Data

Data is a term that that originally hailed from YGGDRASIL. According to the author Maruyama, Data is packed into crystals. It's abbreviated as Data Crystal. The large amount of Data in YGGDRASIL itself was what made it better than any other DMMO-RPGs. Due to a large amount of data, it was nigh impossible to create two identical characters unless it was intentional.

Overview
Data was what defined the profile existence of players, NPCs, monsters, items, dungeons, and other things found in the game. NPCs are made with the same Data as Players so they can use the same number of magic or tier spells as them. They are essentially comprised of Electronic Data. Other kinds of Data can be acquirable from monsters or the game's Cash Shop in customizing them. YGGDRASIL items including a robe possessed a data capacity. What's included within the capacity of such items are:

List of Data Types

 * Audio Data (Player Roars, Cheers, etc)
 * Cosmetic Skin Data (Appearance of Objects like Swords, Shields, Armors, etc)
 * Monster Data (Summoning Monsters, etc)
 * Music Data (Game Music, etc)
 * Special Effects Data (Disaster Aura, etc)
 * Visual Data (Player Appearance, etc)

Some of the Data variants listed above are downloadable contents. They can be purchased and installed into a construct such as the Avatara golem.

While so, there are particular Data that cannot be permitted to the game world of YGGDRASIL. In accordance to the software legislation for virtual reality games, such games were not allowed to provide "Sensory Data" for smell and taste.

Nonetheless, players could still tinker with their character data by using the creator tools and make original items.

Mechanics
Data are heavily integral to what shaped YGGDRASIL and the large number of contents that requires player exploration to discover. It is also essential for when players start out creating the sort of character, and later the NPCs, as well as the items they want. For starters, crystals dropped by fallen monsters can be slotted into item skins to grant effects. At the same time, they can be of use in making a magic item such as weapons and armors. The Data contained in the items worn by the user could help to provide them effects like certain resistances against foes or a percentage of damage dealt. Data comes in many different sets of abilities. On one hand, it can allow an item used by the wielder to restore their health based on a certain percentage of damage dealt against foes or strengthen a weapon's damage output. Items that contained Data were unequivocally to possess magic.

The only way to bring out a player-made item's full power is if the maker wields it as they are responsible for the Data stored in them. Hence, it was always better for the player to use the items which had been made for them, even if they were a little weaker. In PvP matches, some people would make a set of identical-looking gear to their main equipment, embedded with completely different Data from the much stronger ones. Although backup gear was typically weaker than one’s main panoply, being able to surprise a foe had effects beyond mere Data values.

YGGDRASIL's equipment was classified according to how much Data each and every item possessed. Items with more Data were ranked higher. Likewise, items with less Data were ranked lower. From the lowest to the highest rank, they were low-class, middle-class, high-class, top-class, legacy-class, relic-class, legendary-class and divine-class. Guild Weapons have far more data than normal divine-class items. They can store a huge amount of data. Above the highest ranks are World Items, and their Data capacity was really massive. YGGDRASIL weapons can be destroyed by weapons with higher data capacity than it. However, they cannot be broken by attacks from weapons with lower data capacity compared to it.

However, items have a fixed capacity that would only allow a specific amount of Data to be added in it at max. The capacity of an item for Data was determined through the item’s construction and the material. For instance, weapons possessed a data capacity that was determined by the value of the materials used in their construction and the skill of their maker. This Data capacity limited the number of data crystals that could be added to it. Dungeons are also said to contain a preset amount of free data capacity as a Guild Base, but unlike items, they can be increased by using Cash Items.

In contrast, special effects took up a smaller amount of Data capacity. It was not uncommon for them to be imbued in an item to use up the leftover capacity that remains. Though for power gamers, devoting even a little bit of Data capacity to special effects was considered a waste.

The items of YGGDRASIL are purely made of Data through the various Data Crystals embedded into making them. As every Data Crystal varied by rarity, so are the Data provided from its use. Under YGGDRASIL standard, it can be said that Data are also what systematically represent a person's life force and mana. Fortunately, there are Tier Spells like [False Data - Life] and [False Data - Mana] meant to falsify their data in an attempt to fool the opposition.

The amount of Data embedded in a weapon is a deciding factor for whether it can bypass a player's passive skill and harm them. For instance, [High-Tier Physical Nullification], that negates the attacks of weapons with low Data content.

Moreover, the basic Data which represents monsters are their names, appearances, and myths. They all can be recorded in an item as the Game Encyclopedia. Beyond basic Data are the monsters' levels that get revealed when encountering them in dungeons like the Great Tomb of Nazarick. There is also a boss monster generated with different Data from the player characters. Data from YGGDRASIL shows other sorts of information like guild territories and income to a group of players who conquered a dungeon.

Additionally, Data would even include the racial levels and job levels for the several classes they have acquired or were predetermined in advance. For starters, in regard to a player's data, this suggests that either leveling up or dying can somehow have an influence over it. This was shown to be the case when a powerful player got their character Data deleted by the game company, losing the World Champion class as a result.

In a way, it is quite possible for any entity's Data to be erased completely in the game except for World Item bearers or World Enemies. A prime example of this includes a powerful effect from one of the World Items, Longinus upon use. It was capable of deleting two people's data, particularly the item's bearer and its target. There was no revival item or spell to restore the Data of anyone deleted by it, other than through using the powers of other World Items. If used on a Custom NPC of a certain dungeon, it can reduce that guild base's Data capacity. The author Maruyama elaborates further, stating that due to Data erasure, even class acquisition boss monsters can be removed from the game world.

Trivia

 * The Developers of YGGDRASIL considers maintaining all the players' data very challenging while they update the server.
 * It was noted by Suzuki Satoru that ordinary YGGDRASIL garments are considered as weak gears with low Data capacity.
 * Momonga speculates that a virtual world serving as a simulation of the real world will involve a massive quantity of Data.
 * There is a cosmetic item called the Mask of Envy that does not have a trace of Data.
 * Within the Great Tomb of Nazarick, the library Ashurbanipal was said to comprise of many various books with Data. For example, it has the monster data for summoning mercenary monsters.
 * Data Crystals are stored inside Nazarick's Treasury.
 * Back in YGGDRASIL, the NPCs were merely a collection of Data at first but now in the New World, they possessed minds and the capacity for independent thought.
 * 70% of YGGDRASIL's database had yet to been fully uncovered while the other 30% was already revealed by far.
 * In Mass for the Dead, the Sea of Possibilities is said to contain data on various stories and books.