Chapter 1 - The Most Immersive VR
Ever since the first Virtual Reality games appeared on the gaming scene. The 'Full Dive Virtual Reality' became technology's next target.
And in 2020, it finally happened!
Every gamer dreamed of this moment for a bloody long time.
The FDVR gaming sets and software started flooding the market after a massive advertising campaign throughout the world.
FDVR technology allows a person's consciousness to transfer into the game world.
Millions of gaming fans, scratch that, Millions of gaming fanatics, invaded the stores that sell the console of their dreams.
I've seen people fighting each other over their turns in the lines. They mostly got carried away by the dream of gaming with such an advanced piece of tech.
What a bother! As an old gamer who spent many years playing RPGs, I also decided that I need to take this to the extreme and awaken my old gaming ghost from his slumber.
I'll play that game once again, the game that was released in my years of high school and stole most of my time and money 'The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim'.
One may wonder, that's an offline single-player game! Am I going all this way to this store and standing in this damnable heat under the burning summer sun of Egypt, just to buy a single FDVR Headset for an offline single-player game?
Hell Yes! I am.
And before you start judging. I just want to say that I suck at MMOs.
Seriously, too many idiots gathered in one place trying to do the same boring quests over and over again between PVE and PVP to all this madness.
I just can't stand it.
To me, they are not enjoyable at all, and most of them lack the good story that makes the player fall in love with the game and its lore, to research the realism and immersion, and to discuss the game world online and build theories about it. That's how I enjoy the game.
And also as a personal reason when it comes to MMOs, I don't have any special skills or anything to stand out or make friends, I am your average gamer who plays just for fun.
By the way, I am a lawyer, and I work my ass in a law firm that consumes me as a slave laborer.
Sigh! Go to law school, they said, be a public prosecutor and horde money, they said.
Damn it to hell! All I wanna do now is just to relax and play Skyrim.
What a pain!
Skyrim has been published for years and it seems that 'Bethesda' (the game company) barely graced us with a teaser trailer for the sixth part of the franchise.
[A/N: This was written in 2018, if by any chance TES: VI was released before 2020 then it will get edited.]
Seriously now, 'Ubisoft' (another company) is publishing an 'Assassin's Creed' game every year, while Skyrim is surviving all this long because of its freedom and depth, but more importantly, it is thanks to the outstanding efforts that was put into the 'mods' by the 'modders'. As well as some official side projects like 'Skyrim: Special Edition' and 'Skyrim: Virtual Reality'.
They also published 'Skyrim: Full Dive Virtual Reality'. It's the reason why I am standing here after all.
Speaking of the 'mods' (the term stands for 'modifications'), they are DLC like content that overhauls the gameplay or expands the world. Modders usually upload their mods free or with a charge on the internet.
Forget the game company's mods, they stink, and you have to pay for them, what kind of weird fetish is that?
Basically, we Skyrim players download our mods mainly from NexusMods, where Skyrim has more than 57,000 mods last time I checked two years ago. And if that is not enough for you, then what else is?
The mods are they pride and joy of us Skyrim Players, they are basically about anything and everything, from weapons and magic mods to remodeling game mechanics mods, to graphics replacing mods, there are even adult content mods.
Anyway, everyone and their mothers can find whatever mods they fancy.
I am a graphics fanatic, so I go mostly with 200+ mods in a gameplay that are mostly all about changing how the Skyrim world looks like.
What a time to be alive! I can make good old Skyrim into some Korean MMO if I wanted to. But there is an unwritten rule when it comes to modding Skyrim, it is "Before looks, comes immersion". That is what our Lord and Savior 'The Immersive Lord MxR' taught us.
Enough about me remembering all that basic knowledge now. This damn line of people is barely advancing and my turn is coming nearer and nearer.
Let's just stop raising flags for now. Also, when one should spray in this goddamn heat, it's suffocating.
After a long struggle, and thank God that the shop has an air conditioner, I bought the gaming set of my dreams. I almost fainted from happiness but my financial status can't allow me to ruin this suit now. I know should have gone home and changed before I come here but the line was not that crowded yet so I took the chance.
Now, I am ready to hit the road home. I also should stop thinking about playing so much. that can be considered raising a flag too.
While thinking about it, I was walking and about to cross the narrow street, that's when I heard a very unpleasant and uncalled for the sound of tires screeching against the road.
My mind worked rapidly as I knew what is about to happen.
The legendary Truck-kun is trying to reap my soul!
The sound of tires screeching drew nearer and nearer in a split of a second, and I was about to get pulverized when it reaches me. But at the very last moment, I put all of my strength in my legs and leap for it to the side of the road while not neglecting the duty of safekeeping the FDVR set I just bought.
Thankfully, I managed to avoid the crisis by a hair's width. I also was keeping my guard up from any possible vase to crash into my head from the building next to me too.
"Phew, a trip to another world, perfectly avoided!" I said while making a sigh of relief. No reincarnation for me today.
I took a look at the source of the noise and to my disappointment, it was not anything scary.
It was just a tuk-tuk!
What is a tuk-tuk you ask?
Well, it's what you call an "auto rickshaw" which is very popular in India. The tri wheels motorbike that pulls a carriage.
We have that in Egypt too.
While I was looking with disappointment at the tuk-tuk, the driver hurriedly got out and apologized to me. The onlookers were giving him some cold gazes.
This guy was rushing in a narrow street, after all, most tuk-tuk drivers are unlicensed and reckless anyway.
Thinking about it, I came to the conclusion. 'The best way to avoid getting hit by a tuk-tuk is to be the tuk-tuk itself.'
I smiled at the driver and said 'It's Alright' with a friendly face. As long as he reflects on his actions, there was no need to scold him. Or maybe because I was in a hurry to play the game and didn't have time to argue about it.
I asked him for a ride home just to get this problem over, everything went smoothly after that as the tuk-tuk stopped under my apartment.
I took out 10 Egyptian Pound note but the driver strongly refused and asked me to consider the ride as an apology.
Wow! What a nice guy! Seriously, you might not know this, but tuk-tuk drivers are mostly thugs around these parts.
When the guy noticed my amazement, he puts on a smile and mentioned that he is a science school graduate, but just like most of his kind in this sorry excuse of a system, he couldn't find a job that suits his diploma, and due to his need of money he does some small jobs here and there.
This is not something strange and I can relate to him, I am a law school graduate and not too much better than him. Lawyers' careers here have more downs than ups. Also, we are not sexually attractive so we don't live long anyway.
The tuk-tuk driver and I got into a 'who is more unlucky competition' and started to lament on the past. As people who shared some tragedies, we found each other's best friends before we even know it.
After the short conversation, we exchanged phone numbers and said our farewells. each on his way.
I head to the pavement while saying Salam (hey) to the butcher's son in their shop next to the building entrance.
Proceeding through the entrance, I smelled the stink of a cat. It is probably the cat that always sneaks into the entrance and made it its lair.
Well, whatever her highness wants! I am a cat person myself and it's not like the stink will kill me or anything. I mean, we have a butcher next door so the smell is already ruined.
I tried to interact with the cat but I got splendidly ignored. The cat scratches her neck with her rear leg with flexibility and walks away. I normally get ignored if I don't give her something to eat.
Sigh!
This cat! What an adorable tsundere!
Forget that now! To the elevator, or what I call 'The Hell Lift', as it resembles a narrow coffin with the length of a meter and the width of a half. I press the most unlucky number in the world '13'.