[YES].

The transport was instantaneous, yet his body tingled from the top down as pixels fitted themselves into place, forming his digital physical form. The square stone platform he started on was surrounded on each side by a set of steps, almost like a miniature ziggurat. A dirt road led off from its base, probably in the direction of the starting town. All around him, Eugene saw rolling hills covered in tall grass, as if ocean waves had been frozen and painted green. The air smelled sweet, and crisp, but while there was light and warmth, there was no sun. He squeezed his hand closed, amazed by the sheer amazingness of the experience so far. "Amazing."

Bonk.

Something smashed into him from behind, and he crashed down the steps in gruesome fashion. Wincing pain stabbed into him. His health bar ticked downward with each jolt, until one final blow landed him at the bottom of the ziggurat, flat on his back.

His attacker was furry and straddling atop his head. Its red and white stripes pressed against his face. It shrieked with a piercing scream. “Pervert!”

Uh what?

Another blow rattled against his skull, but this one didn’t seem to impact his life bar. Standing over him was a girl with orange cat ears protruding from her head, a monocle over her left eye and a furry tale rubbing against his cheek. Eugene moved her tail from where it was tickling him.

“Ahh! Don’t touch it, it feels like you’re touching my-Pervert!” She bonked him on the top of his head again with both fists.

“Stop it. You’re the one who hit me.”

“No I- It wasn’t my fault. The game just put me there, right behind you, and Daphne was so close that she could smell a boy, and then . . .”

Eugene stood up, dusting himself off, which remarkably needed to be done. You’d think someone would have swept off the start point. And who was this cat girl calling a pervert?

A name glowed in blue over her head, [Daphne]. She was obviously a Kiten (so close to kitten, they should have just called them that and saved gamers the trouble of an obvious nickname) with an orange fur tail that matched her short hair, and offset the white whiskers tattooed on her face. Her anime style over-large eyes looked nearly alien when rendered to this perfect level of detail, but somehow she was still cute, maybe even a little extra cute. The starting outfit she chose didn’t look practical for adventuring, being a spotless white summer dress with matching knee high heeled boots with silver toggles. It was no wonder she fell, wearing those heels.

“Don’t worry about it,” was all Eugene could manage. He had opted for green digs, instead of his usual black all purpose wear. Somehow, the new uniform made his skin crawl. Eugene dismissed the whole encounter and began his walk down the dirt road, leaving Daphne in the dust.

“Umm, excuse me, Mr. Edge.”

Crap.

The old Eugene would have kept walking, but his new character, [Edge], was supposed to be different. He reluctantly turned around, not really knowing what to say or do.

“My friend said she’d meet me at the starting point, but we logged in at the same time and she’s not here.”

“The starting points are set to random.”

“What? Then how are we supposed to play together?”

This was fast becoming a case of the noobs. It was bad enough just dealing with people, and a girl people even, but noobs were a different breed-one that teased Eugene’s instinct to gank. He breathed a heavy sigh. “Do you have her on your friends list?”

“My what?”

Oh god, kill me now.

Edge tapped his menu icon and searched for the social tab, not having actually tried to use his menu before now, but this kind of thing tended to be the same in every MMO. Except this one. There was no search tab, only a list of players previously met, along with the date and time you’d met them. He selected [Daphne], but only a single option was available, [Add as Friend]. Edge quickly skimmed through the rest of the options and menus, looking for something that apparently didn’t exist, the chat and message functions. Why did he have to choose now to become social? In a game perfectly suited for soloists.

“There’s no message system. You’ll have to meet your friend in-game before you add them.”

“But how do I find her?” Daphne looked genuinely distraught by the chain of events.

“Uhh, just log off and call her?” Edge suggested, snarkily.

Daphne flushed red. “I knew that!” she yelled. “And umm. . .” She dug the toe of her boot into the ground, “thanks, Edge.”

It was Eugene’s turn to blush. Cute girls weren’t supposed to talk to him. No one was supposed to talk to him. “No problem.”

“Only, how do I log off?”