Omnitopia Dawn: Omnitopia #1

Omnitopia Dawn: Omnitopia #1

A near-future techno-thriller from New York Times bestselling author Diane Duane. It's the first quarter of the twenty-first century, and "massively multiplayer" on-line games have been around for a couple of decades. In an increasingly wired and computer-friendly world they've become a form of entertainment so popular they're giving television and films a run for the money. And the most popular gaming universe of all is Omnitopia, created by genius programmer Dev Logan. For millions of people around the world, Omnitopia is an obsession, a passionate pastime, almost a way of life. Omnitopia is a virtual place where dreams come true-players can create their own universes within the game's structure, and participate in the profits if their piece of the universe is a hit. Ten million players routinely play in Omnitopia, and at any given time, nearly a million of them are on-line, living in a world more real to them then their own. Worldwide, Omnitopia is now as much a culture as a game. Participants can become involved in it in a hundred different ways. Some game as if their lives depended on it, spending thousands of hours, or thousands of dollars, or both, on quests in search of "game glory" among their fellow players. Some game only to acquire sufficient in-game "value" to become entitled to become subcreators themselves, able to build new levels and start raking in the so-called "one percent of infinity" which is the leveler's share of the profits. But there are also people who don't game at all, preferring to use the massive platform simply to explore its worlds, or to interact with other participants. Some people do nothing but design on-line weapons and other items for Omnitopia gamers, and sell them-or act as brokers, buying and selling game artifacts to order. Some subcreators do the same kind of design and creation, but for tailored Microcosms or slices of them: these are the "unreal estate" dealers. Some players speculate in game "gold" on the success or popularity of Microcosms, rather than actually playing in them. And of course there are thieves and swindlers, cheaters who live to find the loophole in the game that will outside it in the real world. Now Dev and his people are preparing to rollout a major new expansion to the Omnitopia system. And even as players, staff, the media, and the heavy hitters on the world financial scene wait eagerly for this fast-approaching and momentous event, there are others preparing to play a very different game-one that is meant to strike at the heart of Omnitopia and bring the entire system crashing down.... Dev Logan is the eighth-richest man in the world, thanks to his invention of a massive multiplayer online game known as Omnitopia, in which players can venture into all sorts of vibrant, creative worlds and even have a shot at designing their own. The thousands of people Dev’s company employs are working toward a big goal: releasing an expansion to the game. With the expansion rollout just days away, Dev is worried about possible vulnerabilities in the system. His concerns are not unfounded: a skilled group of hackers is plotting an attack at the time the game’s servers will be most vulnerable, and Dev’s former business partner and friend is preparing a financial takedown of Dev’s company. Readers who have never ventured into the intricate world of online gaming will have a hard time seeing what all the fuss is about, but the many who have played World of Warcraft or its ilk will appreciate Duane’s rich description of Omnitopia’s many universes and enjoy the intrigue and drama surrounding the release of the expansion. --Kristine Huntley Diane Duane is the author of a score of novels of science fiction and fantasy, among them the New York Times hardcover bestsellers, Spock's World and Dark Mirror , as well as the very popular Wizard Fantasy series, and a second Spider-Man hardcover novel entitled The Lizard Sanction . She is hard at work on a third Spidey novel, The Octopus Agenda . Duane lives with her husband, Peter Morwood--with whom she has written five novels, including the New York Times bestseller, The Romulan Way --in a beautiful valley in rural Ireland. Prologue Rik Maliani stepped out of nothingness into the narrow cobbled confines of Troker’s Lane, overhung on each side by ancient half-timbered houses . . . and as his second step went squish, he realized he’d just put his left foot down right in the middle of a turd. He stood there for a moment looking down at his booted foot and the unsavory dinner-plate-sized object he’d stepped into. It was blue. Rik stood on one foot, lifted the other one up and looked over his cloaked shoulder at the sole of it, sniffed. He immediately caught the unmistakable acrid whiff of griffin poop. Rik shook his head and smiled, impressed for about the hundredth time this week. Technology, he thought. Don’t you love it when it works! He went over to the curbstone in front of the nearest shutt