un: Mithrun1 | Re: Digital Conference

[tablescraps]

There's a digital conference on September 23rd. We'll be able to ask CC Corp questions about the game and its anomalies.

How clearly they'll answer, I don't know. But it may be worthwhile to pool together everyone's observations, speculations, and complaints here. Different people have seen different things in Fragment, and not a lot of that information is consolidated.

If you've commented on the forums with your observations before, or seen a worthwhile comment, then you can re-link it.

For example, on the topic of the level cap armor:
• UTA's post (in-game NPCs' warning against using it)
• Zelkova's response (indicating the armor was not an intended feature, nor are titles)
• UTA's comment (in-game NPCs claiming only two individuals can "create things")

If you want to talk about something offline for whatever reason, DM me. I don't really mind sharing my number or email.

Edit:

Comments

un: Ganymede

[ganymed]

Zelkova being pulled into the outer levels of the game by surprise. Those outer levels don't follow the same rules as the normal dungeons here, since elements and levels don't scale properly. Whoever did that was someone who's capable of data manipulation and well beyond the capability of a normal player, since someone like that can't reach those areas so easily.

This person who has been manipulating data probably was responsible for switching bodies around during the avatar bug. And they timed it during your incident.

Not to mention your own avatar moved on its own when it shouldn't have. So obviously these are all connected.

ALSO the fact all of us experienced those out of body effects or whatever while playing the game? They are going to get what's coming to them I swear to GOD.

Especially if they think we're really going to sit around listening to their crap like we're conditioned to stick our thumbs up our asses and sing their praises.

un: Mr_Misteaks

[gluttoning]

this is gonna sound weird and im on pain meds dso maybe don t listen to me

but

maybe its all weird and outof body for a reasonn?

[ganymed]

What do you mean?? What reason?

[gluttoning]

i dont know but

icant stop thinking how they ignored your situation compleytly and sa id hana was lyin

and they didnt bother sayin anything when mithrn had problems until he came back

and theyrr askin for medical tests but not putting their own game on hold

if they dont care about keepin people safe or believing us then maybe they actually want this weird stuff to happen t o us

did they even fix the weird stuff that was happening last week? i dont even know if im gonna be home before the conference.

un: hana

[threatmewted]

Either we're mice in an extremely unethical experiment of some sort or there's a rogue AI with at least Zelkova-tier power that they're willfully ignoring. The wind talking about death and stuff right before Mithrun "died" is still really weird if it was someone with CC Corp. Unless Mithrun made enemies with the company somehow?

[tablescraps]

Not that I'm aware of. There are reasons I can think of that might not endear CC Corp to me, ( his past organized crime affiliations mostly, if they know of that, ) but there are more effective ways to snipe at me, if that were the case.

The experiment angle seems comparatively more likely. Researchers don't like being impeded by conceptual ethics much.

( Speaking as a researcher on hiatus... )

[threatmewted]

You're not the first one to tell me that re: experimentation.

[gluttoning]

we did sign a ton of paperwork to even play this

maybe they dont want us to be aware for a reason

like those tests they do with computers to see if people can tell if the computer is a person or not

[threatmewted]

After this, I'm gonna need to have a lawyer look through all the paperwork before I sign up for a single new site or program.

[ganymed]

I'm not sure if that other stuff actually stopped happening. So I'm willing to bet no.

Especially if they're actually doing this for some shady reason.

[gluttoning]

im really wondering

people are losing time and waking up covered in blood and stuff and thats after they told everybody t o go see a doctor

they arent pulling anyone off the game for their own safety

either theyre all just a bunch of uncaring idiots or maybe this isnt something thats a surprise to them

or at least its not a surprise they think is worth fixing

[ganymed]

They know what they're doing. They're a bunch of bastards who think they can get away with whatever they like.

[gluttoning]

and im guessing theyre not worried about lawyers

i asked hien a while back after what happened to hana. he didnt really seem concerned about the fact that the company could get in a lot of trouble.

dont know if that shows that hien just doesnt care all that much or if the company just isnt worried about backlash, but what hien told me matched what they announced later. he implied to me hana was lying and thats what was also told to everyone else that weekend.

[ganymed]

They're overconfident due to the size of the company and the monetary value they hold, I bet. Typical.

It shows to me that it's both. More importantly though is that he knew because the company isn't worried, clearly due to how secure they feel about their position and standing in the whole thing. It'd make sense they'd tell certain employees first before the story gets out there.

[gluttoning]

maybe if he wasnt tied down so hard with that nda hien could actually give some more context

but theyre working him like crazy and hes still going through with it

i wonder why

[tablescraps]

Zelkova being pulled into the outer levels of the game by surprise. Those outer levels don't follow the same rules as the normal dungeons here, since elements and levels don't scale properly. Whoever did that was someone who's capable of data manipulation and well beyond the capability of a normal player, since someone like that can't reach those areas so easily.

Can you elaborate on this? I assume this information came from Zelkova?

Not to mention your own avatar moved on its own when it shouldn't have. So obviously these are all connected.

This incident was interesting. I've been told my avatar got up and logged out just as I woke from my coma.

There has been a pattern of glitches and unintended effects. The Area effects that manipulate users' beliefs and behavior (driving an individual to feel love and confess, for example) have existed since the start of the game, but are not intended elements of the game, per Zelkova and Hien.

Also... Hien mentioned that the individual responsible for the level cap armor, as well as the individual responsible for the memories displayed in the mirror, are the same. (My assumption is he inspected the code and found similarities there, but he did not confirm to me how he drew this connection.)

If those two incidents are connected by culprit, it would not be unusual if other incidents are connected in some way by culprit - the same as the armor and mirrors, or another set - as well.

[ganymed]

Yeah, Zelkova said that. He got caught off guard because he was suddenly pulled into the outer levels and he said the only one who could counter that would be someone on his level.

So basically all of this is by one guy. We should find whoever this is and beat the crap out of them.

[tablescraps]

he said the only one who could counter that would be someone on his level.

That seems in line with what we've seen of the culprit(s) so far: someone capable of manipulating data at a unique level.

That they pulled Zelkova out during the week I was down suggests they may not have wanted Zelkova interfering. That they didn't move Hien out is interesting, though. Is there something Zelkova can do that Hien can't? Or is it that they can't move Hien, because he's effectively a player, administrator privileges aside, compared to Zelkova?

So basically all of this is by one guy.

I'm not sure. It's possible there could be several culprits, each responsible for a handful of glitches each. It would be convenient if all were by the same individual. But it's also possible that there are multiple internal actors (prototypes of individuals like Zelkova?) who are either coordinating, or acting independently.

We only really know the username of one abnormal user because he's tried to contact us. But there was an additional abnormal user with no username we've seen (the individual who commented under Akatsuki's post), and we can't confirm if it's someone separate or if they were also dv, for example.

[ganymed]

That jerk is the head admin too. So it might be that it is really an administrator privilege thing.

Besides, I think he's more tied in with CCorp things. It might mess up things on their end too much, and get whoever has been messing around in trouble. I don't know.

Maybe there's at least two, then. It's hard to tell, but a good amount of the things that have been done feel like they can be connected to that dv person.

[secondthoughts]

What if this mystery user is the one that woman in Naval Monte was screaming about? You know, the one with the key?

[tablescraps]

It's possible. I wonder if it's connected to the poems Vogel has been translating, or to "'His' child" UTA indicated the sprites referenced.

I didn't have an extensive encounter with the rogue NPC, but she was trying to rally the other NPCs to leave, right? It seemed like she was speaking of this person with the key as a sort of savior figure, while being glitched herself.

Maybe she was saying this individual could free them from the confines of being NPCs. No routines, no being anchored to their native Root Towns - that this user could help them obtain a sense of sentience.

If she weren't carrying some kind of sickness with her and therefore likely glitched, though, I'd wonder if she was just part of a story quest. Maybe one related to the Shadowed Man?

[secondthoughts]

To be honest, all I remember her is screaming about "him" and a key. I had a pretty bad day that day, and I think it's because of the sickness she gave me lol. But you could be right. We'll have to keep an ear out for more mentions of this person (these people).

It's weird because there don't seem to be any other story quests in this game. If all this stuff is meant to be some kind of weird sick meta storyline thing, I'm going to be pretty mad lol

Who's the Shadowed Man?

[ganymed]

'The shadowed man on the quest for the Twilight dragon.'

'The shadowed man will not come back here in search of the Twilight dragon.'

The song that played in the place I found the statue of the girl talks about him.

[secondthoughts]

So are we going to have to worry about glitch-spreading dragons next?

[ Said partially in jest, but. ]

[ganymed]

[ Ba dum tish ]

I wouldn't rule it out at this point. There's tales about stone creatures breaking free from where they had been once sealed and then wreaking havoc, so...