The feeling of loading into a new area is really weird. Not to say that it’s unpleasant, but for those first few seconds nothing makes sense. Then it's like everything is being drawn in three dimensions with different colored lines and vectors. Then just as you slowly start to get an outline of what’s in front of you, boom! All at once, with color and sound, the whole world explodes into life.

I remember hitting that cloud at terminal velocity but now, not only am I no longer falling but there’s even a gentle breeze blowing across this still field.

There is a quaint little village further in front of me. Rows of houses and buildings, all made up of wood and stone, and looking like they belong in medieval Europe. There’s even smoke coming out of some of the houses. There are cobblestone roads connecting everything in the village, that eventually extend into dirt paths, and those paths lead into green grass everywhere else.

Off to the right of the village is a small forest, with inviting shadows and soft rays of light glowing in-between the trees. Instead of a sky it looks like there is a softly glowing cloud dome surrounding the entire area.

Directly in front me is what looks to be a ring of flowers. They are surrounding a perfectly manicured circle of grass that I’m standing on…

Wait.

I look down with trembling eyes and realize: I’m standing. I’m actually standing on my own two feet. That’s a sight I thought I would never be able to see.

Whatever strength was allowing me to stand leaves my legs, and I collapse to me knees. I can only hold on to my face and cry. Deep, shuddering cries. In this moment it doesn't matter what else this game promised. For this gift alone I am already grateful.

I would be embarrassed to say how long I sat there crying, but I genuinely don't know how long it was. By the time I could stop shaking and actually wiped my eyes I noticed that there were other people in a half circle around me. There were eight people standing just in front of the flower ring and they were all looking at me. At least none of them looked too uncomfortable because of my breakdown; in fact, most of them were giving me really warm smiles.

If I hadn't just finished crying my eyes out I would have been shocked at the spread of people in front of me. Nothing quite prepares you to see creatures that are clearly not human but still entirely intelligent. That aside, all of them looked to be varied in age and ethnicity. The one in the middle, who looked to be in charge, stepped forward.

“I’m guessing this is your first time playing a Full VR game. It’s different for everyone, but from my experience a lot of people with disabilities who play for the first time react pretty much the same as you.”

“Yeah, I’ve been in a wheelchair my whole life. I know this technology is supposed to be crazy, but it kind of overwhelmed me there. Sorry about that, my name’s D0n.”

“No worries. I’m Arinn, the Magic Instructor. I’ve got first shift to greet the new players. We’re heading to the Magic building first, so follow me and I'll give you a basic rundown of the game.”

Arinn looked young, but aside from that he was wearing the classical magic outfit. Flowing red robes with a big gnarled wooden staff, just like you would expect to see from a sorcerer in a fantasy world.

I put my hands on my knees to stand up, but in that moment I realize that I have no idea how to really stand. I don't know how to walk.

“Um, do you think I can get a hand? I don't really know what I'm doing.”

“Oh, sure. My bad.”

Arinn and two of the guys waiting with the group come over and help pick me up. It’s wild; I know this is just a game but I can really feel their touch. The roughness of the cloth and the feeling of their body heat are clearly felt through my arms.

They set me on my feet but the most I can do by myself is wobble in place. Arinn turns to me and tells me not to worry about it.

“You're really not alone, D0n. A lot of first timers — no matter their situation — tend to have a hard time wrapping their head around how to move in Full VR. I'm going to go continue the tutorial with the rest of the group but why don't you stay with these two? They also need a bit of time to get adjusted, you all can help each other out.”

He points at two other players, already off to the side, who look as unsteady on their feet as I do. One of them appears to be a young boy, who can't be much older than 10. Next to him is an old woman, she’s looking around the area and appears to be a little shocked by what she is seeing. From the way they are holding on to each other it looks like they are grandson and grandmother.

The two players who helped me stand up also help the three of us walk over to a soft patch of grass near the Magic building. Both of them are nearly two feet taller then me and with their green skin they’re clearly orcs. They let us know that these are actually some alt characters they are making, so they don't need to go through the tutorial. Once they finish helping us out they are just going to go straight to the main game.

After the three of us get situated the orc pair make their way towards what looks to be a gate at the far end of the Village, in front of a large hole with a pedestal. We wave happily to them until they are completely out of sight. I hope they have a good time with their new characters.

The sensation of standing still feels really unnatural to me, so I stay sitting on the grass and try to get used to the feeling of being able to move my legs freely and without pain. The grandmother is leaning against a nearby wall, using it to support her walking; it looks like she has plenty of strength and balance to walk but is unused to having that strength available in the first place. Her grandson is still a little bit clumsy in his movements but he is already running in literal circles around the both of us. His eyes are shining as he tries to look at everything at once — getting dizzy multiple times because of it.

“What's your name again, dear? Oh, I guess I should ask what your character’s name is. I decided to call myself Nana, that way my little Ethan can continue to call me like he’s used to.”

“My name’s D0n. It’s an old username I’ve had forever. Those old games were definitely different then this though. It’s a lot to get used to, but I got the time so I figure I'll take it slow.”

The young boy, Ethan, walks over to his grandmother and hugs her around her hips. Nana gently pats his head.

“You’re not quite at at my age yet, but us older people can't allow ourselves to fall behind the youth. Nothing else to do but try it out and get used to it, right?”

I really respect how open minded this old lady is, but something she said doesn’t make sense. “That’s an awesome perspective to have! But, I'm still only 28.”

“Oh my, so young, I'm so sorry. Still, if you go out of your way to give yourself gray hair like that you're only going to give people ideas. Enjoy your youth, there's no need to rush into having hair like mine.” Nana says as she pats her snow white hair.

I have no idea what she’s talking about. Then it hits me — I told the Overvoice to just make my character look exactly like I do in real life. Wait… so even in a video game, I still can't escape everyone saying I look like an old man???

I put my head in my hands and groan, realizing my mistake. Nana and Ethan laugh lightly while I grumble about how I could've picked any other hair color. It’s a fantasy game after all!

Despite what she said, Nana is able to pretty quickly get used to moving around with a game body. I wave at the two of them as they go to enter the Magic instruction building a few minutes behind our group. I’m still going to need a bit more time to wrap my head around legs that actually work.

It's not that standing or walking is all that hard to do. In fact, whenever I stop thinking about it I'm able to do them both fairly easily. It's just that since I never had to get used to that feeling in the real world, I get caught up with how unreal it is that I can do it in the game, and then it’s like all the strength leaves my legs. Still, I decide to go at it without getting discouraged, and I'm eventually able to walk a full circuit around the village — and even run a little — without falling down.

The secret is to make sure I just don't look down.

I was able to see the whole scope of the tutorial village from the spawn point but as I walk along the cobblestone roads it hits me that this place really is quite small. Most of the buildings look identical. Wooden walls with cobblestone foundations and big oak doors. The biggest difference between them are the signs hanging above the doors. Each one has a picture on it: a sword, a shield, an anvil, a bow.

All the doors are closed and there are no windows to look inside. But I can still hear totally different sounds coming out of each of the buildings. At the far end of the road there's a building larger than the rest, that has a big sign with the word “Library” on it.

I'm tempted to walk over there right now and see what books they have but since the village is so small that there’s not much to do in the first place, I decide to finish exploring the outside first. I still have to get used to my body anyway.

I leave one of the dirt roads and start to cross the grass, towards that small forest I saw earlier. Behind me I can hear players walking about and I can see Arinn going to greet a new batch of new players.

The edge of the forest looks just as inviting as it did at first glance. There are plenty of trees and bushes and vegetation, but none of it is so dense as to feel oppressive. In fact, it looks like the perfect place for a nature walk. Deeper in, I think I can see some deers and rabbits grazing.

I reach out by the foot of a nearby tree and pick up a rock the size of a baseball. I toss it up in the air and catch it as it falls.

It's strange how natural the action feels. Even if my strength wasn't the best my hand-eye coordination was always pretty good. But there's nothing special that I have to do to use it inside the game, it feels just like doing it in real life. I take the rock and mimic the pitching throw of the baseball players I’ve seen on TV. The rock shoots out in a straight line, flying so far between the trees that I can't see where it lands. It flew with way more force then I ever would have been able to use normally.

So like real life, but a little cooler.

There's not much else to look at in the outskirts of the village. The clouds that make up the surrounding dome are super fluffy but totally impenetrable. I’m tempted to start poking around some of the other class instruction buildings but I want to save them as a treat for later. I spend most of my time getting used to walking and jogging and comfortably moving in my own body.

Arinn comes to ask me if I'm ready to move on a couple of times but I’m honestly having a lot of fun just running around. At one point I'm even able to pull off a cart wheel for the first time in my life!

I have no clue how much time I spent just playing in the field. I’m so used to having a watch or my phone on me at all times that it’s hard to judge time off the top of my head. I guess it's something I'll have to get used to in a medieval fantasy game. Eventually though I see Arinn waiting by the flower ring for a new group to spawn, so I make my way over to him.

He gives me a wiry smile and says, “Had your fill?”

“For the moment.” I give a grin back. “So what are you doing in this place?”

There's no way I can imagine an NPC acting this much like a real person.

“I've been playing this game for about six months now.” Says Arinn. “I do it pretty casually, so I don't really level up that fast. But theres a really cool book of fire magic available for instructors at the moment and I gotta have it.”

He goes on to tell me that Golden Age offers quests with rare rewards for putting in time a Tutorial Village as a class instructor; as long as you are above a certain skill level. This way, new players can get a chance to talk to people who actually know what the game is like, and experienced players get the chance to get unique rewards. If no player has taken the quest yet, an NPC will spawn in the village.

“Since I won't be able to devote a lot of time to this place in one go I'm just gonna put in a little bit of time each week, for about a month. I know it's a little odd to basically have a part-time job inside of a game, but I have to say, when I look at players who are just starting out it really lets me feel how far I've come.”

I smile at Arinn. It’s really cool that the game devs found a way to offer this kind of support to new players. But man, people really will do just about anything as long as you say the words “rare loot.”

A new batch of players spawn in a beam of light at the stone column. Arinn greets them and we all make our way to his class building.

It doesn't look like anyone broke down crying in this group.

The Magic instruction building seems to be pretty sparse on the inside. One wall has an array of bookshelves, filled with all kinds of super old-school magical looking books, and little knickknacks of strange creatures and oddities in glass bottles. On the other wall there is a row of straw dummies, lined up like a shooting range.

“All right, since you all decided to play a fantasy game, I figure you'd want to learn how to use magic first. So I'm assuming some of you have played an MMO before. Honestly, what can be done in Golden Age isn't that much different from traditional MMO’s. What makes this game special is that unlike a normal game, Full VR gives allows you to feel what it’s like to use magic for yourself.”

With that said, in one smooth motion, Arinn turns, points the end of his wooden staff at a training dummy, and says the word, “Fireball.” From the tip of his staff, streams of bright red fire gather into a ball, pause for a moment, and then shoots off. It strikes the center of the straw dummy, catching it on fire. The dummy safely extinguishes after a few seconds.

“As you can see players are able to genuinely wield magic in this world. There are three things that make magic special in Golden Age.

“For the more experienced gamers, you can see that unlike most MMO’s there are no damage counters or enemy health displays. Those numbers still exist but the developers decided to show them through the way a mob or a player reacts to getting hit. As you get used to fighting you're going to have to get used to reading the responses of your opponents.

“Second, is that almost all magic in this game is run through Golden Age’s elemental system. There are eight elements: fire, water, wind, lightning, earth, metal, light, and dark. Now there are some outliers, like combined elements or neutral mana, but I’ll let some of the other class instructors cover that. The main point is that these elements affect what spells you can use, what skills are improved by what element, and what the effect on the target is.

“The last and most important thing for you to get used to in this building, is that you can physically feel mana as it moves through your body. There is a plate in front of each dummy that has the incantation words for each of the basic elemental spells. While you are in the Tutorial Village, you don't have any specializations; so while the game will not assist you much, you can try out anything you want while you’re here. Why don't each of you walk up to a dummy, hold out your hand, and recite one of the spells? They may not always come out right the first time, but it will give you a chance to get used to what mana feels like.”

I don't know how I was able to hear anything Arinn said. As soon as I saw that fire ball spell — real magic — I feel like I've been bouncing on my feet the whole time. Considering some of the giggles coming from the players next to me, I think I might've actually been bouncing.

I ignore it, and make my way over to the row at the back of the building.

I pick up the plaque and stand behind the shooting line. It looks like the basic spell for each element is some form of ball that you shoot out. Seems like a good standardized way of setting up the magic, since the most basic use is just shooting it out of your hand. I decide to re-create the fireball spell that I saw the magic instructor use. Because after all, when you think about magic, it's got to be a fireball right?

“I call upon the spirit of the flame to guide my path, Fireball!”

As I read the words for the incantation it suddenly feels as though I am aware of every time I miss-speak or fail to put emphasis on certain words correctly. From the center of my body I feel a warmth gather and then travel up my shoulder, through my arm in a clockwise spiral, to gather in my hand. When that warmth reaches my palm I see little streams of fire come forward and gather with the mana leaving my hand, all curling together into a tight ball. I am so surprised by the alien sensation that I completely fail to aim my hand, made worse as the backlash of the spell shooting out shoves back my arm. The fireball dissolves pointlessly against the wall over the right shoulder of the dummy.

I can hear the other players doing about as well me, with Arinn repeating for us to not worry about our aim and just get used to the feeling of it.

I look at my hand, shocked. Again, I know it's a fantasy game, and I know it's not real life. But I could feel the heat of the fire against my palm before it shot. I even feel a little bit of an emptiness from the mana that left my body.

Arinn gets all of our attention one more time.

“Even though those were basic spells, they still cost some of your mana. I want each of you to focus on your status window, and get an idea of how much mana that spell just used. You can either focus on the symbol that is in the corner of your eyesight, or some players get used to it by reaching out to try to touch it.”

Until he said something, I hadn’t noticed it, but in the corner of my eye there is a small, almost translucent square with what looks to be the symbol of a body on it. When I try to see what it looks like more clearly it expands like a hologram in front of my eyes. I can see my name, my stats. An empty section for my skills and my future classes.

There is a section for what looks to be my inventory — the only things in there being the clothes that I am wearing. In the top corner of the screen there is a dual clock that shows the current in-game and real-world time.

Huh, so that’s where the watch is.

Underneath my name I can see a green bar and a blue bar. The blue bar is not quite full, but it looks like the mana has already started to regenerate.

Arinn speaks again.

“Now there are some players who don't like doing this, saying that it messes with their immersion, but I highly recommend that you all select the option to always show your Health and Mana. That way, it'll be in the bottom right of your vision, and you won’t be shocked if they ever run out. At least do it until you get used to feeling out where you are by yourself.”

I decide to take his advice and click on the display option next to my health and mana. When I exit out of my menu I can still see the body icon in the left-hand corner of my vision, but now on the bottom right I can see green and blue bars that are just as translucent. If I try to look at them, they come into sharp focus.

By now the blue bar has pretty much refilled. I wonder what the actual rate of mana recharge is. Did it refill so fast because the spell I used was a basic one or because I only used a little bit and then took a break? In fact, I realize there are a lot of things in this game I just plain don’t know about.

Arinn begins to suggest other buildings — and other instructors — the players gathered in the room might be interested in visiting. Essentially, we’re free to do as we wish now.

There are some people next to me that are still testing out a couple of spells, with varying degrees of accuracy. I can hear a party of three friends — two elves and a dwarf — discuss how they might check out the archery building, but they seem more excited to just get into the game and start playing. In fact, that seems to be the general idea of a lot of the players in this room. I guess it is true that if there is anything they don't understand, they can always just look it up later.

As many of the players make their way out of the building I see Arinn pull out a few books from the bookshelf and sit in a chair by the doorway. I guess he’s off duty from greeting the new players now.

I’m still a little undecided on what to do myself. I look at the emptying room, with it’s wall of bookcases and knickknacks. There are still two people here practicing spells; I’m still just as wowed by the sight of real magic in front of my eyes. So for lack of a better idea I decide to try one more spell before moving on.

“Wash away the obstacles before me great spirits, Waterball!”

I can feel the mana start to gather in my core again but it’s different this time. Not a warmth, but like a cool flush. It flows into my shoulder, taking a slightly longer path, and flows to my palm in a counter-clockwise spiral. This time, I feel little droplets of water against my palm as the spell shoots out. I’m just as distracted as the last time though, and the waterball hits the wall above the dummies left shoulder.

Wow. These devs were able to make a game so realistic that it feels like I’m really here, standing on my own two feet. It’s like the most freeing dream imaginable. The fact that they even put that attention to detail in the magic, that the elements move and feel different from each other: it’s impressive.

But more than that, it makes me curious.

It’s that same curiosity I had when I didn’t know exactly how mana recharged. And I think back to what Arinn had said. That even though all of the numbers and stats are really there, you can only tell by feeling.

I hold on to the spell plaque I was going to put down. I stretch my hand out, reading the incantation for a windblade in my head first.

I wonder… if I take my time and experiment… just how much control over magic can I get?