The future. Computers, artificial intelligence and virtual reality have all advanced to produce the latest greatest jewel of the gaming industry. A virtual reality game titled "Accelerate!"

The game was different from anything else on the market. The graphics were outstanding; those who played it said it was the most immersive thing they had ever experienced.

And the only way to truly experience the game was to play it. The game did not allow screenshots. The game disallowed streaming too, so you could not watch another player play it, despite this being the most requested feature. The game studio said it is simply impossible to take screenshots due to the technical restrictions. Nevertheless, there was plenty of official art and a whole sea of fan art too.

However, what made it truly special, what gave the game its fancy name, was the fact that in-game time ran at an accelerated pace. Nearly fifteen times the real-life speed. How the game achieved this was, of course, a trade secret.

The accelerated time made the game particularly attractive to not just players but also the military, government, and management. The ability to make decisions at an accelerated pace was quite ground-breaking. There was a rumor that a large chunk of the game's own development was done from within "Accelerate!" itself.

Although "Accelerate!" was free to play, the game required a special, one-of-a-kind headset to play. That's how the company made its profit. The headset was expensive, and the supply was pretty limited too.

Fred was a regular man, not a student anymore. He had a stable job and a certain amount of passion for games. Inspired by the game's fan art (specifically catgirls), Fred decided to save up for the headset. It took quite some time, but eventually he got his hands on one. The game received so much hype and praise from everyone around Fred. His friends and his coworkers all praised the game as if it were the best thing ever. And now Fred could finally experience it for himself.

He was excited, and his hands were shaking. He took a shower and calmed himself down. Fred read the instructions, connected the headset to the network, comfortably sat on the sofa, and finally placed the headset on his head.

The game quickly booted up. He found himself surrounded by a white light, standing on top of nothing. A young boy appeared in front of him.

"Welcome to Accelerate! What is your name?" The boy asked.

Fred looked around. The graphics here were not impressive. The boy looked pixelated, and Fred's own hand looked rather crude. It was not exactly what Fred expected, but nevertheless, he decided to give it a chance.

"Fred." He answered the boy.

"Nice to meet you, Fred. My name is Tim, and I will be your guide through the calibration."

"Calibration?! So, uhm, like a tutorial?" Fred curiously inquired.

"Tutorial? A bit like that, yes. However, calibration is not optional. The headset uses a lot of machine learning, so it must be properly adjusted until you play the actual virtual reality."

Fred thought to himself. He did hear about it. New players had to go through this process, but given how immersive the game was, no one really complained about it either.

"Can you tell me about the headset?" Fred asked again, curious about the technology.

"I do not know how to answer that." As expected, Tim simply had a pre-recorded set of answers, and this question was not on his list.

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"How long will it take?"

"Calibration usually takes a bit more than two weeks if you play an hour a day. A week if you play two to three hours a day." Tim answered without much emotion.

Fred thought about it and wondered if this was at an accelerated pace or not. He did not know the answer, but it did not feel important enough to ask.

"So what do I do?" Fred was ready.

"We are going to play a bunch of mini games. They were not as fun as Accelerate! itself, but nevertheless, they serve an actual purpose. The first challenge is the board game; do you prefer chess or go?"

"Chess." Fred required.

The visuals started to change, and a table appeared in front of Fred. He moved his controllers to sit down at the table, and Tim sat in front of him. A board of chess appeared on top of the table. Fred was black, and he waited until Tim moved his white pawn.

"Do I try to win? I am not very good at it."

"Try to win, but do not worry about it. The purpose is to establish basic pathways. Try moving the piece with your hand. If you can't do it, try speaking your move out loud."

Fred did as told, but his controllers were just too crude to move the pieces. He knocked off the entire board multiple times. Until finally, he figured out how to do it.

"C7 to C5" he said out loud, and at the same time he moved his hand. It worked. The hand picked up the right pawn and moved it to where he wanted to.

Little by little, Fred continued to play chess. Tim won. They played more games. There was no way Fred could beat a computer at chess. But Fred noticed something rather peculiar: at first he had to say his move out loud, but as time passed, it was simply enough to whisper it. An hour later, he could do moves with just his hand, without any need to whisper anymore.

After the chess, Tim loaded a small dungeon. The goal was to use the sword and kill some monsters. The graphics were awful, and Fred got a ton of motion sickness too.

"I am too tired; can we continue tomorrow?" he asked.

"Take your time. I will be here waiting for you." Tim replied.

Fred took off the headset and returned to reality. He checked the clock; only two hours had passed. It answered the question he had earlier: the 'calibration' did not run at an accelerated pace.

He went onto the game forums and read all about this calibration too. People complained, but the underlying message was: You only need to do this once, so suck it up and suffer through it. There were a bunch of tips too, but one stood out: 2 hours per day is the most optimal. While on forums, Fred accidentally stumbled upon a flame war about a certain "delta" variable. Fred did not have any idea what it is or what each side argues about, so he simply ignored it and went to bed.

The next day, Fred went to work and talked to his coworkers. He bragged about finally getting to play the game, but some of his colleagues had already played the game for half a year. Nevertheless, the coworkers told him where he could meet them once he finally finished his extended 'tutorial.' Fred nodded. The tutorial sucked, but the rewards were worth it; at least that's what his coworkers said.

He came home and did another few hours of the 'calibration.' It was not too bad either; the mini games were fun too. The graphics actually improved as time went on. Seven days later, Fred was finally done.

"Congratulations. You can now join the world of Accelerate!" Tim cheerfully announced.

Fred was tired, but excited. The virtual reality sickness he got from training still affected him. But nevertheless, he really wished to see at least a few minutes of the real game.

A new dialog appeared in front of Fred. He had to enter his username and password. Fred quickly made up both and clicked the log-in button.

The virtual reality world began to fade away, and for a brief moment, Fred felt sleepy too. He closed his eyes for a second, and once he opened them up, he saw a lush green field in front of him. It looked amazing. Absolutely beautiful.

Fred could feel the breeze, and as he sniffed, he noticed a pleasant smell of grass. He really, really could smell it. He had no idea how any of it worked, but it was just so amazing. The cold air made him alert, and any signs of sleepiness were completely gone.

He looked around and saw Tim standing right beside him. Tim looked different. Not an animated character, but a real person. He no longer felt like a NPC.

"Welcome to Accelerate! To the real one, that is!" Tim congratulated Fred; there was a smile on his face, and it felt warm and cozy.

Fred smiled. He looked at his hand; it looked very real. Just like his real hand in the real world. Even the tiniest details were copied over. Fred had a small scar on his left palm; this scar was present. No matter how much he squinted, he could not see a single pixel, as if the game had an infinite resolution. Such a game should have been impossible, and yet he was playing one.

Tim stood still and smiled quietly. He gave Fred all the time he needed to recover from this astonishment.

"Wow!" Fred gasped. He felt like he was in a happy dream. He was in a world entirely different from his own, and yet he could experience it as if he really were there.