Fun fact: I use this as my ringtone whenever someone from work calls. It’s perfect for when I’m on call because there’s pretty much NO WAY I can sleep through it.
The Winter elves are the results of a backdoor program left by the game developers. Initially, the NPCs generated by this program had reading access to the game code and would allow the programmers to test the MMO from the inside, checking the code while moving a Winter elf around to trigger a reported bug.
These NPCs were shunted outside of the gamers’ normally accessible zone after the game release, although the programmers left a path, so they can still use their favorite spiders.
And then the universe took on a life of its own…
tl;dr: the Winter elves are NPCs programmed with reading access to the game’s code.
They’re ALL players, but only The Five are HR’s players, in the tubes. Bandit is just a regular person player whose character is AI controlled when Christie is logged off.
Hmmm… Here’s a question – Are they are really controlled by the AI or are their actions simply “reported”? IOW – if the Sepia World computers went down, would their universe cease to exist or would it keep on running since it’s been created?
I suspect that the “magi-tech” element of Arkerra’s true nature means that it doesn’t need live game servers to remain functional. Players couldn’t log-in, but life on Arkerra would continue. Presumably, the “game servers” are really just relay communications that allow Sepia World to control people in Arkerra.
Actually, the reactions from Magda and Goblaurence suggest that they, at least, are *not* players but “real Arkerrans”. Either that or they’re really serious about not breaking character, even when an NPC unexpectedly breaks the fourth wall.
Or players influence “real” Arkerrans, who then are their PC’s, but the players are not currently online so they are acting on their own. Sort of like Rachel did before she died.
This “autonomous bleed-over” only happened to players who have have frequent gametime with the Group of 5 though. Those who have not spent logged-in time with them don’t have characters that work autonomously. The vast majority of the world has the regular pre-programmed NPC responses & dialogues & the other players get the regular dialogue text choices.
No, the remarkable thing was that Bandit’s ​player was able to talk to a native Arkerran (Auraugu). The autonomous behavior is referred to as a normal game feature, as are the individual plotlines.
Frankly it’s hard to tell who’s a player and who’s an NPC. I thought Sry’Nj’s sister that Scippio was romancing was another player for a long time up until Scippio’s player (RIP) overtly mentioned that she was RPing with an NPC.
I suspect the core Adventurers and the Champions are all players, just in different “game” factions. Like an Alliance/Horde thing. Side people like Braggadoccio and Harky are probably NPCs.
The tricky part is who resurrected her,because it wasn’t grave dust if I remember correctly. Bandit’s always been the odd one out and the most suspicious.
I think the most popular theory is that she could just “respawn” because she is (or is connected to) a video game character that can just respawn when she dies. So when she said she doesn’t know how she was resurrected, I believe her.
At the time her explanation was because Byron killed her with the axes that were soaked in Harky’s blood, his super troll blood mixed with her own and saved her. At least that’s her explanation/theory.
I just went to the Cast page to look up the names of the Peacekeepers’ Savage Race counterparts. Boy, is that page of date. Payet is still listed as MIA; Rachel isn’t listed as deceased; the characters whose names I was looking for don’t even appear; and neither do the Sepia World gamers.
You got your World of Warcraft in my Elder Scrolls!
You got my Elder Scrolls in my World of Warcraft!
End result? Several possibilities:
World of Scrolls – A library planet
Elder Warcraft – War reenactments by the elderly, or, Elder of Warcraft – A retired General
World of Elders – Like Australia, but a whole planet, and instead of a penal colony, it’s an old age home
Scrolls of Warcraft – Manuals for military tactics, or else the player’s manual for the original PC game
Well, the reputation of the Winter Elves is such that “people who visit them either never return, or they return as insanely mad.” Weo already pointed out that this is exactly why they have that reputation.
Had a discussion like this about a good doctor who was bad (padded his bills for more money, but was actually good at his job). Took me a bit to realize the disconnect the person I was talking to was having, and then determined a simple change of words was in order.
He was a *skilled* doctor but *unethical* man.
In this case HR is a skilled wizard, but a deeply evil man (evil as defined by pursing completely selfish goals at the significant expense of the well-being others).
Judging from the look on the looks on the faces of the five we may be in for the stages of existential shock. And this may have a rather profound effect on the savage races champions as well.
Penk: “…You gotta be shitting me.”
Auraugu: “Holy glorious pseudopenis of the Great Alpha Bitch in the sky!”
Best: “Huh?”
Frigg: “HUUUHHH?”
Gravedust: *internal screaming*
HR: What do you mean they aren’t just unimplemented flavor text?!
I think that is explicitly why the Winter Elves went into hiding – it was the only way they didn’t get cataclysmicly bombed by HR while he had the full awareness to do so.
Dun dun DUN!
Fun fact: I use this as my ringtone whenever someone from work calls. It’s perfect for when I’m on call because there’s pretty much NO WAY I can sleep through it.
dun dun… oh wait, we already knew this :V
I prefer the Inception sound for this.
Ahem…. BRRRRRRRAAAAAWWWWRWRRRMRMRMMRMRMMMMM!!!
Reminds me of the Reaper noise from Mass Effect 3.
And now all is beginning to be revealed. All of those previous questions are ultimately pointless in the face of what Weo is telling them now.
What I’d like revealed is how the winter elfs know this stuff. Are they the only ones who read the game manual?
They read the webcomic.
They are a species of Deadpool
Hmmm… Do you think they read the comments?
Even more, they read the initial draft-copies that Phil & T write, even as they’ve concieved of the general plotline!
How *else* can they know the future as well as the present & the past?
O.o
The Winter elves are the results of a backdoor program left by the game developers. Initially, the NPCs generated by this program had reading access to the game code and would allow the programmers to test the MMO from the inside, checking the code while moving a Winter elf around to trigger a reported bug.
These NPCs were shunted outside of the gamers’ normally accessible zone after the game release, although the programmers left a path, so they can still use their favorite spiders.
And then the universe took on a life of its own…
tl;dr: the Winter elves are NPCs programmed with reading access to the game’s code.
Your first statement is accurate. The second does not logically follow.
Confirming five players…which means Bandit may be withholding more info than she’s letting on.
Huh?
They’re ALL players, but only The Five are HR’s players, in the tubes. Bandit is just a regular person player whose character is AI controlled when Christie is logged off.
Hmmm… Here’s a question – Are they are really controlled by the AI or are their actions simply “reported”? IOW – if the Sepia World computers went down, would their universe cease to exist or would it keep on running since it’s been created?
I suspect that the “magi-tech” element of Arkerra’s true nature means that it doesn’t need live game servers to remain functional. Players couldn’t log-in, but life on Arkerra would continue. Presumably, the “game servers” are really just relay communications that allow Sepia World to control people in Arkerra.
Actually, the reactions from Magda and Goblaurence suggest that they, at least, are *not* players but “real Arkerrans”. Either that or they’re really serious about not breaking character, even when an NPC unexpectedly breaks the fourth wall.
Or players influence “real” Arkerrans, who then are their PC’s, but the players are not currently online so they are acting on their own. Sort of like Rachel did before she died.
This “autonomous bleed-over” only happened to players who have have frequent gametime with the Group of 5 though. Those who have not spent logged-in time with them don’t have characters that work autonomously. The vast majority of the world has the regular pre-programmed NPC responses & dialogues & the other players get the regular dialogue text choices.
No, the remarkable thing was that Bandit’s ​player was able to talk to a native Arkerran (Auraugu). The autonomous behavior is referred to as a normal game feature, as are the individual plotlines.
Frankly it’s hard to tell who’s a player and who’s an NPC. I thought Sry’Nj’s sister that Scippio was romancing was another player for a long time up until Scippio’s player (RIP) overtly mentioned that she was RPing with an NPC.
I suspect the core Adventurers and the Champions are all players, just in different “game” factions. Like an Alliance/Horde thing. Side people like Braggadoccio and Harky are probably NPCs.
The tricky part is who resurrected her,because it wasn’t grave dust if I remember correctly. Bandit’s always been the odd one out and the most suspicious.
I think the most popular theory is that she could just “respawn” because she is (or is connected to) a video game character that can just respawn when she dies. So when she said she doesn’t know how she was resurrected, I believe her.
I always thought Bandit “not knowing” how she was resurrected was just the player trying to fit in with what she saw as a hyper-elite RP guild.
But Bandit is not Bandit’s “player” (whassername). Bandit is a real Arkerran, right?
At the time her explanation was because Byron killed her with the axes that were soaked in Harky’s blood, his super troll blood mixed with her own and saved her. At least that’s her explanation/theory.
“Troll blood. It does a body good.”
grrlpowercomic.com/archives/2417
Ooops. Let’s try that again with the *full* URL:
http://grrlpowercomic.com/archives/2417
Wonder if he also will reveal whatever “influence” caused by connection between player and character “in-game”.
Man, singling people out for their ontologically differentiated destiny? That isn’t done in polite society! That’s just gauche.
Things are about to get real… sort of.
Things are about to get virtual.Things are about to get actual.Nope. Nope.
Things are about to get true?
Things are about to get good.
Things are about to get theoretically plausible.
Things are about to get surreal.
Things are about get complex, and probably irrational.
The Game’s Afoot!!!
All the world’s a stage, and five a’ men and women merely players.
This is the winter elf of our discontent.
I upvote this ^
Performers and portrayers
Each another’s audience
Outside the gilded cage
… Wait. Wrong reference.
(I had to retype “gilded” three times because I kept putting “guilded”)
Well, the guilds of Gastonia are pretty gilty.
“A planet of playthings, they dance on the strings, of powers they cannot perceive”
“…and they all looked at me.”
I just went to the Cast page to look up the names of the Peacekeepers’ Savage Race counterparts. Boy, is that page of date. Payet is still listed as MIA; Rachel isn’t listed as deceased; the characters whose names I was looking for don’t even appear; and neither do the Sepia World gamers.
The names are under the comic, in the tags.
“So it’s your job to go find those five people. I’d say good luck, but I know how it ends.”
Time for everyone to achieve CHIM
Hey, this is a WOW satire! Keep your Elder Scrolls out of it!
You got your World of Warcraft in my Elder Scrolls!
You got my Elder Scrolls in my World of Warcraft!
End result? Several possibilities:
World of Scrolls – A library planet
Elder Warcraft – War reenactments by the elderly, or, Elder of Warcraft – A retired General
World of Elders – Like Australia, but a whole planet, and instead of a penal colony, it’s an old age home
Scrolls of Warcraft – Manuals for military tactics, or else the player’s manual for the original PC game
If that’s the case, somebody should be learning how to use “Fus Do Rah” on HR when they meet up with him.
I don’t even believe in Walls anymore.
This is what you get for using the no_clipping cheats for too long.
Maybe. But I think it’s the only way to counter against HR’s God Mode powers.
I’m not sure how wise it is to infodump this hard.
Well, the reputation of the Winter Elves is such that “people who visit them either never return, or they return as insanely mad.” Weo already pointed out that this is exactly why they have that reputation.
Now that we know the major plot device, it means the end is nigh! THE END IS NIGH!
I’m going to be SO sad when this series ties up!
When that happens, you just have to look forwards to the NEXT series they do!
Like, I was saddened when Dominic Deegan ended, but Star Powered is shaping up to be incredible.
Here comes the mic drop…
Well he isn’t just a very bad man… he’s a very bad wizard.
Or a very GOOD wizard, depending on how you look at it.
Had a discussion like this about a good doctor who was bad (padded his bills for more money, but was actually good at his job). Took me a bit to realize the disconnect the person I was talking to was having, and then determined a simple change of words was in order.
He was a *skilled* doctor but *unethical* man.
In this case HR is a skilled wizard, but a deeply evil man (evil as defined by pursing completely selfish goals at the significant expense of the well-being others).
That goblin has a functional brain, good job.
It is, explicitly, why he was brought in, so, yeah!
Still ornery though.
Needs some comfort.
I’d bet Byll’bb the Wood Elf can help with that.
A functional brain, even after the routine chemical assaults he subjects it to! Most impressive.
Maybe it’s all Sapho Juice and Geriatric Spice?
I must not laugh. Laughter is the Mind-killer. Laughter is the little death that brings about total obliteration…*
Nah, cannot be, Goblaurence doesn’t have eyebrows like paintbrushes.
* with credits to Questionable Content
The truth bomb… It has been dropped.
Judging from the look on the looks on the faces of the five we may be in for the stages of existential shock. And this may have a rather profound effect on the savage races champions as well.
Penk: “…You gotta be shitting me.”
Auraugu: “Holy glorious pseudopenis of the Great Alpha Bitch in the sky!”
Best: “Huh?”
Frigg: “HUUUHHH?”
Gravedust: *internal screaming*
HR: “WHY DIDN’T I REMOVE THE WINTER ELVES?!”
HR: What do you mean they aren’t just unimplemented flavor text?!
I think that is explicitly why the Winter Elves went into hiding – it was the only way they didn’t get cataclysmicly bombed by HR while he had the full awareness to do so.
Very perceptive deduction by Goblaurence.
So, who is it that says “It really isn’t”? Magda, or Penk?
Seems to be Penk. Magda speaks in the standard font-face.
I actually thought it was Weo.
Nah, wrong font.
Nice job on the subtle framing of “the five” in that last panel with the dialog that refers to them. I almost missed it altogether.
Gods save Gastonia.