Doe Ray: The VR FAQ?

The doe (still Jim, for those who arrived late) walked uncertainly towards the other end of the small room. She seemed to want to discuss some things with someone without being overheard, but how...

* Ssssssssssssschwwwaaaaaaaa! *

The sound was so soft it was almost a non-sound, the most noticeable thing about it was that it cut off the stag's voice behind her. Looking back she saw that he was still talking. Weird.

"Sonic curtain," one of the techs near her explained. "I figured you wanted to talk to us without Haran listening in, so I took the liberty of setting up one. Speak freely, he isn't even looking in our direction."

The doe looked back at the stag she had just learned the name of. "Is this guy for real?" she blurted.

"He's a player in the game, yes. If you mean is he on the level, I'd say very much so."

"How much?"

"Well, if he was a real person and wanted to date my daughter, I'd let him have my car keys and credit card. And no curfew. Oh, and for the record, there is a ball tonight, and he is invited, with an unspecified companion." The tech paused a moment looking at her, and added, "Or should I say hitherto unspecified? I ought to tell you you're one lucky doe, miss. Or as Mary Jane Watson once put it: Face it tiger, you just hit the jackpot."

"As for the way he's acting," another chimed in, "he's not like that in real life. This is his chosen role here, and he plays it really well in my opinion. Oh, and he's continously IC (In Character), so go easy on the OOC (Out Of Character) talk."

The doe nodded. "Talking of roles, this is Virtualy Reality?" she asked. "I got the impression that I'm kind of expected to stay around for six hours and then some."

The leader nodded. "It is, and many players find that actually going through the preparations for an event heightens the experience. Get accostumed to their virtual identities, for one."

"Sounds fine," the doe admitted, "but what about, uhm, pit stops?"

The tech smiled. "Your real body is currently reclining in a comfortable VR chair in a room that's totally dark, soundproof and at an even temperature. The air is clean without smell or taste, all this reducing your real sensory input to a minimum. Practically everything you sense comes from the avatar. Except for sensations from within, like when you need to go to the little does' room."

"Exactly. Then what?"

"Then you go to the little does' room."

The doe rolled her eyes and groaned. Another tech decided to take over. "What Chad here is trying not to say," he explained, "is that when you use a virtual toilet here, it feels real because it is. But there's nothing to worry about, 'cause the real you in the dark room is wearing a hyper absorbant diaper. Some players choose to skip an experience they have every day anyway, and function more like movie characters. That is, going implicitly between scenes."

The doe nodded. "That should take care of that," she admitted. "Guess the next question is about 'refueling' then..."

"Let me show you something," the tech said as he turned to a screen and fiddled with some controls. "This is the real you, right?"

The doe blinked. The picture on the screen was indeed a closeup of Jim's face, even though the upper part was covered by what had to be some kind of advanced VR helmet. Now that was weird indeed. Here he was, looking through the eyes of a digital construct at a screen which was as unreal as the character loking at it, and this screen was showing a picture of the real him. The corker was that hidden under that visor were the eyes that actually did the looking!

"Hang one," she said. "Didn't you say the room is pitch dark?"

The tech smiled. "Very astute, miss. It is until humans can see infrared, anyway. Care for a piece of gum?"

Ah yes. That must be why the picture was in black and white... She blinked at the proffered package. After a moment's hesitation she took a piece out of the package, unwrapped it, opened her mouth - and froze. On the screen, her "RL avatar" had just opened his mouth too. She popped the gum into her mouth and started chewing - and the mouth in the picture started chewing as well.

"Most of the time the output from your brain only goes to the avatar," the tech explained. "An exception is made for your mouth and throat. Your body and the avatar will bite, chew and swallow in unison, which makes it possible for us to feed you whenever you eat in VR. The output split is only functional when you've got food in your hand or mouth, though. Oh, and for really long sessions we can even provide isometric training to keep your real muscles from athropying."

"So I could theoretically spend the rest of my life here?"

"In theory, yes. I believe the current record is seven days and something."

The doe whistled softly, and because she still had the gum in her mouth, somewhere in the darkness Jim whistled too.

"Okay, so it's not without bugs," the tech admitted. The doe just smiled and blew a kiss at the screen. And sure enough, the "blindfolded" human puckered up and seemed to catch the kiss on his lips.

"That's cute," she remarked. "But to get down to Earth a moment, this sounds pretty expensive. I'm not sure if I can afford it..."

"No problem!" the tech leader smiled. "You noticed me referring to this morph as experimental when you first entered it?"

"Yes? Does that make it cheaper?"

"It's on kind of beta test. We're letting players use it for free - all expenses included - to get it thoroughly tested. We used to announce test morphs like this, but found that everyone wanted a free game, so the scenarios got swamped with clones. Great for testing, but bad for the player experience. So now we're just putting them on the ordinary menus."

The doe turned and looked at Haran the stag, who was still talking to someone without a sound. "I've half a mind to accept both invitations," she said. "Yours and his, that is. Just one thing - how do I prepare for a virtual ball? Go shopping for clothes in a virtual mall or something?"

"That is one option. You can also take the avatar shopping."

"Huh?"

"Something a player came up with last month. Instead of going shopping as this doe, you switch to a different avatar - possible one modelled after the real you - and accompany her to the shops where you 'buy' her clothes that you will wear as her later. Sound funny to me, but the idea is that you see her as others see her. And while you are someone else, possibly a VR version of yourself, the doe avatar will be controlled either by an AI or a staff member. You can also leave the VR and go 'shopping' on our website - which is pretty advanced, whenever you make a selection you get a picture of your avatar modelling it. The last and most boring option is to take a couple of hours' rest in RL and leave it all to us."

The doe turned to look at the screen again while pondering all this. She barely noticed when someone came up to her and put a cup in her hand. Figuring it was another demonstration, she lifted the steaming cup to her lips and sipped carefully. On the screen Jim duplicated her oral movements, this time sipping from a cup held up by a mechanical hand.

The drink was some kind of tea, sweet and freshly fruity with a tang of something she could not put her finger - or the tip of her tongue for that matter - on. She turned and saw the woman she had noticed holding a thermos when she first entered the room.

"This is good, " she said gesturing with the cup. "What is it?"

The woman smiled. "Sola Tea."

The doe blinked. "But I just made that up a few chapters ago!"

"Yes, but I found the thought intriguing, so I tried to make some. This is VR you know! What I did was query a thousand AIs about what they 'thought' Sola Tea would taste like if it existed, and this is the cross section of their answer."

The doe nodded, sipped her tea - it did indeed taste like she had thought it would - and looked around.

"I like it here!" she declared.

1. She gets another cup for Haran and accepts the invitation

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