OtherSelf Online

OtherSelf Online is a massive multi-player online RPG for the VIRTUA Engine, released in September 2016. Its media coverage made it highly anticipated, resulting in over 20.000 submissions for the 2.000 people closed beta. Thanks to the beta testers spreading only good opinions on the game, around 300.000 people pre-ordered it around the globe. Up to April 2017 it sold 5.654.784 copies.

Otherself Online was created by twin brothers Ulric and Lennard Dittmar, with its beta called Miracle. The beta testing lasted for five months while the Dittmar finished with the game.

Despite being released initially in Germany, most of the players are from Japan, due to the recently exploding popularity of virtual immersion games.

Creation
Development for the game started in July 2011, shortly after Lennard Dittmar fell into a coma. Ulric, genius programmer, started to create a world where he could meet with his brother again. However, the process was slow, and at first, he was unable to communicate with Lennard, as his mind did not recognize him in the game. However, as Lennard became accustomed to the virtual world, Ulric's efforts showed results: he could finally hold a short conversation with his brother. Using the small fortune their parents had left them, Ulric started to expand the game's world, allowing for a wider variety of activities to perform alongside his brother. As Ulric learned more about programming, Lennard started to feel more "alive" inside the game. Shortly after, he began writing stories about different fantasy worlds. In January 2014, Ulric found a novel written by his brother called Miracle, which he took as the base for the game. He worked in the VIRTUA Engine from that moment on, under Lennard's supervision in terms of world design.

The beta, named just as the book, was widely acclaimed by VIRTUA users and soon raised the money needed for its development, surpassing it in such a way that the Dittmar brothers were able to create a single server capable of holding all the players in the world.

Miracle
The beta of the game, it was released in April 2016 by the Dittmar brothers, after five years of development. It was a simple nordic fantasy RPG which held 2.000 players. In it, the players reported feeling comfortable going around towns and safe zones, while feeling the thrill in the dungeons and combat areas.

Miracle was one of the first role-playing games for VIRTUA, and the most successful after it was turned into "OtherSelf Online". Its popularity was based on forum comments, word of mouth and streamings of the beta by its testers. Through donations and collaborations from fans of the game, Ulric and Lennard created the full game.

Background
The game centers in the world of Laevateinn, a mythical land created by Surtr, the God of Creation. Eons ago, Surtr fought against Ivaldi, God of Destruction, and destroyed him after impaling him with his holy lance. Ivaldi's body, purified by the spear's holy flame, hosted the new life that would grow to become the Vili, children of Ivaldi.

Thinking of this new life as a threat akin to Ivaldi's, Surtr created the Frey to contain the Vili. However, after seeing how the Vili loved the life in their world, Surtr took pity on them, and ordered the Frey to guide the Vili and help them develop further. With time, the Vili would create their own kingdoms, living among the Frey.

Trouble didn't wait to arise. The kingdom of Utgard, under the ambicious rule of King Njord, began a conquest of all neighboring kingdoms. Unprepared, most of them fell within mere days. On the other side of Laevateinn, the kingdom of Midgard raised its troops and prepared itself to attack the forces of Utgard before being attacked themselves. King Sudri, as a known strategist, planned an ambush against the Utgard soldiers before they had the chance to conquer the kingdom of Niflheim, thus gaining a powerful ally.

With their combined forces, the tables were turned. For the first time in years, the Utgardian army was forced to withdraw from battle at the Fields of Ragnarok. Combat was quickly taken to Utgard's homeland, where, after a fierce battle, the last line of defense fell, and King Njord was slain.

However, just as the he announced his victory to the people, King Sudri was betrayed by King Garm of Niflheim, and slain as well. Victory did not last long for the treacherous king, as he was shot in the chest by an archer's poisoned arrow, and died in the spot.

Without kings, riots erupted all around Laevateinn, resulting in a chaos not seen since the Vili were created. After four months of chaos, three heroes reunited at the Fields of Ragnarok, and signed the Yggdrasil Treaty, dividing the lands equally for the three Alliances: Utgard, Midgard and Niflheim.

Thanks to the Yggdrasil Treaty, peace returned. Nonetheless, tension is still present between the Alliances, and scholars fear that one day, history will repeat itself.

Character creation
OtherSelf Online features a creation system where players have a wide variety of options to customize their character. The player first chooses the character's race and gender, having Vili and Frey as race options and male and female as gender options.

Next, the player can customize their character's appearance, once more having a broad array of options to choose from, including but not limited to height, weight, and build. However, both races have a different height and weight limit, the Vili being taller and thinner with the Frey being shorter, but heavier.

Lastly, the player will choose their allegiance between the Utgard Alliance, the Midgard Alliance and the Niflheim Alliance. Such choice will affect the player's first missions and the "main questline", a series of interconnected quests that drive the player to explore the world and accept various side quests.

After character creation, the player is thrown into the game's world, and throughout quests, will decide the character's class, having four of them available at first but unlocking more of them via different quests scattered around the game's world.