Chapter 113: The Connection Between the Virtual World and Reality
Chapter 113: The Connection Between the Virtual World and Reality
In truth, if JavaScript had not appeared, developing this payment platform would have felt burdensome as well. As mentioned earlier, a web-based approach would place too much strain on the server, so they would have needed to create a separate client. But that itself could become a barrier to entry for users.
Installation alone was troublesome enough, but there were also compatibility issues between operating systems, along with the inconvenience of distribution and updates.
People familiar with computers might think these were trivial issues, but the majority in any market were always casual users. That was even more true in this era, when the internet was only just beginning to expand.
Even such seemingly light barriers could easily make people stop in their tracks and choose not to use the service.
Of course, this early JavaScript still had many performance limitations and lacked numerous related functions. But Insu had never intended to create a finished product from the start anyway. He planned to implement it as simply as possible first, then gradually improve it over time.
“Then I’ll leave it to you.”
“Yes. Leave it to me.”
And so development began on the digital payment platform, WPAY, while WET launched its new service, the instant messenger WTALK.
“Messenger? What’s this?”
As usual, Eric logged into WET to browse the internet, and his eyes landed on the new service occupying the largest banner on the main page.
<Instant real-time conversations as soon as you connect! A new revolution in internet communication! Talk to your friends right now!>
A chat program?
He could roughly imagine it. He already liked chatting, and lately, after playing TLF Online, he had been talking more frequently with online friends. Thinking it might be useful, he immediately downloaded it.
[1.3MB]
It seemed to take around ten minutes. Normally, a file of that size should have downloaded faster, but apparently there were quite a lot of users.
“Ah. So it feels like this.”
After installation and launch, a small window appeared. Aside from a friend list and a chatroom menu, the structure was extremely simple.
And naturally, registration was required. However, for people who already had WET accounts, they only needed to agree to the terms.
WET currently held a 61% market share as a portal site and had already surpassed nine million registered users, so many people, including Eric, could immediately use it just by agreeing.
But there’s nobody on my friend list.
In future mobile-based messengers, information could be pulled directly from phone contact lists, so several conversation partners would already be registered immediately. But PC instant messengers required users to manually register everyone one by one, so the list was inevitably empty at first.
Eric stared blankly at it for a moment before eventually launching the TLF Online open beta.
About two hours later, after enjoying the game—
[Ah. I’m stopping here.]
[Huh? Why?]
[The phone bill’s getting scary...]
[Ah...]
He was starting to worry about the communication charges and was about to quit the game.
Then the messenger suddenly came to mind.
[Ah! Right. Anyone install the messenger?]
[What messenger?]
[Ah! That thing WET was advertising.]
It was just a circle chatting together while hunting, but anyone enjoying the open beta of an MMORPG in this era could practically be considered an early adopter, so they were naturally sensitive to new things.
[I signed up earlier too. If anyone wants to talk through messenger, send me your address.]
In the future, people would think much more carefully before giving others their email addresses, but back then, security awareness was not nearly that high.
The moment Eric said this, several email addresses arrived through whispers, and he hurriedly grabbed a notepad from his desk and copied them down.
[Okay, nobody else? I’m logging off.]
Then he exited the game, opened the messenger, and entered the addresses. Apparently, nobody had given him fake ones, because they all registered successfully. Seeing a few names appear in the previously empty list made him feel oddly satisfied.
“Huh?”
[email protected] (Logged In)
One of the IDs changed from gray to green.
They had just been playing together moments ago, so apparently someone else had logged out as well. After checking the memo he had written earlier, he confirmed it was “SexyKingKing.”
At this time, Astra95 still was not widely distributed yet, and most people, like Eric, were using Astra-G, so using an MMORPG and a messenger simultaneously was impossible. No—even with Astra95, performance limitations probably would have made it difficult.
Anyway, curious about who it was, Eric immediately clicked the ID and selected “Open Chat Window” from the menu. Since the interface was intuitive and he already had plenty of experience chatting, he immediately got the hang of it and sent a message.
[Hi? I’m Potato Chip King.]
[Oh! Hi hi!]
A reply appeared immediately.
It somehow felt like he had entered the game world again. Other PC communication systems or WET chatrooms were inconvenient to enter, and even if you knew someone there, it was difficult to hold immediate conversations like this. But here, he could continue talking directly with a friend from the game, and because the design itself was so simple, it felt incredibly immersive.
Eric continued chatting for quite a while afterward.
And then he regretted it.
Ah. If I’m paying communication fees anyway, I should’ve just kept playing the game!
From the very first day of release, WTALK attracted a considerable number of registrations and downloads. Even though it was an unfamiliar service unlike a game, ten thousand people still signed up immediately.
Its growth rate was even faster than TLF Online’s.
Even if it was an unfamiliar service, it was far lighter and more accessible than a game, and words like “chat” and “message” were already familiar to people.
However, despite the heated popularity, the servers did not experience that much load.
First of all, the file size was small and the functions were simple. In truth, Insu had wanted to use a P2P structure that directly connected users to reduce server load even further, but because most internet connections at the time used dial-up and did not use fixed IP addresses, direct connections were difficult.
Even beyond that, there were issues with firewall and NAT (Network Address Translation) settings. Unlike today, there were no functions that automatically detected network conditions and optimized settings. Users had to configure those manually, which created far too high a barrier for users of that era.
(Translator’s Note: NAT (Network Address Translation) — A networking method that allows multiple devices to share a single internet connection or IP address.)
No matter how many ideas from the future Insu possessed, if the environment itself could not support them, there were limits to what he could actually use.
Still, he did the best possible within those limitations, and perhaps because of that, WTALK’s user base grew at a frightening pace.
TLF Online’s beta entered its fifth week.
Total registrations surpassed 200,000, while concurrent users reached 24,000. The growth showed no signs of slowing down, and even more encouragingly, no major problems appeared even after digging through community sites.
Or maybe that itself is the problem?
Insu could not stop monitoring things, and during that process, he discovered several posts that bothered him.
[Buying TLF Online gold.]
[Buying 20,000 gold for 25 dollars!]
[Buying Pacific server gold.]
They were posts related to real-money trading of in-game items.
(Translator’s Note: Real-money trading — The exchange of in-game currency, items, or services for real-world money.)
Most players still had not progressed far enough to obtain particularly impressive items, and because of the corruption system, players preferred gold over items. Combined with the fact that there were many ways to spend gold, demand tended to be high, so most trade posts were related to gold.
“Damn it.”
It did not feel good.
There had always been people saying that games became more successful as real-money trading became more active, or that higher market prices reflected greater popularity. Insu agreed to some extent, but from the perspective of a game operator, real-money trading was absolutely unwelcome.
Games were often enjoyed as a means of relieving real-world frustration and experiencing vicarious satisfaction. But when rich people could easily become stronger in-game using real-world money, it was highly likely to create feelings of relative deprivation.
TLF Online’s design itself ensured that the combat power gap between mid-tier and top-tier players would not become excessively extreme, and the content focused more on PVE than PVP, so even with real-money trading, the sense of effectiveness was relatively low.
(Translator’s Note: PVE (Player versus Environment) — Gameplay focused on fighting computer-controlled enemies or completing content rather than competing directly against other players.)
(Translator’s Note: PVP (Player versus Player) — Gameplay involving direct competition or combat between players.)
Even so, the fact remained that having money made players stronger and more comfortable.
And once money became involved, another problem naturally emerged: fraud and illegal activities. If gamers suffered from such things and lost motivation, the developers would face troublesome responsibility issues.
Of course, Insu understood these problems, so he had carefully written clauses in the terms of service to avoid liability. But whether those would actually hold up was ultimately something that could only be determined in court, which still made things uncomfortable.
In short, it meant introducing disruptive shocks into a carefully designed system and potentially causing troublesome problems.
But completely blocking this is practically impossible.
There was one fundamental method of blocking it: removing player-to-player trading entirely.
But that did not fit with Insu’s ideal of creating a virtual world.
In Insu’s opinion, both now and for a long time to come, one of the greatest interactions capable of creating realism in online games would be direct trade between individuals.
That made sense because currency was one of humanity’s inventions before the medieval era that could most easily be digitized after numbers themselves, while simultaneously being one of the easiest tools for people to immerse themselves in.
Until deep dive technology became reality and players could literally touch each other inside games, Insu found it difficult to imagine any interaction that could immerse gamers into a virtual world more than exchanging money for goods and services.
And the many unofficial professions that had already emerged within TLF itself—merchants, bandits, mercenaries, transporters, and so on—would never have appeared or functioned without personal trading.
From the standpoint of immersion, real-money trading also has the effect of making in-game currency feel more real.
No matter what, games were ultimately virtual worlds. Once you logged off and exited the game, they became disconnected from reality.
But as mentioned before, currency was especially suitable for digitization. Conversely, digital currency could also easily connect with reality, which meant it had the potential to break through the virtual world and emerge into the real one.
And Insu was witnessing that with his own eyes right now.
Real-money trading.
If you want to sound grandiose, you could say it tore down the wall between the virtual world and reality.
And Insu, who had seen the distant future of the year 2025, knew how that vague prospect would eventually become reality.
First, real-world currencies became digitized. Finance, commerce, and many other sectors moved online. In Korea’s case, nearly sixty percent of all retail transactions eventually became electronic commerce.
Conversely, digitally created money—cryptocurrency—came to possess a value approaching five quadrillion won, or nearly four trillion dollars, occupying part of the world economy. At least for currency, the wall between the virtual world and reality had already half-collapsed.
Some might ask what that had to do with game real-money trading, but cryptocurrency possessed a structure very similar to real-money trading.
It was impossible to know whether the original developers had been inspired by real-money trading, but it was true that some early cryptocurrency developers had backgrounds in game development or strong interest in game economies.
Furthermore, among cryptocurrencies, there were even systems directly linked with games, introducing Play-to-Earn (P2E), where players could mine cryptocurrency through gameplay. Denying the relationship entirely would actually be nonsensical.
(Translator’s Note: Play-to-Earn (P2E) — A game monetization model where players can earn cryptocurrency or digital assets through gameplay.)
For a moment, his thoughts had drifted somewhere far too grand.
But in any case, what mattered was how they would respond to the real-money trading that had now begun to appear.