-May 12th 2106

Waking up around 9 am Duke went into the bathroom to change quickly for his morning run. Wolfing down his breakfast Duke was getting ready to leave when Charles walked in.

"Oh, are you done with your run?"

"Yeah, I finished just now" replied Charles panting.

"I should be done within thirty minutes, if the pods arrive earlier give me a call" answered Duke while putting his shoes on.

Walking out of the house Duke was distracted because of the pods. He thought the pods were experimental, but well thought out. The pods incorporated ideas people haven't put into practice yet. As a result, there was no data indicating if these add ons will be effective in attracting new customers or even work at all.

After thirty minutes Duke entered the bathroom for a quick shower and change his sweaty clothes. Instead of pacing around impatiently he decided to sit down on the couch and confirm the delivery status on his laptop. Seeing the ETA at fourty-five minutes Duke pulled out a measuring tape to find a good place for the pod without it being in the way. After ten minutes or so he decided to have the pod placed in his room for convinence sake without cluttering the living room. First, he had to rearrange his room to make room for the pod. By the time he finished reorganzing his room the doorbell rang.

"Hello, we are from New Age Gaming (NAG) with a delivery of two pods for this address. Are Duke St. Cloud and Charles Ivan here?"

Charles came running towards the door excitedly, "Yes that's us."

Bringing the pods inside the delivery man said, "Where do you want this pods to be set up?"

"I would like mine to be set up inside my room. It's this way please" replied Duke leading the way.

"I also want mine in my bed room" seconded Charles.

Leaving the techicians to their job of setting up the pods, Duke and Charles decided to read the instructions manual.

About an hour later, one of the technicians said, "Alright the pods are up and running. Just give them about 30 minutes for them to update and configure. After that you can use your personal space within the pod until the game launches."

Dying to try out the pods Charles decided to have some food before entering VR.

Duke escorted the technicians out of the condo while anxiously waiting for the update. Some time later Duke and Charles decided to test their pods.

  Scanning... identifying user...

  "Duke St. Cloud"

  Setting Duke as primary user. Associating biometrics to Duke St. Cloud

  Would you like to enter user home?

  "Yes"

Duke's consiousness entered an open barren landscape consisting of a gray floor with a black sky devoid of stars that seemingly stretched on forever.

  Welcome to your virtual home. Please read the following terms of service and sign your initials at the end.

A pop up screen appeared in front of Duke with bold letters at the top stating "Terms of Service." Scrolling through the terms Duke learned about the laws surrounding the pod and NAG's future games; including SIO. After signing his name several tools-like icons popped up around the corner of his vision.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Would you like to participate in the beginner tutorial? - said the genderless voice resounding from everywhere.

  "Yes" replied Duke.

  Welcome to beginner tutorial. Please customize your personal Support AI to begin setting up your virtual private room.

His vision blurred, then the landscape he was standing on changed into a raised circular platform with a simple polished marble altar standing before him. On top of the altar was a levitating fairy enshrouded in some type of fog. Soon a screen popped up in front of Duke.

  In front of you stands your Support AI, please use the screen in front of you in order to customize your AI.

On the screen were a bunch of lists indicating physical features and accessories that were customizable.

Starting off with the hair, Duke took his time making changes. As he customized further he noticed the mist dissipating wherever the changes were made on the fairy standing in front of him. After spending thirty minutes on extensive changes his end result was a purple/violet haired, violet eyed fairy with a neon green robe with dark purple trims. Other than this she looked like a typical adorable fairy. The only thing left to do was naming the fairy.

"Let's see... for the name let's go with Lichen Hailwasp," said Duke after much thought. He got this name from pressing random a few times using the fairy name generator that was included in the set of tools on the fairy customization screen.

Soon a ball of light covered the fairy in front of Duke as it slowly expanded before imploding on itself. In front of him stood a purple haired fairy staring right back at him, as if examining him.

"Hello! I am Lichen, I will be your guide and house keeper from now on." said the fairy excitedly while flying around him.

"Hey I am Duke, nice to meet you. So, what is it that you can do? Also what do you mean by house keeper?"

"I help users such as you familiarize yourself with VR and all its features. Besides setting up and maintaining your virtual home, I also have access to the internet as such I can help keep you updated on current events and provide neccessary information that you may be lacking while in game or in your VR home. Depending on user's permission I can also have access to your cellphone, emails and other personal information to help keep you updated while using the pod." stated the fairy.

"That's certainly convenient" exclaimed Duke.

"Do you want to go ahead and set up your house now?"

"Sure let's do this."

"First things first, all new users start with a basic two-hundred sqft room. This room can be upgraded later using real world currency or using in game currency. Remember NAG is an American based company as such currency conversion rates used in real world apply when making virtual purchases. In addition, since SIO has various currencies of its own depending on region those currency conversion rates apply as well. Be mindful when making purchases." explained Lichen.

"That's pretty straight forward." reiterated Duke

"Moving on NAG has created its own standardized currency used exclusively for virtual purchases outside of NAG's flagship games; such as upgrades to your personal virtual home. There will be more uses for it later on when the game offically launches."

"Why is that?"

"That is because on the day the game launches all pods will undergo a major patch that will include more useablility for these pods."

“Can you elaborate on these patches?” said Duke sheepishily

“That information is not available until the day of the patch.” Said Lichen apologetically.

“Moving on, all user have 3000 Virtual Coins (VC); Virtual Coins is the standardized currency created by NAG. Please browse through your home renovation icon and scroll through the list to see what you would like to purchase.”

Looking through the list Duke saw the following…

VR Home Renovation

Expansion Design Floor Plan Sky/Ceiling Ground/Floor Furniture Appliances Tools Decor Essentials

"Well then... this is going to take longer than expected..." muttered Duke.