Chapter 6: Animal Farm, by George Orwell – Part 1

September 22, 2652 – 370 Days Before Judgment Day

Summer’s end was quickly approaching with only 8 more days left until autumn, chill, and pumpkin space filled the virtual air. Unlike the natural astronomical calendar which marks the subtle and uneven changes in season based on the solstices and equinoxes during Earth’s yearly elliptical orbit around the Sun, every season inside the Columbus Server is a standard 91 days long with the exception of winter, which is either 92 or 93 days long – leap year depending. The astronomical calendar of course, doesn’t reflect the meteorological reality because of climate change. No one knows why anyone bothers telling time with the Gregorian calendar anymore when nothing ever happens and the seasons themselves are divorced from the reality of Earth’s progression but it is tradition or at the very least, a legacy system.

Anyway, it had been an enjoyable summer for Aaron and his friends, filled with warmth, mirth, and all other manners of fun under the sun, even if they did spend the majority of that time grinding outside the fields of New Haven. New Haven was a mid-level city – ideal for B-ranked players hoping to grind because of the wealth of relatively high-EXP monster spawns that spawned nearby. While it would have been better in terms of EXP optimization to camp after better spawns, many of the higher-level EXP spawns are either monopolized by the A-ranked players for easy pickings or are so outrageously powerful that it would be impossible for B-ranked parties to conventionally defeat. Thus, most of the B-ranked players who were serious about leveling up have settled into New Haven, where they compete for the same time-limited spawns inside those fields. It was dull work repeatedly clearing out Rock Slimes, Dire Wolves, and the occasional Giant Tiger but for those serious about competing for an A rank promotion, every spawn cycle mattered.

“All right, that’s the second tiger we got so far,” Aaron happily reported as his friends approached him to divvy up the spoils. “We are making really good progress today.”

On the plains outside of New Haven, Giant Tigers are rare spawns that sometimes drop Giant Tiger pelts, a type of trophy which count towards the A-rank promotion. The more trophies you have, the better your chances at promotion. Giant Tigers typically don’t appear this often in frequency but RNG is RNG.

“Where does that put you?” Lucius asked.

“Well, I’m still at #19 but at least I didn’t go down,” said Aaron.

“There are 25 spots open for promotion and you’re 6 ahead,” said Riley. “Breathing room secured. Can we finally eat now?”

Inside of Butterfly’s Dream, there is a ranking system in place which serves as both a social status symbol and also as an incentive to play the game. In total, there were 7 player divisions or ranks which one could attain and they were, in descending order of importance: S, A, B, C, D, E, and F at the very bottom. Each division provided different levels of rights and privileges with S having the most power and F having the least. As a percentage of the total player population, the target distribution is as follows: S at 0.2%, A at 3.9%, B at 18%, C at 28%, D at 28%, E at 18% and F at 3.9%. Generally speaking, players move up and down the divisions freely based on 3 promotion metrics: 1) the player level, 2) the number of trophies acquired during the season, and 3) how much Zeni one has in their possession.

Levels once earned don’t reset although EXP can be lost can be lost upon death. The EXP death penalty is expressed at 50% of your current EXP and since it takes an ever-increasing amount of EXP to level up, the penalty becomes excruciatingly punishing the higher up you go. Trophies once collected only last until the end of the season, are non-transferable, and confer no other advantages. Zeni is not a fixed quantity but the more wealth you have, the more likely you are to get promoted. Anyone who is in the running to get promoted out of their division is called a division challenger. At the end of the season, anyone who remained a division challenger gets promoted out of their division while anyone who failed to maintain their position usually gets demoted down.

Aaron was currently near the top of the B division and thus, was a challenger for an A rank promotion.

“Nah, I say we keep going and skip all our lunch breaks from now on,” Lucius opined. “Aaron was right – it is getting really competitive. We’re not just hunting tigers anymore; people are trying to kill-steal us now. We have to be on the look out for other people and lock down our kills ASAP.”

“Turn off your hunger setting – it’s what I did,” said Aaron.

“Even if I can’t feel it, hunger is still going to affect performance,” said Riley.

“Yeah, but it also gets partially reset whenever we use a consumable,” said Aaron. “We’ll eat as we go until the spawns disappear at 18:00.”

Riley sighed and adjusted her personal settings.

“Gotta keep running as fast as we can just to stay where we are,” she complained.

“It’s just 8 more days. We’ll tough it out,” said Lucius.

“I can’t wait for summer to be over,” Riley remarked with a sense of longing. “Oh yeah! New patch hits tomorrow.”

“Sure does,” said Lucius.

“Whatever happened to the referendum anyway?” Aaron asked.

“It didn’t pass. 43-57 against with only 45% voter participation,” Lucius reported. “In the end, no new amendments were introduced.”

“So the patch is going live as is?” Aaron asked.

“Probably,” Lucius replied. “Best guess? Some small tweaks here or there but nothing major.”

“So voting was just a waste of a cycle then,” said Aaron.

“It wasn’t a waste,” Riley piped up. “We showed the Honesty Foundation we won’t stand for their bullshit and we won.”

“But it wouldn’t have mattered if we voted or not,” said Aaron.

“It mattered to me,” said Riley. “We stood up for what we believed in. We didn’t betray our friends. And if we had lost, I would have never forgiven myself.”

“It wasn’t a waste,” Lucius concurred.

Aaron thought about it for a moment but only for a moment. Then, he nodded his head and sincerely said, “Yeah, you’re right. It wasn’t.”

“Holy shit!” Riley suddenly shouted.

Everyone turned to look at her, Riley pointed at a figure in the distance and they recognized it as a Giant Tiger.

“No frigging way,” Aaron uttered in disbelief.

“A third tiger? RNGeesus wants you to get promoted,” Lucius remarked.

“You believe in karma now?” Riley asked rhetorically.

“Oh shut up!” Aaron yelled before charging in to engage the tiger.

And so, the three friends spent the rest of their day grinding as hard as they could until all the spawns around New Haven automatically deactivated at 18:00. When the clock hit that magic number, every monster across the field disintegrated into the ether. Then, almost simultaneously, everyone that had been out grinding began slowly filing back into the city.

Grinding, or monster hunting, was the primary method in which resources were harvested in Butterfly’s Dream as every monster slain drops a certain quantity of items, money, and EXP. It was also the primary method in which rank promotions were secured as grinding could potentially improve one’s standing in all 3 promotion metrics. But while grinding the safest and most reliable method of advancement, it wasn’t the only method of promotion. Under certain conditions, it was possible to bypass the normal promotion requirements such as by being a popular celebrity, owning a successful business, or being sponsored by someone at A-rank or higher. Promotions however, are usually offset by demotions in order to maintain target distribution levels at season’s end.

Every child in the Columbus Arcology is outfitted with their first Deep Dive neural implant at the age of 5 although they aren’t allowed to enter non-educational virtual environments until they got older. In Butterfly’s Dream, the age requirement was 16 and when new players enter the environment for the first time, they are automatically assigned the F rank. Thus, F-ranked players are almost exclusively young, untested noobs who haven’t yet had the opportunity to accrue skills, knowledge, wealth, prestige, or power. As a demographic, F-ranked players functionally act as the replacements for the all the players that have physically died to maintain the current player population and they themselves usually get promoted and replaced by even newer players within the year. C, D, and E ranks are filled with young adults moving on to middle age while S, A, and B ranks are typically filled with older players who have accrued wealth and power. Of course, these rules aren’t absolute, just the general trend. Aaron for example, was very young for his rank and already on the cusp of becoming an A-ranked elite while Lucius and Riley were both currently hovering near the bottom end of the C division because they had donated all of their EXP and trophies to Aaron throughout the entire summer season in order to help him get promoted.

Inside the game, A-rank was special because it was a privileged class as anyone who reaches A-rank or above becomes immune to demotion. While normal promotion/demotion mechanics work for B to F ranks throughout the year, vacation by death is the only known method to get promoted into A or S rank. When someone in A or S rank dies, a new spot opens in the challenger’s category for someone to replace them. S recruits from the top of A, and A recruits from the top of B and so on and so forth.

They say all people are created equal but some people are obviously more equal than others.

This is not a bug, this is a feature.