We’ve been at the VA Housing about a week and a half now and every day the hallways are more crowded. It didn’t take long for Ned’s personality to become the center of our group since he was always making us laugh and starting up games. At one point we had a prank war going between five rooms. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the scrubs look so torn between laughter and duty as when Ned was caught in the middle of trying to climb up into the ceiling tiles with a laundry bag full of toilet paper. One of the building supervisors was making a walk-through and caught sight of Ned’s legs waving out of the ceiling as he had discovered his fat belly couldn’t quite clear the space. I’m not sure what he thought he was going to do if he made it through as I doubt the tiles could have held his weight, but after that the war was ended.

Fortunately for the rest of us in our group it was finally our turn to head into the lecture hall complete the paperwork. We were led to a room with seats rising each row higher than the last around a podium. It was just large enough to hold all of the For Glory testers, the orderlies needed to help the amputees, and other special needs people. Looking around the room the age range for the program appeared to be twenty-one to fifty-five which encompassed several generations of wars from the second Iraq war to the current war in Sudan.

As important as it was to listen to all the legal jargon it was devastatingly boring; however, towards the end a lecturer announced that there would be a short walking break. Sitting too long dulls the mind after all. “Felt like I was back at boot reception all over again,” yawns Ned.

“Maybe you should do push-ups in the back if you are about to fall asleep. Oh wait, it would be more like belly ups for you!” Steven snipes out.

“It’s better than being stuck with a name like Bouyea.” Ned’s eyes begin to gleam as he continues, ”Some poor schmuck probably came to the states at Ellis Island and yelled out bouyea! Only to get mistakenly identified that way.”

Once everyone had settled in their seats a new person walks up to the podium dressed in a fancy three piece suit. He is a thirty something year old with dark hair and black looking eyes. He smiles looking out to the audience, “I’m sure you all are very eager to hear what I have to say about For Glory, but first let me introduce myself. I am Alastair Quimby director of Public Affairs at Titan and it is my pleasure to introduce you to this game.”

“For Glory is a fantasy based game that is pioneering not only VR Pod technology, but also game artificial intelligence. Some of you are gamers and have heard many companies make this same claim; however, I assure you this is not just a claim as we have indeed made this a reality.”

“Games have, for a long time, been based off archaic table top games with the limitations of mathematical and placement models. For a while it was thought open world games were the future, but in the end they were still linear in quests and story line. The dream of a fully open world environment seemed impossible; but, with the creation of our Genesis World Engine we can offer to you the truly open world game, the first of its kind.”

“The two games being tested here are generated by the same engine, which is an artificial intelligence focused only on world and quest building. Your game, For Glory, is fantasy based. What I mean by that, for those who do not know, is the classic swords and sorcery genre. Classic races such as dwarves and elves are present; however they are not currently playable. Kings, Queens, Knights, and a multitude of deities provide a backdrop with various political systems. Of course, there is more to it that; but to tell you would be spoiling the game.”

“Despite what you may think, limiting play to only one race will not be limiting as there are numerous subtypes available. Subtypes are highly varied and how you play will affect your specific subtype. To be honest even we don’t know all the varieties that are available in game and that is part of your duty as a tester is to explore within the game.”

“We have also offered the opportunity to test this game to one thousand patients at John Hogkins Hospital, one thousand professional beta testers, and five thousand lucky users who won a lottery. Non-essential employees of Titan will also be playing on rotations.”

“Only Veterans will be in the long immersion program while everyone else will be in various rotations and personal time. The VA was uniquely able to offer us the long term immersion program and so you lucky people will get to play the game non-stop for 6 months. In the event of a catastrophic issue we will be providing recompense to those who need it. Part of the forms still left to be filled out will cover that.”

“Once in the game you will be able to choose your appearance and ethnicity. For this program, one feature will be selected based on the testing you will undergo before immersion. This is to help us test features that may not necessarily get selected. The other groups have already started except for the lotto winners they will start the same time as you. All participants must sign a non-disclosure form which is why you have not heard about this game yet. Everything else in game is earned through activity whether it be skills, renown, or features.”

“On a positive side note-the Pods will condition your bodies while in stasis so that those of you who are very active in game may see some response in your real bodies. It is unknown how much it will change as you are long term, but I expect to see a lot of you with tighter waists.”

“This feature is mostly to prevent issues such as atrophy, but may be a long term benefit for weight loss. The final thing you need to know about this game is that there is no way to know if someone is a tester or a NPC unless the person tells you. Calling a non player character a NPC will not be possible as we have blocked a number of words related to immersion. This is to be an open world environment and how you choose to play is meant to be free.”

“That said there is a karma system in place to punish people who may end up being killers and various undesirable activity. This is because it is rarely good to promote poor behavior and never good to promote psychopathic killing. You may think that an open world should allow all kinds of behavior, but at this stage we don’t want to create a serial murderer in the real world as that is bad for business.”

“The karma system will help curb the behavior, but not eliminate it which allows the freedom to be whatever you want, but be warned the consequences of karma are heavier the more people are affected. After all the slogan of the game is ‘Freedom to Play.’”

After finishing his speech, pamphlets were handed out as he left the room. The lecturer from before comes up and starts discussing the final legal forms including the non-disclosure agreements. The pamphlet describes a number of ethnicities for Humans in game including an option for race to be selected by test responses for a close match to personality. Very few people like to leave such a thing up to chance, but there were some.

The ones that really stood out to me were:

Ishiin: A plains people who live in nomadic tribes wandering with their horse herds. Trained in horse riding and care from birth no subtype of humans are better then Ishiin when it comes to horses. When tribes get too large members are often sent out to be mercenaries, guards, soldiers, or horse caretakers to earn money for their tribe. Their strong military might is known throughout the Human race, but some do learn other skills.

Karacai: A forest people with tribal tendencies led by elders and strong in forest craft, hunting, and scouting. They are smaller than the average human with lean frames and often have glowing green eyes due to elvish ancestry in the past.

Being able to do magic would be good, but starting with a horse is also good. Freedom of movement is a powerful thing, not being able to learn magic easily could be a problem. In none of them did it say it was impossible to learn something only harder which makes sense as there will always be an oddball in any group.

There was still some time before the final choice had to be made, but until then I would just have to get through all the testings. Perhaps it will be worth it to try the racial test and see if it brought up one I liked better. Evidently there were many more than the pamphlet listed.

Ned and Ava were waiting for me as we headed out the auditorium door, the rest of the Marine group had already made their way to claim spots in the gym. Out of shape veterans were worried about their figure now having heard about the custom suits. It helped having the military culture around them to re-spark their competitive spirits; so, now finding gym space was difficult. After that would be the first of many tests.

* * *

They say that in the Army the chow is mighty fine

A chicken jumped off the table and killed a friend of mine

Oh Lord I wanna go...

Insertion day was fast approaching and in the excitement building up some of the old jodies were being sung as the Veterans marched from test to test. They didn’t have to march, but nostalgia overtook them and so the jodies were sung.

Today was the last test and fitting for the pod suit. After that it was only three days until immersion as it didn’t take long to calibrate each suit. The test today was optional as those who already picked an ethnicity didn’t have to, but since the pamphlet only showed fifteen varieties people were interested in their options. The test was done at the same time as calibration as you had to be in your pod to do both. This also offered Titan techs an opportunity to calibrate each Pod machine as well. Fortunately my room was in the middle of the calibration days so we didn’t have to wait too long or too short before immersion.

The most interesting thing about the suit was that it automatically adjust to my body in a tight nanoweb material that detected everything from heart rate to bladder capacity. There were ports for bodily functions and while the catheters were skipped for now, they would no doubt be a horrible experience to recover from. Fortunately catheters have come a long way and are sized appropriately. The suit covered everything but the face and hairline and were very snug. The openings were on the sides for comfort or otherwise getting in would be very difficult. Closing it was different from the usual zipper or Velcro as the nanites automatically sealed the gap in the webbing.

Once the suite was on a technician came by with a data pad and scanned my medical bracelet with my information while asking the usual questions such as age, name, and date of birth for confirmation. Evidently all this information went directly into the suit for identification and a badge appeared on my chest with my name and a barcode. I’m very glad the suit counted as part of my clothing allowance. This was bound to be very expensive with all the tech on it and I had never heard its like outside of NASA. I felt like a futuristic astronaut.

With the suit calibrated I gave a thumbs up to the Marine mates nearby. As a bonus all our suits had taken on the colors of the branches we had served so the Marines were in Red and Gold while I was in Green and Gold. We looked like Christmas. While we waited on the rest of the group to suit up I walked over to them.

“You look good in green, makes your eyes pop!” Steven said.

“Well, not everyone can pull off the Marine scarlet right?” I say back.

“Hopefully we look like athletes by the time we are out.” Grumbled Ned. His gut didn’t shrink at all in the 3+ weeks we had been here and it was a sore point for him.

“So are we all doing the race test later?” Asks Ava.

“May as well, nothing to lose by it,” shrugs Felix.

“We could all choose the same subtype so we can be together in game as I doubt they start in the same place,” says Peter and his brother picks up with, “Or we can play by ourselves since I’ve wanted, for a long time, to get away from you.”

“Ha, ha very funny.”

The tech clearly annoyed by our banter pulls Steven away from the group and nudges him towards a Pod and since we were the first ready the rest of us get pulled to other pods nearby by. “I guess they want us in now,” laughs Ava as she heads in.

The pods are casket like and have very little wiggle room for the largest of us. Inside is a gel celled underlayment that starts gripping the minute I lay down. Ports are connected, but not feeling a catheter probably means that happens later. A mask is laid over my mouth and the tech leaning over me says, “The pod will close and fill with a nutrient rich nano fluid, but don’t panic as you will knock out quickly. Try counting back from ten if you need to.” The glass on the casket over my head gets near and for a minute I almost feel claustrophobic as the fluid fills in, but I don’t get a chance to worry about it or even start counting as the ports move and I feel the pinch of catheters entering in places fades out as everything turns to black.

From one moment to the next I’m in a blank space. I can tell there is a floor, but all around there is nothing. Color seems to be something that is undefined so I couldn’t even tell that much. The techs voice from before in comes from everywhere as he tells me that this is the load area and to wait for the test program to start.

In a transition that feels like it aught to have been felt but didn’t I am suddenly in a room where pedestals are all around with all manner of medieval weapons and many of which I do not recognize. I’ve always been a fan of swords so my first inclination is to head to a plain hand and a half bastard sword. I lift it and swing, but realize the feel is heavier and more awkward then I had thought it would be. I’ve been short all my life and a bastard sword is a bit long for me. This shouldn’t matter in game, but at this moment I’m my actual size.

I try a short sword next that looks like the Roman Gladius and it feels better, but still heavy. Next I try a bow. I’ve experience with bows and like them a lot. I try a long bow, but find it unusually difficult so go back to the recurved Mongolian style bow and like that a lot better. By now I am starting to get the idea that things I have familiarity with don’t seem to match up with what I am experiencing. The weights alone seem off from playing with similar weapons in real life. My guess is the program must be brain scanning me for preferences or compatibility that I may not be conscience of and giving me feedback.

Aware of the uneven experiences I go ahead and try as many of the other weapons that catch my eyes such as spears and axes even if they are not something I would generally consider playing with. They all had benefits and issues, but not being a wielder of ancient weapons they all felt strange to me. I’m hoping that the more I interact with objects the better end test results I get.

After I put down the last dagger the pedestals cleared to show a variety of what I assume are magics. I touch one that looks like fire and instantly I have a fire ball in my hand. It’s weird and I feel as though I am filled with heat. I point away and the fireball takes off.

Seems too easy; how, will the game incorporate magic if you don’t feel anything when casting? This time I look carefully at each pedestal trying to determine what magic they represent. After trying quite a few I find one that is really interesting. On the pedestal it looked like a small shimmer but when I touched it instead of covering my hand like before this one surrounds me in an aura. With the aura I feel stronger and faster. Must be some kind of buff or support magic.

The last pedestal I look at seems to have nothing on it. I had already found air so I know that isn’t it. When I touched the blank space nothing seemed to happen and nothing felt different so I couldn’t say what it was.

With this last pedestal done I see the room change in another sudden transition to show a variety of armors and robes. It doesn’t take me long to go threw the lot trying on various types. Fortunately all I had to do to try it on was touch it and it would be on. What I liked best were the combination types where there would be parts lamellar and parts leather or plate. Movement is important to me and never again will I overload myself like I did in the Army. Health is important even if this is a game. The consequences I had lived with will not let me choose otherwise.

Another transition and I find myself confronted by what could only be a King, a bunch of old-um Elders, a chieftain, and what could only be deity of some sort given they were glowing. They were all talking to their followers. It was hard to tell what they were like in such a brief overview. What I assumed was a Chieftain was wearing classically tribal clothes and a big headdress if you want an idea of what I was facing. I think this was exposing me to a variety of leadership to see what I preferred while doing deep brain scans and who knows what else. The visuals were probably just to give me something to look at while all this went on.

I found myself leaning towards the chieftain figure, but none of them really appealed to me. I prefer to not have to be accountable to people as people can be jerks. Maybe a King would be OK since they have that level of separation from the people, but if it was an asshole king then I would hate it.

The system must have been able to process everything quickly as after a while I realize I’m waking up and feel the fluid sliding down and the disconcerting movements as things left that were better not remembered. I’ll never like catheters of any kind.

The tech gives me a hand out and I feel like time had shifted to today which should have been last week. It’s going to be weird after 6 months. As I’m still readjusting to the real world the techs tells me briskly, “The results will be available later today. Now clear off so I can get to the next person. Keep the suits in the locker over there with your name on it.”

For some reason I’ve become anxious on what the results were. It’s probably due to the strange test where it felt like a lot didn’t happen. The Marines and I head out for some needed stress relief and hit the gym for a few more hours as we wait for time to go by. One thing about having nothing to your name and a dreary VA housing area is that it leaves plenty of time to work out.

After eating we head back to the room to await the results posting on the digital wall and it’s unsurprising to find the Marine results pretty similar even outside of our group. Marine brainwashing results can’t be denied. Their subtype was Tokana; while, mine was somewhat different from the ones I had looked at before and didn’t make my final choice any easier.

Three days passed slowly while our group practically wore a rut in the rubber floors. It’s just as well the prank war ended as it likely would have led to blood shed at this point with how wound up everyone got. The days were slow and agonizing.

In-between pacing, the Marines and I went over every little bit of information we could find and then went over it a few more times just for something to kill the time away. Some of the Veterans were having a lot of sex. It got to the point where you just couldn’t walk without care as the lust craze went on.

Despite spending almost an entire month in Housing and working out I with all the stress from waiting my chronic pain spiked. The scrubs wouldn’t give me any pain medication as it wasn’t needed for survival and the testing needed to be as clean as possible. I just wanted time to speed by already and in time the final hour was upon us. Everyone in the room were straightening out beds and slipping into their suits. Each room was told last night to be suited and ready to go after wakeup and standby until called.

The Marines decided they liked Tokana after all and this way they get to be together at the start. They were sad that I would be going with Y-tekra, not only because it was hard for them to say, but that we would not start together. I didn’t get to see the information yet as all they listed was the name suggested, but it must fit me if the tests were as indepth as it seemed.

At around five in the morning a scrubbed technician comes in, “OK everyone! I know you’re excited and tired of waiting, but I have some last minute topics to discuss now we are at this point. First of all, before, we were not allowed to discuss anything beyond the ethnicities; well, now we can tell you one thing more.”

“This is about the leveling system in place. To sum it up-there are no levels. Now I know you are wondering why I said there was a leveling system, but it would be more accurate to call it an expertise system. You see, in For Glory, skills are made up of subskills and there are often 10 of these; although, this isn’t a hard or fast rule so don’t let this fool you into thinking they are easier to gain expertise in.”

“Once you get into your pods you will find out about the expertise system so be aware that you can find out more in game. The other topic is that in order to bring up your status just say or think ‘Status’. We tell you this now in case you can’t figure it out on your own. Since this is a test there is no logout function, but normally you would just have to say or think ‘Logout’; however, in the event of an emergency we will keep track of vitals and if you feel in game that you are in trouble just say or think ‘Emergency Exit.’ And to be sure you got the important parts repeat after me.”

“To pull up status say or think...”

“Status.”

“To logout normally....”

“Say or think ‘Logout.’”

“Excellent! And in case of an emergency?”

“Say or think ‘Emergency Exit.’”

“Say that again and a little louder please?”

“SAY OR THINK ‘EMERGENCY EXIT!’”

“Now that the important bits are covered lets head out to your pods!”

After the speech we are lined up and marched out to the pod area where more technicians then before await us. I guess this is to speed up each groups time going in. Before entering the pod I look over to Ned nearby and give a thumbs up before laying down. The gel cells once again grip me and the ports plugged in. The same discomforts as the fluid rises as I hear someone weakly say, “One small step...” before I’m back at the loading area.

The strangeness of non-color distracts me from seeing figures appear all around me and before I can fully turn my focus on them a small glowing figure slowly floats down before me. My sight latches to the slower motion of the shining person as they bow followed by a sweet, childlike, and genderless voice echoing all around. “Welcome, Kara Winters to the character creation zone.”

The figure pauses as the swirling forms freeze momentarily and three shapes are brought forward. “I register that you were previously interested in the Karacai, Ishiin, and Y-tekra human types.”

Hearing the figure speak of ethnicities I had only spoken about with the Marines alarms me so I respond back, “How do you know about the races I was interested in outside of the calibration test? Oh and do you have a name?”

“My name is Genesis and I am a minor part of the Genesis Artificial Intelligence. As for the human subtypes, subconscious picks were mapped during the scans. It is only natural that ones you considered would be highlighted during the process. It is understandable that you did not know.”

Hearing this is discomforting as I was unaware just how much the scanning process really took in. Will this even pass with the civilians players considering how much they love their freedoms? It doesn’t bother me as much as I know the government will always have it’s hooks in me, but this feels like the beginnings of “Big Brother” government.

“Don’t worry Kara Winters! The brain scans only scan for information related to the game and are dna locked to you to prevent those kinds of issues!”

“Now on to the character creation-these are the human subtypes you showed an interest in during the calibration. As you were still undecided on login I hope that this will make it easier for you to choose.” Genesis waves their hand as the three models begin to take on my features with unique differences.

The Karacai model looks smaller than me, but with greener eyes that almost glow and a rich mahogany colored hair that is very smooth and straight hanging to its shoulders with duskier skin. It is wearing a bow, quiver, dirk, and a mottled green scaled leather armor. The ears seem to have the smallest of points to them that I almost missed seeing before looking closer at the next model.

The Ishiin version is slightly taller then me and has redder skin. The black hair is a short cut and messy with contrasting eyes that almost look yellow. It wears armor that I somehow instinctively recognise as hard boiled, and is armed with a curved tulwar style sword and a Mongolian style bow on the back with a quiver. A horse is behind it without a bridle wearing a small high cantled saddle made of leather. The horse itself is dun colored with black legs, tail, mane, ears, and snout.

Finally I look at the Y-tekra model which looks the closest to my current self but with pale skin, green eyes, and light auburn hair that is heavily braided and hangs to the waist. It’s wearing fur armor carrying a simple bow, quiver, and a medium dagger that is shaped for eating and skinning.

Despite seeing them the choice between the three is still difficult. Looking at Genesis I ask, “Why did the program choose Y-tekra for me? I know there are many different subtypes available and no doubt there are overlaps...”

“The choice was made on a number of variables, but I think the result was made due to your natural curiosity and willingness to fight for what is right. This subtype will need your help to survive.”

Damn, the computer just gave me a guilt trip. Well, I like challenges now and then. I walk to the Y-tekra model and as I get close the figure starts to move towards me until we walk into each other. A strange feeling comes over me as I feel the slight differences in our appearance move about my body and clothes change. It’s a very interesting process and a little nerve wracking to walk into yourself. Once the change is complete I see that my weight didn’t disappear so I guess I will have to work to improve myself in this game.

Genesis turns their head to me once the change is complete, “Because you are a tester your real name will be used for your character to make it easier for handlers. Your random selected Feature is: Adaptability” As it says this, a two panels appear before me.

Y-tekra: A wandering totemic tribal society with strong ties to deities or spirit beasts. Youth go on a spirit journey to find their first totem which gives them their path in life. More than one totem is common after adulthood is reache as members oftern serve multiple roles.

Considered barbaric by many large kingdoms, they are often looked down upon; but, their strength with nature is strong and races that encourage nature are allies.

Learns easily: Natural Crafts, Tracking, Hunting, Survival, Ranged Weapons, Spears, Shamanistic Magic, and Elemental Magic

Difficulty learning: Heavy Armor, Medium Armor, Swords, and Crossbows

Cannot Use: Cannot use any magic except for Shamanisitc and Elemental.

Adaptability: Beta Feature

The ability to change to circumstances or environment. This gives the player increased options when facing adversity that is not an enemy.

“Please relax as you transfer to the game For Glory.”