'Not A Villain' Webcomic - Dr Grace talks cryptically again.

‘Not A Villain’ Webcomic – Page 105

Complete honesty is apparently not a policy in TENka...

Also, for non-gamer people: HP means Health Points.

Vote incentive is panel 2 with some of Dr. Grace's sanguine thoughts 😈

24 Comments

Now that’s interesting.

The doctor cut the other two out of the loop about the plan to recruit “Kat,” as well. This is something he and the Bandit cooked up without letting the others know.

Judging by the character, he probably only trusted the Bandit because the Bandit is too dim to understand his whole plan, which means that the things he told the Bandit are also nether the whole truth nor wholly true.

Then again, for him to tell the Bandit, “She might be recruitable” when her first words to him were, “I don’t deal with TENka” leads me to guess that he might not have been referring to recruiting TENka when he said she’d be recruitable – and that the Bandit IS in on it.

Carrying the wild guesswork a little further, I’d say he is pretty sure that Kat is the one he’s looking for, but he doesn’t want to bring her to justice, or not right away – rather, he wants to use her skills to advance his own position within, or perhaps against, TENka.

…

On a totally different note, I wonder why Kleya took to hacking. She doesn’t seem the sort to be doing it for kicks. She doesn’t enjoy the misery of others, and doesn’t crave having power over people. Even if she doesn’t want to work at TENka, it seems out of character for her to not take up a job tightening up L.I.F.e’s security. She wants to be a hero – that would give her a chance to save REAL people from REAL villains, rather than just pretending… and she’d get to pull out all the stops whenever she starts “losing” without anyone crying foul.

I want to know what made her STOP hacking. Just what can they really do to such a skilled hacker that would scare her? Or maybe she hurt someone close her when she was hacking and as a result she vowed to make up for by makeing herself become a hero. And maybe TENka won’t leave her alone about it…?

Hey, I’m new to your webcomic and I enjoy it very much!

Although I still have many questions about the background. Especially I wonder what is the difference between citizens and outsiders. Will there ever be a more detailed background information?

Tim, I think she was involved in setting up L.i.F.e and had a confrontation with TENka management… and refused to “lose.” I suspect it had something to do with how the rules were being set up, e.g. fines for sleeping in the library (not that specifically, since she apparently didn’t know about that one). I also think Sasuke was on her side or at least was friendly with her. I think he’s the one Dr. Grace doesn’t want watching this match.

sw, citizens live inside the Cities, which apparently have air and medical supplies. (The atmosphere was apparently ruined in the Ending.) Citizens have to do work to support the Cities, e.g. farming. Outsiders live outside the Cities and have to fend for themselves.

There is not much coverage of “the real world” in this comic yet.

I gather that a “citizen” is someone who lives in a “city”. “Cities” are places of relative safety, but are generally controlled by some corporation (the dominant one is the Evil Corporation stereotype, though others may exist that are not).

An Outsider is someone who lives outside of “cities”, with an implication of physical danger such as collapsing buildings. Apparently Internet connections are still readily available, though.

Apparently some cataclysm removed all normal jobs from the world, so everyone’s livelihood depends on an MMO nowadays. That (and the cataclysm itself) can’t be good for the “real world’s” infrastructure, so everyone’s apparently decided retreat to Fantasyland is the way to go.

Kleya probably had something to do with it. The very title of the comic suggests that she was indeed a villain at one point.

Shadowy machinations from within a shadowy organization (and let’s face it, Tenka is shadowy, no matter how you slice it)? Zounds! Foul things are afoot! But for whom does this Puppeteer pull strings? Does he work to better the lot of the people or for his own twisted ends?
I’m eager to see how this whole tournament thing works out. It could be long and drawn out depending on how you treat each match. Do you have a comic buffer or are you uploading these as you finish them? I’m also curious as to how hacking or programming works; I’d imagine that for a mouse and keyboard interface (Kleya was using a keyboard in the first page) it works the same as in our world, but what about for other interfaces? What happens when no keyboard is available? Mae controls her avatar while her body remains immobile (for the most part) in the real world, right?

Buffer: umm…yes to both? I have pages in several stages but often finish a page just before upload time.

Programming: Most programming is done in Reality, in your real body on a normal computer (ie: keyboard/mouse), and then uploaded and activated by a pre-designed signal/button/action/etc. This is the usual process for making Specials as well.

Hacking: It depends on the skills of the hacker 😈 Most do the above programming routine. A few can do other routes. There are hackers other than Kleya in this world so you’ll get to see some of their tactics around lack of keyboards.

Interface: I’ll let the story explain all of this when we get to that part, but yes, Mae controls her avatar while her body remains mostly immobile.

That would mean that the use of virtual interfaces, such as the one that “L.i.F.E. official” used in pages 75-77, are restricted to situational use by specific users. The only way to have such a thing in LiFE would be to hack one in.
I ask because I had a character idea. I’m guessing that you wouldn’t have a place for other peoples OCs in your story, but I’d still like to tell you, if you would be interested in reading it.

Yes, virtual interfaces are for situational use only unless you’re cheating/hacking.

As for your character idea: Yes, it’s very unlikely that I’ll use it. No offense, but my plot is pretty tight as it is and I’m rarely in need of character ideas 🙂 Ever thought about using that idea in your own story, though?

Wouldn’t fit in the context of it. Too Game involved and if I removed that part of him to have him fit, he would be of less value to the story than an npc with one line of dialogue.

What about for taking notes? Are people required to handwrite everything for “realism’s” sake, or is it possible for people to get texteditor-only virtual keyboards?

Is L.i.F.e’s security so paranoid that they’d actually worry such a thing could be used to hack? Is the system so shoddy that such a thing -could- be used to hack?

There isn’t really a need to ‘take notes’. Everything you do/say can be recorded (not the default setting but can be changed to it) so you can simply re-watch whatever area you needed to remember. There is also the option to dictate notes and have it recorded for later. And if a certain situation absolutely required a virtual keyboard, it could be arranged. Like I mentioned, virtual interfaces are allowed for certain situational use.

Going to have to disagree with you, there, about taking notes. Being able to record everything is no substitute. I take notes like crazy in my math courses, even though I basically never look at my notes again. The act of taking notes forces me to pay attention and remember things.

I find that if I stop taking notes because the professor’s started repeating herself, then before I know it, the prof’s said something new and I don’t have a clue what it was.

For anything but math, I take notes faster and better on a computer than I can on paper, hence the keyboard question.

Actually, this raises another question. Are there schools and colleges in LiFe? If there are, are Citizens allowed to work as instructors or is that job restricted to Outsiders due to similarity with performance?

Ha ha. I guess you’d be an exception then. L.i.F.e. can’t cater to everyone, though, so you’d have to figure a way around your need of constantly taking notes. Or start up a petition to show the need for limitless access to virtual keyboards 😉

There are no schools in L.i.F.e. Since schools are already available in the Cities and most Outsiders are too focused on just trying to survive/make money, no one bothered to add the option of schooling within L.i.F.e. This will be dealt with in more detail later in the story.

However, the library – with as much information that could be salvaged and uploaded after the Ending – is available for those that need/want to learn something new 😀

TENka seems to get more and more suspicious as the story progresses. Something tells me this guy is more than a little dirty. I have a feeling Kleya has a very good reason to want to avoid TENka, aside from the hacking. Perhaps she has history with them not related to the hacking?

I love your comic, Aneeka! I’ve been reading it for a few months now (when I first started reading was the one where Bandit initially activated his Special), and I love your story! And the art! And KatV8 reminds me of a Code Geass Noodle-Person! It’s just… FANTASTICAL!!!!!!!!!

Ha ha. I forgot about the noodle people! At least it’s better than her bobble head version. lol.

Thanks for all the awesome compliments and thanks for reading!!

I’m going to make a prediction: The Bandit will win. She will go in the loser brackets and will win all those and then will have to fight the Bandit again. And I bet she’ll lose again. She doesn’t have to win (just be in the top 5) and the Bandit has a “license to hack”, so she won’t ever be able to top him in these situations.

Tim I respect your wild speculations and add some of my own. I am now convinced from this page that this guy and kleya’s sponsor are in cahoots. In fact I suspect that given his shapeshifting powers they might even be the same person! Though that is less likely.

I was pretty sure her sponsor was actually the Bandit, not Dr. Grace – Dr. Grace wouldn’t have asked the Bandit to get her in if he planned to do it himself.

I can’t wait to find out why they can’t recognize her. Did they never meet her face to face before? Or maybe when she joined L.i.F.e. she was able to change how she looks just enough?

This is such a fun comic! I love how much suspence there is in everything that happens. When you started all of this, did you map out your whole story line ahead of time and now you’re just fillinfg everything in? Or do you have another method of doing it? Thanks!

You don’t have to look like your true self in L.i.F.e. Dr. Grace definitely doesn’t look like that in Reality.

Ha ha. When I started, I had the first book all mapped out with a vague outline of how the main plot will end up. I’ve now solidified most of the plot and have a better outline to follow. Getting dialogue and characters to cooperate is an entirely different battle, though. lol.

Thanks for reading and commenting!!

Aneeka, thank you for doing this webcomic! I echo Bethy’s sentiments about how much fun this is. The characters are really interesting, it makes the plot so much deeper than if it were otherwise.

I’m going to guess that we might see what Reality is like at some point. Do you have a different art style in mind for that?

I love your Story!

P.S. Thank you for correct spelling and grammar!

Aw, thanks! Developing characters is my favorite part when creating a story so I’m glad you guys are liking them 😀

Yes, we will be seeing Reality at some point and yes, I have a different art style planned for it. Hopefully my art skills will have improved enough by then to pull it off! lol

Thanks so much for being a fan! And thanks for commenting!!

Not A Villain Webcomic

Webcomic of a semi- reformed hacker trying to redeem herself in a post- apocalyptic world she may have created.

‘Not A Villain’ Webcomic – Page 105