Pulling off his helm, Kyle slowly stretched and looked around. In some of the animes that he’d watched, people would log into the virtual world for twenty hours a day and grind, grind, grind their way to power. Living the reality though was somewhat different, and Kyle was actually glad that the game had a built in sleep function.
Somebody someday would probably find a hack around it, but even if they did, it wouldn’t be something that Kyle would ever use – four hours of letting his body lie there in rest while his mind was occupied elsewhere was crazy hard on the body. Even as a young teen like him, it made him stiff and sore sometimes; leaving Kyle to simply imagine what large gaps of inactivity would do to a person over time.
If he was going to become a professional gamer and earn a living by playing in the virtual worlds out there, sooner or later he was going to have to find a way to help address the problem and find balance. He couldn’t imagine what lying motionless for forty plus hours a week would do to a person over a long term period. Making a mental note to ask his mother about how worried he should be, or what steps he should take so it doesn’t become something that’ll kill him when he’s forty.
Finally finishing stretching, Kyle eased out of his room and tip-toed down the hallway. Sera had plenty of time to finish her detention at school, and was probably lurking around somewhere since he hadn’t seen her name highlight in game this evening. Being slow and stealthy, Kyle peeked around the corner of the door which opened into the guest room where Sera was staying, but didn’t see her there.
Shrugging slightly to himself in disappointment, Kyle finally walked on past the door and down the stairs. It’d be impossible to sneak down the stairs anyway, the way some of the steps creaked and groaned naturally, so he wasn’t even going to bother in even trying. Getting at the bottom of the steps, he heard some voices speaking quietly in the kitchen, so he headed that way. Sera and his mother were sitting at the kitchen table, Sera drinking hot chocolate and his mom drinking a cup of coffee, when he walked in.
“Waters hot, if you want a cup,” his mom offered, changing the subject from whatever her and Sera had been whispering about together.
“Uhm.. Sure.” Kyle said hesitantly, uncertain if he was interrupting something he shouldn’t be. He was a guy, so he knew not to intrude in girl talk – especially if it was between a nurse like his mom and a girl. The things he’d heard her blabbering about with a female patient over the phone sometimes made his young male self cringe and want to hide. “I’m not intruding, or interrupting anything, am I?” He asked tentatively, prepared to fake an excuse and run away at the first sign of trouble.
Glancing over at his mother, Sera just shook her head slightly from side to side. “Nah. We were just talking about father being a real pain in the ass. I just needed to vent over the state of things at the restaurant. It’s a mess, and I don’t know when – or if – it’s ever going to get sorted out. Even the guys he hired to work on it are in there crying and joking about how it might be better to ‘accidentally’ burn the place down, collect the insurance, and simply rebuild and start over. It’s crazy!”
“And, like I told you before,” his mom reached across and slowly squeezed Sera’s hand which was resting on the table, “you’re young. Things seem to take a long time to sort out at your age, and you haven’t developed a bit of patience. As you get older, it gets easier to wait and let things take their natural course. Sometimes, if you push something too hard, you just make it worse in the long run. Slow and steady, dipped in sugar instead of vinegar, wins the race.”
“Yeah! It’ll all work out,” Kyle encouraged, clueless to both women rolling their eyes behind his back as he was fixing his chocolate. “Those guys just need a little time to sort it all out. Surely it can’t be that bad; your dad did have to file taxes on Franklin’s every year. All that paperwork has to be in there somewhere where he either just filed, or was getting ready to file for this year.”
Laughing lightly, Sera simply shook her head from side to side while getting up to walk over and hug him quickly and gently. “Thanks Kyle,” was all she said as she let go and walked out of the kitchen to head upstairs. “I’m going to take me a shower and then log in and play for a little while tonight before bed. I’ll see both of you tomorrow. I’ll take that advice, Ma, and take the weekend off and let the professionals have a little time to sort out the taxes and all.”
“Hey,” Kyle called out behind her, “don’t stay in game too long tonight. Heather and I are going to try and meet up in game around eight in the morning and explore a dungeon together. I know you aren’t right there with us, but why don’t you log in and join us anyway. We can still all talk and joke around through the party chat and all.”
Sera didn’t reply, so Kyle wasn’t certain if she’d heard and was going to join them or not. Half shrugging to himself as it wasn’t something to worry too much about one way or the other, Kyle asked his mother, “Anything good to eat down here? What’d you women-folk have for supper?”
“I fixed a salad and Sera ate some Chinese which she brought home with her,” his mother informed him. “She must’ve either stopped somewhere on the way in, or else had it delivered to the restaurant while she was there earlier. I don’t think there’s any left, but there’s still plenty of other things in the fridge and cabinets so you can fix something for yourself. You’re not going to starve.”
“But moooom! I’m gonna starve,” whined Kyle, helplessly.
His mother simply lifted her cup, sipped on her coffee, and ignored him.
“Fine.” Kyle knew when to admit defeat. “I’ll stick the barbeque in the microwave and nuke it and just fix me a few sandwiches.”
“See,” his mother encouraged, all-knowingly, “I knew you wouldn’t starve to death.”
Muttering under his breath – too quietly for his mother to understand what he was saying – Kyle complained about how unfair his life was and how difficult women were in general, as he went about fixing his own snack. As he was smearing some mayonnaise on his buns, Kyle finally settled down enough to ask, “Mom, while it’s on my mind, I wanted to ask – is there any problems with lying down and staying in the virtual world too long? Sometimes I end up all stiff and sluggish after I’ve been in there for a while. If I want to become a professional gamer, is that something I need to watch out for? Something I can do to keep it from being a problem?”
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Straightening up a little in her chair, his mom pointed to the spot across the table from her that Sera had occupied just a little while ago. “Sit,” she demanded, as she put her serious face on. Nodding, and grateful that it wasn’t because he’d did something to get in trouble from again, Kyle finished flopping his sandwiches together and sat down where she was pointing. He didn’t have a drink yet, but it could wait. He’d learned at an early age to pay attention whenever his mother got serious.
Finally satisfied that he was where she wanted, his mom nodded slightly to herself. “Have you heard about soul?” She asked, curiously.
“Soul? Like what goes to heaven or hell when we die?” Kyle asked, uncertain what she meant.
“S. O. L. It’s pronounced ‘soul’.” His mom clarified.
“Shit Outta Luck!” Kyle laughed, only to be have his mother glare at him. “Sorry,” he apologized.
“Sedentary-Oriented Lifestyle,” his mom replied. “It’s something new that a lot of doctors and patients are just now starting to truly diagnose and we’re seeing more and more cases of it all the time. For a long time, the medical industry has known that extended periods of bed rest were bad for a person. Bed sores, muscle deterioration, depression, loss of appetite, hair loss, erectile dysfunction – all sorts of things happen to someone who’s simply stuck in bed all the time.
“And we’re now starting to see those type of symptoms on otherwise normally healthy people. Office workers who spend all day sitting and typing can develop blood clots in their legs. They become moody, depressed, sometimes even suicidal. People didn’t evolve to be sedentary creatures,” his mom warned. “It can lead to all sorts of medical problems over time.
“To be honest,” she admitted, “I don’t think there’s been any real studies done on the effects of someone’s body being in the virtual world for excessive lengths of time, while their body remains stationary and inactive, but I’m certain there will be soon with the popularity of those new toys out there. And, I don’t imagine that they’re going to get good reports. We know simply sitting all day in front of a computer and typing is bad for a person. I can only imagine how much worse lying around with your brain occupied elsewhere must be.”
“Well, Winter’s Tale only lets you play for four hours at a time, at most, and then it basically goes into sleep mode for at least two hours,” Kyle tried to explain, somehow feeling defensive and wanting to prove that what she was saying didn’t apply to him.
His mother simply snorted and shook her head. “If it was up to me, I’d make them reverse those numbers. Don’t let a person play for more than two hours at a time and then make them sit out at least four. I imagine in time, there’ll be lawsuits back and forth and the government will eventually have to set some sort of limits like they do with truck drivers and aircraft pilots already.”
“But four hours doesn’t seem that long,” Kyle repeated, “and there’s a forced two-hour break after.”
“Yes,” his mother said patiently, like talking to a little kid. “But how much activity do you get in those two hours? A trip to sit on the toilet, to sit and eat, or to sit and watch T.V.? That’s not being active. It’s just changing one sedentary activity for another, and that’s got to be all sorts of bad for a person.”
“Then what do you suggest?” Kyle asked, earnestly. “I think I’d like to pursue gaming as a career, if I can, but I don’t want to do something that’ll make me end up dead by the time I’m forty either.”
“The best I can suggest for now,” she offered, “is to make certain you’re active as much as possible between those periods of inactivity. Do aerobics; go outside and play soccer, or baseball, or something. Learn yoga, go running, do cardiovascular exercises like push-ups or sit-ups. Bicycle around the block three times. Anything active and physical to get your heartrate up, work your muscles, and help keep you active.
“And make it part of your daily routine, and not just something you do once or twice to feel good about yourself and then forget about it,” she warned. “I’d like to see you do something more with your life than just play games, but...” She paused a moment for emphasis. “But, if that’s what you’re going to do, then make certain you stay active, exercise more than usual to make up for all the time where you don’t do anything while logged into that game, and eat properly.”
“I will,” Kyle promised, as he finished off his last few bites and got up to grab a soda. “I’ll sort out some sort of exercise schedule tomorrow and start on it then. But, for now, I’m going to head on up to bed.”
“And Kyle,” his mom yelled out after him, “let me give you a little motherly advice before you go to sleep – Men are idiots who always like to chase the shiniest, newest things that glitter around them, and that’s fine usually. Just don’t forget about the treasures you already have at home. If you’re not careful, someone might steal them if you don’t keep up and protect them.”
“Uhmm? I will, mom.” Kyle didn’t have a clue what she was going on about, but he did listen and try to file her advice under ‘Wise things my mother told me, that I was too stupid to understand at the time’. Making a mental note, he promised to try and figure out what she was warning him about later.
But for now, he was off to bed early, so he wouldn’t have any issues with the long day him and Heather had planned for the next day.