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A gamer's struggle

The next big game AI world hit the market on January first 2079. It was marketed as the most realistic game to date, constantly updating and controlled entirely by artificial intelligence.

Full immersive virtual reality had been a reality for ten years, and the lack of a dominate MMORPG could really be felt. Advancement in AI could not keep up with other advances in technology which led to all VR role playing games to feel rather dry and lacking, AI world promised to solve this.

Gaming had come a long way over the years, the esports industry was now on par with traditional sports and the major players were all gearing up to be kings that dominated this new land.

Charlie was a gamer with big dreams. He wasted away his life on the computer at all possible times of the day. He had countless failures breaking into the professional scene of esports and his one big shot burned out as fast as it came.

Despite all his failures he still held the fire of gaming in his heart. His gaming hours have declined due to having to work full time to rent a small one room apartment and VR gear was still out of the general populations price range.

The release of AI world was aligned with the release of a new model VR pod. The response time was reported to be 2% better then the last model and 8% better then classic VR headgear, which lead to a drop in prices making Charlie hopeful.

He smiled as the technician finished installing his new gaming pod. He emptied all his savings to afford it. " This is my last shot." He mumbled to himself, totally emptying his savings to afford a first generation immersion pod. A six percent difference in response time was unacceptable to make it to the top, he would be betting it all on AI world if he failed he accepted being a normal person working a nine to five, save up for retirement, live an average life.

Charlie grabbed his keys and headed to Virtual Life, the closest approved distributor of AI world. He would be starting a week late, but that also had its advantages. Besides the beta testers everyone was lost on day one and many beginner guides had been released. It was hard to even find a free monster in the starting zones on day one, but it appears people have started dispersing as they leveled and started exploring farther away from the cities.

"Ugh, how is there still a line, " Charlie grumbled as he shuffled his way to the back of the line. ' Why did I keep putting this off, i could be playing now.' People outside major cities all had to drive long distances to an approved distributor to get their account card which have kept the technicians tired and stressed the last week. Charlie had waited till the weekend to make the long drive and it looked like it would be hours until his turn in line.

The whole process was emberassing, another major improvement to VR technology was the bioscan. One would have to strip and get a full body scan. The whole appeal of being whoever you want in an alternate reality was overrated. The brain was wired to control your body, not the body of a fairy or 8 ft tall orc, so any serious gamer would have a full bioscan to recreate there body inside virtual reality albeit with minor improvements. Most games would enhance features, making normal people more beautiful and beauties into superstars. Of course this worked both ways, if one was particularly ugly or thugish it would enhance those features too. AI world's goal was realism and the first game to require this feature. It also supported an impressive adult rating for drugs, alchohol, nudity, and sexual themes, it seems like they really didnt want to skip out on the realism despite cutting off potential customers.

The whole process was professional, many booths were set up with privacy as a priority. Charlie entered the scan wanting to get it over as fast as possible and into the game, the whole process was rather dull ten minutes of a low dull droning sound buzzed in his ear.

Outside the scan the salesmen were panicing. A large error flashed over multiple screens as the senior salesmen frantically mashed buttons. He let out a sigh of relief as the errors disappeared and the screens returned to normal, 'I'm not qualified for this' he thought to himself before returning to work.

Charlie inserted his new account card into his gaming pod before laying down inside it. " Welcome to AI world, enjoy your stay."

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