Eric was frustrated. He’d been to every major retailer in town and heard the same story. VirtuNet game connectors and preorders for Fate were all sold out. There’d been a huge demand for the game even before the announcement of the Fate Championship Series. But the massive prizes for the tournament, combined with the game’s appeal and the relative cheapness of the system meant that there had been a massive rush to buy VirtuNet connectors the day of the announcement. As a result for the last week, he’d been hitting up retailers everywhere; he’d even persuaded his mother to drive him to the next city over in an attempt to purchase one there, only to be met with the same story. VirtuNet connectors were sold out everywhere.

“Am I really going to be unable to buy a VirtuNet connector?” Eric despaired. It wasn’t as if he was alone in his plight. Across the net, there were thousands of people lamenting their inability to purchase the connector. Even Hurricane seemed surprised by the popularity of the game, having released an announcement stating that they’d put in an order for three times the number of connectors from their manufacturer, but it would take another week for them to be available in stores. Four days after Fate released.

To Eric, this was unacceptable. The difference four days could make at an MMO’s release was huge. Four days was the difference between being a frontrunner, who could monopolize resources and push around other players, and being a middle of the pack player who got bullied by higher level players. Even if Fate was a different experience, being four days behind was not a prospect Eric relished, especially since Jun would never let him live it down if he was the weakest member on the team.

With a sigh, Eric looked at the number on the screen and dialed it into his Smartwatch. Hearing the soft ring, he crossed his fingers and began to pray.

“Hello?” came a voice from the other end.

“Hi. I was wondering if you had any VirtuNet connectors in stock," Eric asked.

“Sorry, we’re all sold out. We’ll be getting some more in next week though,” the employee responded.

“Ah okay, thanks anyways," Eric replied as he hung up.

“F***!” he swore, hitting the wall with his fist.

“Eric?” It was at this moment that his Mother’s voice drifted up the stairs. “Can you come downstairs, honey? We have something to talk to you about.”

Eric groaned. His parents had been asking him almost daily about his plans for university. He still didn’t even have an acceptance letter from any of his serious choices, although he was sure one was coming. Mostly sure at least.

Making his way downstairs, Eric saw his parents sitting on the couch. On the coffee table in front of them was a large white envelope with a familiar crest emblazoned on the front. Eric’s heart caught in his chest; he took a peek at his father’s face and saw a familiar dark frown. Looking back at the floor quickly, he walked over to the leather recliner and took a seat. His father was a stern man in his mid 40’s; a career military officer, he was a man Eric both respected and feared. At 6’2 with a bald head and an imposing countenance, his father was the type of man one envisioned when the phrase, built like a bear was uttered. The slight scruff on his face after a weekend of not shaving did nothing to reduce the fear Eric felt upon realizing he was finally going to have to explain his choice in program to his father.

His mother sat opposite his father, more diminutive than his father, with graying hair and a kind face. Eric sincerely hoped that his mother would be supportive in his choice. Otherwise this was going to be a very long day.

“Yes? I was kind of busy you know," he started, trying to avoid looking at the envelope or his parents, a task made difficult by the lack of any other points of interest in the room. Despite this, Eric made a herculean effort to seem interested in the dust on the windowsill beside him as he spoke.

“A letter came. For you,” his father stated matter-of-factly, as if it was just any other letter. If Eric hadn’t seen the envelope, he might have even assumed it was a birthday letter, as his birthday was in two days.

“Oh?” Eric replied carefully.

His father pushed the letter on the table towards him, “It’s right there. Why don’t you open it?”

With trembling hands, Eric reached out to pick up the letter. While this was the University he wanted to go to, he had not applied to a program his parents would approve. A fact he had been avoiding by telling himself that maybe he would just be rejected.

Opening the letter, Eric read the contents to himself. As expected he had been accepted to a major in Game Design with a minor in Economics. He would start in the fall and the room he had requested had been reserved. Putting the letter down, he tried to smile at his parents.

“It looks like I’ve been accepted. I start in the fall.”

“Oh Eric! That’s great news! -”

“For what program?” his father interjected. Cutting his mother off mid-sentence.

“A Major in Game Design and a Minor in Economics - it’s an honours program," Eric replied, doing his best to make the program sound as prestigious as possible. It wasn’t a lie - the program was actually one of the highest rated game design programs in the country, and the University’s Business Faculty, which the Economics minor was a part of, was held in equal esteem. He just hoped his slightly more oldschool father would see it that way.

“Game design?” his father asked, furrowing his brow. “You applied for game design? I thought you told us you were going to apply for something that would give you a future.”

Eric swallowed dryly, this was exactly the reason he had been trying to avoid in this conversation. Nervously, he tried to formulate a response, “Well it’s a very highly regarded program you know. And games are becoming more popular every year. Just look at how well Fate is doing and that hasn’t even been released yet!”

“How many game designers get to work on a game like Fate, rather than pumping out awful mobile game after mobile game as quick money grabs? Do you really think you’ll be able to get a job at a place like Hurricane if you go through this program?” his father countered.

Eric faltered. It was true that the odds of him getting a good job in the industry were low, but did his father have to crush his hopes like that? Stealing a glance at his mother, he looked over at her for support, only to notice her studying the upholstery as if it contained untold secrets and she was determined to uncover them. The odd thing was that she seemed to enjoy this act as the phantom of a smile could be seen on her face.

“What’s so funny, Mummy?” Eric asked, attempting to divert the flow of the conversation.

“Don’t change the subject, Eric!” his father said sternly, but his own mask was starting to crack, with a grin slowly spreading across his face.

“What? What’s going on? Why are both of smiling like that?” Eric asked, suddenly unsure of the situation.

“Oh Eric! I’m so proud of you! XX University is a great school! Why didn’t you tell us you’d applied?” his mother suddenly burst out, jumping up and running over to give him a hug.

Eric was now totally lost. The conversation had gone from him being yelled at to him being congratulated and hugged, all within less than a minute.

His father grinned, “You left yourself logged in on the VirtuNet console. We received the email that your application had been received over a month ago, naturally along with the details about the programs you applied for. At first I was a little disappointed, but after we looked into it, we found out that this is actually a great program. It has a high graduate placement rate and the faculty is very highly rated internationally.”

Eric breathed out, relief written on his face, “I was really unsure if you guys would approve of it.”

“Well the Economics minor definitely helps. You’ll still have useful real world skills even if you can’t get a job as a game designer after graduation. Do you have a plan for where to stay when you go off in the fall?” his mother asked, finally participating in the conversation.

“Yeah, Griffin and I plan to share a room - he’s entering the engineering faculty," Eric replied.

“Oh, Griffin’s going too?”

“Yup, we applied at the same time. It says here that our room has been reserved," Eric gestured at the letter as he responded to his father. His father nodded approvingly at this; he always liked to know that a plan existed and was being implemented properly.

His mother was practically bouncing with excitement as she suddenly jumped up and ran into the front room. Eric peered curiously after her as she returned with a large box in her hands.

“Your mother and I know that you’re extremely excited about Fate, and given that we also know how you tend to procrastinate, we decided that as a combined graduation present and early birthday gift we’d get you this,” his father said as his mother placed the box on the table.

Trying desperately to temper his growing excitement, Eric grabbed the package and ripped off the carefully folded wrapping paper to reveal a smooth box with the words, ‘Hurricane: Fate Special Edition Game Connector (Fate the game is also included, this is a pre launch product and will be unavailable for play until July 16th, 20XX). Seeing this, Eric barely resisted letting loose a real scream of joy, opting instead to jump up and hug his mother as tightly as he could.

“Thank you! Thank you so much!” he repeated over and over, letting go of his mother and turning to his father who offered him his hand, before pulling him into a quick hug.

“The clerk told us that you need to set that up if you want to connect when the game goes live on Friday," his mother cautioned him. “Now remember, this is your birthday present, so you’re not getting anything else in two days!”

Eric grinned in response. This was already the best gift he’d ever received. The fact that he no longer had to worry about his parents finding out about his college plans combined with this gift relieved him of all the stress he’d been feeling for the past few days.

His father smiled, “Happy early birthday, Eric. Your mother and I are both proud of you. Now then, you’ve got two hours before dinner to set that up. Also, we’re going to be setting some ground rules for its use over the summer. I know you’ll be playing that all day and after a long discussion, your mother and I are fine with that.” His mother nodded at this with a conflicted look on her face.

“But," his father continued, “In exchange, we expect you to have all of your chores and duties around the house done before you get on for the day. That means lawn mowed, house vacuumed, make sure your brothers get breakfast and other meals, your room and bathroom stay clean, and the cat is fed. We also expect you to show up for dinner. Got it?”

Eric nodded. This was exactly the deal he’d hoped to strike. His parents had always been supportive of his dreams. But they’d often expressed skepticism when he said that he wanted to make money using gaming. As long as he made sure to get the stuff around the house done before he got on for the day, he would be fine.

“Deal,” he said quickly.

His father grinned, “Alright, you can escape back to your room now.”