Year: 2040.

New York, NY

The original players of the .hackers pass away 30 years ago from a horrible tragedy. The new players transfer the data from the old ones. The new players are Bob Knute, James Cunningham, Daito, Sho and Samantha Cook. The avatar names are Tsukasa, Bear, Mimiru, BT and Subaru, who were controlled by the original players until now.

My name is Bob Knute, a Karate practitioner who was released in prison for obscuring numerous investigations. My old friend is James Cunningham, former employee of CC Corp and retired police officer. My colleagues are Daito, a carjacking survivor, Sho, Daito's younger brother and middle school student, and Sam Cooke, a high-school student and girlfriend. I live with my uncle and aunt in the safe environment of Manhattan. I go to the alley with a 360-degree treadmill to access The World. Like the predecessors, The World R:3 has all five servers, Delta, Theta, Lambda, Sigma and Omega. The World R:3, unlike the first two, was created by James Holiday. A year after The World R:3 was released, he passed away.

James Holiday's eyelids were covered with quarters. He revives himself via Aura's soul. "Listen, If you are watching this, I'm dead." said James. "Before I died, I created not only The World R:3, but I also created a rare item that will get the AI back." James transforms into a wizard-like character known as the Ringmaster. The Ringmaster scatters all four keys (Yellow, Blue, Red and Green keys) throughout the servers. "Good luck on the hunt to save The World." said the Ringmaster.