After finishing his meal, taking his medicine, and then resting for a while, Jason got up and slowly walked over to rub his V-Rig. As expensive as they were, he was still amazed that he’d managed to talk his parents into letting getting one for him – and a Model XLV II at that! Not quite suitable to be used as a full-fledged server, it was still what many would consider a “high end model”, and most of the bells and whistles that comes with such a piece of hardware. Tons of memory, terabytes of data storage, quad-core VGP, with its own firewall and router built in – it was a dream come true for him!
At lunch, his friends had all confirmed that they had purchased a copy of Winter’s Tale, and they were all going to play it, and that made him ecstatic! Due to his weight and his health, Jason didn’t usually get to join his friends if they ever got together and did things. He’d missed out on summer camp, all sorts of sports activities, and hadn’t even been able to join band due to his severe lack of stamina. But this time – this time there shouldn’t be any reason why he couldn’t join them for fun and adventures inside a virtual world!
Gently picking up his silver helmet, Jason took a few moments to rub and polish it before putting it on his head. Clicking on the local video and sound, he eased over to his bed and slowly laid down upon it. “Log in, Winter’s Tale,” he softly commanded as he settled into a comfortable position.
Moments later, Jason found himself floating in thin air, hovering in front of a pulsing white light of pure energy. Gentle bird songs and insect calls mingled with the gentle tricking of water as a small waterfall splashed down into a small forest pool back behind the ball of light. Taking a few moments to hover around, Jason indulged in the beauty and realism that the virtual environment had created for him. If it wasn’t for the small video screen which showed the ceiling of his room, from where he’d turned his local camera on before logging into the game, Jason could almost believe that he’d died and was a soul awaiting to be reborn in a new world somewhere. The sights, sounds, and even the smells of the area were completely realistic to him, and he was blown away by it all! When they said Winter’s Tale was pushing the boundaries of virtual technology, they weren’t kidding!
After spending what felt like hours exploring the limits of the small glade used as the backdrop for the character creation process, Jason finally turned his attention to the pulsing orb of energy floating before him. After a few moments of concentration, words formed and floated above the orb reading, “SEX: Male, Female, None, Hermaphroditic.”
Puzzled, Jason couldn’t help but ask himself, “Hermaphroditic?” Almost instantly, and much to his amazement, the floating orb changed to shape itself into an outline of a naked humanoid figure with both breasts and a penis visible. Blushing slightly, Jason was glad no one else was around who could watch him as he stared for several long moments at the figure before finally stuttering, “Ma… ma… male, please!” Once again, the orb shimmered and slowly changed to take the shape of a floating humanoid male figure.
“Sorry WT, but I don’t want any man-boobs,” Jason whispered quietly to no one. “I want to play somebody strong, sturdy, and healthy. I don’t want to be some weak, fat, freak that everyone sits around and makes fun of. I want to be someone respectable. Someone strong that people can look up to. I want to be someone who can help support my friends and someone they can rely on. The brochure says, ‘Winter’s Tale, where anything is possible’. Is there any chance that it’d be possible for me to play a character like that?”
Much to Jason’s amazement, the avatar floating before him slowly started to change and reshape itself and the message above the figure changed to read, “Too many variables present. Please continue to limit choices.”
Talking to himself, Jason asked, “Limit choices? Too many variables?” Taking a moment to think about it, he floated above the avatar trying to think of how to limit the possibilities. Finally, desperately, he asked thin air, “WT, how can I limit my choices? Can you help?”
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The words above the avatar slowly changed once again to read, “Magical Aptitude?”
“Magical Aptitude?” Jason pondered, before slowly shaking his head from side to side. “No, I don’t want magic. I figure everyone else will probably want to play some sort of magical character. In fact, I want to play one that’s magically resistant instead of magically endowed.”
Slowly the avatar changed shape one again, flickering through the various possibilities still available. The old message slowly faded and a new one appeared which read, “Spiritual Aptitude?”
“No. No spiritual aptitude for me,” Jason answered, grinning slightly as the avatar continued to alter and grow a little more definable. “I’m not a priest, holy knight, or anything like that. They have too many restrictions to follow.”
“Social Standing?”, was the next question that appeared.
“Umm… Slightly wealthy, but not so wealthy that it’s going to get me in trouble,” Jason answered after a moments pause. “And a respectable member of society, not some odd outcast like a crazy hermit in the woods either. I want to play someone who interacts with a lot of other people.”
“Family Status?”, the game prompted him.
“Family Status?” Puzzled, Jason had to think for a bit about what it might be asking. Was it asking if he wanted to come from a noble family or some such thing? Wasn’t that what social standing was? Thinking about it, if he saw such a question on a modern questionnaire, he’d assume it was asking about marital status.
“Married, with two children,” Jason answered, half joking.
Much to his embarrassment, the prompt changed once again to, “Partner’s Sex?”
“A female! A female! I’m married to a female,” Jason answered, feeling himself grow flush with embarrassment. Much to his relief, the question above the avatar quickly moved on to ask something else for him to answer, followed by another question and then another, for what seemed like an eternity of endlessly making choices to narrow down what character might suit him best in the game.
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After what seemed like an endless series of questions, the floating avatar settled into the form of a short stocky dwarf and didn’t change anymore. Floating above the avatar was a message reading, “Winter’s Tale recommends this character. Do you accept?”
Taking a moment to think about it, Jason finally nodded and said, “I do. I’ll try this guy out.”
The text above the avatar slowly altered and changed to become, “Old Name: Borean Silveraxe. Please choose a new name.”
“A new name?” Jason muttered to himself, wondering about the impact of what he was seeing. Apparently he had an old name in the game, but now he had to choose a new one. Why? Shouldn’t he be making a character from scratch? Why would it have an old name listed? Did every character start out with multiple names, or just him? If so, why? Why would players need two names? Or why would he?
After several long moments of uncertainty, Jason slowly shook his head and shrugged. Until he actually got into the game and started exploring and asking questions, he’d just be guessing at answers. Stuck at the login screen, he had no way of knowing if he was the only person to have two names, or if it was common for everyone else as well.
Smiling to himself after thinking for a few moments more, Jason finally spoke up. “I am Drun Kindwarf,” he stated, trying not to laugh. From what he knew about dwarves from The Lord of The Rings, and from different role playing games he’d played in the past, he’d always seen them represented as heavy drinkers and a people who loved their ale. What could be any more suitable for a name than one which played on the “drunken dwarf” stereotype?
Moments after he confirmed his choice of name, the forest glade faded out of the background and a different scene began to fade into view.