Player 1

Chapter 2 Preface (2)
"This is my first game console," Halliday said in a childish voice, "Atari 2600, I got it for Christmas in 1979." He sat down to the game console, picked up the controller, "and My favorite game," he nodded towards the TV, a small square on the screen was walking through a simple maze, "it's called "Adventure", and like many old video games, the design and programming are done by a single person Done. But at that time, Atari didn't want designers to leave their names on their works, so you couldn't find that information on the game packaging and cover." On the TV screen, Halliday was slashing with a sword There is a red dragon, but because of the low pixels, the picture looks more like a square poking some deformed duck with an arrow.

"So, the guy who designed the adventure, a guy named Warren Robinette, decided to hide his name in the code. There's a key in one of the game's mazes, and it looks like it's just a little black Grid, but you can use it to enter the secret room, and his name is there." Halliday manipulated his own cube to enter the secret room, and a line of "Made by Warren Robinette" appeared in the center of the screen.

"This," Halliday pointed at the screen, speaking reverently, "is the earliest easter egg in the game. Robin Knight hid it in the code and kept it secret from the outside world. Atari produces it and sells it all over the world "Adventure", but didn't know the existence of this secret room. It wasn't until a few months later that someone discovered the secret. At that time, children all over the world talked about it, and I was one of them. Find Robin Knight The easter egg is the coolest gaming experience in my life."

Little Halliday dropped the handle and stood up.At this moment, the living room gradually disappeared, and the scene changed again.Halliday was in a dark room, dim light flickering on the damp walls.His appearance has also been transformed into that of the famous character in "Oasis", Anola - a tall wizard in robes, he has a more attractive face than the real Halliday (probably because of taking off glasses ), wearing a high-class black robe with a badge (capital curlicue letter A) embroidered on both sleeves.

"Before I die," Anola said in a deeper voice, "I created my own easter egg, which was hidden in my most popular game, Oasis. The first person to find it will Get all my property."

To add to the sense of mystery, he paused again.

"It's well hidden. I wouldn't just bury it under some rock. I guess you'd think it's locked somewhere safe, like in the middle of a dungeon," he tapped. My own right temple, "It's not that simple. But don't worry, I will leave clues for everyone to start searching. The first one is—" Anola drew a spell, and three keys appeared out of nowhere, They swirl slowly in the air and appear to be made of brass, emerald and crystal respectively.Just as the key continued to rotate, Anola began to recite a poem. Every time he said a sentence, the corresponding subtitles would scroll down the screen:
Three keys correspond to three secret doors
Virtue will be tested here
Only those who ride the wind and waves and overcome all difficulties

In order to reach the other shore and gain a lot of wealth
After he finished chanting, the emerald and crystal keys disappeared, leaving only the brass key still hanging around Anola's neck.

The mage turned and walked into the dark cavern.A few seconds later, he came to a thick double wooden door with a steel border, carved with dragons and shields, "Since this puzzle has not been tested by others, I don't know if it will be too difficult. I even doubt it will be too difficult." Easter eggs will never be discovered. But even if this is the case, I have no chance to modify the code. Anyway, this matter, just wait and see."

Anola pushed open the door, and the treasure house inside the door was full of shiny gold coins and jewelry-rimmed wine glasses, (analysis pointed out that there were many strange things hidden in the treasure, the most conspicuous of which were several early home computers , including the second-generation Apple E-type, Komodo 64, Atari 800XL, TRS-80 color computer second generation), as well as handles for various hosts and hundreds of early desktop role-playing games. dice.

He steps through the door, then turns to face the camera, his arms outstretched to prop up the massive wooden door. (The composition of this scene is very similar to the cover of Jeff Easley's "Dungeons and Dragons" [1983] rule book published in 8.)
"Enough nonsense," Annora announced, "Halliday's egg hunt contest begins now!" After saying this, he disappeared into a ray of light, leaving only the open door and the endless treasure behind it .

The screen fades away.

At the end of the video, Halliday gives a link to his personal website, which suddenly changed the morning of his death.For more than a decade, the only thing visible on that site was a short, looping animation of Halliday's character, Anora, hunched over an old, battered worksheet in a medieval library. In front of the stage.He was adjusting the potion according to the dusty spell book, and the huge black dragon pattern was clearly visible on the wall behind him.

But now that animation is gone, replaced by a high score list that often appears on old arcade machines.There are ten positions on the high score list, each with JDH, James Donovan Halliday, followed by a string of six zeros.In many cases, this kind of list is also called "scoreboard".

The icon below the scoreboard resembles the leather cover of a book.It’s a download link to the book Anola’s Almanac, a collection of hundreds of Halliday’s journal entries—none of which are dated.The yearbook has thousands of pages, but very little of it is relevant to his daily life.Most of the journal is his commentary on various classic games, science fiction and fantasy novels and movies, comics and 80s pop culture, mixed with his cynicism about everything from religious organizations to diet soda. Bag.

The game, from the moment it became known to the world, immediately became a global event.Regardless of gender, regardless of age, countless people are like lottery players, dreaming of finding Halliday's eggs. The Annora's Almanac seems to indicate only one thing: familiarity with Halliday's hobbies is crucial to finding that Easter egg.But in this sandbox game "Oasis", which everyone can play and has a high degree of freedom, where are the easter eggs?
The frenzy of popular culture in the 80s swept the world again.Half a century later, those movies, games and fashion are once again taking the world by storm.Yes, in 2041, mohawks and acid-wash jeans once again filled the streets, and it was pop that ruled the music scene.For those who really spent their youth in the 80s and are now old, it is a very strange feeling to watch the fashion of the past be learned and respected by the grandchildren.

A new subculture was born among Halliday egg hunters.Millions of people research and hunt for that easter egg whenever they have time.At first, these people were called "egg hunters," but the nickname "hunters" soon took its place.

In the first year, nearly all Oasis users declared themselves a member of the Hunters.

But when the anniversary of Halliday's death rolled around, the heat for the race began to wane.A year has passed and no one has found anything useful.Not even a door or a key.This has nothing to do with the excessive size of "Oasis".After all, it contains thousands of virtual worlds, and it would take years to search any one of them thoroughly.

No matter how much the "professional" hunters boast about their progress, one thing is becoming clear: No one knows exactly what they're looking for, or where to start.

A year has passed.

Another year has passed.

Things were still going nowhere.

The public has lost all patience with this game.Some people began to speculate that this was just the last joke of a rich man before his death.Others believe that even if the egg existed, no one would be able to find it.During this period of time, "Oasis" was constantly upgrading and developing new expansion packs, and acquisition attempts by other manufacturers and endless lawsuits failed to affect it.

Halliday's easter eggs are gradually being regarded as urban legends, and the declining number of hunters has become the object of people's snort.Every time Halliday is celebrated, the media is bound to ridicule the progress of the hunters.Meanwhile, every year more hunters give up, figuring that Halliday buried the eggs deep where no one else can.

A year has passed.

Another year has passed.

Finally, on the night of February 2045, 2, the name of a player character appeared on the top of the scoreboard, attracting the attention of the whole world.After five long years of waiting, the brass key was finally found by a boy who lived in a prefab on the outskirts of Oklahoma City.

That boy is me.

Many books, anime, movies, and series try to tell what happened next, but without exception they are more fiction than reality.So I want to write this story directly and let it live forever.

(End of this chapter)