playing, Tower of Babylon. His screen was displaying a big red DEFEAT sign.

He had been trying to enter the top 1000 players in ToB for a while now, without avail. The top 1000, or the Heavenly Thousand as players had called them, were all freaks of nature with unmatched skill and gear.

They were not described as heavenly for nothing.

Looking at his clock, Alexander went to bed. Tomorrow was a big day, and he wanted to be in his best mental and physical shape.

”Tomorrow is the start of my new life. ” He said to himself, closing his eyes and drifting to sleep.

That night, Alexander dreamt of all the time he spent playing Tower of Babylon. All the sleepless nights and restless days spent grinding his levels and finding gear.

He had been playing ToB for 5 years now and was part of the top 1% of players in the game. But to him, it was not enough.

He had always aimed higher. Unfortunately for him, his ambition never matched up with his actual game skills and luck.

He had never found a piece of legendary gear or a scroll with a unique skill. That was what differentiated the Heavenly Thousand from the rest.

They had all found something unique that elevated their characters to the next level. His dreams soon drifted to him exploring untouched dungeons and finding legendary items and unique skills, becoming the number one player in the world.

His happy dreams kept going for the night until his alarm clock rang the next morning. Alexander was a young 25-year-old man, living on his own in a small 1 bedroom apartment in Montreal.

He was not rich by any means, but he was not a beggar either. His parents had died a few years back and left him a little money and a small house, but he had not been ready for that kind of responsibility back then and had sold the house.

He had been living on the money he made from the sale and his inheritance, plus the money he won from the few competitions he took part in on ToB to get by.

But today was a new beginning. Today at 6 PM, the game creator of ToB was launching their new platform for gaming along with their new game. The new platform was the first gen of Virtual MMORPG playing, with full-dive helmets.

It was the new technology they had announced a few years back, and it was finally ready for worldwide use. They were launching it with their new game, called New Eden.

New Eden promised a world full of possibilities and novelties. Magic and technology intermixed with fantasy and non-narrative storyline.

They publicized that the game had only a starting story, with a full history, but no predetermined path to follow from there. It would be a player-action-based storyline, with little to no outside direction from the devs for the future.

Alexander had already pre-purchased his copy of New Eden and his full-dive helmet. He would receive both today before the official game launch time.

He was excited about the prospects this new game offered. He might finally climb to the top this time.

My chances can get better with this game. No one will have any advantage over anyone for a while. He thought while taking his morning coffee.

He sat in front of his computer to read up on the game one last time, trying to glean details that might give him an edge over others, knowing full well that many people had tried to do the same already and failed.

After an hour of reading, his coffee long turned cold, his apartment buzzer sounded. He got up, almost running to the screen, showing the front door.

On the screen was a man with a box in his arms, looking at the camera. Alexander pressed the intercom button and spoke.

”Hello, how can I help you? ” He said, not even trying to hide his trepidations.

”I have a parcel for Alexander Leduc. Is this the right address? ” The man asked back.

”Yes, it is. Come right in. Im on the third floor. ” Alexander answered, pressing the door lock button.

The door to the apartment complex unlocked with a loud buzz, and the man entered the building. After walking up the two flights of stairs, he walked to the apartment door with the right number and knocked.

Alexander was already waiting by the door, fidgeting with his fingers like a kid on Christmas eve. He opened up as soon as the man knocked and almost ripped the box out of his hands.

He quickly took the deliverers pen and signed the form of delivery before hastily saying goodbye to him and almost slamming the door shut. He heard the man laugh on the other side of the door before leaving.

Alexander almost ran to his computer, grabbing a knife on the way. He sat down in his chair and started unwrapping his box religiously, making sure he didn damage the contents.

Inside the box was the game box, resting on another box, this one white, bearing the image of a black helmet. Inside that box, his new full-dive helmet and its wires, carefully packed, were waiting for him.

He unpacked all of it and plugged the helmet in, starting the software updates on his computer. It took him a good 2 hours to install everything and update the drivers to have his dive helmet operational.

With that done, he installed the game next. The game took a few hours too, being very update-oriented.

With all this done, it was close to dinner, so he ordered in, as he often did. Once his f