KoL

Deep Ground Online (Hiatus)

@Flamelord@KoL

I'm not even through this entire OOC backlog but i may as well add in a small remark.

Please take a moment to consider that for all of their heady adventures in cyber space, these are high school students who have their room and board covered by their families. IE, their expenses are rather minimal outside a need for food.

Two, these are high school students who, if they have any jobs, are probably low paying so most wouldn't have any significant savings in the bank. What they lose may sting but it certainly isn't a great loss in the long run.

Three, if we factor in their low savings and low expenses, then having an empty bank account won't cause them issue for more then two weeks at most, because- I'm only guessing here until KoL clarifies- that their bank accounts arn't being actively drained. So the next time they get a paycheck or ask their parents for an advance on their allowance, they have money again.

Of course, for the people who are heavy spenders and may have loads of expenses would be drastically harmed, but that seems to me more like the people living like Chiyo. Masea? Yeah, she just needs to tighten her belt for a bit or call home for food money. Same with everyone else. Worse comes to worse, pawn some stuff. You don't need to bend the knee to Chiyo so quickly.

@Lonewolf685

No, Lone, they ae being actively siphoned and you know whose fault is this and why no adults ever pay mind to it (they literally don't see a problem in the world there), no matters if it's parents or the Interpol, the world is ok in their eyes. Since you know who the real antagonist is and how he does things I hardly need to explain more. DO I?

Deep Ground Online (Hiatus)

I'll reply to this on the PM. Please, drop this OOC discussion.

War Notes

I'll see if I can post here tomorrow or the day after. For the time being, please enjoy @TheWindel lil' ghost show.

Deep Ground Online (Hiatus)

@KoL
Aight, is there going to be like, a message from their bank telling them their account's frozen? Or would it be more like, they go and try to buy something with their card and realize that, oh shit, their card's getting denied?

Also, is cash still a thing in this world, or is currency all digital?

@ERode

Their account/credit card balance should be showing as zero, regardless of how much money they try to charge/transfer to it. So it's not like their accounts are frozen but rather like they have been picked clean and someone left a bottomless pit in their place.

There's still physical currency, but it's rare for people to have large sums of it, even more than today since automated payment methods should be the rule rather than the exception, like... Japan of today.

Deep Ground Online (Hiatus)

If you wanted to instill a sense of hopelessness, you've done it.

@Mega Birb

Thanks, it looks like someone finally noticed it. This isn't a fight you win with brute force, not in the real world, at least.

Deep Ground Online (Hiatus)

Huh, so...I wasn't even aware that everyone's bank accounts were frozen? Mind giving me some background information on that?

And huh, is there a particular reason why most people AREN'T Lvl 9, KoL? It seems like, if it only takes a few days to grind up to that level, it's REALLY easy to become Lvl 9.

@ERode

Well, people can't seem to be able to have access to any digitally stored currency unless (this began right around the time of my last post as Eris, basically, so it's not something that was happening before). The reason why and how to repair it will be announced in the IC later, by Chiyo. For the time being, people should be barely aware of that, but it's already happening since it began on my last post. Just to be clear.

As for the second question. I'll be sincere, it's a few days of non-stop PVP grind, or a few weeks of non-stop PVE grind. Spread in a casual way, it would take just a few months (accounting for some defeats and thus EXP loss, along the way). The only reason most players aren't that level yet is because all of the DGO's plot so far happened in around 3 ~ 4 weeks of IC time, of which the servers have been down for at least one.

That and because originally it was very, [Redacted] Authorities Reasons. As @Lonewolf685 can attest, the EXP gain have been greatly normalized. We expect people to reach Lvl 09 sooner or later, but this can only happen if they y'know... follow the plot at least a little since the story battles are the main source of PVP EXP.

Don't worry, you are doing really well until now, but sadly certain events need to happen and affect the whole group. Hopefully people won't ignore the story even further from now on, and we can get to the point were most if not all players will be at level 9 or close to it.

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@Mega Birb

I edited Eris's part of my post already, now she's reacting in a sensible way to Aaron.

Deep Ground Online (Hiatus)

@TheWindel

Theoretically, how long would it take for someone to non-stop grind to Lv9? Given the role he fell into, I'm planning on Nyx forcing through to the cap as soon as physically possible once Aaron sees the damage Chiyo's causing. Reason: Without a bank account he can't buy food, and he's too dedicated to the Harleys to swap colors.

@Mega Birb

Mind that, begin Lvl 9 isn't the same as being as powerful as King. Also, it would take a few days at least, that's if you were doing it through non-stop PVP.

If you want to get there by defeating Dissolutions it would take weeks, since they give much less EXP than a PC.

Deep Ground Online (Hiatus)

@KoL

Back to the money thing, you know how I specifically stated in Aderyn's CS that she's a tech wizard, right? Well if she puts her life on the line and goes data mining into Black Fox activities and digs up the order to deplete non-Mask accounts, which I'm assuming is REALLY illegal on both ends, then the authorities have no choice but to crack down on them.

Media coverage would be insane on something like this, a reputable private security group caught in a web like that would leave no breathing room. And I fully accept that, if I do this, Aderyn's life gets put in mortal danger.

@Mega Birb

You are not forbidden from trying to do this, IC. Just be mindful to not severely overstep her level of skill. Up to this moment she has never been made to look like she can crack high security systems (which is pretty much inhuman, even with today's cryptography methods, but we can gloss over it because of fictionland logic).

In the end, if you are going to do it, do it IC and in a way that we see what you are doing. We'd love to see action since there's reactions prepared for most possible scenarios, which can be used to actually fuster the plot. However, you know that we are none too fond of convenient ass pulls.

Deep Ground Online (Hiatus)

You're right, it will end. It will end when everyone decides to stop fighting and let Chiyo win so they don't have to suffer anymore. Because they have no guarantee that winning will change anything, when Chiyo still has all her connections, all her resources, and Mommy dearest with her exclusive access and private military to divert any consequences that might befall her and to continue making the lives of all her enemies hell.

This war may be settled in the digital world, but it is driven by real life concerns. And right now nobody currently active who is not a GMPC has any way to compensate or retaliate for this in a way that actually means anything. Like I said, if they don't stage a miracle then the war is over.

Basically, at this point it looks to me like you are further setting up your own characters as the focus of this story, saying 'follow us and do what we say if you want to get your victory. We are your cannon fodder, marching forward to the sound of the drums so you can claim your victory. That's what it looks like to me, and in the end this is a negative incentive, not a positive one. It says 'don't fight me and your suffering will end.' Unless Chiyo is planning to commit mass genocide of course, which I wouldn't put past you at this point.

Still, I don't expect this to make much of a difference, since we've done this song and dance before.

@Flamelord

I won't confirm or deny this, since this discussion has no end in sight based on these arguments.

Just answer me, how many times have we basically implored for people to do something with the plot we've set up? It's not like we railroaded anyone, you just chose to drift, despite our many appeals and calls to action.

It isn't unfair that you get to some just desserts now, I think.

Deep Ground Online (Hiatus)

The problem is that the characters have no way to respond or otherwise cointeract this escalation, because the only people who could are GM characters and Lucius' characters. Nobody else playing has the resources, status or connections. This escalation is a knock out blow because in a day or two everyone who isn't a die hard to the cause will defect so they have access to any money at all and the rest can be rolled over with ease.

I appreciate wanting to raise the stakes amd make things more serious, but you've done it in a way that only the GMPCs can fix, short of the opposing alliance having some kind of miracle comeback and winning within a day or two. We certainly don't have any real world solutions, so whatever else you plan will just add humiliation atop the inevitable win now that our agency is basically gone.

@Flamelord

Well, taking action is a very, very good way to start to solve things. This war was born in the digital world, so it must end in the digital world. I guess this was made obvious up to now, I think?

After all, only Eris and Chiyo can admit new members on the White Guild and only Kenji can do it for the Greens. Defecting isn't going to be so easy and painless as you think.