[Books] i'm remembering this book i was OBSESSED with when i was a kid, blandly titled Epic. the back cover made it seem like a VRMMO thing to young me, which i guess it technically was? but here's the first bit of fun trivia about Epic: it was originally published in 2004, waaaay before SAO got popular, and that's not getting into the interesting parts

so, like, to fully contextualize why this book is more fascinating the more i remember and research about it, i should probably summarize what it's actually about. note: this summary may be inaccurate since it's been ages since i've read it

the basic premise is that in the "real world" of Epic, everything is decided by your progress in the vrmmo experience titled "Epic." (you can see why i'm doing proper caps for the book title now.) social status, the economy, how likely you are to receive aid when you're in trouble, etc. are all linked to how well you're doing in the game

which seems like an objectively stupid, artificial system, especially when the game makes a big deal about Permadeath (and also seems like it Does Not Get MMOs, like most things that would later define the vrmmo genre) so if your avatar dies you are straight fucked

and then

spoilers for the novel coming up btw

it turns out that the reason why this objectively stupid, artificial system with everything linked to the Game is the way that it is

is that the game is the last remaining easily accessible technology from the colonization of this planet, which went disastrously wrong and ended up stranding the colonists on the planet and cutting them off from communicating with earth

and it's only through sort of... hacking through the interface of the game that the colonists' descendants, who have lost most of this history, can make use of this old technology

(and incidentally, the game itself was never meant to be a VRMMO played on such a wide scale. it was supposed to be a fun little fantasy simulator for the colonists to play around with to keep themselves entertained on the long spaceflight)

but the thing is there is actually a group of old assholes who are the Most Powerful Group In The Game who were the ones who came up with the structure of "your social wellbeing is tied directly to how you're doing well in the game" to keep everyone focused on the game and thereby stagnate advancement

which prevents the irl advancement that'd be needed to understand more about the technologies that they use via the game hardware, and also keeps said Old Assholes in power

and it's just like. this kind of genuinely brilliant twist on the vrmmo genre, except it isn't a twist at all because the novel was written back in 2004, back when SAO was just a deeply mediocre to bad ongoing web novel

that's just the background details and pitch for the antagonists, though

the actual plot of the novel follows the protagonist, named... erik, i think? whose family is in a really tough spot. potentially his dad died but i'm not sure if that's it, basically the family farm is falling apart and everything is fucked because neither he nor anyone else in his family are good enough at the game to receive substantial aid

so erik does something that by the laws laid down is SUPER ILLEGAL

and just. repeatedly throws himself into dangerous situations to try and find some quick way to get enough in-game cash to help his family, getting his characters killed VERY OFTEN, which is something that's supposed to basically permanently ruin your real life if it happens once, and re-making new ones on the sly, which is again super illegal

and he's in the throes of this "fuck it" nihilism when he decides

"screw it this next character is doomed anyways i'm gonna have some fun with it"

and makes his next avatar totally against the established meta by putting all points into beauty instead of combat stats, and ends up with this shockingly beautiful girl swashbuckler named cindella

and like. i don't want to make any judgments right now since i don't think my egg was even cracked the last time i read the novel but i vaguely remember some Extremely Gender Stuff going on there and i want to see if i'm remembering correctly

anyways, plot of the book happens, erik and pals exploit game bugs and route new paths because nobody's actually tried this build (which is actually something that for once makes sense in the context of the story since you REALLY want to do well in the game so you can do well irl, and in turn that means everyone goes with the meta)

then eventually find out the truth about their world, overthrow the corrupt system, and i think the first book ends on the note of trying to reestablish contact with earth? not sure, though

(Epic is part of a trilogy, i only remember vague bits of its sequel, Saga, and that Saga did the thing i've been waiting for vrmmo isekai to do and portray most of the story from the perspective of the NPCs, and i've never read the third book at all)

so like, really interesting book! i looked up the author out of curiosity, this guy by the name of Conor Kostick

and this is where i learn the two things that make me really want to reread because i think considering the author there might be some stuff i'd find a lot more interesting as an adult reading this

the first is actually some trivia that Ochrona might enjoy, in that kostick was one of the designers for one of if not the first larps ever, the original Treasure Trap in 1982, and suddenly the structure of the game "Epic" makes so much more sense since it isn't designed like an mmo, it's designed like a virtual larp

and the second is that kostick was an editor for Socialist Worker of ireland and a registered member of the environmentalist/leftist party of the Independent Left of ireland

so like. i really wonder how this is gonna read looking at it through an explicitly leftist lens

LIKE I CAN'T BE THE ONLY PERSON WHO FINDS THIS STUFF INTERESTING RIGHT i really want to take a closer look at this game now!!!