In the Real World—Before the Attack on Warehouse "Souley"
On Earth, out of game, people were following the events on Terra with a passion that had hardly been seen in decades, not even for important political events.
Everyone was enraptured by this epic war for survival where death surely meant the end of your character—and, therefore, the loss of all your progress in a game which had the potential to make you rich and famous in the real world! It was like all the most intense aspects of sports and business bundled together.