Dying wasn’t what I thought it was. Neither were MMOs come to think of it.
I remember this story once where a woman who died of old age surrounded by her family, had lived a truly satisfying life if a bit boring. The next part of the story was of a crazy man with a gun just shooting people before he was shot by the police. The main part of the story?
Every single human who died woke up in a new young body in some kind of fantasy setting that was divided between good and evil. It turned out that rather than directly going to an afterlife, everyone ended up on this planet first and after that, they moved on again.
When I had finally finished checking the reports on how my efforts towards slowing the growth of video games on my home planet were working out and the state of my future finances, I certainly didn’t to end up dying so quickly. I realised later that it could have been a type of immune system taking me out as a virus or infection gets attacked and destroyed by white blood cells. All of that happened later though when I was reborn as the woman was but not quite in the same way.
I had personally suffered a great deal from playing video games, my family and my friends all became ignored and fell by the side. As I grew older, I realized the negative impact having focused on video games all the time had on my life. No friends, aspirations, or efforts got dropped to focus on reaching the next level. Online massive multiplayer games were my life or what was left of it and I’d be stuck scraping together the money to plug my mind or body into the next one that came along. It was a never-ending process of self-hatred and laziness that wasn’t helped by the state of my planet. Life sucked generally, as humans made it so.
So to escape and find some sort of happiness and stimulation a whole group of rich people got together to introduce MMOs on a planet-wide scale, even for kids. They could educate themselves in schools designed to build on their imagination but from my viewpoint, it was just creating generations of addicts and a continuous workforce.
Rather than focusing on real issues, more and more people became focused on the latest video game in MMO form that was designed to capture their attention. Less on working and changing the world for the better and more on the next virtual achievement.
I didn’t have a personal issue with video games though, the fact that they were fun to play was great. But the balance wasn’t quite there. You needed to have a variety of activities in your life. Exercise, creativity, music, friends, and family. Without that, you would end up as I had once been, a total loser and outcast. Remember that I got into MMOs before the ancient rich families decided to incorporate them into a global society, I was ahead of the curve seeing the effects of too much time in video games.
I formed a protest movement to ensure that society was going to meet that balance. I remember at that time I was going to meet up with one of the big three, one of the largest companies on my planet that were responsible for billions of users through their MMO products.
Through various charity events, networking, self-educated legal classes, and a whole load of support from the national government and like-minded individuals we were going to take them off and successfully change the law. The first step would be to going to meet to discuss how better to promote a healthy life balance, less MMO time and less burden on the wallets and minds of consumers.
Snacks and drinks companies were part of the entire package and we’d show evidence of massive health issues in the lives of normal people that were placing a burden on healthcare systems on a planetary level. The companies and rich folk backing the growth of MMO gaming looked for profit and control over the hearts and minds of ordinary people like me. I would take a stand against it and was the first step, we had enough support to make a change to the world for the better for once.
It had been when once I first got in my car to drive to the meeting my body suddenly felt funny inside. The start of my death could have been caused by so many different ways, the companies who took their profit over individual health and liberties, my years of bad eating and non-stop interactive video games, the stress that came with being the representative of one of the largest anti-MMO organisations in recorded history.
One final wish in my mind was to tear out MMOs by the roots and burn them to the ground. I wanted to find the cause and creation of them and take my revenge for my wasted life and the potential lives of so many others. If there was a god who existed for that purpose, I would kill them and take their throne before throwing it into a black hole of forever nothingness. I think that you get it now what my likes and dislikes are, now into the stages of my death and my unexpected rebirth.
It wasn’t quite like a heart attack and more like my body was shutting down my awareness of my limbs one at a time, I found out the reason for that later once I woke up but dying for me meant losing my consciousness in my life and waking up in a whole new place.
You know the whole idea of transmigration where you wake up in another person’s body and you have this whole new collection of memories where their life ended, and your mind or soul takes over? Yeah, that didn’t happen in this case. The body that I woke up with was younger, but it belonged to me. I opened my eyes and saw my legs and feet, but they were dressed in a bright white outfit with matching shoes. Glancing around me without getting off my back everything was blank white, that was when I had the message that smashed itself into my raw and disorientated mind.
[WELCOME!]
‘Ugrhhhh! Too loud!’ I shouted outwards into the blank white emptiness.
[Adjustments have been made according to the requirements of the new user. I am the Personal Integration System Order or PSIO for the Game Universe Version 3.00]
‘Am I dead?’ I queried the voice, hoping that it could hear and respond.
[New Game Mistress. You are alive and have been brought to the VidGame Universe Version 3.00. Your ability in understanding the nature of video games and in particular MMOs in your home reality has brought you here to compete with other users. Your body and soul have already been copied from your planetary self.]
‘I’ve alive and in a VR Universe. This is a joke, isn’t it? Someone dumped me into an online MMO without my permission. PSIO right? Do me a favour and send me back. Quit, I want to find the quit function. Plugging my body or mind in without my permission is illegal, I know my rights. ’
[New Game Mistress. As your body and soul have already been copied into your form here, technically you have already been sent back. You will be reintegrated without error once you complete VidGame Universe Version 3.00 as one of the lead contestants.]
‘I said, send me back right now! Wait, wait. Stop. I have questions, can you answer them? Are you a sentient AI or something?’
[PSIO is a current support system generated for the contestants of the VidGame Universe 3.00. I cannot answer if I am a sentient artificial intelligence, but other contestants hold that form and identity. I can answer a variety of questions related to:
1. Your integration into the VidGame Universe 3.00
2. The competition rules and nature.
3. Your class, skill levels, abilities, and character points.
4. Existence of self in the last instance.
5. Other specific questions depend on the level of authority that you hold.]
‘Great, so you’re like a helpful game system but also acting as a support for me. Here’s my first question. HOW DO I GET SENT BACK TO MY LIFE!’
[PSIO is an adaptable system to the preference of the new user. I am not your slave. Do you wish to see further applications of my vital functions?]
I realized that it would be beneficial to be civil and polite. Shouting wasn’t an effective form of communication in most cases so why would it work in this case? I also didn’t know the full power of this system and I was going to be stuck in a game why would I want to risk anything just to annoy an omniscient bodiless voice? For all, I knew it could control my immediate reality around me or throw me into a box for a decade to think about my actions.
‘Look, I’m sorry for shouting PSIO. This whole experience has just been, wow, an experience. Yes, I do know video games as I was heavily working on the back during my life on my home planet. I want to ask if I’m able to return to my normal life of monitoring and working on limiting growth. Is that possible? I’ve been given information, but I would appreciate answers. Please?’
[New Mistress of Games has been copied from the original site and is presently back on the user's home planet. The integration will take place without error once the contestant has won VidGame Universe 3.00]
‘So, I’m a copy of myself who is currently living the same life back home?’
[Not a simple copy, a direct version of body and soul has been moved to this site creating the current version as placement in contestant role.]
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
‘I’m not going to pretend that I understand what that means. But you said integration? Will I take the place of myself, or will they be a copy of me?’
[Reintegration of memory, experience, body, the soul will be complete without error once new completion of the contest of VidGame Universe 3.00]
‘Did you just put my life on pause?’
[System has followed established procedures. Contestants will agree or be eliminated for refusal to play.]
‘Fine. So at least I’ll get a chance to keep living both there and here. You know what, I’m not going to keep thinking about it. I think that must have explained the feeling that I had when I lost consciousness. Is there a reason that I’m meant to be here? And what is this whole VidGame Universe? Version 3.00? What happened to the first two versions then?’
[New Game Mistress must choose a class. Every contestant has the same starting level, but your build will evolve and change with each choice.]
‘I’m not going to get any answers unless I start playing the game. I’ll try it out. What are my options then seeing as how this is a game? Tank, healer, DPS if this was going to be an MMO?’
As with any video game, there were going to be limitations in the game, so, so many had chosen the follow the route of the Holy Trinity of the three types. Sure, different character types followed in the game but to make it practical players used similar combinations. The main difference was merely the choice of the player.
[You are mistaken, you are not playing an MMO. This is not another reality where you choose to be a connected clone pilot of a spaceship or a fantasy warrior who fights monsters to win a quest. You will not be a science fiction survivor who fights monsters and discovers ancient technologies after a great war. This is not a video game.]
I felt a rush of surprise inside me. After having played so many different types of games and seeing that they weren’t all that different, one of the main differences was the art style. The mechanics were the same, start as a lowly character, join a guild or be a lone player and build yourself up by repeating quest after quest. Expansion pack after expansion pack. Or even older video games were able to be completed.
‘If I’m not going to be participating as a player then why do you keep calling me a new Mistress then PSIO?’
[New Game Mistress is a title for those who are heavily entrenched in the creation and progress of video games in their home reality. You are here to show your skills in this VidGame Universe 3.00]
‘Uhhh. I’m not involved in the creation and rather the deconstruction of them. They were kind of an issue affecting my planet, so I got involved with them in that sense. Too much of a good thing isn’t healthy. Even chocolate. Might be time to send me back now and we’ll call it quits, eh?’
[New VidGame Mistress needs to choose the first starting class. Please choose from the following:]
1. Financier
2. Builder
3. Creator
4. Modifier]
The choices looked interesting. The first involved…money? The second and third confused me and didn’t make too much sense to me. Weren’t the builder and creator at the same time of thing? You made things and you built things. I suppose that it could be compared to building a house and creating the items that filled up the house.
Not sure about becoming a Builder though. I had a lot of experience using money though back in the real world when I wanted to fund my programs to make MMOs less popular and reduce the interest of the public. The last choice just made no sense to my mind. Modifier? As in percentages or changing something?
[PISO requests to Select a Choice.]
‘It’s great to have a choice. I love the idea of having those four choices, but again I have no idea what exactly I’m choosing here. Can you clarify it? You know if this was a video game story then I could use an identify power or have a whole system explanation. That would be great around now… how about now?’.
[New MMO Mistress should already have heard the Chorus for VidGame Universe 1.00 and Universe 2.00]
‘…are you a form of punishment? I died, didn’t I? This is my afterlife of completely boring being told what to do by some invisible voice. I’m warning you, if you’re a god then you should be handing over your throne to me. If I could manage a global business I can deal with your responsibilities.’
I decided to sit down in the utter white blankness that surrounded me. Why was everything blank anyway? This was boring. Mind empty boring.
‘ ZSIO!’
[New MMO Mistress System is named PSIO].
‘My mistake. I don’t have any chorus and I didn’t hear it.’
{CRACK}
That was the point that jagged black lightning began to appear in the space around me. It seemed like I had caused some damage just by talking. I tried again.
[System Error 32%]
‘I’ve never heard of any MMO Universe chorus, and my ears don’t work anymore so I can never hear it again.’
Even more black lightning appeared in the white blankness around me. It was as though someone had started tearing apart the entire white environment and then throwing black paint across it. That was the point that the ground
My feet felt like pins and needles were pricking them slowly, not painful but uncomfortable. Talking about a chorus hadn’t been the best idea then.
[Error-Has been Detected-]
-Reset in Progress…1%...2%...5%...> That whole mess could fix itself then without more ‘assistance’ from myself. I found that in this new MMO Universe I had a special power, and I was able to cause damage to a system by accident. -Reset in Progress 16%...23%...38%... Error no longer detected. Bug reported to Side-Branch Manager.> The black lightning began to fade away, but the tears stayed in place. It seemed like this blank white space hadn’t been fixed just yet. Having the sky and ground torn away was a bit worrying though. Imagine if you were sitting on the grass on a sunny day and then the sky just started losing part of it, and then the ground began to disappear as well. ‘Is everything fixed now?’ [New MMO Mistress needs to choose your first starting class. Please choose from the following:] 1. Financier 2. Builder 3. Creator 4. Modifier] ‘We’re going back to this again, are we? Seems as though it was fixed though right? Will I be able to go back to my own body once I make a choice?’. [Reintegration of memory, experience, body, the soul will be complete without error once competitor has completed the contest of Game Universe 3.00] ‘You keep repeating the same words. I guess if I’m expecting a different response when repeating myself, I’m going a bit mad.’ [Choose a Starting Class] ‘Fine. I’ll make my choice even though nothing had been explained to me. I choose modifier. The power to change things slightly. Yay.’ [Selection Choice has been made: -Title has been changed to Starter Modifier.] -Skills Gained: Mini-Game Changer, Power of Addition, ERR-GAM-ERRR-BREA- -Level 0 -Stats Not Presently Available] ‘Is that it? You drag me from my home planet to this white blankness, tell me that I’m entering some sort of competition that vaguely involves MMOs, and then make me choose some weird starting class. Seriously, something is wrong here. Where were the three roles that all MMOs are meant to have?’ ‘I want to see my abilities. Can I just think about my character profile to engage that?’. [Correct. Your VidGame Universe skills and abilities are only viewable to yourself unless you choose to share.] ‘Makes sense. Skills and abilities are like playing a good game of poke. You don’t want to show off your cards easily to other players.’ [Your title and level can be freely seen by other VidGame players] ‘Do you mean that the players in the game worlds will see my title or the list of competitors?’ [Players will see you as a killable NPC. Neutral but still you can die if they see you as a direct threat to their gameplay.] ‘Excuse me?’