How deep does the rabbit hole go?

Wroddit users call it lazy programming when it seems crazy and harsh instead.

How is it even possible? If anyone said hypnosis was real, they would've gotten a laugh at best.

And still, this is how the system ensures the quests work. So the players won't go nuts, it shuts them up

What's worse they're muted by default, with no way to turn it off without Premium

It was a helpless feeling, the same as with the metagaming talks.

They flat-out overwrite the mind for the sake of immersion.

Never mind how scary and illegal it sounds to use mass hypnosis for a better player experience.

Like fucking hell, how crazy overkill you can get?

And then they clone the ratting villager out of laziness.

What a roller-coaster CineMraft is. Absolute ridiculous.

And the weirdest part is how nobody mentions it. Like come on, this is Wroddit.

You guys keep complaining about shit and disagree with everyone.

The forum compiled more conspiracy theories than the rest of the world combined.

Most of them are a joke at best, and this is the one thing that doesn't raise anyone's eyebrows.

What are these guys smoking?

Does Baldie, or any of the cops know? Or are they involved in this too?

It would make sense for a crime prevention program.

Okay, that might be overthinking it, this headache is brutal, not to mention the ringing ears.

It's better to sleep and look into things tomorrow.

Or rather, today, after waking up; it's way past midnight.

Fuck, the avatar is still only one-fifth of the way there after two days, and the clock's ticking.

How can I suck this bad at focusing on things?

Okay, this is nothing new, but sleep deprivation makes it worse than usual.

Random snippets invade my head and fall apart right away.

The system's day and night cycle feels like a flight across continents with insane jetlag.

They must have set up a real-time server for people who struggle with this.

Wait. If they measure the distances in days, does it mean it's much longer on that server and faster on the fast one?

If the mission fails and they put me in jail, would they bring the headset too, and pay for the Premium? It would be better not to try that out.

Shit, an all-nighter would be a good idea to make sure it doesn't happen.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

No, it would make the headache even worse.

And it'd be stupid to gloss over this mind-control discovery too.

Damn it, not a single coherent thought with this headache.

The faint vanilla scent of the big red container suggests lighting another cig.

Okay, that might help calm down, it worked on the ear ringing too.

Let's turn the PC off, and open the doors to let the fresh night air in.

It remained shut since the drone brought the lunch and it's nice and cold outside.

A few deep breaths before puffing the smoke clears up the picture.

Okay, don't be silly, Arnim, this is a game. Every system has limits on the player's choices.

This controller only uses a different method.

There must be a logical explanation, there's no way they'd spring hypnosis on the masses.

The forum would go nuts from something like this, and Deep Dive would be over fast.

It's only the sleep deprivation and the always-present paranoia.

The important thing is to have a plan to gain Exp fast without Premium or those ratting tasks.

Will the new ones help? Will they start in the morning or take longer?

If it's to fight bandits, there's no way a low-level avatar can deal with them alone.

It could be the devs' attempt to force players into parties, which would mean the end for an introvert like me.

Okay, partying up with Tank and Gavin was fine, but without knowing anyone in that game, it's not going to happen.

And staying up to grind won't work either.

Pulling an all-nighter is one thing. If the character starts getting debuffs from exhaustion it will be easy to make a mistake.

He has to rest five hours according to the tutorial.

Okay, sleep is the most sensible option. Things will look different tomorrow with a clear head and less ringing.

Eighty ratting jobs would be worth forty thousand Exp if they don't dry up that fast.

Sleeping five would leave thirty-two hours, so that's three errands for each.

That's easy, that's what the earlier calculations projected too. Okay, let's go to bed then.

The avatar needs a break, and so do I.

The Girl also warned about taking breaks and easing into the Deep Dive at a slower pace.

With this much pressure, it's a tall order, and it doesn't matter if the quest succeeds if this brain melts.

It's not like me to make so many mistakes, rush in head first and suck at games.

While the learning curve on this one is steep, that isn't a reason to fail this hard.

At least I was always this weird, narrating the thoughts almost as if expecting people to follow them.

If the controller wants to do so it must be jarring when they fall apart from tiredness.

Imagine the devs scratching their heads, thinking 'What's wrong with this guy?'

I'd like to know that too. While no evidence supports this claim, I'm not crazy, lazy, or dumb either.

Even if the towering heaps of junk in the big red tell a different story, they'll get fixed at one point.

And it's completely normal to talk to myself.

More so than doing it to others, according to the internet, that's what being an introvert is like.

Of course, stress makes internal monologues worse as life's about to flip upside down.

And crap, the cig burns the fingers, let's put it out.

On the first day, half a pack went up in smoke, and since then it's still the second half of the same one.

So the controller suppresses real-life hunger, cravings, and the brain too.

It's hard to tell if this is good or bad. The tiredness, the real-life one is finally catching up.

The ears no longer ring louder than the inner monologue either.

This means it's time for bed and leave the rats and the rest of the worries for the morning.

I should set up an alarm though, there's a lot to do in the last stretch. Does the controller have a function like that?

Would it suppress the hearing if it's set up outside the system?

It could help to schedule breaks too, to avoid headaches in the future.

The last etap will be so tight, it's laughable to even think about breaks.

Is sleep even possible in this state?

Losing consciousness as soon as touching the pillow answers the question.

These stupid rats and zombies keep haunting even the dreams, and the bandits too.

There's no surprise here, they made up the entire day.

And since they'll make up half my life in the future thanks to the fed's program it's a nightmare, rather than a dream.

So why can't I wait to go back to it?