.hack//Infection
.hack//Infection is the first in a series of four games titled .hack//Infection, .hack//Mutation, .hack//Outbreak and .hack//Quarantine. It is a "game within a game," a fictional massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) called The World, for which players do not need an Internet connection. Players can transfer their characters and data between games in the series. Each game comes with a DVD containing an episode of .hack//Liminality, the accompanying original video animation series that describes fictional events that take place simultaneously with the games. The games are part of a multimedia series called Project .hack that explores the mysterious origins of The World. The games, set after the events of the anime series .hack//Sign, center on a player named Kite who wants to find out why some users have fallen into comas as a result of playing The World. The quest evolves into a deeper investigation of The World and its impact on the stability of the Internet.
Story
The game begins with an excerpt from Emma Wielant's "Epitaph of Twilight", followed by a screen for entering the name. The user name and the character's name are entered here. For consistency, the main character is referred to as Kite, the default name for the character. Kite has been invited to play The World by his friend Yasuhiko. While Yasuhiko, who is known as the legendary player Orca, shows Kite around, the two meet Aura. Just as Aura is about to entrust Orca with the Book of Twilight, Skeith attacks. Orca tries to defend himself and Kite, but he is no match for Skeith and is eventually hit by Data Drained. Just as Skeith is about to do the same to Kite, someone distracts Skeith and takes Kite to the Net Slum. There, the Book of Twilight is added to his inventory. At this point, the servers of The World crash.