Evolution Island: Kill to Survive

A high stakes gamble

This shocking new announcement changed everything now. With the introduction of PvP, things were bound to become a lot more complicated. Unlike NPCs and bots, the human players were always more challenging.

Aaron looked at Zach and said, “This is what he was trying to do all along. People would pay top dollar to stream content like this. That’s why he brought us here. It’s all well planned. And here we thought he was just a crazed game dev trying to test his game.”

“He’s gonna make a killing from it. But, I can’t figure out how he can just stream it online. This is a major violation of all human rights. The cops are gonna be onto him in a heartbeat.”

“I don’t think he’s streaming it on any major online platform. The only place where he can host something like this is on the dark web. We are in some deep s**t now.”

It now became crystal clear to them that those who were watching the live stream and placing bets on the players were cyber criminals who had great online influence. There was no way they were getting out of this game without conquering all the islands. And to make matters worse, a Global Champion had just joined the server. Even after conquering all 4 islands, they’d have to beat the Global Champion to take his spot.

Aaron was still thinking about their next course of action, when he noticed Zach furiously tapping on his Z-band. He was bypassing the security checks to try and gain access to the player list. His efforts paid off at last, but before he could check out all the player characters, the system kicked him out of the data log.

“Did you find something?” Aaron asked.

Zach bit his folded lower lip and nodded. He showed Aaron the screenshot he had taken while viewing the logs. It showed the profile information of the current Global Champion. The character class which this player had chosen was the pay-to-play class called Corrupter and his Predator was a Biomancer. So far, this particular combination had only been discussed in meetings, but hadn’t been implemented in the beta version.

“I knew that name sounded familiar. And now there’s no doubt about it. Zeus911 is Gilbert’s username on the company’s website and he is the one who proposed this pay-to-play character,” Zach explained.

“So, that means Gilbert is inside the game too? But why would he do that?”

“That dude’s on a whole different level of crazy. He is a damn megalomaniac who spends thousands of dollars every week on new MMORPGS to buy legendary equipment and Ultra Rare characters. He feels like that’s where he really belongs.”

“So, he is a psychopath who suffers from a God complex,” Aaron concluded.

“Yup, that’s exactly what he is. And now he gets to play God in a world which he can modify according to his wildest wishes. I won’t be surprised if he decides to bring in more players soon.”

“f**k! That can’t be good. If this turns into a full scale MMO, the competition will be on a different level. We’ll get rolled over by the pay-to-play VIPs.”

“I don’t think he’ll do a global launch anytime soon. That will attract too much attention and I’m sure his gambling buddies on the dark web won’t like it. He’ll probably introduce a handful of chosen players to keep things exciting, but nothing too large-scale.”

Aaron went over all the new changes in his mind and then asked Zach about the 4 other players who were also playing the game. Since there were 6 challengers in total, there was either a full 4 player party or 4 individuals playing solo. For their sake, Aaron hoped it was the latter. Zach, however, was not able to provide any info on the other players. He had been kicked out of the log registry before he had the chance to view the other profiles. All he knew was that these 4 players were also on Solaris right now.

For now, their ultimate objective was to conquer all 4 islands and challenge Gilbert in his fortress. If he had only been a high level player, they still would have had a fair chance against him, but since Gilbert was one of the game devs, it gave him a clear advantage. Aaron was confident about being able to beat all the bosses and even the other players who had joined the server, but Zeus911 was going to be the major hurdle. The first thing he needed to know was just how much Gilbert could modify within the game to suit his needs. Since Zach had been a part of several board meetings, Aaron addressed all his questions to him.

“What are the things which Gilbert can modify in this game? And what’s the maximum number of players he can add to this server?”

“Gilbert has limited access to some of the original source files. So, he can add new areas, items, enemies and even friendly NPCs. However, the core mechanics cannot be changed. And there is a limit to how powerful a character can become in terms of equipment and character level. To promote fair play, they have included a feature which doesn’t let players exceed a certain level in the game. Also, Gilbert doesn’t have access to the weapons and equipment files, so he cannot just randomly add special weapons or armour sets or even usable items.” After explaining about Gilbert’s privileges, Zach calculated something in his mind and answered Aaron’s second question. “Evolution Island was created by an indie company and they didn’t have the infrastructure or permissions to maintain multiple servers. On this test server, a maximum of 20 players can play at the same time. Any more than that and the game would just crash.”

“So, we still have a chance to beat Gilbert at his own game,” Aaron replied.

“Gilbert isn’t the best gamer out there. He might have all the best weapons and skill sets at his disposal, but he is a pure noob. I’ve seen him play RPGs before and I know how weak his gameplay is. The only problem is, he has a great degree of control over this game world. He can start events and add new enemies wherever and whenever he wants. He isn’t gonna make it easy for us.”

Aaron stood silently for a while and thought about what had transpired so far. Just then a detail he had previously missed, sparked inside his mind. He looked at Zach and said, “Ever since we arrived in this world, Gilbert has had his eye on us. Plus, he can hear what we’re saying. I think I know how he’s been eavesdropping on our conversations.”

“How?”

Aaron switched to the team chat and held up his Z-band for Zach to see. “I’m pretty sure he is monitoring all comms channels. And I think he’s heard enough.” Accessing the manual console commands, Aaron turned off all communication channels and disabled both the microphone and the speaker.”

Zach too followed suit and shut down all comms channels permanently. “Well, he can still see what we’re doing. But I suppose this is a start.”

“It sure is,” Aaron replied. “We have to be extra careful now. If we get separated, we won’t be able to use the voice call feature to get in touch.”

Zach nodded and said, “We had best stick together then. So, what’s the plan now?”

“Our first goal now is to make Gilbert play according to the rules.”

“And how exactly are we gonna do that?”

“Do you remember you told me something about this game having a hidden anti-cheat feature? Can Gilbert bypass it?”

Zach’s eyes immediately lit up and he nodded. “Of course, I’d completely forgotten about it. Gilbert can’t bypass the anti-cheat. In fact, none of the game devs can. It was built as a failsafe to stop anyone from tampering with the game data.”

“Can you activate the anti-cheat from here? Or do you need to use a computer?”

“Hell yes, I can activate it from here. I just need to run a program on the Z-band. But, it’s gonna take some time, maybe a few hours or so.”

“Do it. I’ll fortify our defences and make sure the settlement is well protected.”