Colt barely listened to the conversation after that point. The ex-player went on to describe how the AI was really incredibly lifelike and that you could easily forget that they were not real. This sparked a bit of a debate as to whether they could really be called game objects any longer if they really reacted and lived like real people.
Naturally, some people became concerned about the ethics and morality of playing such a game after that. This just led to more confusion as people tried to define whether the AI was actually alive or whether it was fine because they had been created for the entertainment of others.
Colt switched off the news, as that argument kept going on and probably would for hours yet. As far as he was concerned, it was just a game and people should stop overthinking things. But he was certain it would become a hot topic in the gaming community over time.
'Come to think about it...' Colt frowned after placing his order for the fluids that he needed and moved over to the game's official forums. Although he was not interested in the real-life argument around the AI's, a spark of interest had formed about what other players had tried to do with the AI's so far. 'Just how real did the developers make them?'
He searched through a number of topics until he found a few with interesting titles. He decided to take them one at a time to get a better idea of what the NPCs may react to. The first one he clicked on was titled: I'm an evil GOD!
When he read through the contents, it seemed that player who posted it was an Orc god. They had demanded for some of the followers to sacrifice themselves! This caused his followers to have a shift in how they viewed him. Seeing him as an evil entity that could grant their worldly desires as long as they performed evil actions. Such as kidnapping innocent people, holding them prisoner, sacrificing them or themselves, and the list went on and on.
It was an interesting read, especially the part where the player in question believed that his authority was linked to being believed to be evil. He believed that it was something a god could not get if they were seen as good, although he did not go into details about it.
The drawbacks turned out to be that the followers of 'good' gods would hunt his own followers down if they were discovered. Not to mention it was difficult to grow his follower base, since they would sacrifice each other from time to time. However, on the plus side, he gained a lot of valuables. Basically, everything that belonged to a sacrificial victim became his property. On top of that, he had gained a significant amount of Soul Tokens though he had no idea what to do with them.
The poster then went on to say that he was recruiting like-minded players to start an evil Pantheon. Colt shook his head at that last part. It was similar to being an evil or dark guild in other games. They would become the bane of other Pantheons and would likely be hunted a lot. He was surprised that players were willing to put themselves in this position in Pantheon.
He scrolled to the next topic, which mimicked the same arguments that he had heard on the news. He gave it a quick glance to see if there was anything of interest, but it did not seem to be the case.
Another topic discussed how some players had created monsters by cursing mortal wildlife. These creatures went on a rampage and became something that they or other gods could no longer affect! Leaving them as a problem for the NPCs to deal with. Apparently, one of the monsters had been killed by a player's follower and had been elevated to a Hero. What this meant exactly, they did not know.
But they hypothesized that Heroes would have an easier time fighting monsters. Like some sort of guardian for their followers to call on for help when facing difficult times. Colt took a keen interest in this subject, but there were no posts about anyone else blessing a mortal creature and being able to summon it. He decided that others had done the same as him but had not shared the information yet.
'Still, it's like a way to attack your enemies' followers. Curse a creature in their regions and it'll do a lot of damage. But there's risk involved in that you may generate a hero for your enemy if they kill it...' Colt wondered if he could do something similar for his own people. Deliberately create monsters for them to vanquish and give him heroes he could use as pawns in the mortal realm.
As he continued looking through the various discussions, he could not help but laugh at some of the things he saw. Some players had commanded their followers to never wear clothes. Others had convinced the NPCs that the world was just a grape on a vine. Some had told them that it was just a bad dream and when they died, they would wake up in a utopia.
Surprisingly, there were quite a lot of things that the NPCs took seriously if mentioned by their god. It was basically giving the players to create their own faith from scratch. They could make the NPCs believe whatever they wanted them to about the creation of the world and how they should be acting as people. It was quite the powerful system that could strengthen or weaken how much new potential followers would want to believe in you if they liked what they heard.
Still, the topics went on and on until he hardly found anything new and some things that he questioned whether the poster was telling the truth about. However, one last post drew his attention as soon as he read the title: Demigods are real!
Colt immediately clicked on it and took his time as he read the information. The poster had remained anonymous but felt that he could not keep this revelation a secret.
Essentially, the player in question was feeling rather infatuated by how one of his followers looked. He decided to try something out but suggesting to her that they have a relationship. However, he was caught off guard when she agreed rather enthusiastically. After going into great detail about how he spent the night with her, he got a shock a couple of days later when his oracle contacted him to discuss an issue that had arrived.
The player's followers wanted to burn a woman alive for lying about carrying the child of their god. Naturally, the player doubted this as well but decided to take a look for himself, since it involved the woman he had spent the night with.
When he descended and got close to her, a system notification had appeared to tell him that she really was pregnant with his child! The child would randomly gain some powers based off of the player's authority as well as excel in combat. Naturally being gifted with extreme strength, be faster than normal or having an extremely tough body.
With one of these combined with a weakened version of the player's authority abilities chosen at random, the child would become a powerhouse in the world of man. Being born as a Demigod Hero. The poster then went on to say that the system had notified him that if his child performed great heroic feats and his name resounded through the land, there would be a chance for him to ascend to the divine realms.
Naturally, the player was shocked about this and was seeking advice on what he should do. In Colt's mind, he was overthinking things when he started to say that he was not ready to settle down and be a father. Other comments seemed to mimic that thought as they just suggested that he let the child grow in the care of its mother until he could use it.
Other players wondered how the birth of Demigods would shape the game in the future and whether it was something actually worth considering. They had a feeling that this inclusion in the game had to come with bad points that either the poster or the system was hiding. Otherwise, it would be an OP feature and basically, every player would do what they had to if they wanted to gain an army of them.
Colt found himself among those who thought that there had to be a downside. It was something worth thinking about, but he would prefer to know more about the subject before acting on it. 'Maybe I should test it out? I could keep it a secret? Maybe tell the mother to never reveal it?' Colt's mind raced as he considered the option. After all, there was no telling how the child would react once they discovered the truth...