System Messages

System Messages are, literally, messages which appear in thin air before the eyes of System-powered individuals when the System wants to tell them something. No one can see someone else's System Messages, but some System Messages (such as the Startup Message or combat-related party messages) are visible to more than one person at a time.

While most System Messages are related to a given individual or group of individuals, one class of System Message, General System Announcements, appears to be visible to every single person on Earth at once. These messages (including the Startup Message) are meant to communicate very general information to all humanity, including information about Trade Centers and immigration timelines and requirements.

General System Announcements are all timestamped Greenwich Mean Time. However, the System knows about time zones and local times, as its timekeeping feature gives local date and time in the local calendar and clock setting. Figuring out that it does this as a convenient consistency, not because it has a preferred time zone, grants XP if a person has the "Secret of the System" quest.