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Annotations Every Day - Written by T Campbell & Flo Kahn - Illustrated by John & Jason Waltrip

'And I've been reading this shit for six years!!'

Chapter 39 – Page 9

on October 16, 2015
Chapter: Chapter 39
└ Tags: Chrissie, Daniel, Kaye, Lia, Shanna, Xan
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Discussion (53) ¬

  1. Ishmael
    Ishmael
    October 16, 2015, 12:09 am | # | Reply

    There’s a quick way to solve this. Just google “Fr’nj questline romance” and see if anyone else gets the same results when dealing with her. If they all mention her ‘meaty’ role, then there y’go.

    • DatComment
      DatComment
      October 16, 2015, 2:43 am | # | Reply

      Unless the quests are all unique to each player but the overall questline plot is still interwoven between players and npcs.
      So the same results would come up… because each player herd about what happened to character X because… it is a global event that everyone experienced… at least the people that were THERE and ON.
      NPC or PC is still indeterminate from the ‘meaty’ role.

      Though they must have some pretty hardcore dynamical npc-interactions to make normal people question npcs vs pcs. Yay turing compliant npcs?

      • Draxynnic
        Draxynnic
        October 16, 2015, 10:00 am | # | Reply

        That seems to be the case. Hurricane probably has a big advertising campaign about some advanced automated scripting system that allows everyone to have their own questline within the larger plot or something.

        • Gabi
          Gabi
          October 16, 2015, 11:40 am | # | Reply

          It sounds like something they would say, and it’s coherent with the way the players have been talking about their respective quest lines.

    • Armagrodden
      Armagrodden
      October 16, 2015, 3:03 am | # | Reply

      “C’mon man, no one’s going to talk about YOUR NPC. Everyone knows that Hurricane randomizes the names of NPCs for everyone to maintain the illusion of uniqueness. Duh.”

      “Actually, I think I remember your bot from the Beacon’s Hill raid. It did a good job, unlike mine which was just a mess of pathing errors. I swear I had to put in like four moderation tickets before Hurricane finally fixed it by “killing” him offscreen and giving me a new one.”

    • Kennerly
      Kennerly
      October 16, 2015, 7:34 am | # | Reply

      No one seem to notice, or care that players have no control over their characters.

    • Johanna Karajan
      Johanna Karajan
      October 16, 2015, 8:36 am | # | Reply

      Apparently, you forget it’s considered a “Beta” Game. Googling it won’t help. Besides, that crusty old man who made it made damn sure to cover his tracks.

      • Ishmael
        Ishmael
        October 16, 2015, 9:59 am | # | Reply

        No, when the Tubers joined, that method was in beta.

        Kingdoms of Arkerra is fully fledged with multiple expansions. They mention that it’s the world’s biggest MMO at one point. You don’t get that with a beta.

        • tlhonmey
          tlhonmey
          October 16, 2015, 12:50 pm | # | Reply

          I don’t know… Microsoft manages to do it in the OS market on a regular basis…

          • MichaelHaneline
            MichaelHaneline
            October 17, 2015, 4:33 am | # | Reply

            There is just a BIT of a difference between those two things.

        • Dorje Sylas
          Dorje Sylas
          October 17, 2015, 6:37 am | # | Reply

          Warframe, 4-player Online Co-op with persistent world RPG elements, is still technically in Beta despite soft launches on home gaming consoles alongside their actively supported PC client, and an aggressive Freemium item/cosmetics shop. We live in an age of incremental software development and minimal viable products, or in short form… “the perpetual beta”.

          • Mujaki
            Mujaki
            October 17, 2015, 9:26 am | # | Reply

            Beta or not, it’s still pretty fun. Space ninjas. In Space!
            Although, kinda grindy. My friends and I despairinglyjokingly call it “Warfarm.”

          • Katlamos
            Katlamos
            October 19, 2015, 1:06 am | # | Reply

            Yeah, but Warframe is amazing. And you have to hand it to Digital Extremes, they listen to the community and are pretty damn active

  2. Aydr
    Aydr
    October 16, 2015, 12:35 am | # | Reply

    Why is Kaye looking at Chrissie? That’s not how webcams wor- oh.

    Oh dear.

    • Niall
      Niall
      October 16, 2015, 2:26 am | # | Reply

      Oh… oh very dear. Yep, ok.

    • █████
      █████
      October 16, 2015, 3:07 am | # | Reply

      It’s all just another layer!

      Before you know it we’ll discover there’s a black and white storyline which is the ‘ultimate’ reality.

      • Nathanyel
        Nathanyel
        October 16, 2015, 3:53 am | # | Reply

        Your censored username really fits into that theory.

        • Chris
          Chris
          October 16, 2015, 12:49 pm | # | Reply

          *Gasp* No….

      • Stabbers N' Shankers
        Stabbers N' Shankers
        October 16, 2015, 2:16 pm | # | Reply

        This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill – the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill – you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.

        • EvilBarrels
          EvilBarrels
          October 17, 2015, 11:29 pm | # | Reply

          Or take both, then shit gets real.

          • Derf
            Derf
            October 18, 2015, 9:27 am | # | Reply

            Heheheh… Obligatory xkcd: https://xkcd.com/566/

    • tejón
      tejón
      October 16, 2015, 3:41 pm | # | Reply

      You know, on that note… coincidence? Or super-secret hidden truth?

    • Thrawcheld
      Thrawcheld
      October 19, 2015, 6:59 am | # | Reply

      I was going to say panel five makes no sense… but now it does. Horrible, horrible sense.

  3. Zblackgoat
    Zblackgoat
    October 16, 2015, 12:52 am | # | Reply

    This is the big reveal for Xan (where he unmasks as being the player behind Fr’nj).

    :D

    Not

    :D

  4. Jean-Luc
    Jean-Luc
    October 16, 2015, 12:55 am | # | Reply

    Just because your girlfriend has bloated hp and multiple abilities/scripts doesn’t mean she’s not a bot.

    • █████
      █████
      October 16, 2015, 3:08 am | # | Reply

      It could just be that time of the arc.

    • Chris
      Chris
      October 16, 2015, 12:50 pm | # | Reply

      She’s an Auto-Bot

      • MichaelHaneline
        MichaelHaneline
        October 17, 2015, 4:35 am | # | Reply

        You know, of all the weird nerd fantasies I ever had, having an Auto-bot as a girlfriend was never one of them.

        Until now.

  5. Lingo
    Lingo
    October 16, 2015, 1:01 am | # | Reply

    Interesting. Maybe we’ll get some real answers soon. I’m still not sure if these “players” actually have any influence on the “characters” they play, or if the “game” merely tricks them into believing they do.

    • Fiaryn
      Fiaryn
      October 16, 2015, 1:22 am | # | Reply

      It’s the latter. The only question at this point is how much.

      • Gordon
        Gordon
        October 16, 2015, 10:48 am | # | Reply

        Eh, I don’t really think we have enough info to say this, especially since this whole thing is, in part, a magical construct.

        Could be the game somehow synchronizes character with player, so the character “coincidentally” makes all the decisions that the roleplaying player would make. It would start at character creation. The magic matches an already existing character in Arkerra(who would previously appear to be an NPC) with the input given when the player creates a character. Over time the character and player would gradually come to have identical worldviews, or quickly rationalize any discrepancies in the name of roleplaying(“It’s what my character would do, not what I would do.”).

        • Gordon
          Gordon
          October 16, 2015, 10:50 am | # | Reply

          By this token Fr’Nj is a PC whose player maybe just hasn’t created an account yet.

          • Dorje Sylas
            Dorje Sylas
            October 17, 2015, 6:42 am | # | Reply

            Or the player made an account, then stopped playing and just left Fr’Nj to her own devices. The secret lives of orphaned MMORPG characters…. Why does that feel like a pitch for an Dreamworks animated movie?

            • Danzin
              Danzin
              October 17, 2015, 11:28 pm | # | Reply

              Um, because it is a good pitch?…No seriously make that pitch Dorje, I don’t care if your script experience is ~0 just find a writer. Thems PROFITABLE brainstorms yer havin!

            • Gordon
              Gordon
              October 18, 2015, 1:53 am | # | Reply

              Maybe because Pixar already made a movie with a similar concept. It was called Wreck It Ralph. *Animation studio burn!*

              • Gordon
                Gordon
                October 18, 2015, 1:56 am | # | Reply

                Except Pixar didn’t do Wreck It Ralph. Only Disney did it. So I fail. :/

  6. Lingo
    Lingo
    October 16, 2015, 1:11 am | # | Reply

    Hmm, I guess Shanna and Xan don’t know yet that Bandit “killed” Byron….

    • TxGator
      TxGator
      October 16, 2015, 9:32 am | # | Reply

      Oooohh… That brings to mind an interesting question. What happens when Chrissie realizes she may have killed the player who plays Byron?

      • Loquat
        Loquat
        October 16, 2015, 9:33 pm | # | Reply

        Since Daniel was online for the conversation with Iwatani, he was probably online a few minutes earlier, hanging out with Sundar, Frigg, and WAV, so it’s likely he’s heard that WAV looks exactly like long-lost guildie Payet Best, said to have been killed in-game.

        Not sure if the sepia-world people have brought up Best yet, but if they ever do WAV’s existence is evidence that killing a character in the game doesn’t kill the real-life person, so Chrissie doesn’t have to worry about being responsible for anything worse than a character reroll with a cringe-worthy hairstyle.

  7. Pylgrim
    Pylgrim
    October 16, 2015, 1:32 am | # | Reply

    So could Fr’nj be? The only person who pops to mind is Carol.

    • CorrTerek
      CorrTerek
      October 16, 2015, 2:04 am | # | Reply

      Or she’s actually a “bot” and the “bots” aren’t really “bots” at all.

      • Mister Zipangu
        Mister Zipangu
        October 16, 2015, 3:03 am | # | Reply

        But that would require the game to be powered by SOME SORT OF MAGIC!

        (Insert unnecessary drama dun-dun-duuun)

  8. Chaltab
    Chaltab
    October 16, 2015, 3:51 am | # | Reply

    I love how Kaye is looking up and to her right to Chrissie as if that will help her see someone standing behind the laptop.

    • Lexible
      Lexible
      October 16, 2015, 11:11 am | # | Reply

      Uhm… I don’t theeenk so. She’s looking off screen. With, like, last words on her mind, except she doesn’t know they are last words yet.

      • l33tninja
        l33tninja
        October 16, 2015, 11:23 am | # | Reply

        yeah, she might be looking down the barrel of a loaded handlebar mustache

  9. Jim
    Jim
    October 16, 2015, 7:43 am | # | Reply

    The alt-text for this one is terrific.

    • electricdawn
      electricdawn
      October 17, 2015, 4:04 am | # | Reply

      Absolutely. I so had to laugh. ;)

    • MidnightDStroyer
      MidnightDStroyer
      February 20, 2017, 10:27 pm | # | Reply

      “reading” this for 6 years?
      Pffft.
      The one who wrote the alt-text is selling himself short, methinks…
      ;)

  10. Gabi
    Gabi
    October 16, 2015, 9:07 am | # | Reply

    Well, we already know that the game does more things than HR expected and even goes against his programming sometimes, so obviously there’s more to it than a mere computer game. Even if she is an NPC, that doesn’t make her a bot (that is, she doesn’t necessarily she follow the code someone wrote).

  11. Gabi
    Gabi
    October 16, 2015, 9:08 am | # | Reply

    I mean “she doesn’t necessarily follow the code someone wrote.” Sorry about the extra “she”.

  12. l33tninja
    l33tninja
    October 16, 2015, 11:26 am | # | Reply

    “None of this makes any sense . . . unless . . . logging into the game actually takes you through a trans-dimensional portal into another world created by arcane magical spells cast by the CEO of Hurricane Software who is now currently embedded in his own construct!”

    • Mujaki
      Mujaki
      October 17, 2015, 9:29 am | # | Reply

      “Now you’re thinking with Portals.”

    • Danzin
      Danzin
      October 17, 2015, 11:36 pm | # | Reply

      “Look I’m sorry, but to be honest that idea is so insanely dumb it could only come to fruition in a webcomic or subpar anime desperate for a hook.”

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Guilded Age is co-written by T Campbell & Flo Kahn, and illustrated by John Waltrip. Site design by Samantha Kyle. Fonts by Blambot.com.
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