Virtual World

In the not too distant future, Earth had become a place that wasn’t safe enough for society to interact in public anymore. Mankind needed to move on, and because of this it grew a dependence on handling nearly everything virtually. Special chambers were developed that allowed people to safely contain themselves and preserve and nourish their bodies while their minds uploaded into the infinite virtual universe. After several decades went by, the world had seemed to become a bit more peaceful, but by that point it was simply much easier and convenient to handle most things online anyway.

It was a day just like any other as Sam rolled out of bed and walked over to his console chamber. It would have been simpler for him to just sleep inside the pod, but he preferred to sleep on a mattress and pillow when possible. As the machine scanned his eye and unlocked with a hiss, the door opened up allowing him to step inside. The cylindrical container was a little cramped, but padded enough to be comfortable, and as the door closed behind him Sam was sprayed with a sterilizing mist that cleaned his body. A small strap wrapped around his neck and waist to gently secure him in place while a mask covered his nose and mouth in order to properly supply him with oxygen and a small tube pushed past his lips in order to provide him sustenance should he ever require it. Lastly, a visor descended upon his eyes while a couple of devices pressed against his temples as he felt his consciousness drifting.

<Welcome, Sam,> a computerized voice greeted him as his virtual body hovered before a tall menu of options. Virtually, Sam looked almost identical to his real body; about average in height for a man in his low twenties with messy brown hair that fell past his ears and about to reach his shoulders. User biometrics were pretty strict on the amount of customization that people were allowed to do in order to prevent identity theft and catfishing, though there were a number of cosmetic changes that were allowed as well as a few backdoor procedures that people could do to bypass these checks, but they were risky.

<What would you like to do today?> the computer asked as Sam summoned a digital keyboard and began typing into it.

“Launch Crimson Realm,” he responded. He had been eagerly awaiting the release of this brand new game, a hyper-realistic immersive RPG where players stats and roles organically developed based off of their actions in the game. He had played through countless virtual reality MMORPGs before, but there was nothing quite like this.

<Installing Game Parameters.>

<Generating user account data.>

<Experiencing heavy server load. Please wait…>

Sam wasn’t too surprised by this. He imagined thousands of people were all trying to log on at the same time right now. If he kept trying, he’d definitely get to time-out those with weaker connections and get through.

<Loading… Please wait…>

Sam urged the connection once more, the moment it finished the previous statement. Without a second to spare, everything went black.