RL: The Game

I will be reviewing perhaps the most hyped up game ever to be released.
It is fully worthy of all the hype. This is RL.

First of all, I would like to simply say that this is the most beautiful game my eyes have ever beheld. Absolutely stunning. The graphical quality is superb. Some in-game screenshots are available throughout the review--I had to lower the resolution. Once you see those, you will know for a fact that there is no way that any game could ever approach the immense quality seen in this world. While looking through your avatar's eyes, the graphics are in such High Definition that you will never see a pixel, or "jaggies" or a low-quality texture on anything. EVER. There is no limit to the draw-distance. No objects "pop-in" as you approach them. The only limits to the distance of your vision are your character's vision rating (on a confusing scale of fractions over 20), the weather, and (obviously) objects in the way.

You have not seen weather like this in a game before

Speaking of weather. Wow. The physics engine in this world is astounding. The amount of time and brain power invested in creating this world is absolutely mind-boggling. Most games' physics stop at making things fall realistically, or crash realistically. Not so here. Each sub-microscopic piece of matter is meticulously detailed and can be observed indirectly through experiments and electron microscopes and all sorts of fantastic things. The world spins around an unimaginably large ball of burning gases hundreds of thousands of miles away. And around the world on which your avatar resides, another near-sphere orbits. As night progresses, this sphere, known as "Moon" will realistically move from one side of the planet to the other. The clouds and wind and rain and all weather effects are superbly done with never a glitch or faulty detail. Such detail is unprecedented in any setting. Clouds float and change, you can activate an in-game computer or television and find out what sort of weather will come soon, or see what weather you slept through (I'll explain sleep later). I could go on and on explaining and praising the amazing physical detail, but you should buy the game yourself and experience it firsthand. One more thing about physics here. Water. [jaw drops]

You've seen pretty water in games before (see Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Half-Life 2, Crysis) but you have not seen it like this. Light reflects, and bounces, and filters through dirty water (and any other liquids--acids, drinks, everything!) Water flows from high to low and is absorbed by certain substances and not others. Absolutely amazing is the work that went into the creation of this world's water effects. Screenshots speak for themselves.

Artificial Intelligence. The AI in RL: The Game is fantastic. People and animals react in realistic ways to every action performed. You push a cat, he'll either run away, or bite back or just fall over, it will depend on that cat's personality. Every NPC (non-player-character, for the uninitiated) has his or her own distinct personality. Reactions to other actions all depend on a massive list of various factors including (but not limited to): mood, personality, time of month, friendship status, time of day, exhaustion level, laws, social standards/norms (which differ in various parts of the world), political views of the individual, and other events going on at the time. Occasionally, a reaction to a joke or physical act will be unexpected, but that is part of the fun. Don't break these laws.

You never know about all of the other circumstances in an NPC's life. So what may seem to you an over-reaction may be simply a result of a bad time frame. Maybe the NPC's grandmother just died. Maybe he or she failed a test. You never know. The variety of people and personalities is so vast that you will never meet a copy of a character you've met before (except in a few small instances, where you may meet one who looks almost identical to another, but they will generally have very different personalities. These are known as twins--even rarer are triplets or quadruplets and occasionally even higher numbers. Those psuedo-clones approach non-existence with their low population numbers.) Currently, there are over 6 and a half BILLION players in the world, and the number is ever-rising at a current rate of around 1 percent a year. Try to wrap your head around those numbers. Here, I'll show you 6.5 billion. 6500000000. Look at all those zeros. You know your computer screen? You know those little dots that make up the image? If you're running at 1024x768 resolution (pretty standard) that's only 786432 dots. And you can hardly see those on your monitor. Multiply that by more than 8000 and you'll get the amount of dots to be around the number of players. That's a lot.

Look at the amazing flora

Each action you make has realistic and meaningful consequences. There is a realistic decision-making mechanism, and with each decision you make you affect many around you. You may be punished by law-enforcers for making poor decisions and you will actually have to endure your punishment (unlike Oblivion, wherein you can simply skip through your sentences), which provides ample reason to not break the law. So yes, you can do whatever you want, but punishments will follow. Similarly, you can also say whatever you want to people, or do whatever, but you will suffer consequences for it. If you build up a strong friendship and one day feel like terrorizing that character, he or she may never talk to you again. You have to be willing to deal with the consequences of your actions. This is not Grand Theft Auto. On the same token, when you die, you die. There are no "Continues" or "Extra-lives" or anything of the sort. There are no spawn points (unless you count the hospital where new characters are brought into the world, after having been created about 9 months earlier by combining half of two character's traits (randomly chosen by a complex algorithm)). When you die, there is no more playing in RL. However, there is a hidden Second Portion (SP) to RL: The Game. Everyone's having too much fun (or everyone's too scared) to go try it out, as it's only accessible after closing your account in RL proper. Also, as no one comes back into RL after going to the SP, no one knows what SP is like.

Beautiful tree images

Related to the SP is the topic of theology. In the game world, you may choose any theology you like (not completely dissimilar to Civilization IV's religion mechanic) and each comes with various positive and/or negative effects. I don't know if they should be called positive or negative, because perception of these effects is all subjective. For instance, there may be rules you are to follow in your religion (which some may view as a negative effect) but there may be positive consequences for following those rules, such as longer life, better health and opportunities to meet nice people. Your character may be raised in one religion, but you are permitted to change your religion as you see fit (of course there will be positive and negative consequences of this as well--maybe your family is composed of devout members of one church, but you don't believe in it? Do you risk ostracism? Or is your family kind and loving enough that they would love you and accept you even if you left? Decisions are yours!) Almost all Theologies come with some perception of the SP, and it is up to you to decide what you believe. Effects in the SP of the Theology you chose in RL proper are still unknown.

Look at the incredibly contrast ratio and the colors and the light filtering through leaves.

As I promised I would mention it earlier, here is the section on Sleep. While you sleep, to recharge you exhaustion level (or avoid troubles or speed through boredom) there's a mini-game for you to play. When you sleep, your character enters into the "Dream" mini-game. "Dreams" vary widely and are described/created by an algorithm factoring all sorts of variables including mood, how recently you ate, recent in-game-movies you've seen, exhaustion level, current game-world events, among other things. These mini-games can be anything from a fun jaunt along the beach (with no real goal) to a fast and intense race from an alien monster (with the goal being survival (in Dream, deaths only result in a new mini-game to play, or consciousness)).

Your character has a huge list of stats, and you have to decide which to increase through practice or training. Some stats start higher than others. Those "knacks" are generally decided by the traits passed from your character's predecessors. All stats can be trained to "master level" but some will be more difficult for your character to increase. Others you will find increase in level rapidly. The list of these statistics is so immense that it would be foolish of me to list them all, so here is a very very small sample: Amiability, Emotional Control, Musical Skill (General), Musical Skill (Specific Instruments), Mathematic Skills (General), Mathematic/Science Skill (Specific Area), Alertness (Of the wellness of others), Alertness (Of Danger), Fashion Sense, Laziness, Sports Ability (General), Sports Ability (Specific Sport), Hunting (Bows), Hunting (Firearms), Cooking (General), Cooking (Specific Style)... et cetera. The list is nearly infinitely long. You are also permitted to increase as many of those skills as you can find time to do. Within those "Specific" subsets of skills are lists of various more specific subjects, and you can choose many different ones, so you aren't prevented from only learning one sport, for example, or one cooking style. As long as your character has time, he or she can increase skills in as many areas as you want.

This only covers a tiny tiny tiny tiny tiny miniscule portion of RL: The Game, but I hope that it gives you a glimpse of the perfection that is RL, and an appreciation for the Head Programmer.

An explorable barn

A grove with a small creek at the bottom. Look at the quality of the reflections!

Gorgeous lake with spectacular reflection. The birds had flown away as I moved my character too close. Note that no objects are missing in the distance.

Oh, it's not too far.

How far is "not too far," really?

Family road trips. Any distance can probably be considered too far. However, parents seemed convinced that any time before we all end up killing one another is "not too far" and we'll "be OK." Youth sitting in the back of a vehicle, with little legroom and no patience makes any distance too far. 4 hours is too far.

Just because we aren't dead doesn't mean we're OK, OK?.

Have you sat in a car with incompetent drivers for several hours (and you can't drive cause the car is rented!) with kids fighting over radio choices, the heater usually too hot and no room for 3 full-grown bodies to sit without touching one another? Have you ever had a chocolate melt all over your pants and said rented car's seats because a sibling threw it at you and you couldn't find it? All of us, I'm sure, have had unfortunate stories. Share your stories about travelling "too far." We can commiserate.

The Door (another assignment from Creative Writing)

That looks carved in there. Impossible to move. I wonder what it's there for?Is it just chilling—just being a door stuck in this tree? That doesn't even make sense. That makes about as much sense as ... as much sense as... something that doesn't make sense. Calculus. A door in this tree makes as much sense as calculus.

The forest around David was vast. How did I get so lost in here? The trees' shadows swayed across the forest floor and up and down trunks as the wind softly pushed and pulled the branches above. The sunbeams shone here and there throughout the woods, but a large beam fell directly onto the doorway from above and behind David. The door was carved into the massive trunk of the largest tree Jarad had ever seen—why haven't I seen this before?—and had an organic aesthetic to it. As though, almost, it hadn't been carved, but instead had grown thus. Wildly growing branches grew out of the doorway around it—for the door was embedded deep in the trunk—and took advantage of the sunlight that seemed to call David to the doorway, casting light shadows over it. The door itself had an imperfectly shaped round handle and rough bark jamb. By the looks of the jamb, David noticed that the door would have to open inward.

The wind gained force, causing the shadows to dance wildly—David heard, or thought he heard, very quickly-spoken unintelligible whispers. The voiced gained volume, and lost clarity. The wind continued blowing harder. Harder.

Stop.

The wind stopped. Trees halted: frozen in their bent over state, appearing as though they would topple over at any moment. But it didn't matter: moments weren't passing, so the trees could not fall.

David looked up. Woah. The wind had not just been blowing that way—at his back—but it was blowing from all directions toward the door. all trees and plants were bent toward the door. Where are my friends? I need to show someone.

The whispers came back—but now as a conversational voice, and slowly.

“Knock and it will be opened unto you.”

“Knock and it will be opened unto you.”

“Knock and it will be opened unto you.”

The phrase repeated, each time in a different voice. It continued.

I can't not go toward the door. Nothing was physically holding David. But his mind could not bear to consider anything but opening that door. His mind had lost interest in anything but opening the bizarre door. There was nothing else. Only the door. One step closer.

Suddenly, his eyes widened. I've seen this. Grampa drew this door. This is the door I saw in a letter I received from Grampa. He drew it and mentioned the wonders inside. I'm stronger than he was. I can handle it. But he was sent to the asylum for his stories about this door and the effects the world beyond it had on his mind.

Let's see.

David knocked.

Surreal

Cellophane trumpets blast.

The stuttering rhythms burn through the soul. All is being lost.

Nobody knows you. I don't know you. I fall through you

there is no feeling—just a falling sensation. forever

and ever.

paint splatters against the walls—creating swirled and mindconfounding designs, vaguely familiar, yet

unknown.

Swirling in a syphon of despair the sun sets... rises. and rises again, bringing new light to a lost world.

Hearts swell.

they crawl out of their owners—no pain. no feeling.

the hearts wish to enjoy the soft warmth, unhindered by opaque clay bodies

a heartwarming sight.

smiling faces stare into the sun.

their hearts bask in its warmth and feel the glory.

the sun smiles back down.

A new world—lost, disattached from the grey world of modern man

visions ballet and war through the processors of those in somnium

faded

jaded

a blurred pandemonic garble of not-needed excesses

mesh messes clean the world of hopes for creation of new

swarles wage battles for themselves and for clearance of individs

nay.

a hole of life

hope

love

appears.

it beckons calls begs pleads invites all who want

Here

-i answer-

here

let me in.

Due to request by a comment, here are some more writings.

Breaking up with someone is a lot like setting your self on fire while standing in a campground close to a lake. Before you dismiss this as an unsubstantiated claim, hear me out. Dating someone is good, it lets you get to know someone more and get to know what you would like in your future spouse, but it's not all happy and perfect. Sometimes, things just aren't right. Not for any really specific reasons, just because it was not meant to be. But anyway, back to the metaphor. You're just sitting there, and getting covered in gasoline (preparing to break up with your significant other.) And it's all peachy, but your getting more nervous. Sure, you might have done this before, but it's not something that is easy to remember, it's such a fleeting things. So your heart starts pounding with anticipation of the inevitable.

And then you say it. Boom, the match is ignited and you're on fire. The heart panics, you don't know what the reaction might be. Who knows? It might just blow you up and you die instantly (she hates you) or maybe it'll just burn for a while and suck. Sure, she'll be upset, but she can't hate you forever. Probably. So here you are, on fire, because she's ticked and it hurts to have someone you care about hurt. But sometimes, things are necessary. (I don't think I can supoprt self-ignition as a necessity, however.)

Alas! There is respite after the hurt. The lake is near! You can run to the lake as soon as your friends who helped set you on fire (significant other) let you. So it kind of depends on whether she is quick to forgive or if you don't like her enough to care. If she is quick, it is as though your friends let you set yourself on fire on the shore to let you get to water quickly. But if she does not, then you are on fire in the middle of the woods and have to find solace after lots of painful running, which only fuels the fire. Or if you just don't care, then you are close the shore, too...with no friends.

Either way, there is a while of pain in both breakups and self-inflicted human combustion, but there is an inevitable end to both. And boy does jumping in the water feel good.

Ok, maybe they aren't that similar.

I just don't like running around the woods on-fire unsure of where the lake is. It's hard to find the lake when your vision is obscured by fire and your oxygen is being burned all around you as you run in circles, feeding the flame with new oxygen as you cover more ground.