Alan briefly considered spending his 500 ability points he got from the Tutorial, but then decided against it. He should find out more first, figure out what he was going to do before he began improving his character. In most MMOs (massively multiplayer online games) each class’s talent tree was carefully examined, optimal builds found after hours of testing. Alan was sure in-game guides were as abundant and varied, as the amount of customization capable within the Game was staggering, eclipsing any other game he had ever played.

Alan quickly checked out how much it would cost to teleport within the Game, and his jaw dropped at the prices. Teleportation to the nearest major city, which was now Khersath, would cost over a million credits. Other cities were shown as options as well, but it would cost tens or hundreds of millions to teleport to them. You’d have to either be really rich or need to get somewhere in a real hurry to use this teleport system.

Shaking his head, Alan had the Game send him back to his respawn and logout point, the capsule room on board the Titan. He quickly made it back to his room and began to gather information on the globalnet, searching for ways to make money, helping Eve to make her own searches into class abilities, damage, and item choices while he tried to plan out what he’d do next. AIs weren't allowed to directly interface with the globalnet. Instead, Alan had to scroll through screens and click on things for her. He was able to set up a few macros fairly quickly, automatic processes that trawled through the entirety of websites.

The globalnet turned out to be a rather interesting place, as your in-game account was tied to your online account. Thus, if you wanted to post or view anything online it could be tied back to you. Tied to your account was a rating, using the standard in-game rating system, which would rise or fall depending on your actions online. Alan’s current globalnet-rating was D, as knowing a Chief Administrator was apparently a big plus.

With a quick search Alan found out what a Chief Administrator actually was. With only 200 of them at any given time, they were essentially the highest echelon of the Administrators, voting for major choices such as revising in-game rules. The degree to which they could actually change things was actually limited though. People had likened them to the US Supreme Court, interpreting the laws but not changing them. Alan had to forcibly stop himself from reading more, since while Administrator politics were no doubt interesting, he didn’t have the time. There was just so much free information open to him, back story that he could explore.

As he delved deeper into the globalnet pay walls began to appear. The main site used for information was called the Hub. You could either pay credits to access more than the basic information or sell information for additional access, credits, or rating points. Various portions of the Hub were only accessible if you met various requirements, like a minimum globalnet-rating, a credit amount, or some other condition. Alan quickly found the human-only section, and found the top beginner’s guide. It was a free guide written and updated by the United World Government. For good measure, he read the overall top beginner’s guide on the entire site as well, which wasn't limited to a specific race. (The latter cost 100 credits to access.)