Red pill, blue pill… I try to get out my to-do list, it might have the answer.

“Doktor! Where is my bag? Where’s my stuff?”

Urmind answers me, “The player has it. We can’t have 2 copies of Hashi running around, so I cloned your character information. Your nameplate currently reads Hashi006. Would you like a different name while he’s logged in?”

I think about it a while. I’m staring at the game invite with its red and blue buttons.

“How about H. Grindswell? I think that shows my individuality.”

Urmind replies, “OK, I’ve updated you. Real world online will give you a game interface and the opportunity to train while you are in the player's world.”

Well, that is the first thing that has made sense in a while. “Will I get my to-do list back?”

“You can make as many to-do lists as you like while you are there.” The Doktor seems to be trying to reassure me.

“Will I have to go through some sort of disturbing took the pill rabbit hole freaky transition to get there?”

“Nope, pushing the button will take you to a character creation screen for the game. There you can assign some stats and skill points for starting out. You won’t be able to adjust your body shape. Other than that, it’s pretty much the same interface used by new players to the game you were living in. You will be using the player’s avatar while there. Do try to leave it where you found it. We don’t want to let anyone know where you are from. There might be men in black suits waiting to take you away for study.”

“Doktor Urmind, you suck at being reassuring.” I close my eyes and push ‘Yes’.

***

I’m standing up in a small room. I’m looking a person standing in front of me. I’m not sure if there’s anyone home in there as he’s not moving and his eyes aren’t tracking me as I move around to look at him. This gets boring after a minute or so. A female voice starts speaking. I can’t tell where it’s coming from.

“Welcome to Real World Online. Everyone at Doktor Urmind’s Hacking Group hopes you will have a pleasant gaming experience. It seems that you have a special event character. Your initial race and body are fixed until modified in the game. You have 10 stat points to distribute between intelligence, perception, and luck. You can do this now or save them until later. You have 1 skill point assigned to the crafting skill. You have one body hack augment slot available. Please choose one of the following mods for your augment slot. You may change your mod assignment later in-game. The currently available mods are adrenal speed boost, adrenal strength boost, and increased regeneration. Please also chose your stat assignment at this time.”

A block of floating text appears with my three choices. After a little thought, I pick regeneration as I don’t know how available healing potions will be in the game. Another one with my stats appears and I decide to split my points between intelligence and luck. Can the game make me smarter or extra lucky? I’m curious about that. I look at a final display with my characters stats. I see one last text block: Accept this character and enter the game? I choose yes.

“One last thing before starting play. Please note a time counter in the upper right portion of your HUD. That is your available play time for this session. Please return your avatar to its original position before logging out or the forced logout when the Player logs out (estimated by the remaining time counter). Have an enjoyable time in Real World Online. Please state either ‘Jack in’ or ‘Log out’ at this time.”

“Jack in.”

My expected transition doesn’t happen and the voice has one more thing to say.

“Please note that Real World Online is a hardcore server. Resurrection is not available and death in the game will result in character deletion. Play safe.”

I transition into the game.

Player: H. Grindswell

Character Name: TBD

Class Name: TBD

Level: 1

Stats:

Strength 10 Perception 10 Endurance 10 Intelligence 15 Agility 10 Luck 15

Skills:

Crafting 1

Augment(s):

Enhanced regeneration

Perks:

Practiced - trains faster than normal Blank Slate - picks up new skills more quickly