It’s weird to think that we have gotten this far, sealing 67 towers of the staggering 80. I think about 7000 players have died, and 5000 have stopped trying, and became accustomed to this world. I can’t really blame them. This world, besides obvious differences, is just as beautiful, if not more, than the real world. One question keeps me going through the game though: Where is he watching us?


I should explain from the beginning. My name is Greg Sozen, and I was one of the last thousand of 20,000 to buy a copy of the newest evolution of gaming. Gladius Evolution Online is the first real Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, or VRMMORPG. Several other VR consoles and games have been made, such as the Oculus Rift, but none of them have been able to separate your mind from reality to control your avatar. The helmet for GEO intercepts commands your brain gives so that you can play the game freely without worry of bumping into anything, knocking anything over, or injuring yourself or others. I rushed back to my apartment in Portland Oregon as quick as I could, and started installing the disc. My roommate, Tim came in while I was reading the instruction manual and looked at the code for the game. “Hey Greg, I bet I could program a way to communicate with you while you’re in the game.” He said. “You know, to let you know when the pizza gets here?”
I reply, “A bit far to go for pizza, don’t you think?”
“Ha.” he laughed. “Well, who knows, it might come in handy anyway.”


That Tim, he always has been a whiz at technology. He taught his dad how to use the internet when he was 3, and built his first computer from spare parts in a junkyard when he was 6. Amazingly, he finished the communication program right when the install finished. “It’s all yours, Greg.” he said.


I put on the helmet and pushed the launch button. Nothing happened immediately, but then I saw what looked like a sci-fi hyperspace effect, and then 5 red bubbles popped up, all of them with a word inside it. “Sight,” “Smell,” “Touch,” “Taste,” and “Hearing” were in a bubble each. Each one quickly turned green. I was then put into a pitch black room with a floating monitor and keyboard in front of me. I filled out my login information, deciding on the name, “Kazekiri.” Everything then turned bright white.


The light started to fade, and the virtual world of GEO was being revealed to me. I was in a large town. I saw several pillars of light appear around me, about 6 meters tall, each fading to reveal a new player, just like me. I saw a pond nearby and took a look at my reflection. I saw my real world self! How did it know what my face looked like, along with my body type? I remembered that the helmet covers my entire head, and the inside is riddled with sensors. There was also the calibration test I had to do. It’s amazing how it managed to get every single detail of my face. My blue eyes, my neck length black hair, even my scar I got as a kid.


I then looked at what I was wearing. I was wearing a black shirt with a grey leather chestplate, a pair of black belted pants with dark boots. Sheathed on my back was a sword, most likely the starting weapon for all players. In fact, the equipment I was wearing seemed to be the starting gear for new players, as the other players around were wearing similar clothing. The only difference is the shirt’s and chestplate’s colors. Everyone else has blue, green, red, yellow, all kinds of colors from the color wheel, in all different shades.


Suddenly, in the top right corner of my vision, I saw Tim’s face show up in a window. It looked like he was using our webcam. He was surprised when he saw my avatar, and I explained the helmet’s calibration.

“Well, alright then.” He said. “Did you check the menu yet?”
“Not yet,” I replied. “You do it like this, right?” At that moment I took my left index finger and thumb together and lowered them, as if I was pulling a cord down. A menu opened. It had the usual things, Equipment, Items, Options, and of course a Logout button, as it is the main way of exiting the game. There were some other buttons as well, including “Guild” and “Stats.” “Everything looks good, Tim.” I say to him.
“Great, I’ll open back up when the pizza gets here.” The window then closed.


Looking to my left from where the window was, I saw 3 bars, each getting smaller from the top, and had my avatar name at the bottom of it, followed by “Lv 1.” It looked like I started with 250 Health points, or HP, and I had 100 Sword points, or SP. below those, was what appeared to be my experience, or exp bar. Typically, when the exp bar becomes full, you level up and the bar empties to repeat the process. Leveling up would increase your stats like Attack and Defence, and allow you to do different things.


I decided to venture out of the town to see how the combat was. I walked out of the gate to see several players already doing this. Some were even in groups, probably friends from their schools. I even saw an everyday family of four hunting monsters together. The monsters in this case seemed to be brown colored Boars. One of them noticed me and prepared to charge at me. I readied my sword with both hands, in position to stab it when it arrived. But then my sword started glowing green, and I lost control of my body. I lunged at the Boar around 20 feet away, my sword going right through it. When my sword stopped glowing, I had control of my body again. I saw the Boar I just attacked explode into light crystals that dissolved into the air. I saw my exp bar grow a little bit, and I was missing 10 SP. I guess those are for special moves like what I just did. I also got 2 gold, as I saw from the notification in the bottom right of my vision.


I continued hunting until about 5:30, and the sun started to set. Looks like time in game flows exactly like the real world. Tim popped up in the top right. “Pizza’s here! Come on and log out!” He said.
“Alright, I’ll be out in a sec.” I pulled the window down and scrolled to the logout button. I touched it to activate the button as I had done with the other buttons. Strangely though, the button turned blank. Nothing seemed to be happening. Tim was about to close the window when I caught him. “Hey, nothing is happening!”
Confused, Tim looked back at me. “What, you can’t logout?” he asked.
“Doesn’t look like it.” I replied. “I’m calling a GM but nobody is answering.” (GM is a Game Manager.)
“Well it is launch day.” Tim said. “This could be a bug.”
“I don’t think this is a bug.” I said. “If something was wrong, the GMs could shut down the server logging everyone out. This kind of thing can cause problems for GEO’s reputation after all.”
“Well what if I just pull your helmet off?” Tim asks.
“DON’T!” I yell, stunning Tim. “I read that a safety keeps the helmet secure. Trying to force it off could make the sensors fry your brain.”
“So you’re just stuck in the game until this is fixed?” Tim asks.
“Looks like it.” I reply. “Try to see if there is anyone having the same pro-” Suddenly, I got teleported back to the starting town, seemingly with all the other players. We are in the central area, which is a large square with a fountain in the middle. Everyone looked confused as to what was going on, including myself. People then started pointing up toward the sky above the northern town wall. A giant figure in a robe appeared before us.


“Ladies and Gentlemen,” the figure spoke in a male voice. “Welcome to Gladius Evolution Online. I am GEO’s creator, Jonathan Bartschi. You are all probably wondering why you are here.”
Everyone around me started nodding at Jonathan. I too want to know what’s going on.
He continued, “You may have noticed that the logout button in your menus has gone missing.” It’s not just me with this problem? Ok, good to know the creator is here to address how this’ll be fixed. “This is not a bug in the game, but rather a feature.”
Come again? A feature? What is he talking about? The players in the square have started asking these questions. “I repeat, this is not a bug in the game. I want you all to experience the beauty of my world.” I started getting a sick feeling in my stomach. “If you wish to leave this world, you must defeat the bosses of all 80 towers littered across GEO, and complete the game.” Is this guy mad? When was the last time someone “beat” an MMO? “Your friends and family cannot remove you from the game by removing your VR helmet.” He continued. “Unfortunately, about 30 have tried and are no longer living, in this world, or in the real one.” Several web pages of articles showed up around Jonathan. “VR game causes death,” “Tragedy strikes for gamer’s family” are among the headlines. “One last thing before I let you all run free.” There’s more? What more could this insane man want? “If your health points, or HP reaches zero, your avatar will be deleted, and the helmet’s sensors will destroy your brain.”


Silence struck the square. Nobody could believe what they just heard. I was also shocked. This is really happening. This is a game where you can’t reload a save, can’t respawn, can’t use an extra life, can’t suffer an exp or gold penalty and move on. When you die, you die. Jonathan’s figure disappeared, and chaos soon struck the square. I quickly got to a corner at the edge of town and told Tim everything. The next day, a government official popped up in Tim’s window. I also explained the situation to him. He replied the next day saying that the game’s servers are unhackable and are in an unknown location. In order to set everyone free, this game must be beaten. I suddenly blacked out.

When I came to, nothing seemed to have happened to me. When the same official popped up in the window again, I noticed the background changed from my room to what looked like a hospital. He explained that everyone would be moved to a hospital so that they don’t die from dehydration or hunger. Minus the video game and the helmets, we were practically in a coma. A thought entered my head though. Too much inactivity would put our bodies at great risk. This game also has a time limit now.


To be continued…