"I don't know what she put in that burrito… it was tasty as heck…".
The last bite of the burrito was gone, and I was pleasantly full, the burrito is very tasty. The simple, loving act of my mother making me breakfast was a warmth I need to get used to.
I settled more comfortably into my chair, my focus shifting fully to the monitor, my fingers poised over the keyboard. And then I felt it. My right leg had unconsciously curled up underneath me on the seat. My spine was curved into a slight slouch; one arm tucked in close to my body. It was a posture of making oneself small, delicate. Feminine. A jolt of irritation, sharp and sudden, went through me.
'Oh, hell no.'
This wasn't me. This was his muscle memory, his ingrained habit. Without thinking, I brought my hand down in a sharp slap on my own thigh.
"[SMACK!]"
The sound was startlingly loud in the quiet room. A bright sting of pain bloomed on my skin, and I hissed, jerking upright.
'Dammit, that was stupid...' I scowled, more at myself than the pain.
I forcefully uncurled my leg, planting both feet flat on the floor. I squared my shoulders, pushed my chest out slightly, and sat back, spreading my knees apart in a deliberately masculine sprawl. It felt awkward, unnatural, like wearing a shirt that was too tight across the shoulders.
'This will take a lot of work and getting used to,'. I grumbled internally, the ghost of the sting still on my thigh.
'Posture is a thing... Sit like a man, and act like a man….'. This sort of small things had to be constantly corrected. After all habits do die hard.
Shaking my head, I refocused. I resumed my study into this world, I navigated to the most popular streaming service, an app and site called "Flix." The subscription was already paid for—Thankfully. The front page was a glossy, algorithmically-generated mosaic of content. I found the "Top Horror" section. The number one film was simply titled "Scream."
"Is it like the Original ?," I muttered, clicking play.
The movie began, and my critic's brain immediately engaged. The production values were, in a word, immaculate. The cinematography was slick, the sound design immersive. When the ghostly antagonist first appeared, a spectral figure haunting a lavish, abandoned hotel, I actually flinched. The CGI was photorealistic; every ethereal wisp of its form, every glint of light on its unnatural claws, was rendered with absurd detail.
'Okay, wow…. The effects are insane,' I admitted, leaning forward. 'This is next-level.'
But as the minutes ticked by, the initial awe began to curdle. The plot was a straight line: people arrive at hotel, ghost shows up, people die. The characters were like a cardboard cutout—the jock, the nerd, the final girl—spouting cliché dialogue.
[On screen, a character hears a noise in a dark room.]
"Hello? Is someone there"
[A loud violin SCREEECH sound effect blares as the ghost drops from the ceiling.]
"AAHHHH~~~!!!"
I groaned. "Another jump scare? Really? That's the fifth one." There was no suspense, no building dread, just a relentless barrage of loud noises and sudden appearances designed to startle, not to terrify. The story had no depth, no twists, no soul at all. By the time the credits rolled, I leaned back, thoroughly underwhelmed.
'They have all this technology... this incredible power to create anything... and they make this? It's all spectacle, no soul. A beautiful, empty shell… is this they called movie? It's not… right?'
Okay for now the movie side seems to be a bit of a disappointment a little bit, I checked a few more movie, and most of them roughly more or less the same type of vibe. But I am sure that the games would be my salvation. I was sure of it, they got this mad level of VR tech here, of course their games would be mindboggling.
I felt a thrill of anticipation as I picked up the VR gear and put it on. It looked like those VR set from 'Ready Player One' Movie. The headset was lighter than I expected, the sensory suit a sleek, form-fitting fabric woven with micro-sensors. I pulled it on, the material sighing as it adjusted to my skinny frame.
I powered up the system. The world around me dissolved into a seamless, black void before resolving into a sleek, minimalist lobby. This was it. True, full-dive Virtual Reality. Not the clunky, nausea-inducing, awkward VR of my old world. This was the dream any gamer in my world has.
I entered a vast green prairie, the same kind of looks from that Window XP wallpaper. I could feel a phantom breeze, the cool, smooth floor under my virtual feet. The sensation was incredible, overwhelming. A laugh of pure, unadulterated joy escaped me.
"Holy Freaking SHIT!! Woohooo!!!". I was here. I was really here inside a Virtual space. Finally, I finalized one of my biggest dreams.
After messing around with everything that I can do, turns out in here, all that I need to do to access anything is simply by just voicing what I want. A browser, and internet browser window would pop out. Settings, a settings window would pop out. I knew that it was definitely powered by minimal A.I, so I asked for a game marketplace, Vapor the Steam of this world, and searched for the hottest game, I found one. It was the only one with all the buzz: "Soldier of Red."
It offered a free trial. I downloaded it in seconds. And opened the game immediately, the game's loaded. My excitement took an immediate hit.
"Huh? "
It was... barren. A plain, gray room. Floating in the air before me were three simple, utilitarian buttons: [START], [SETTINGS], [EXIT].
"Wait…That's it?" I said aloud, my voice echoing in the sterile space.
"No character customization? No armory to look at your gear? No lore plaques? Nothing?" The UI wasn't minimalist, it was vacant. Like a game that had yet completed.
I tapped [SETTINGS]. A new menu appeared.
* Sensation Threshold: 100%
* Master Volume: 100%
* Display Chat: ON
"Are you serious? That's all the settings? For the most popular game on the planet?". The lack of options was baffling. Sure, go for simplistic, but this is too much to be adored as simple design.
"…Calm down, maybe the game wouldn't be that bad… give it a chance…". Like any professional and proud gamer and game supporters should do, I should give it a chance first before jumping to any conclusion. Shrugging with a new mindset, I hit [START].
I expected a cinematic intro. A narration setting up a world. A cool dropship sequence. Something.
Instead, the world simply blinked.
One moment I was in the gray box where the main menu was, the next I was standing in the middle of a vast, sun-drenched prairie. A heavy M16 assault rifle was in my hands, its weight perfectly simulated. A pistol was a cold pressure against my thigh. The sensations were still incredible—I could feel the individual blades of grass brushing against my legs, smell the dry, earthy scent of the field. It felt realistic. A loud, robotic countdown began in the sky above me.
"[BEEP!] 10... [BEEP!] 9..."
"This is it?" I whispered.
"No explanation? No objective?". I looked around me for any window, nope, not a single thing.
"[BEEP!] ...3...2...1... [HHOOONNKKKK!]"
"BEGIN!" a voice boomed.
"AAAAHHHH!!!!". Chaos erupted.
All around me, players clad in identical default gear started screaming and running, opening fire on each other. A bullet zipped past my ear with a terrifying
"[WHIZZ!]". I dropped to the ground on instinct.
"What the hell is the goal?!" I yelled, but my voice was lost in the gunfire and explosions. I saw two players from the same team accidentally shoot each other. There were no indicators, no team markers, no scoreboard.
[POP-UP WINDOW: Alert! Your standard-issue boots are slowing you down! Purchase the "Lightfoot Tactical Boots" for 4.99 Credit to increase run speed!]
"What the fuck?". swatting the window away. I spotted a player who had been shot, a fancy-looking sniper rifle clattering to the ground. I ran over to grab it.
[POP-UP WINDOW: Weapon "Cyclone Sniper Rifle" locked. Purchase this weapon for 29.99 Credit to add it to your permanent arsenal?]
I couldn't even pick it up. The game physically wouldn't let me bend down to grab it.
"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" I roared, my frustration boiling over. This wasn't a game. It was a shopping mall with guns. I raised my own default rifle, my anger needing an outlet, and began firing wildly into the crowd, not caring who I hit.
"[BRRRT! BRRRT!] Fuck you all!! DIEEE!!!". I was pissed as hell; I was even more annoyed to feel the recoil jarred my shoulders so realistically.
Each death was just a player vanishing into a cloud of pixels, replaced seconds later by a fresh spawn who immediately started shooting. I played until the trial period ended, I was about to win the game, after just shooting everyone like a madman, then I died killed by a new spawned player. my initial ecstasy completely evaporated, replaced by a deep, profound sense of betrayal. I tore the headset off, my hands trembling with frustration, it cannot be, at the very least, this world game should not be at this level.
"Think of a happy place….new world remember… happy place, Sael…happy place,". I need to calmed down, that is just one game, not all of them. Besides, what I played maybe just the trial version not the full one. Breathing heavily, I dropped back into my computer chair. I needed to see if I was crazy. I opened MeTube, the video sharing platform of this world. which apparently even bigger and more relevant YouTube. The front page was dominated by Soldier of Red.
The #1 trending video was titled: "Xx_HEADSHOT_xX - 100 KILL STREAK GOD GAMEPLAY! (SOLDIER OF RED)"
I clicked play. The streamer was a hyperactive guy with a neon-green mohawk.
"[YOOOOO! WHAT IS UP, MY RED SOLDIERS! IT'S YA BOY HEADSHOT, BACK AT IT AGAIN! …LET'S GO DROP IN AND GET THIS WIN!!! LOOK AT THIS MOVEMENT! POGGERS!]"
The video showed him running in a random direction, spinning in circles, and shooting at anything that moved.
"[OH! GOT ONE! …THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! SEE THAT? THAT'S SKILL! WOOOO! DON'T FORGET TO SMASH THAT LIKE BUTTON AND SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE TOP-TIER CONTENT!]"
I skipped through the video. It was ten minutes of the same chaotic, aimless gameplay, punctuated by the streamer screaming every time he got a kill.
I searched for a review. Found one: "GamerGuru's ULTIMATE Soldier of Red Beginner's Guide!"
I played the video for a bit, and in an overly serious, documentary-style voice, the reviewer started to comment and give out his honest opinion.
"[...and crucial to the current meta is understanding the spawn rotation algorithm. As you can see on this chart, by aligning your respawn vector with the southern quadrant during the sun's zenith, you can increase your initial engagement efficiency by approximately 3.7%...]"
"Hah… this is so depressing….". I closed the tab. I felt a profound sense of loneliness.
I spent the next hour watching gameplay of other top titles. A racing game that was just laps on empty tracks with endless car purchases. A fantasy RPG with gorgeous landscapes but quests that were just "Kill 10 Rats." A city-building sim that was essentially a waiting simulator unless you paid to speed things up.
My conclusion was inescapable. Their games were half-baked tech demos at best. The storytelling was juvenile, the gameplay loops were barren and repetitive, and everything was designed around a single, soul-crushing purpose: to farm money. They had the technology to build entire worlds, and they used it to build glorified, graphic-intensive slot machines. The graphic and the realism of full sensory sensation was utterly amazing. But other than that, nothing. Even a Chinese rip off RPG game in my old world can beat the best RPG game in this world. that is just how bad it is.