Fountellion: 'This (virtual) Game of Nature'

Here is the beginning to my book about the natural world, its forces and a simulated version of it; an immersive, escapist VRMMO game-world. In the future, this is known as 'Fountellion'.

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"<Pinng!> “...You've received a new email, Dan.”

“I’ll just read it on my wrist, ok?”

I'm in no mood to hear my house-bot’s dry voice today. Not even to listen to the confirmation of new access into another alluring game world.

Actually, the title of the message just reads: 'A Personal Invitation...'

I've not had a ‘personal’ invitation to anything for quite a while. And I know it’s not a fake; I have been expecting the message. Waiting, I guess. It's from my new 'friend' that I've never met, Professor Ben Fielding, who I've been reading about recently. The ‘architect’. I would like to meet the guy. I might even, if I don't get too bored in the interim.

I take another sip of strong coffee and a smooth drag of a cigarette. It's the first one of the day. My day off. So it's the best one. (Why not? I'll be dead one day. And I won't know about it. Maybe I'll be somewhere else… or just dead. Energy = 0.)

Everything around me here is old and rotting, stealthily. Even the sofa on which I sit. Apathy, you see. Boredom. It's a disease creeping into the fibre of everything around here – including me – as I begin the slide into my late thirties.

And I'm still playing video games. But, what the hell is wrong with that? I’m still playing. We're all playing.

I take another drag.

The smoke will linger on, with the coffee, and – I hope – this ‘new’ game will linger too. Because I've played a few in my time. And the fun – and the point – wears off after a while.

Beneath the stranger ones; the darker ones, aren’t we all playing the same game really – simple; more direct. It would be called ‘Energy’. To continue its flow and its survival. It burns and smokes like this cigarette. The trouble these days is the lines have blurred. They overflow. Technology – and its ceaseless appeal – means that you can make a living playing others. Games within games. Writing about them. Winning them, if you're lucky, and if you care.

It was never about winning for me. Just progressing deep enough into them, to see new things and share time with some friends, or meet an interesting girl – that was always cool. We talked about games. We laughed – uncontrollably – at the crazy moments they create. It was fun. Then I got bored. I played another. But I never felt like I was progressing... beyond their confines, or the promise of the next title. Maybe they were just never good enough. They’re all so… displaced still. Looking for roots.

And here I am, still working at the fuel station. It's mostly automated but they still need ‘warm bodies’ to help out. They say that it keeps a 'human face on the company' but actually we're engineers mostly, fixing when there are system crashes, maintaining the cleaning bots etc. I talk to my other colleague sometimes, as I clean the floors under flickering strobe lighting (by hand sometimes) and on a long shift, we discuss… games...

… or the worlds of the Spiral... or... about saving up, for the higher-spec interfaces.

I glance over to where one of them now hangs. The highest one. The only. Spiral Interface, at last. All shiny-new.

Then, I look down at the small, inviting, glowing words again, on my device. My mobile is old, by current standards, though it does everything that I need. At the same time, it distracts me, as much as it possibly can. It got so bad, I had to partition the thing into two sections. All my 'work' and gaming channel stuff in one; all my distractions locked up in the other. Now that was smart. Sometimes, though, I think my life should have been a bit like that. With a padlock on one of those sections.

In my small flat, with my stupid cat – as trapped as I am – I've decided to check out this new game-world.

Dear future... this is the end of this first, spectacular, log entry. Because that's all I'm writing this to. Some fellow souls out there... Some future time. When the pressure is off. When I've got some kind of life together and can look back.

First, I'm going to play this game. Not any of the other legion of games, drawing poor folk back into their sticky, hero-obsessed webs or erotically-charged worlds. But just this one. One, last time.

Why? Not just because it’s so new, or because it might be different. ‘Ultimate’, whatever that can mean. But because this time I have something...

A key, with an invitation. A head start.

Yes, I'll be one of the first. And I found it. Earned it. And whatever world it promises is going to be mine to reveal to everyone. Talk about a boost for my channel stats.

This idea makes me feel alive again, right now, within this caffeine and beyond all the smoke, encircling my life.

I'm going to know everything about it. Own it.

And then... I'm going to quit my job, and move out of this place; to the bloomin' countryside. Where I can see trees again.

If you like, you can ‘follow’ me. Follow these entries. But I better just let you know that where I'm ultimately going, no one – except the girl of my dreams – can really come along. But we’ll send you an invite… if I trust you.

Still, there are a few snags down the line. I love games. So I'm at risk – of drowning. What's drowning?? you might ask, if you work in other industries. Or come from other planets. Well, drowning is when you get lost in a game. Virtually. Artificially. Mixed. Whatever. There are many ways. Addicted, I suppose, only that's quite simple. It's when you lose a hold on your real-life commitments. Although mine are still overlapping. Maybe that's how I've kept my head out of the water. Just.

As I finish the dregs of coffee, I'm glancing across at the gear again, hanging up. Ready for swimming. Diving. Into the virtual. The worlds of the mind, beyond this place.

Virtual water can be cold – lonely – or it can be far too hot. I've been in both. Believe me.

From what I've heard about this game, it should be... green. Which should be a nice change. I can feel myself betting – way too high – on everything it might offer me. But you've got to be in, right? Maybe this is the one.

Will I be able to wash myself clean in this green water, and be get free? Is this redemption day? Maybe. But then can river water, already dirty, be any good for cleaning?

As ever, there's only one way to find out.

Time to go for a swim then. How far will you – us – make it in this game? Stay with me folks, so I can stick around with you maybe, a little longer.

(Dan ‘the super-man’ Harvester)

[an Early Access Pioneer and recent Game Mage (‘Notes from Super Worlds’ Vrog)]

AUTHOR NOTE: please follow / vote / support. I hope to add next section when i can :)