1 Prologue: Wasting the Legacy of AI on an VRMMO

[Reader's (if any), you can skip this prologue if you don't care about how the VRMMO came to be. I don't care if you do, I usually skip boring or rehashed content/exposition when I try to binge stories. I apologize in advance to anyone named Juliet. The actual story starts on Volume 2 so I would skip to there.]

"Don't you think think this is a little absurd?"

Man had long since developed AI in the early twenty first century (2000's). The early programs could be called AI, but the problems with these rudimentary AI were that their learning algorithms were too simplistic. They could be taught how to correctly analyse a color on any image with 90% certainty or you could program it to find patterns in an algorithm, like a human, but could not teach it to go outside the very specific parameters you had forced it to learn. Breaking the learning threshold was something all of us researchers had faced, and not a single one of us could not find a way around it. While we worked on the problem, technology continued to advance and Moore's law surprisingly held true to both of his prediction. The transistors in chips sets had doubled every year, and they reached their practical limit as to what what they could house in 2025. In 2025, a single commercially available chip set could roughly house about 400 million transistors and the server chip architecture of industrial grade supercomputers could even house upwards of one billions transistors per server chip.

With such powerful server chips suddenly becoming available, it was only a matter of time before more advanced AI was developed. The new problem was the cost and practicality of such systems. A single computer to run a chip with 400 million transistors was simple, that is why there were now commercially available. For a single supercomputer that I envisioned, it would have to run hundreds of the industrial grade server chips, not commercial. The programming manpower alone, for a single supercomputer, to run hundreds of server chips to "talk" to help one another make judgement would be astronomical. Hundreds of millions of human work hours for programmers of the highest quality was impossible for any one person to pay for; or so I though. For a full fledged AI, we would need tens of Supercomputers, with similar amounts of manpower to program each. Factoring in Server Chips set for all the computers, the price would at the very least be a trillion, the GDP (gross domestic product) of several small countries.

The man standing before me was one such person I didn't know existed. The Chairman, John Walton who's net worth had surpassed over nine trillion dollars, controlled around fifty five percent of the wealth in the world. Chairman Walton's net worth made the second biggest holder of wealth Feff Cezos, who had a net worth of over 300 billion, look like chump change. He was already the primary share holder in all the Malmart Super Centers, had bought out a majority of Shares in Wisney, and was slowly becoming a major shareholder of the Pencent Media Group. If this man wanted to, he could probably solve work hunger, pollution issues, and even force world peace or cause a world war.

Yet this man had personally invested over two trillion dollars of his wealth into creating an AI. An AI specifically tailored to running a VRMMORPG. Had I not taken his offer, it would have been impossible to fund the project and I would have had to of left my work to future scientist to improve and basically take my credit for my work. Even if I had succeeded in finding the funding, I now know my original estimated was far too conservative. It was a must that I joined hands with Chairman Walton. So, although I had to personally caved into his specific demands for my AI to be tailored around running a fantasy MMO, I have no regrets. Now that the work is finally finished, I can claim the majority of the credit to build the AI as my own when I publish my work. All programmers and staff had to sign NDA agreements stating I would take all credit, in my future papers on AI, in exchange for much higher pay. In the end, the system is run by three mega clusters of super computers. It is far from what I had originally envisioned.

The Chairman finally looks at me directly, and scoffed. Thinking that I am referring to the project.

"Now that we have completed the project you think it absurd, Tim?"

"..."

"With how much money I invested into this project, the only one who can call it as such is myself! This project will soon be printing us money, and that includes you too. Not only will you have fame, money, the first fully functional AI, but you will be also be known as the creator of the biggest gaming title in the century!"

"No, not the project Mr Chairman. I have already come to terms with the absurdity of the AI project long ago. It has been my lifelong dream to make such an absurd dream a reality. I'm referring to the the cheats you are placing on your daughter's future character. I was just given a transcript of said cheats. In my life I have never played an MMO and I am not a game designer, but even I can tell from a single glance they are absurd. I know you like to dote on your only daughter but isn't it a little too much for the future balance of the game? Let's not even talk about the name you have forced upon her."

"I have never really played MMO's either, but how is what I have given her broken? I own the game so I have to at least give her this. I already promised the world, that MalCore won't mess with the systems of Wish once it begins it's operations. Once its up and running, I won't be able to personally help my daughter in any way through the system. The game designers said this was fine as long as she has never played any RPGs. Also I really believe that name describes my daughter the best, so I specifically reserved this name so no one else could take it from her."

The name Juliet always felt archaic to Tim, the old man's naming sense was off. He had know Juliet since she was a kid and practically treated her like a niece. Yet Juliet's given name seemed to be a heavenly blessed compared to the name of her future avatar, "Sky above the sky." In Wish, names could be hidden if one didn't have an identification skill, but even with such a game system this name would definitely cause Juliet problems in the future. Conflicted about giving Juliet such heaven defying abilities Tim continued to question the Chairman.

"Setting aside the awful name, gaining four times the experience a normal person gains in itself is already heavenly defying in a game where levels can easily settle a dispute between players. Yet you even gave her 25 Good Luck, 400 Charm, 200 Insight, and you unlocked all other hidden stats for Juliet when a base character can only can have a maximum of ten stats starting out. In our game you only gaining four more stat slots to unlock after each class change, even then you don't gain more stat types unless you unlock them. Luck and Charm cannot be raised unless special quest are completed or items contain the bonus stat. Insight is needed by scouting characters but you have to slowly raise it yourself by examining others and is not easy to increase."

"The only strong advantage I am giving my daughter is the increase in XP. The game designers told be to pick these stats because they have no affect in combat damage values. Every 25 Good Luck only increases the drop chance of an item by one, I am told. 400 charm will let regular NPC's adore my daughter like a friend, there couldn't be any harm in giving her more love in game. 200 insight is what the game designers stressed the most about giving her, it will allow her to see the names of people and equipment if they show it openly. Knowing my daughter, she won't even become a front line fighter, so her leveling rate will be same as those who do not play the game for a living."

"In truth, I do have to agree with you on Juliet not wanting to be a front line tank or swordsmen. Even so, if she goes a mage she may end up being a powerhouse. I'll just have to take the game designers word that the bonus stats you have given her will not break the game."

Dr. Smith looked around the room he was in, the rest of the board had not said anything in rebuttal to what Chairman Walton had said. This game was about to make MalCore billions of dollars as the first VRMMO title. If anyone refuted the Chairman, who knows if they would last till the next quarter to reap the benefits of such an amazing investment. Would letting one person have a few extra perks change the game play of anyone else that would them from using WIsh? No way. Right?