After wandering around my town by myself for an hour I log out of Augmented Stars. I break my routine and look online to see if there's any news of deserted towns in the game. I had expected some Non-player characters, or NPCs, but so far haven't seen one. Granted, I haven't managed to get very far from my apartment on foot in the game but still. I had expected to see some facsimile of life besides animals in the park.
"No one in my town," I say aloud as I scroll through forum posts. I land on an article about how the game has been rolling out slow with the unexpected problem of people in rural areas finding they are the only ones with the EcFi Halo within a hundred miles of anyone. Apparently people are unhappy with this. Someone even started a petition to give everyone in the game a free bicycle, at least, so they can get around their towns easier. Others wanted the login bonuses to be increased so people didn't have to take two years to afford a bicycle. I have my eyes set on a motorcycle so I don't have to peddle. I have noticed my endurance stats increase from walking around a bit in game, but still. It's hyper realistic. You feel everything. The sunlight on your skin, the air temperature. The weather seems tied to weather in reality too, so I'm sure it will also rain and snow in some areas. Getting around on foot or a bicycle is troublesome enough in reality. Who wants to spend a ton of money to buy a game system where they're stuck walking everywhere too?
I don't sign any of the petitions.
At the moment, I'm content wandering my neighborhood in-game. If Everglade doesn't do something to appease players I will maybe think about spending real money in Augmented Stars, but only after they've added the promised quests, tasks, and monsters.
It is raining. In reality. It had been raining since before I left work. I hang my riding jacket on a chair to dry next to my helmet before taking a shower. After I have a quick breakfast I settle into Augmented Stars. It's raining in the game as well. I throw on my optional long coat and head outside. The avatar I'm using is about my height in reality but more curvy. I take a walk around the apartment complex as rain falls gently on the sidewalk. It looks so real. I can even smell the rain. It's relaxing. I stand under the awning outside for an hour just listening before I log out again. Instead of going to sleep I head outside and stand where I had in the game, and continue to listen to the rain for another hour. People keep coming and going. A few ask me if I'm okay. One doesn't want to accept that I'm just enjoying the sound of the rain and keeps asking if I need anything. I guess he doesn't realize I live in this apartment complex. I walk through the rain to the park across the street until the guy leaves the area. I'd rather he not know which unit I live in. Ducks try to sleep as the rain comes down. Cars honk in the distance. It's less relaxing to stand outside to listen to the rain in real life.
Each day I walk farther from my apartment in Augmented Stars before heading back to log out. I've seen the same few houses about four blocks from my house a number of times and every time they look the same as before. It seems if the house is unoccupied I can't enter it, but I can go into the yards. And I can take things. Like the ax I have in my inventory. Picking it up and taking it from someone's backyard gave me two achievements: Lumberjack and Thief. Both of which came with added skill bonuses that carry from one avatar skin to the next. I know it's a ridiculous thought, but the latter accomplishment made me worry I had somehow really taken someone's ax. The next day on my way to work I stop by that home, peer into the backyard, and see there is an ax, identical to the one I stole in-game, sitting roughly in the same area I found the one in the game. I got back on my motorcycle and left as soon as possible. It was late at night and I didn't want someone thinking I was trying to break in. The fact that there was a real ax in the same area as in the game makes my skin crawl a bit. The game couldn't have gotten the information from me or my memories because I didn't know there would be an ax in that yard. How is the world of Augmented Stars being made so accurate to reality?
The next time I play the game I swing back by that house. The ax has returned to the back yard. So, apparently those re-spawn. I wonder if they have a usage limit or something, so I hop the fence and take the second ax and stow it in my inventory.
>Achievement unlock skill Thief upgrade Level 2
>Achievement unlock skill Lumberjack upgrade Level 2
While in the back yard I split some of the logs laying around and also add those to my inventory. The Thief skill doesn't upgrade again but the Lumberjack skill does, to level 3, which gives me an added strength bonus. I eye a small tree in the home's backyard and proceed to chop it down. The Lumberjack skill upgrades again to level 4. Here I am, small town lumberjack, chopping up a stranger's tree in an abandoned city. Fun.
I just wish there was someone else to talk to in the game.
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