Prologue
It has been a month since the release of Visions of Elysium, a VRMMO developed by Eastwind Software that took the world by storm. Developed and published after years of rigorous testing, the game itself seemed to transcend all boundaries of what was considered 'possible' at the time. Proposing individualized AI that seemed to be more lifelike than not and a world that was not constrained by standard role definitions, the game itself was hyped up to be something that could just as easily fail if it could not deliver on its promises.
By all accounts, it did more than succeed; it became a worldwide phenomenon.
Even now, players seek to explore every facet of the world and pursue their own goals, as even the dedicated have barely begun to scratch the surface of what exists within the world and what might be in its future. To that end, though, it remains to be seen what Eastwind has in store for its players.
So, yes, as the title of the RP says, this is a non-isekai VRMMO RP. Also not a death game VRMMO.
Because honestly? There's enough of those as-is.
In any case an explanation of the game itself is as follows:
Visions of Elysium
Visions of Elysium is a game that, at its core, emphasizes two core tenets—the idea of a 'living world' and the ability for players to express themselves as they wish. The game itself is semi-instanced, which allows players to play on an actual server, on their own, or on an instance of the world with their friends and companions. Character data is, of course, transferable, though that which is created still has to be run through some filters and verification before it is allowed outside of a personal (non-server) instance.
The world's inhabitants all run as if they were actual people (or monsters or what have you), and the actions of players can, does, and will have an impact on how they live their lives. Obviously, there are things in place to prevent active griefing on live servers, but no system is perfect, and on occasion workarounds have to be made to compensate by the developers. Similarly, what players do to the world, instanced or otherwise, persists regardless of incidents; there are no second takes, no simple 'undo button,' or anything of the sort. As a result of these systems, though, quests are in almost all cases procedurally generated based on the world state, which generally means that no two experiences of the game will be completely identical.
With regards to the players themselves, though, there are two things to note.
The first, of course, is that progression is primarily skill-based; standard leveling by means of EXP grinding is replaced by proficiency with skills, regardless of the type, which places more emphasis upon the player to exceed a standard than simply stat-checking enemies to death. Of course, there is an 'automatic' and 'manual' mode for all skills that exist in the game, and the game itself can be played solely on auto (read: system aid), but 'manual' allows for a higher degree of creativity and control that would, in essence, separate the 'good' players from the 'great' ones.
The second is that there are no classes, and thus no limitations as to what people can learn. The only hard limit with regards to what a player can learn directly correlates to the type they spend and how quickly they end up picking up a skill. A jack-of-all-trades would be possible, of course, but the extent to which that becomes viable to keep up is up for debate. Similarly, there is no concrete list of skills; things are limited only by how far players want to take themselves (though, obviously, the in-world physical limitations of their characters still apply).
As progression is skill- and gear-based, though, players also do not have hard limits placed upon them in terms of what weapons or armor they can create; the only limiting factor is the skill of the crafter. In theory, this makes far more things viable in-world than outside of it, but given the current constraints of the world (namely, crafting materials), the depths to which this can be taken have not yet been fully explored.
There are, of course, microtransactions. Roughly 80-85% of these are wholly cosmetic in nature, and thus do not impact the game; one cannot 'pay to win' in this scenario. The only non-cosmetic items available within the shop are bulk materials (cloth, silk, iron, etc.), instant resurrection charms (which have an internal timer), and the starter kit. All of the items from within the shop can be traded within the game, though, so there is nothing preventing those items, cosmetic or otherwise, gaining their own value in the player economy.
Ideally, all characters within the RP are somewhere within the early-midgame range, such that they are beginning to or have already begun to specialize (to some degree).
There's a "design document" mockup for the game here that outlines a lot of the game itself (but it's a bit long), so feel free to look at it and ask if there are any questions/concerns that that doesn't answer.
In any case: the form.
