Steven’s hands trembled as he sat at his gaming station. His custom-built rig hummed softly in anticipation, the blue glow from the RGB key lighting casting a ghostly aura on his face. His fingers hovered over the mouse as he watched the trailer for the new expansion, War Never Changes: Rise of Raccoon.
A rush of excitement and dread battled within Steven. After a six month long content drought, his favorite game was releasing something new; he could barely contain his anticipation. Yet, a very real fear that this expansion might be like the last one— Under the Sea— lingered in the back of his mind, which had flopped so terribly that more than half of the development team had been laid off or quit out of humiliation.
War Never Change's third expansion was an unmitigated disaster. Uninspired features, sparce content releases and disorienting level design left players fuming. The water level expansion almost sank the franchise for good.
With a pitiful 1.3 stars out of 10, it became the most reviled expansion ever released. The best review described the expansion as- 'A confusing maze filled with murky waters and vertigo-inducing platforms that will have players screaming in frustration. How did this get approved? Why was this made? Playing this game the required amount to review it killed my love of videogames. This will be my last review. I quit.'
Steven's terror of failure was only amplified by his role as guild leader. Steven felt his palms start to sweat. His breath was unsteady and he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He thought back to the disastrous last expansion when things had gone so wrong; online friend's he'd known for years uninstalled the game, words that could not be taken back were said in anger.
After a decade together in the virtual world, and in reality, the long-term couple finally unplugged from one another. Their avatars appeared on screen, illuminated by a magenta light, tears streaming down their faces as they declared the dissolution of their union - both real and digital.
The cyber-divorce devastated both of them. They fought over game accounts just as fiercely as financial ones. But it all came to a head when the ex-wife managed to hack her way into the ex-husbands hard drive and download their shared child. It took almost half an hour of explaining to the police that while both parents felt differently, the kidnapped party in question wasn't physically real.
The judge wasn't sure what to make of the case until his daughter stepped in and translated the conflict into terms he could understand. She tried to use Monopoly to make her point, but it didn't quite stick until she mentioned the 10-year long game of Risk he had played against his mother – whom he still hadn't spoken since she broke into his apartment one night and stole Poland.
Steven stared at the laptop screen, his finger hovering over the mouse, tempted to commit the deadliest sin: pre-order. After the flaming dumpster fire that was Under the Sea? Yet, they were offering an 'exclusive' little raccoon pet as a bonus. Steven knew he shouldn't fall for it, but felt powerless to those beady little eyes glistening on the screen.
Before he could make a colossal mistake, Steven heard his mother calling him from the other room.
"Steven! Dinners ready!" his mother's voice echoed through the hallway.
"What is it?" Steven yelled back, a hint of apprehension in his voice.
"Come see for yourself!" She laughed, her tone sending a chill down his spine.
She was in another one of her experimental moods. Steven didn't know what to do when his mother got a bit too enthusiastic about her 'special recipes'. After surviving last week's suspiciously fresh garden-salad and a the near-catastrophic stone-soup incident, Steven was bracing himself for yet another dinner-disaster. At least he'd made sure the fire extinguisher was charged this time.
Steven rubbed his temples and took a deep breath. He clicked through different channels on the guild's Discord server—memes, gear discussions, and PvP strategies. Finally, he landed on the announcements page and began typing furiously. “RAID TIME!!! - Hey everyone, fill out the survey attached to this post. Be sure to put your guild name, available play time or raid, and spec” He clicked into the box and stayed determined not to overthink it, though he knew that wouldn't be easy in the days ahead.
He braced himself for the unknown as he prepared to venture into his mother's domain, the dining room. "Coming Mom," he replied, a knot of dread coiling within him, a feeling of fire in his chest that was part his battle spirit, and another part pre-indigestion, as he mustered his strength and marched towards the dreaded dining room.