The Scenery Changes

"You have to be kidding me." The scenery changes and a small bustling village takes shape around me. Most people look like the avatars from the previous window with subtle differences. For starters, they found the hair color selector.

Only a few have this edgy black hair, others customize their clothing or carry armor and tools. Yes, tools, not weapons, but this must be the starter village. Some players spawn from thin air, others disappear without a trace, and many idle around. Most only run through the streets.

Their names float over their heads, like mine, which says Noob, level 1. The system offers extra customizations for money and the one thing it won't let me change is this name. There should be an option to roll a new character, there's no way to play like this.

Before the restart, it can't hurt to look around and feel the controls though, since it's my first time in a Deep Dive. The graphics are insane, they look like a dream, and it's not an overstatement. Baldie mentioned something about it.

There is no display, everything appears inside the mind. As if the game engine would send the information into my brain, and leave the scene up to the imagination. It's hard to tell if the other players see the same, or if the world looks different for everyone.

Everything seems real and all senses come to life. The muscles move, tense up, and relax with each step. The classic trope of pinching the face to see if it would wake me up confirms it. The movements aren't limited, the controller translates everything within the system.

And yes, the pinch was a bit stronger than intended, and my face hurt, which is amazing. No wonder Baldie scoffed at the VR headset, going on about how different these two were. It's clear as a day, VR only shows a world through those goggles, and this one placed me inside it.

It allows people to touch, feel, and even smell the surroundings, instead of looking at them. The world is in a first-person view, and it would be weird if it weren't. With everything so lifelike, my brain would melt seeing itself from the outside. Everything seems interactive.

The village is full of clutter and tiny objects. My hand grabs a fence, pressure builds up on the palm, and the fingers can feel the texture of the wood. When the tunic doesn't follow the movements exactly, the fabric rubs against the skin. It's crazy how detailed this title is.

A player bumps into me, throwing me off balance. It takes effort to stay upright because the controller won't do it for me. And the eyes won't squint on their own when looking into the sun, so if you're not fast enough, it will blind you for a while.

It's a lot to take in, this thing might be worth playing. Of course, it would become boring fast for twelve hours a day, unless it offers real content. Some icons appear in my periphery, not in your face like regular UIs, only a subtle reminder that this is a game.

And if there is anything to go by, most menus should pop up from thinking about them. The downside of being so subtle is that a rookie like me will not consider them if they can't see the choice. Feeling lost will trigger a system message too.

[If you struggle with the controls, try our tutorial.]

"No shut up, tutorials are for the noobs." Saying that with this exact name is ironic. The system message makes me realize how long this character stands in the middle of the village. A little exclamation mark icon appears in the upper right corner too. "There is no rush here, right?"

[We recommend starting your first session with the tutorial. It can help you get a feel of your character and the controls. You can repeat it many times until you reach level 10.]

"No is no. What is that exclamation mark?" The text disappears, reinforcing that simple thoughts can control everything. It makes me wonder how it can read my mind since it's creepy and fascinating. The mark opens a dropdown window where the quests appear.

[Government Issued Quest: Reach Level 10 within 3 days. Importance: Utmost. Difficulty: Average. Progress: 1/10, Exp to next level: 0/100. (71/72 hours left).]

Okay, if it says utmost, that looks important. Baldy said to pay attention to the government-issued quests too. They expect me to do them as soon as possible, so how hard could reaching the tenth level be? The Experience Bar is also at the bottom of the field of view.

"Isn't there a detailed character sheet?" The system seems programmed to respond to thoughts which is neat. There are no signs of attributes, and the world is so overwhelming, that it's challenging to think.

[Attributes unlock at Level 10. Until then, values default to 10 (average). It takes time to calculate them to match each player. This also helps them get used to the controls before they decide to change these values. You can buy a one-time Character Remap to change these values.]

Of course, they paywalled it, well, at least it's something. And that Level 10 again, they sure want me to reach it. It means grinding Exp, so let's figure out how it's done. The inventory is at the bottom of my view and has three slots with a shovel and an axe, the last remains empty.

"Is this all? Open inventory." The command pulls up a half-transparent window with twenty more empty boxes. For now, this character is as poor as the real me, with nothing to its name, that drives me mad. Let's take one last glance to enjoy the view, and time to log off.

The button appears, mirroring my thoughts, and returns me to the main menu. The feeling of the body disappears, no longer anchored into this new world, and it's unsettling. Some parts of this are so unnatural that it freaks me out, while others are amazing.

"Create a new character and delete the old one."

[Some settings won't be available for you, because you are in a government program to prevent crime. You can't create more characters, and as abuse prevention, you can't delete your current one. Contact your handler if you have questions not found in the FAQ.]

What? Is this stupid name stuck with me now? This sucks. Baldie should have warned me, and even the menu said before to create the first character. Of course, people would assume they can have more than one. This must be a joke.

[Your total gameplay today was 30 minutes, 11 hours left until you fulfill your quota. Would you like to continue?]

It tracks the progress yet won't realize this day has less, so what?

[In special cases, less than 12 hours a day is acceptable. Below 8 hours you'll incur a warning. Three warnings will lead to an investigation and might lock you out of the program. Failure to complete your first quest will lead to an investigation and might lock you out of the program.]

Only bad news. This stress triggers my cravings now that I logged off, and only a deep drag can calm me down. The program closes, and my real body jolts to life when the headset comes off. My limbs are asleep though. This will be a long day...