Continued employment.

The company hopes that you will be of adequate quality to justify your continued employment. Anyone who proves to be so valuable earns Reward Points over the course of their testing experience. One reward point is roughly equivalent in value to a human soul, chosen as that makes it an easy unit of measure that most of our testers are able to understand.

You will typically be given reward points at the end of a testing sequence (such as upon your permanent ), though some GMs have elected to be more flexible with this arrangement. Typical ways to earn rewards include but are not limited to:

Completing a local storyline

Legitimately earning the highest tier of reward available for your rewards system at least once.

Providing actionable feedback during your debriefing

Compensation for irregularities in the testing process

Finding glitches in the matrix or notable balance problems

Rewards

People: typically after a test is complete, the artificial world is broken down for spare parts and the people inhabiting it are reincarnated into new worlds, potentially as the same people. We have noted that many testers recoil in horror when they learn of this fate that awaits the people they have grown attached to the moment that the test is complete. As such, we have created options to avert this state of affairs.

-1 Tag along: you may take along one individual to serve as a permanent companion in future tests. They will not retain any superhuman abilities and will need to be repurchased (either as themselves or possessing a local/purchased individual) in future tests, but will be the same individual with the same memories and feelings towards you (plus any additional memories appropriate to the new world and potential bleed over from past lives). If you are ever removed from the position of beta tester, your Tagalongs will be kept with you in whatever post you may be placed in later.

-1 Letter of Recommendation: you may request that up to 5 individuals be promoted to beta testers. This will allow them to preserve their current personalities (though their original personalities from prior lives and precapture are likely to bleed in). If one of these testers meets a milestone in their testing (such as meeting minimum engagement thresholds or gaining Job Security) they will be allowed to send you a message and a gift of their choice (taken from among their own resources and subject to GM approval). They still must earn their keep, of course; this is cheaper per person than tagalong only because a tester is more profitable to the company.

-2 Meeting Ground- You will gain a special company space known as a Meeting Ground. You may enter this space with up to 3 companions for 1 hour per day by default, during which time will stop in your current world. Any other Testers you are on friendly terms with may purchase or earn a Green Orb, which will allow them to come to this meeting place once per week for one hour, which will always overlap perfectly with anyone else they hoped to meet with. They may purchase or earn the orb a second time to upgrade to once per day. Testers in this space may exchange assets, companions, and credits, but all trades must be even in value. Similarly they may make wagers or engage in PVP bouts, but only if both sides intend to genuinely compete; throwing a match to bypass the rules on trading will be punished. The space will be initially barren but will be upgraded each time someone purchases a green orb, adding amenities like food, showers, and allowing Testers to “save” time to allow for longer but more infrequent visits.

-3 Family Business- All descendants you may have in any timeline will be automatically promoted to beta testers at the end of testing. This does not apply to children they may have in their own tests; they will need to purchase this upgrade themselves for that.

-4 Will Not Part- Any lovers that you grow sufficiently attached to will automatically be added to your account as Tagalongs. As a benchmark, this applies to anyone that you would be able to maintain an emotionally fulfilling relationship with (for you) for a minimum of 5 years given the chance. Should you not have any such individuals, this will instead grant one free instance of Tagalong or Letter of Recommendation at the end of a testing period.

-5 West World- We must make money somehow. You may sponsor a world you are leaving in order to make it into one of our many public showcase parks. The setting will be worked into a resetting time loop in which interesting world events are always happening, and you may come back to visit your friends at any time. They will be unaware of their time loop, but they will recognize you. (This option is up for review as many testers have claimed that this was “consigning their friends to an endless purgatory.” Mortal minds are terribly rigid in some ways.)

Training Wheels- by default you will start with whatever your avatar happens to own, which is unlikely to be much. You may sweeten the pot, giving you more to work with at this critical point in any test. These upgrades, like all others, are persistent and will apply to all future tests.

-1 Care package- You will start any test with a collection of useful but unremarkable items priced at the local equivalent of 500 US dollars. Depending on your starting environment’s needs this may include rations, a weapon, armor, medicine, a cell phone, fashionable clothes, durable shoes, or a small amount spending money. In addition you will start with one minor company asset.

-2 Silver Spoon- You will be exceptionally lucky at the beginning of any Test. Meeting valuable allies, finding useful or expensive treasure, appearing in a relatively safe place, or having your life/autonomy saved by deus ex machina once are all common manifestations of this perk. The benefits of this perk rapidly diminish, with a duration ranging from 10 minutes to one week depending on how long the “primary narrative” of the setting is intended to take.

-3 Well prepared- you will start any test with the local equivalent of 5,000 US dollars worth of legally obtained useful items. This may include fine adventuring gear, a modest vehicle or pack animal, specialized magical or technological tools, and anything you might find in the Care Package upgrade. In addition you will receive one random moderate company asset.

-3 First Girl Wins - a more focused and longer lasting version of Silver Spoon. One of the first people you encounter will be an attractive person of your preferred gender who has the skills and resources to thrive in this world, especially with your assistance. He or she will be incredibly easy to impress by you and only you. Basic human decency will provoke eternal unconditional love, general competency will earn deep respect, etc. You can still plausibly alienate him or her, but typically only through a sustained campaign of or an utter perversion of their moral principles. Alternatively, one of your Tagalongs could be provided with the relevant skillset/resources and join up with you early on.

-5 Fortunate Son- you will always start with a privileged position that carries with it power, agency, and at least a modicum of stability. You may be independently wealthy, a favored position in a well established criminal organization, nobility, or a religious leader, as a set of easy examples. This will come with responsibilities and behaviors you must perform in order to maintain your status, though you will always receive a skill package to ensure baseline competence. If you perform your duties adequately you will always be at least relatively well off; even in the event of total societal collapse you will have some assets and connections to draw upon.

-5 Prepper- you will start with the local equivalent of 50,000 US dollars of no-strings locally sourced items. This may include high quality equipment, cutting edge technology, moderately powerful magic items, or a top tier net deck for a children’s card game. In addition, you will receive one random Major company asset.

Fine Tuning- our experienced testers can afford to be picky. You may make requests for certain changes to be made, or certain options to not be presented to you.

-1 reality alignment- you may alter reality in a way that does not make life easier for you, but which may make it more enjoyable. (Undead girls are attractive and enjoy sex, Mermen are futas, C-cup breasts are the smallest a mature woman can have, etc.) This change will apply to all future settings you find yourself in, if it is applicable.

-1 Hard no- you may select a trait which you will not be required to engage with in future beta tests. For example, no horror settings, no slavery (setting wide or limited to you), no PvP, etc.

-2 Opt In- We test a nearly infinite number of variations of a near infinite number of settings. You may request that certain traits are in all settings you find yourself in. Examples include RPG style leveling, attractive women, PVP opportunities, and safe settlements to rest and relax in.

-2 Social Engineering- You may adjust demographics in a way that will actively alter social dynamics within reasonable parameters. This may make things easier for you, but only indirectly. Some examples include 3 women to every man, polyamory is standard, women can’t get pregnant unless they want to, or elves are notoriously slutty.

-3 Artist’s thinly veiled fetish- the trappings of a certain concept become commonplace and are fully internalized and justified by in universe retcons. Examples include a strict power dynamic between the sexes, nobody ever needs to wear shoes, sentient human-passing robot slaves are commercially available without any ethical baggage, or a proliferation of mind control based technology or magic. Despite the name, this concept does not need to be sexual in nature. Usually is, though.

-4 Veils are for Chumps- as above, but the concept is core to the setting and touches nearly all aspects of life. Examples include the economy revolving around small groups of adventurers, functionally not existing because it’s incredibly rare that someone would ever reject a sexual invitation, spiking someone’s drink with love potion as a socially acceptable way to start a relationship, or literally everyone being free loving pansexual nymphomaniacs.

Power Ups- typically a bit less potent than a big starting boost, these will provide a sustained boost that will make your entire journey a bit easier.

-1 Professional- you will start any test with a master level understanding of a single relevant trade skill. This will either be an in demand career option (in a peaceful setting where settling down and getting a job is a viable option) or something which provides immediately applicable skills (such as being an engineer on a monster infested space ship).

-2 polymath- instantly gain skills sufficient to push you into the low end of tier 2 in every imaginable field of expertise. Modest skill with every weapon imaginable, general identification of edible and poisonous plants, tricks to navigate in the woods without getting too lost, conversational fluency in every language, etc. You will pale in comparison to a specialist but you will never be at a total loss.

-3 Wand, Sword, Brush- you will start out as a skilled practitioner of a local magic system (including any needed tools or resources). Your starting level of skill will put you in the 95th percentile among practitioners; better than most but inferior to the very best. Should this world lack a magic system, you will instead be skilled in whatever fighting style best fits your identity. Should this setting/part of the setting generally eschew , you will be skilled in whatever is typically used by locals to resolve conflicts or establish dominance, such as cooking, business acumen, spycraft, or children’s card games.

-4 Chosen One- you will have a unique or super rare skill appropriate to your testing environment. Possession does not imply mastery (see the prior perk for that), but you will have a substantial edge over anyone who doesn’t have such an ability, assuming otherwise equal skill levels. The inherent or social drawbacks of such an ability, if they exist, will be blunted to manageable levels.

-5 Echoes of Arcana- you may take along a form of magic from any setting you have formerly been to, and both you and your Tagalongs will retain the capacity to use them, though typically only as self taught amateurs operating off of half remembered theory. You will also permanently unlock practitioners of this style of magic for purchase, substitution, power swap, and template stacking, allowing you to spend credits to master this style of magic.

-x Metaboost- You may purchase anything in the catalog as a permanent upgrade. It will be added to your build free of charge at the beginning of any future beta tests. Cost in reward points is equal to credit cost in the catalog. Bindings cost a minimum of 5 reward points and are mutually exclusive with any other binding. Companions can not be purchased in this way, though you may purchase capture coupons allowing the purchase of setting approved waifus (if you desire to maintain a consistent companion, this pairs well with Tagalong)

Other- a grab bag of additional options

-3 Job security- you may trade 3 company credits for 1 point of Job Security, which can be traded in to maintain your status as a tester after an unsatisfactory test or saved. At 5 points of Job security you qualify for promotion.