Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

Returning to the phone call Camille Victoria received.

Seeing the incoming call displayed as “Xiaomei,” she wasn’t surprised and accepted it readily.

She had planned to play together with Xiaomei, anyway. The call was just a bit late, that’s all.

Like herself, Xiaomei was probably also arranging for her virtual-world house.

Back when Camille Victoria had just started using her prosthetic limb, while adapting and rehabilitating, she went through a difficult emotional journey.

During that time, she joined some relevant chat groups, seeking some support and strength from those who shared her plight.

She made many friends with similar predicaments during that period, among whom Xiaomei was the most special girl.

Camille Victoria was disabled in her right leg, while Xiaomei had lost her left lower leg.

Although they shared similar experiences, Xiaomei was far more optimistic than she was!

Despite being several years younger than Camille Victoria, Xiaomei accepted her condition quickly and was always warm and cheerful whenever they communicated over the phone.

When Camille Victoria first saw Lincoln’s Virtual Reality Device, the first person she contacted, amidst her excitement, was Xiaomei.

Through teary eyes, she shared the exciting news with Xiaomei.

Over the phone, Xiaomei, despite being younger than Camille Victoria and just turning 18, comforted Camille Victoria, who was several years older, like a caring big sister.

Last week, Xiaomei finally managed to purchase a Mirage. Camille Victoria, thrilled, met up with Xiaomei in the virtual world and they completed a pilgrimage in the desert together.

At the end, Xiaomei mentioned regretfully, “Everything in this game is great, it’s just a pity some things aren’t too realistic. Plus, I really wish I could go shopping with you and play together.”

Camille Victoria lived in Xiajing City while Xiaomei was in Luo City. They had only met in reality twice and usually communicated via the internet.

Xiaomei sighed unconsciously, but Camille Victoria’s eyes lit up, “It’s possible!

Have I told you? Last week, I participated in the closed beta testing of Cloud

Dream’s new game.”

“Oh, really? What about it?” Xiaomei nodded perplexedly.

“You can go shopping in the new game! Not only that, there are tons of other exciting content! But I can’t tell you right now. Once the game is released, we can play together!”

Curiosity on her mind, but not the type to obsess over the unknown, Xiaomei readily agreed, “Okay, it’s settled then.”

After hanging up the call, Camille Victoria logged into the world of “Assassins’ Alliance.”

Ignoring her virtual boyfriend taking a shower in the bathroom, Camille Victoria swiftly gathered all the money in the house.

The amount and location of the money were learned from others sharing their experiences in the lobby of the Cloud Dream Experience store, after the first day of the closed beta ended.

Subsequently, she accepted the invitation and went to the world where Xiaomei was.

What surprised her was that, including Xiaomei, there were already eight people there.

There were both men and women, of various ages.

The youngest boy even made Camille Victoria wonder if he met the game’s “16+” age rating.

In “Assassins’ Alliance” , Lincoln still didn’t allow the character customization feature. Everyone’s virtual avatar was formed based on their self-perception and memory, hence age usually doesn’t deviate too much.

Of course, this self-perception can cause slight differences.

Even when looking in the mirror, people’s self-perceptions are never completely accurate.

Similar to most people feeling like they’ve reached a small peak in their appearance after taking a shower.

But apart from being a bit cleaner and more fresh, nothing really changes.

This leads to another interesting occurrence: confident people who are satisfied with their outward appearance often create even more attractive avatars in the virtual world. While people who are insecure and only focus on their physical flaws, their defects will be more pronounced in their virtual form.

Someone who doesn’t care about the mole on their face would have a fainter mole in the virtual world. However, someone who is particularly bothered by their mole would have a darker mole.

However, all of this is quite subtle, something that could be hardly noticeable unless one pays special attention.

At least so far, there hasn’t been voice raising such an observation online. “Xiaomei, who are these people?” Camille Victoria asked, puzzled.

“They’re all from our group chat! They haven’t really played much before, and even after getting into the game they’re not sure what to do. So, I thought I’d ask you, our resident professional, to lend a hand and guide us!” Xiaomei explained with a gleeful smile.

As soon as Xiaomei mentioned group friends, Camille Victoria understood that these people were likely all individuals with certain physical impairments, and who hadn’t played much prior to this.

They have bought the devices now because Mirage offered them a chance to regain the feel of a fully functional body.

She was more than happy to help, but — “This game doesn’t allow advancing in storyline in multiplayer mode, does it?”

“Huh?” Xiaomei, not having much experience with gaming, didn’t grasp the concept, “What do we do, then?”

Camille Victoria pondered for a moment, “There’s honestly not much to the task, you just follow the prompts. If you really can’t figure it out, you can wait a day and watch livestreams or video walkthroughs from faster players.” “Should I tell everyone to go back, then?” Xiaomei asked uncertainly.

Camille Victoria let out a wide grin: “No need! It’s not often we all get together like this. Consider this a group chat meetup! Come on, let’s all head to the amusement park!”

But before leaving, she asked, “Did you guys bring money?”

The little boy seemed nervous, “Do we have to pay again? I’ve used up all my pocket money. ”

The woman, who seemed to be in her 40s, smiled warmly and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll cover it.”

Camille Victoria quickly interrupted, “No, no, not real cash, I meant in-game currency.”

She pulled out some banknotes she’d gathered from the house and showed them, “This!”

Everyone reached into their pockets, finding only a small amount of loose change in their wallets.

Camille Victoria didn’t need to see to know, it wasn’t nearly enough to buy amusement park tickets.

Closed beta test players, with their previous experience, all knew to look for money upon entering the game, but regular players didn’t have this awareness.

Camille Victoria originally planned to tell everyone where to find money, but then suddenly came up with an incredible idea.

—Just looting the starting rental house would Yield less than >250, enough only to buy amusement park tickets. But once inside, food and drinks would all cost money, and so would shopping with Xiaomei.

With $250, you’re barely making ends meet!

If you want to have fun, you need to have a lot of money!

Since there are already 9 people including her, why not do something big?

During the two days of closed beta, everyone chatted about the game after it ended.

Cloud Dream somehow managed to choose players whose minds worked in the most unique ways.

One of the ideas Camille Victoria found especially brilliant was this:

This idea is based on a key observation: Although the amusement park appears to be perfectly integrated into the city, it is actually separate from the game world and is essentially a special instance.

Another base rule is: In the city, depending on the distance between the crime scene and the police station, NPC police will arrive within 5 to 10 minutes.

This created a loophole: If you can buy a ticket to the amusement park within 5 minutes of a robbery, the NPC police in the game world cannot enter the amusement park to catch you.

Because while players can jump between instances, NPC police can’t— from the NPC’s perspective, an instance is effectively another world.

Looking at her group friends, this bunch of by definition “weak, old, and disabled,” Camille Victoria proposed a daring idea, “How about we all team up for a robbery!”