Aeif

• The second update! It's been a long, long time, but I intend on continuing through with this Let's Play!
  
  Without further ado, let's begin.
  
  As your vision fades to black, you remove the virtual reality helmet and end your 3D gaming experience. You blink several times to adjust to the sunlight in the room, which pours in through sleek glass windows. Then you look across the conference table at a buttoned-up executive eyeing you.
  
  "So, what do you think? They really ramped up the graphics, right?" she blurts out. "Oh, don't spoil the surprise --- take the game home for your full report. You can collect your advance from the front desk on your way out. Thanks, as always, um..."
  
  You are Virtuous Reality's best game tester, but this executive still doesn't know your name. You force a smile and remind her that you are:
  
  Choice time.
  
  - A guy named...
  ---> A girl named...
  
  

There's a lot of names, for instance "Aurelia", "Chelsea", and "Erin", but for simplicity I'll choose myself.

"Sabrina."

"Right, Sabrina. Always a pleasure."

The executive then strides out the door --- no doubt on her way to a more important meeting. So you walk toward the front desk alone, thinking that you'd much rather be out there saving real helicopter crashes than testing fake ones. But hey, at least it pays the bills.

Though not very well, you think as you accept a deposit for $100 at the front desk.

Adding this amount to your bank account brings you to a grand total of $2100. Not exactly rolling in dough, are you?

You push all thoughts of money from your mind as you exit into the bustling streets of Millennia City. Nestled on America's west coast between Los Angeles and San Francisco, Millennia City is the shining beacon of twenty-second-century progress --- not to mention the city you've called home for your entire life.

You step into the crowd next to a woman whose skin is covered in fishy scales, each one reflecting a different color. You suppose this might surprise some people, but not you. NYC has finance, LA has entertainment, and DC has politics, but MC has heroes --- it's the Powered capitol of the country, a fact you're reminded of as a sonic boom pulses through the air. You look up to see twin blondes rocketing across the sky, a cloud of smoke left in their wake. You sigh, knowing that you belong up there with the legends instead of down here with the masses.

These days, one out of every three people is born with Powered abilities and pretty much every one of them wants to be a hero. Especially now that Powered Heroes have eclipsed movie stars and music icons to set the standard for an A-list celebrity.

You'd also love to be flying home right now, considering you have the power to fly. However, after one too many gruesome midair collisions, the Department for the Regulation of Powered Resources (DRPR) designated the skies for government-licensed travelers only.

So flying is definitely off-limits for you... but do you let that stop you?

Choice time.

- Absolutely --- heroes are meant to enforce the law, not break it.
- Of course not --- I was born to fly, no mater what the law says.

Please decide on a choice.

• Hi there, and welcome to Let's Play: Heroes Rise. Heroes Rise is a text adventure game developed in 2012 by Zachary Sergi primarily for the iOS and Android platforms. It is a story based on superheroes. It is available online for a fee of $2.99.
  
  I will be reading or typing the saga, depending on popular demand. I may attempt to do both, but doing both is an arduous task, so this, again, depends on popular demand.
  
  I will also allow the community (Skype, Twitter, and members of SAO-RPG) to determine some choices, mainly moral ones. I will most likely choose for myself if I run into a cosmetic or less important choice, e.g. what color the protagonist likes.
  
  The current choice is "Female or Male protagonist?", with 3 vote(s) for Female and 0 vote(s) for male.
  
  Without further ado, let's begin.
  
  

PART 1 - LEGEND HAS IT
... Chapter 1: Homeward Bound

Codename: Unknown
Fame | Justice: 50
Lawless | Lawful: 50
Offensive | Defensive: 50
Soloist | Team Player: 50
Power: 100
Health: 100
Money: $2,000

(Nothing at the moment.)

A helicopter blade slices through the air inches away from your face, filling your nostrils with the smell of burning metal. You don't have time to process this, however, as a ball of flame unfurls in your direction. You leap onto a neighboring rooftop and tumble around a smoldering chunk of engine. Today was supposed to be your day off, but when you saw a news chopper careening out of control above the city, you couldn't just stand by like a common pedestrian.

As you pull clear of the wreckage, you see that the ejected pilot floats high above the rooftops from a parachute --- one that is crawling with licks of flame. It won't be long before the parachute burns through and the pilot drops hundreds of stories to his death...

So, how are you going to save him?

Choice time.

- Rip up the cables that run along the roof and use them to lasso the pilot down.
---> Use the zip-cord from your wrist holster to reel in the pilot.
- Forget the pilot --- he'll be able to steer himself onto one of the rooftops. It's much more important to stop the burning wreckage from falling to the busy streets below.

You jump onto the ledge and use your finger to trigger the zip-cord. It shoots from the top of your wrist, with a magnetized tip set to latch on to the pilot's metal seat. Your shot lands perfectly. Then, with great care, you begin to retract the zip-cord, pulling the pilot safely onto the roof beside you.

Now of course if you still don't like it, then as always suggest a new model and staff will review if they want it or not. So far here all I see is complaints and not suggestions or recommendations on how to improve it as you guys are requesting.

• Hold onto your horses. I'm getting there.
  
  

If any one of you is willing to sit down each day go over the 100 players that post and play each day to ensure accuracy, integrity, and legitimacy of each RP post they make and cross reference their character sheet to ensure they don't cheat, and take on all the new users who join each day.... then be my guest.

• First off, one doesn't necessarily have to validate each post every day. This could be done over a weekly or monthly basis.
  
  Example:
  
  • There are word count goals. The minimum word count to receive an exp point is 50. For every 200 words thereafter, another experience point is given. Words are counted through

• 1: Edits on a post can be made long after the post's total amount of words is accounted for, and players can add more experience points behind GMs' backs.
  
  • Resolution: Lock threads after they have been completed.
    2: The amount of time it takes to methodically go through these threads and count up words would make verifying posts unrealistic.
    
    • Resolution: Reward players for exposing cheaters. Reward players for following the rules over long amounts of time. Showcase virtuous players to the community, and show that good behavior does not go unrewarded. Alternatively, punish cheaters immediately and make examples of them to discourage other players from cheating.

  The post count method was to ensure simplicity, easebility, participation, activity, commitment, and overall fairness.

  The current post-count method is simple, easy, and encourages activity and commitment. However, the current post count method also does not discourage players from being off-topic. Posts that do not have anything to do with SAO roleplay are rewarded with experience points. This encourages activity for the sake of activity, and not for the sake of roleplay. The forums may be active, but this does not necessarily mean that the roleplay is active. Ensuring that players must put in effort in order to receive experience for their posts will foster a healthy and productive environment for entertaining and creative stories.

  As for fairness, there must not be exceptions; the adult section of the Floors 1-10 thread only counts non-lemon posts toward EXP credit. These are legitimate, if not garish, posts. Do these posts not have the same value as a post about strawberry syrup or breasts? Where do we draw the line?

  Mixed it with real strawberries and put it in a pie that's what we did

  OMF IM ADDICTED TO THAT STUFF

  dude man i 100% agree, except B's are totally fine

  1v1 IRL. Let's do this Aeif.

  vs.

  The kiss was slow and gentle at first, as Nikki took her time to experience every bit of what swift had to offer. Not to long after though she pulled the woman in tighter, deepening the kiss. Slowly Nikki ran her fingers down swifts body now stopping at her hips, before gently pushing her towards the bed. "Are we allowed to do this? She whispered in regards to Swifts current relationship. The last thing Nikki wanted to ever do was cause any sort of problem.

  Rage awaited an answer from the chick that was sitting next to him and hopefully enough she told him, Rage then continued to say Claire Swift huh.. Mind if I just call you Swift? Rage said to her as she began drinking again, when she had finished drinking she had said something unexpected You know... you're pretty hot. Rage began to blush and he began feeling erection from his groin, Rage then replied U-uh thanks.. you're.. pretty beautiful yourself.. Rage began to blush and say those words/sentences in a nervous-such tone trying not to sound like a complete douche

  For context, I've added additional pieces of information you might find interesting.

  - Erroneous' post count: memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=2, most active forum as of March 15, 2014 9:05PM PST: Support and Feedback, 143 posts, 31.78% of user's posts.

  - Number of posts in the Sword Art Online roleplay forum: 11451 as of March 15, 2014 9:05PM PST, Number of posts in the Out of Context forum: 3216 as of March 15, 2014, 9:05PM PST. Divide 3216 by 11451 and you will get 0.28085, or 28.1%; The Out of Context forum alone has roughly 30% or 3/10s of the Sword Art Online roleplay forum's posts. This does not mean that 3/10s of every roleplayer's posts are in the OoC forum, but it is an interesting thing to note.

  ---

  [*:13q33qs0]Anyone who devoted and active enough can attain a level of completion.

  [*:13q33qs0]Inactive staff wouldn't hinder players progress.

  [*:13q33qs0]Nobody could cheat as staff could delete spam posts and drop players level back down.

  [*:13q33qs0]Encouraged players to post outside the RP sections so they wouldn't get burned out from only RP'ing.

  [*:13q33qs0]And your levels always auto-updated no matter what, taking less time calculating and more time RP'ing.

  [*:13q33qs0]Anyone can join at anytime on the site.

  Again, healthy activity fosters healthy activity, which in turn encourages competition between players. However, unhealthy activity, such as spamming for post counts, only results in unhealthy competition between 'time'. Players who have the time to post comments with little thought or intellectual value should not be more rewarded than players who don't have the time to post such comments, but make the extra effort to write well-thought out ideas and sentences.

  To reduce the possibility of cheating, the staff could simply discount all non-roleplay related threads for experience credit.

  Players should be encouraged to post outside of RP sections, but should not be rewarded for doing so. The problem with rewarding players for commenting outside of roleplay is that threads can get off-topic if people are using non-roleplay related threads to further their characters in the roleplay.

  It is true, however, that this way is easier and would take less time. But as the adage goes, "Anything worth doing is worth doing right."

Why is post-count the global experience of characters in this forum?

Can we change that? It's really bothering me that there's no incentive to post thoughtful replies or creative comments in this forum. It'd be great if we ran things the word-count way.

Also, why are posts outside of roleplay counted as experience? Can we get rid of leveling up via spamming by irrelevant threads? I would not be surprised if 50% of the highest leveled characters' posts are nothing but spam/OOC posts.

• Not 'favorite' song. I'm curious, if you're listening to music while looking at this thread, what's the track you're listening to? Also, add in a couplet or a verse or so from the song that you find interesting/good/etc.
  
  Cise Starr - Adrift
  

Tell me.

Why/What do you believe?

Personally I see religion, especially Christianity, as being a huge fallacy.

Heer u go

• Shiro kept a low profile as the pleasantries were passed along. She wordlessly took hold of the hilt of her blade and sheathed it; Shiro had no intention of sharing her information with the other players. It didn't take long for them to forget that she was even there. With nothing left to do, Shiro decided to tail them.
  
  As the two went into combat, Shiro stayed a distance away, watching them and watching the enemies. It kept her mind off things.

• Shiro scanned around, a frown on her face.
  
  • There's one more. I know it. So where's it hiding...?
    • Shiro had been picking the area clean of boars, gaining experience points along the way. She'd fought them one at a time, getting to familiarize herself with combat. Mostly, however, to get used to the surrealism of slaughtering virtual animals nigh-indistinguishable from real ones. Maybe the game wasn't completely realistic, but it was difficult to kill something that looked so real - not just because the boar was scary, but also because killing the animal itself was a scary experience.
      
      Shiro had never in her life left the city despite the hardships. So she'd spent a while looking around, taking in the sights before she murdered the beings before her.
      
      It was, to put it mildly, an 'odd' experience.
      
      
      • Ah.

    As Shiro was thinking this, she noticed a figure far away. It was probably the last one in the area, so she threw caution to the wind and threw her sword like a javelin towards it.

    ---

    Rolling...

    Battle dice: 1.

    ---

    The sword went wide, but Shiro didn't care. It landed tip-first, deep inside the ground. Shiro gave a little chuckle at that, before jogging lightly towards the weapon.

    Then she noticed the other player. Shiro slowed down, stopping just short of her blade.

• The sky darkened for a moment as the incoming player sailed over her head and landed, cutting his way into the fight. He didn't say anything, just grunted as cold steel dug into warm flesh. Two of the enemies were preoccupied with the new arrivals, and the rest had circled themselves around the fighters, slow to respond to the new situation. One near Shiro still kept aggression on her, baring its teeth.
  
  
  • That was close. I don't think I would have made it if no one else was around...
    
    • How far have I walked? ... Too far. I can't afford to do anything stupid like that.
      
      • Shiro attempted to sidestep as one charged right at her. If she succeeded she would flash her sword in response as a counter-attack, aiming to cut its flank.

    ---

    Rolling for damage...

    Battle dice: 2

    ---

    The boar dodged the attack completely; Shiro grunted. It had torn into her left thigh as it passed her. She glanced down at the gash, the bleeding, the 'blood'. Not feeling pain when one expected there to be disassociated Shiro from reality, made her wonder if she really was fighting for her life.

    Though she had succeeded in the maneuver, she hadn't avoided taking damage completely. It wasn't a heavy wound, but it would hamper her efforts in maneuvering her body.

    That boar... Annoying.

• Shiro heard a small snort. Frowning, she froze in place and glanced around. This floor was a straight level, and there wasn't much cover anywhere. There weren't many enemies... or so it seemed. A rock had just moved, and it was only then that she'd realized she had stepped into a perilous situation. The monsters were camouflaged.
  

  ---

• It was a horde of boars. She scanned through the information. They were all somewhat low leveled; four were level two, three were level three, and one was level four. But there were eight of them. And she'd caught the attention of all eight. Impulsively, she drew her sword.
  
  
  • Should I even try...? There's no way I can fight them all... Maybe if I -

• 
  Shiro had wandered through the floors. For the most part she had sneaked her way through the floors at a slow, careful pace. She knew the dangers of being alone and she made sure to never be in a compromising situation. Life wasn't without surprises, but she minimized danger, sticking to areas that weren't very populated with enemies or players. She didn't battle often, but she gained experience from watching. As she traveled, she began to see more and more people along the way...
  
  She didn't like the thought of having to deal with other people. The stakes were much higher than in real life. But it started becoming unavoidable...
  

• » Profile
  » Username: Naifu
  » Real name: Shiro Lee
  » Age: 16 (D.O.B.: March 21, 2006)
  » Gender: Female
  » Height: 5"5
  
  
  • » About:
    
    • 
      Shiro was born to a Japanese-American mother and a Korean father. Hailing from Shibuya, her father invested heavily in stocks so that the family would be able to make ends meet in the big city.
      
      At the time, technology was branching off into two separate directions - VR and robotics. Shiro's father decided to invest in the latter, feeling that VR was a temporary fad, without many applications. Robotics led to the future that Japan had only dreamed of in mecha cartoons and comic books. Robots could be used in space, underwater, on land, in the sky - Gundam was not so far away.
      
      Yet, as time passed, the pull of VR captured more and more peoples' hearts and minds. The stock market heavily shifted balance in favor for VR technology. Financial troubles arose and the household, once a place of peace and quiet, became a place of cacophonous noise. Her father allowed himself to be overwhelmed by a vicious addiction to alcohol. Shiro quickly found comfort in escape from reality, culminating in her eventual encounter with Sword Art Online.
      
      » Character Model:
      
      • 
        Filler text.
        

        ---

        
        

        ---

        
        

        ---

        
        
        • » Virtues:
          
          ... Stubborn
          Shiro is not patient by any means, but she will keep hounding at something if she is inclined to.
          
          ...Resourceful
          Shiro tries not to waste anything that she's given, be it money or opportunities.
          
          ...Values friendship
          Shiro will go to great lengths to help a friend in need.
          
          » Vices:
          
          ... Stubborn
          Shiro is not patient by any means, but she will keep hounding at something if she is inclined to.
          
          ... Volatile
          Shiro is an angry individual, and though she will not actively pick fights, she can and will defend herself.
          
          ... Self-indulgent
          Shiro isn't a completely selfish person, but she prioritizes her needs and concerns over others.
          
          »Profession:

» Skills (In Beta)

Non-combat:

»

Passive:

»

Combat:

»

Weapon skills:

»

» Inventory

Weapons/Tools:

»

» Roleplays

» [F08] - Open (In Progress)

» Relationships

»

» Story Thus Far

» (00) A soft voice brought change.

» (01) Clear Skies on Floor 8.

» Reference Material

Appearance

(a) - real-life appearance

(b) - in-game appearance

Event OST

00 - Character Theme

01 - Remininscence

02 - Battle A

03 - Enmity

04 - Outbreak of Battle

Having things decrease in durability in real-time would get too crazy, and having your armor decrease per hit...? You would need a different decrease variable for each different piece (imagine having an extremely expensive piece of armor degrade at the same a level one piece of armor would).

Having a HUD in your sig will prove to be extremely useful for GMs. You have no idea how irritating it gets to have to find each player's individual character sheet, look at their stats, etc.

Create an "Items" thread, detailing every purchase or addition to inventory. Every player will have a post that they edit as time passes.

... Isn't it Alfheim?

There's a maximum of twelve skill slots. People did not unlock skill slots in the game - they just trained skills they liked. As far as I remember you're given enough skill points for two skills at first log-in, as Kirito had points in one-handed sword mastery and scanning before he quested for his first sword after Kayaba dropped his little bomb on everyone.

Also, separate experience systems for basic statistics - Strength/Agility/Perception/etc. - and the skill tree.

... Hmm. Should levels really be taken into account very seriously? I mean, arguably, battle experience wins fights, not stats. The more your character has fought, the better he or she should be able to fight.

I mean it would make things a lot more simple. There's yet to be any diving into unique skills (i.e. dual blades), the skill-creation system, the skill tree itself, depreciation value on weapons/durability, upgrading weapons and armor, critical hits, the effect weight has on fighting (Kirito's swords were notoriously heavy), and more.

The problem with counting each post as 1 exp is that some posts are more extensive than other posts. Some people could post up 500 words worth of information and it wouldn't profit someone more than a post with just fifteen. If this site will stick to this system perhaps there could be a rule established for length, e.g. [Y post] that has more words than [X post] counts for [Y more EXP] than [X post].

This is a bit off-topic, but honestly, I feel like anyone would be hard-pressed to do anything in a forum under ten seconds.