The kids won’t be back all day. Kella and Pasco are at a big E-Sports recruitment event, holding tryouts for their Challenge of Vircon guild teams. They’re looking for an elite healer so Kella asked for my old notes before she left. So that’s why I’m sitting here in my closet taking trips into my own gaming past.
I tuck the old gold medal into the drawer at the base of the holocube, then turn it on to look at the kids’ father. Herc’s face beams down at the woman in his arms, the one I was back before he died. Did I really ever look so young and vibrant? Lately, I feel tired and figure I must look that way too.
After one long last look at my late husband, I shut the holo off. It’s time to put these things away and do one last round of cleaning. I prefer coming home to a clean house when I’m away on EarthSplorer business. This weekend is my big moment of truth. I’ll be doing the final checks on the hydroponic biosphere they need for long-distance space exploration.
The robot vacuum is already done with the tile and wood, running on the carpets now. So I fill the robot mop with cleaner and turn it on. After that I head down to the game room to clean the VR pods. They haven’t made a robot yet that can reliably get VirtuVisors, DeckJacks and ProPods feeling and smelling fresh. That’s why I do it every month.
The pods look more like rectangular boxes decorated with guild, class and race graphics from Challenge of Vircon. There’s space to get in on the side and a pressure-negating seat in the middle. A DNA touchscreen and voiceprint speaker are on the wall in front of the gaming chair. CoV is big business and accounts are valuable, which is why they run through special rigs with high security biopasskeys. I should know; I helped design them as part of my postgraduate study. Neon lights in my kids’ favorite colors turn on whenever someone gets close to the pod.
In order to clean them, I have to get in. I start with Pasco’s, enjoying the red and orange hues cast by his lights. I work for twenty minutes, then take a little break. The older posters on the wall show Herc and me with our DPS, Boggs Hunter in one of our product endorsements after our first big championship win. We’d been the underdogs, unknowns, but still pulled out a brutal victory even after the last boss dropped Boggs.
The newer posters are all Kella and Pasco with their now retired healer Jessica. She was getting up there in years, wanted to move to Fiji with her winnings. I don’t blame her. Herc and I had similar aspirations back in the day. I climb into Kella’s pod and start cleaning, starting with the seat. I’ll do the displays while sitting in it because they’re easiest to reach from there.
Pasco asked if I’d return to Challenge of Vircon, play on their team. He said it’d be a media draw with me coming out of retirement, but I can’t keep up with them anymore, not even with my EarthSplorers project finished. I’m ten expansions behind so it’s probably impossible to get back into championship levels of skill and gear. I’d have to start from scratch.
The cloth slips as I wipe the touchscreen and my hand activates the display. They changed things because there’s no option to turn anything off, just a space to palm in. I try it, figuring they want to ID me before letting me shut back down, but nothing happens. A tinny voice chirps from the VirtuVisor’s speakers. I can’t make out what it says so I put them on.
“Unknown User. Palm, voice, and plug in to verify full ID Scan.”
I sigh. You figure a state of the art rig like this would have sensible power protocols. But with the switchover from fossil fuels to sustainable and perpetual energy, electricity is as free as air now. I shake my head. I wasn’t on that team.
“Fine, I’ll plug in if that’s what it takes to shut you off.”
I put the visor on my head first because that’s the way I always used to do this. The plug is on the right, near the pod’s headrest. I’m not rusty at plugging in, either. Everybody jacks into NeuroNet for at least four hours a day, mostly while sleeping. I’m no exception, though I seldom sleep for more than the required time anymore.
We play in virtual dreamlands while NeuroNet boosts collective processing power all over the planet and soon, beyond. This is how we found perpetual energy and solved computations needed for deep space exploration. It’s something we all do for the greater good of humanity. But most people don’t spend their dream time playing competitive games from Dream Arcade Studios. I’m usually roaming a virtual rainforest or sunning on a collective Caribbean beach.
Once I’m plugged in with the noise-canceling headset on, the voice speaks again.
“Unknown User. Palm in to proceed.”
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“How do you think I’m unknown?” Talking to the rig isn’t going to do any good. Voice activated controls only work after your DNA is verified. So I put my hand on the space as requested.
“User detected. Welcome Jackson, Daria. Loading.”
“Loading what?”
“Loading Character Creation Screen.”
“No, that’s not what I want. Power off.”
“Command not valid.”
“Quit.”
“Command not valid.”
“Exit.”
“Command not valid.”
“Shut down.”
“Command not valid.”
“Let me out of here.”
“Command not valid.”
“I’ll validate your ass if you don’t shut down.”
“Creation Screen Activated.”
“What?”
“Proceed to character creation: Challenge of Vircon.”
The voice interface switches over to text and graphic. I see a female avatar of the same height and build as I used to play, with a deep olive skin tone matching my own. Her face is the same shape as mine and the hazel eyes have a careworn appearance I try to ignore in mirrors. I can’t do that here. Instead of the gentle jet black waves of from my old days in this game, it’s chestnut. This doesn’t bother me as much as the eyes. But the worst part of this is that I’m even here at all.
“No.”
The screen flashes with the words.
Invalid name. Choose again.
“I don’t want a name, I want to log out and shut down.”
Invalid name. Logout protocol unavailable.
“Seriously?”
Accepted. Avatar name: Sirius.
“But that’s a man’s name.”
Gender option control unavailable.
I give up trying to change anything else with voice commands. Instead, I reach out with my hand to move things on the interface. Maybe if I complete the character creation process, the pod will let me log out. I try to change a few things manually, like the name, the hair, and the eyes. Everything comes up as option control unavailable.
If this is how the game is now, I wonder how Kella and Pasco can even play. Maybe there’s just some kind of temporary glitch. I’m not sure what to do except try to end the avatar creation.
Error: select Class Race and Role.
I tap the bar for those and see that, while Challenge of Vircon still only has the original three party roles, there are twice as many Classes now. I pick the Healer Role and my old standby Class, Cleric, only to find that it’s got a subclass menu I’m entirely unfamiliar with.
“What the hell is a Naturalist?”
Naturalist Subclass Unavailable.
I scroll down until something familiar comes up. I pick that.
Accepted. Light Priest Subclass enabled.
After reading that message, I try ending avatar creation again.
Error: select Race.
I scroll through because human is boring and that’s the default. It doesn’t give any bonuses to healing but no detriments either. I get to Nymph and almost take it because that’s what I used to play back when I min-maxed every little thing. But the next race on the slider is something I always thought was so cute but never had the time to try for fun. I select it even though it’s ironic with my name.
My avatar looks so adorable with the tufted ears and fluffy brown tail. My face has whiskers but it and my hands aren’t furry though I see that my avatar’s fingernails are retractable, allowing me to either velvet them or let out the sharp stuff. That could be useful for climbing or as a last ditch effort kind of thing. Nah. Catkin physical racial bonuses do nothing for a Cleric.
The tail is great for Elementalists because they have to leap and dance to cast their spells. Clerics don’t need to do anything but pray. The ears are awesome for Rangers because it increases their tracking ranges. And the claws help Monks because they give hand-to-hand attacks extra damage without weapon equip penalty.
But the mana-based racial is actually pretty good. It’s a base mana pool bonus and +5 multiplier per character level critical strike chance for all spells. That will help my heals do more and it’ll take me longer to run out of mana. They’ve also got a charisma bonus, which won’t make a difference because I’ll see players and NPCs for maybe five minutes while I go about logging out. So, I figure it won’t so any harm whatsoever to select Catkin for my Race.
Successful character creation. Please check your starting gear.
I have a look. It’s pretty standard for Challenge of Vircon, with cloth robes, a staff, and a holy symbol. Back when I played championship, I carried a pendant in the shape of a trident. This time, it’s a rainbow with a cat head on one end and a tail on the other. Great, this character must worship NyanCat, Patron Deity of antique Internet memes.
Loading starting zone.
I wait, watching the wheel spin in the dark above the word loading as I wonder what will happen next.