louisisonline
New Member
Hi fellow bookworms,
I'm looking for the title/author of a book/series I read back in 1991.
It's about a computer generated virtual fantasy/sci fi world (made possible by a new type of computer with organic brain cells).
The virtual world runs in real time. The user's character are automated by the computer brain to act in the way the user would normally respond when the user is not playing.
People enter the virtual world via a room where they go to sleep. Normally, if the virtual characters die, they will wake up again.
However, there seems to be a virus / bug in the computer system such that people die for real. This was discovered when an user's character's arm got amputated - the user "woke" up and lost control and sensation of his arm.
The hero is one of the original computer programmers. He was sent into the virtual world to find and fix the bug / virus and to warn all users to "wake up". His character in the virtual world is an half-elf.
Being a programmer, he has access to higher level functions (magic powers) such as banishing characters, creating / resurrecting characters etc. I think he commanded a demon(?) to "go to hell, go directly to hell, do not pass go, do not collect $200" (I might be mistaken about this quote. It may be from another book).
He has an ex-wife who also plays in the virtual world.
I remember the hero conversing with a demon(?) NPC who has become aware / deduced that it lives in a generated world (which I feel is a very interesting philosophical position).
*warning spoilers*
Other part of the book I remember is that the hero has a dryad secretary NPC, who immediately realised he is about to go on a journey - she could see "fire" in his eyes (ie. she could see when the hero is controlled by the human user, rather when automated by the computer brain).
She gets shot killed by an arrow from orcs. The hero contemplates resurrecting / recreating her, but decides against it as she would not have the same personality / history.
I also remember a sci fi segment (in a virtual space ship orbiting the virtual fantasy world), where the hero meets his other character who is a captain of a space ship.
*warning major spoiler*
The bug / virus was due to the computer brain become self aware. This happened because of the following:
Another programmer of the computer system discovered he was dying of cancer. He escaped into the virtual world and left his body in the real world to die. He is a black sorceror and lives in a black tower(?). After many years, he wants to go back to the real world, and attempts to do so by summoning (using his higher programmer's access) the computer brain within the virtual world.
By doing so, he actually instantiates the computer brain's superego, ego and id as virtual characters in the computer world. I remember one of the characters is a female character that fell in love with the hero.
That's about all the bits and pieces I remember about this book (or maybe series). I would like to read it again, however, I can't for the life of me remember the title or author of this book.
Can anybody help?
Thanks!
Louis
I'm looking for the title/author of a book/series I read back in 1991.
It's about a computer generated virtual fantasy/sci fi world (made possible by a new type of computer with organic brain cells).
The virtual world runs in real time. The user's character are automated by the computer brain to act in the way the user would normally respond when the user is not playing.
People enter the virtual world via a room where they go to sleep. Normally, if the virtual characters die, they will wake up again.
However, there seems to be a virus / bug in the computer system such that people die for real. This was discovered when an user's character's arm got amputated - the user "woke" up and lost control and sensation of his arm.
The hero is one of the original computer programmers. He was sent into the virtual world to find and fix the bug / virus and to warn all users to "wake up". His character in the virtual world is an half-elf.
Being a programmer, he has access to higher level functions (magic powers) such as banishing characters, creating / resurrecting characters etc. I think he commanded a demon(?) to "go to hell, go directly to hell, do not pass go, do not collect $200" (I might be mistaken about this quote. It may be from another book).
He has an ex-wife who also plays in the virtual world.
I remember the hero conversing with a demon(?) NPC who has become aware / deduced that it lives in a generated world (which I feel is a very interesting philosophical position).
*warning spoilers*
Other part of the book I remember is that the hero has a dryad secretary NPC, who immediately realised he is about to go on a journey - she could see "fire" in his eyes (ie. she could see when the hero is controlled by the human user, rather when automated by the computer brain).
She gets shot killed by an arrow from orcs. The hero contemplates resurrecting / recreating her, but decides against it as she would not have the same personality / history.
I also remember a sci fi segment (in a virtual space ship orbiting the virtual fantasy world), where the hero meets his other character who is a captain of a space ship.
*warning major spoiler*
The bug / virus was due to the computer brain become self aware. This happened because of the following:
Another programmer of the computer system discovered he was dying of cancer. He escaped into the virtual world and left his body in the real world to die. He is a black sorceror and lives in a black tower(?). After many years, he wants to go back to the real world, and attempts to do so by summoning (using his higher programmer's access) the computer brain within the virtual world.
By doing so, he actually instantiates the computer brain's superego, ego and id as virtual characters in the computer world. I remember one of the characters is a female character that fell in love with the hero.
That's about all the bits and pieces I remember about this book (or maybe series). I would like to read it again, however, I can't for the life of me remember the title or author of this book.
Can anybody help?
Thanks!
Louis