Life can change in a moment. Sometimes for the worst, like an employee being let go after they purchased a new house, or losing someone in a random traffic accident. And sometimes it changed for the better, like a poor person winning the lottery or an author releasing a novel that went on to make them an household name.

Jerome returned from his soul-crushing call center job to his cramped one-bedroom apartment, one of the thousands in this low rent mega-structure. It was a shithole with walls that were too thin and something always managed to break or leak yet somehow still cost nearly half his monthly wage. That was big city living for you.

After a quick microwave meal and a shower, he booted up his aging computer to do one of the few things that still brought him a bit of happiness and excitement. He navigated to Clutch, the world’s leading livestreaming platform and began prepping his bi-weekly show. He fiddled with his camera, microphone and stream settings making sure everything looked and worked as intended. He put in “Huge reveal, gaming will change forever!!!” as the title of the night’s show. It was click-baity but necessary to draw eyes to himself in order to grow. Problem was everybody did the same so it didn't help much. Once everything was setup the way he liked, he launched it a whole 10 minutes before he’d actually be on, to let people come and settle in.

Not that anyone outside of his few usuals and the odd curious passerby did. He wasn't a high profile streamer or anything. He was like most people, another face in an overcrowded site, trying to break out and make a name for themselves. The most concurrent viewers he ever had in his four years of doing this was six, and that sixth person had left right away.

Still he kept at it, always trying new methods to make it work, always optimizing the process, studying those that made it or refining himself to be a better host. He’d even taken improv and business classes. “If you do something, do it well” were words he lived by.

People he had mentioned his hobby to had told him he should quit if he wasn't seeing results. He had no intentions of doing so. He was determined to make his dream a reality. Heck, the hope of one day reaching his goal was what kept him going. Without that, he was just some 26 year old guy working in a scummy call center to pay for a crappy, overpriced apartment. The only thing he quit was telling people about his hobby.

There was another reason why he still did this tho. The handful of people he had met over the years on his streams whom he had stopped seeing as viewers and more as friends. One of them in particular.

Jerome opened up another stream, broadcast by Japanese gaming hardware and software giant Shinkodo, in a second browser page.

Half a year ago, they‘d unveiled a new product set to redefine not only gaming but perhaps how everyday life was lived. Full-dive virtual reality technology. It came in the form of helmets called ‘Impulse Casque’. They could simulate virtual spaces in which anything could be created digitally yet were indistinguishable from reality.

During that initial reveal, they had mentioned three different models that would be available to consumers. The 50 000$ full-dive one, which connected all senses and neural impulses in charge of body movement to avatars at a seamless 1:1 ratio. One of the best aspect of this was that even people who had missing limbs or were paralyzed could use them. The helmet was attached to a bed-like pod that was comfy, adjustable and had heating and cooling functions for the mattress players rested on, to keep their body at the desired temperature.

Second was the half-dive version which eschewed the pod in exchange for a bulkier standalone helmet. Compared to the full-dive version which was made with stronger, lighter alloys, this was made with slightly cheaper material making it heavier and less impressive. It had less bells and whistles, couldn't do taste and smell, and although the sound system and display put in was high-grade, it wasn’t the cutting edge proprietary technology that the pricier version had. All those factors lowered the price considerably but was still pretty damn expensive at 20 000$.

And lastly, there was the shallow-dive, which was a basic helmet that connected the player to his avatar but did little else. You couldn't feel anything, just like normal game. This version was 8000$.

Tonight at 8pm EST, Shinkodo was going to give us the latest batch of info on the project, which up to now they had been drip-feeding to the masses. We were supposedly finally going to get a release date and the names of those who won the contest in which their most expensive consoles would be given to ten lucky winners. It was set to officially begin in a few minutes. For now, there was only a countdown timer and yet millions of people, mostly gamers and tech enthusiasts, were watching already.

Something flashed on Jerome’s screen. A person with the moniker DojoBreaker had joined the chat. Speak of the devil.

“Hey DoBre. Excited?” he asked the newcomer as he went live.

A written reply popped on screen a moment later. “Hi, and god yes. VR, BABYYY.

Dojobreaker, or DoBre for short had been coming consistently to his streams for years and they had great chemistry, always riffing off each other’s jokes.

Jerome had been shocked when he found out that the spirited Japanophile was a girl. He learned that fact when they hung out on a random Korean mmorpg that she was playing and he heard her for the first time. He was streaming the game so his shocked face was forever saved in Clutch’s archives. A fact she loved to bring up once in a while to tease him. Her real name was Clem but she found her nickname more interesting so it stuck.

Although they’d never met in real life, she’d been a comforting presence, and had help him more then she could ever know. She could have chosen to watch any of the big guys but she seem content to interact with him and for that, he was grateful.

“What about you?” DoBre asked. “Ready to cream your pants?”

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“Somewhat.”

“What do you mean somewhat? What kind of lukewarm-ass response is that to what could possibly be the greatest invention of modern times?”

“Hard to get too excited for tech I’ll never be able to afford.”

Reactions to vr had ranged from happy to pessimistic to fearful. As with any new tech, it raised lots of concerns and moral and sociopolitical dilemmas. New jobs and virtual economies for an overpopulated world, new ways to perform surgeries, to train soldiers, for criminals to operate, you name it.

Then there was vr porn. It would be coming, undeniably, and with it’s advent, he was pretty sure that a non-negligible amount of people, mostly men, would say goodbye to actual reality and not look back.

As for Jerome, all he had felt was forced disinterest. He would love nothing more then to share the gaming community’s elation but he would never have the money to own even the base model. Perhaps in a decade or two, when the tech got cheaper but for now it wasn't worth wasting his time thinking about it. He’d learned that lesson too many times. Having said that, talking about it and speculating with his online buddies was a fun way to unwind and socialize.

“Tough-tiddies,” DoBre replied. “You just need to get two more jobs, then you’ll have the money for one in no time :P ”

“Great idea. Not sure where I can find the time for all that sweet extra work tho. Any suggestions?”

“Skip sleep. Who needs that anyways?

Jerome was going to respond when his neighbors started shouting, having their daily argument. The walls were thin enough that it carried inside his own apartment. Too many times had he been woken up or had his streams interrupted like this. On nights when they went at it pretty hard, like now, he could make out some words amidst their otherwise muffled exchange.

“Why… got to… such a bi…”

“…asshole. And… small di…”

“Yikes,” DoBre simply said.

Jerome groaned, holding his head. “If your gonna fight everyday, just end your relationship already… damn.”

“Well, on the upside, this would make for a good stream blooper reel.”

Jerome imagined himself compiling a bunch of similar clips he got over the years and burst out laughing. Feeling better, he put his self-centered neighbors out of his mind and focused on the show which was starting.

A man, quickly revealed to be the head of Shinkodo’s worldwide game studios, stepped on stage. His appearance was brief, just long enough to give a short speech about the new technology and the worlds it could create. That was sure to get tech enthusiasts and potential devs interested in getting a game development toolkit. He then mentioned that a bunch of their studios were hard at work on various vr games but that instead of talking about it, he wanted to show us. He left as a video began playing on the screen behind him.

Twenty games in multiple genres were shown off and each looked amazing. Jerome’s poor little gamer heart was fluttering. He commented on each of them for the handful of people watching him and they gave their own mostly positive thoughts in return.

After that showcase, another man came on stage stating his team had been working on a very huge, very secret project for the last few years and it was time to show it to the world. And thus the first full-dive mmorpg ever created was introduced.

It was called Rising Sun: Online and was set in Edo period Japan. The presentation came with a slide-show of locations and characters artwork. It had ninjas and samurais, mages called Omnyoudo and supernatural monsters of all types called Yokai. If you were of fan of Japanese culture, this would scratch your itch. The man then launched into a deeper explanation of some of the content.

“The game’s world map is a half-scale replica of Japan. It was created using satellite imagery, topographical data and historical maps. Obviously, we had to tweak some things for the sake of better game flow but overall, the same places you see in the game are places that exists in the country it’s based on.

We've created a vast playground for you to play in. You’ll be able to adventure through realistic environments and face every type of terrain, climate and weather patterns. It will take players roughly one month to walk across the game world and that’s if they don't stop for the innumerable quests, hidden treasures, unique dungeons, bizarre monsters and interesting characters doting the landscape.

With full-dive technology, you will think you were actually there in the flesh. You will feel the sun on your skin or the wetness of morning dew on flowers as you stride through fields of them. When you strike an enemy, your arms will reverberate with tactile feedback. You will smell blood, sweat and smoke lingering in battlefields and so much more.

Talking about smell, the character creation as a smell option in it. Players will be able to create themselves a custom fragrance that those who own the full-dive pods can pick up if they get close enough.

This is the sort of attention to detail we’re bringing to the plate. Be warned, this will not play like any mmorpg you've ever seen. We hope you enjoy the game when it comes out on January 1st. Thank you.”

And with that the man left. Jerome had never really been into mmorpg’s but he had to admit that he was interested by this one. DoBre on the other hand completely lost her shit since as this was definitely up her alley. She loved her some samurai flicks.

“Let’s make an oath,” she said. We both get vr as soon as we can and we play this game together.”

Jerome wouldn't hold his breath but still, he looked at the camera and promised. It was another fine goal to have.

Last but not least, Kutaragi Hirai, the CEO of Shinkodo waltzed on stage. He gave the usual corporate spiel about who they were, how long they've been in business and that it had brought them at this point with the creation of a new technology. As many had theorized, he dropped the release date.

“The impulse casque will be commercially available on November 12th of this year,” the man said. The words barely had time to leave his mouth before the audience broke into a thunderous cheer. He waited for everyone to calm down before adding “Thank you. Now I have one last thing to do before I leave. I think it’s finally time to announce the winners of the Stoke-kodo contest. As you know, Shinkodo partnered with energy drink giant Stoke."

Jerome nodded at that. How many cans had he drunk trying to stay awake at work.

“Millions of you have entered over half a billion of the codes located on the products but only ten of you can win. The lucky winners will not only receive a 50 000$ full-dive console, but will get it an entire week before the public.”

People in the audience, and probably everyone watching the stream, leaned closer as Hirai slowly took out an envelope from inside his jackets inner pocket. He smiled smugly, enjoying the moment and the fact that he had everyone’s attention. He then began rattling off the names.

You could literally feel the shift in the crowds emotion with each name. Hope swelled high, a name was uttered and the mood nosedived as everyone wanted to win but failed to do so. There was a short applause afterwards, quickly forgotten as the next one person was ready to be called out.

Jerome yawned and looked at the time, not really paying attention anymore. Tomorrow was the weekend which meant he had to get up early to go to his second job working as a kitchen helper in a Greek joint not far from were he lived. Once the show wrapped up, he’d stream a game for an hour and call it a night. He got up to get a drink as they were announcing the last name. He stopped dead in his tracks after a few steps.

Life can change in a moment. Sometimes for the worst like being diagnosed with a terminal illness. Sometimes for the better, like winning a contest with millions of participants.

Jerome West had this life-changing moment. He could even tell you exactly when it happened if you asked him. Friday, October 4th 2177, 8:28pm EST.