Chapter 8 - "Digital Art"

Chapter 8 - “Digital Art”

   When i open my Eyes again, i see a man, mid 30, with Asian lineaments in front of us. With a relaxed attitude, he is patiently waiting for everyone to awake. It seems like, he has something important to say. He is wearing narrow glasses and one of the lab coats, that are often handed out to visitors, with his street clothes beneath it. I think, i have seen his face somewhere, but i can't remember where it was.

A certain excitement is clearly present in the room. The Testers, as well as the technicians seem to be satisfied with the first connection test. While the others are still busy having their helmets taken off, Alina bows over to me and says in a low voice, like she is telling me a secret:

Alina: "That was awesome!"

Her Eyes are shining like those of a child, that got a pony as a Christmas present. As i am thinking about what to answer, Debby raises her Voice first:

Debby: "Professor, that was amazing! Everything looked so ... so real! The water was really cold and this scent of wood and Mushrooms ... !"

Gerald: "Indeed! It was not just realistic, but also very atmospheric, You can practically “feel” the surrounding."

I can see, how the lips of the stranger are bending to a satisfied smile.

Professor: "OK-OK, You can direct all of your praises at Mr. Matsugami here ... "

He points at the unknown man, who haven't said anything yet.

The man, this “Matsugami”, appears sympathetic to me on first sight. Is it because of his calm and relaxed nature, or do i feel some kind of connection to him because he is also Asian? [I can't tell.]

Matsugami: "Greetings, My name is "Jonko Matsugami", and its nice to meet you all. You can call me just Jonko, if you like."

His accent is strongly Asian, but not Japanese. [Korean maybe?]

He makes a slight formal bow, as he continues to speak:

Matsugami: "I'm happy to hear, that you like our game."

Professor: "Mr. Matsugami here, is the chef-developer of the Vortex-Game."

Gerald: "Nice to meet you."

We greet each other formally.

Now i do remember, where i have seen his face. He was shown a view times in the presentation videos of „Vortex“.

What follows is a long explanation of Mr. Matsugami about some specifications of the game. Mostly about „how“ to play it. Meaning: navigating the menus, how to get around in the game world, how to contact the admins if one encounters complications and – most important for him – How to make Bug-reports. At the end, he wants us to take note, that the game is still in a Beta-Phase and that it will be necessary to install game updates from time to time. But we will not leave the VR during this periods. Instead, we will stay in a specific waiting area during that, separated from the main game.

Another new option explained to us, is the ability to log-out on our own. But its not like the emergency escape, that the professor told us about, that you can activate at any time. For the regular Log-out process it is favorable to first find a resting area in the game. Resting areas can always be identified as such, for example a tavern, or the own virtual home. You could do it everywhere else, though. But then your empty Avatar would move to the next resting zone by himself, even through dangerous environment. In this state the character is not able to fend himself against enemies and other players. But the biggest difference is, that during an emergency escape, the player forces himself to wake up, but in a regular log out you are sending a request to be awakened.

After this fifteen minutes explanation, the professor claims our attention again.

Professor: "If no one has any objections, we would like to proceed with the next step."

No one objects.

Professor: "Good. This time, you will dive in for 4 hours."

I take a look at the clock, Its 3:17 pm.

Ellyson: "That means, we will not make it for dinner."

Debby: "Ooh, but today there will be spaghetti ..."

She says it with faked disappointment.

Professor: "Don't worry Sunshine, i have spoken with the kitchen personnel and they assured me, that no one will have to go hungry to sleep today."

Debora is not the only one, who feels relived by that.

Professor: "I would like to ask of you, that after the 4 hours, you send a request for a log-out by yourself. Just to make sure, that everything works appropriately."

So he says, but I think, the real purpose for that is, to give us testers the feeling of safety so we don't panic inside the simulation, because we feel like we are locked in. This “I can always get out of here” would be reassuring.

We got the heavy helmets put beck on and the professor wishes us to enjoy our selves. The last thing i see before my eyes close on their own, is the happy smile of Mr. Matsugami. It is the smile of a toymaker who joyfully watches, how children are playing wit his creations.

   The colorful, nightly sky stretches out above me once again. Once again, I'm standing at the lake, but this time it's definitely a different spot. There are less trees here and the shore is less stony.

The fresh breeze caresses my skin beneath the light shirt, that my avatar is wearing. How can a simulation feel so real? I know the answer: [The dream paradigm]. In the end, all of this consists just of simple 3D models and data packages. In the commercial videos, even if they are graphically improved, one can see how the game world really looks like; lumpy stones, plump plants, clumsy lighting, it looks like a third-class-game. They are not able to show it the same way, that the player is seeing it, because the dream paradigm of the user makes sure the the game world looks real. There is no way to catch something like that with a camera ... you have to experience it by yourself!

I make a view steps out of the bushes, until the treetops are not covering my view on the nightly sky anymore and enjoy the panorama for a moment. The sheer amount of sparkling dots reminds me of how my sister spilled her glitter over my old desk. Even after i cleaned it with all my afford, it was still glittering months after that. With such a memory, this view gives me a warm, familiar feeling.

By the way, when was the last time that i was watching the night sky in the real world like that? ... [that was long ago ...]

I hear steps slowly coming closer from behind me. As i turn around, there is a man who's appearance seems not much different from my own. Average high, average build, average face ... blond hair. [Now that i think of it, which hair color does my avatar have?] I have seen him shortly in the menu screen, but i can't remember. A tingling senstion of curiosity pushes me to check it ot, but i shake it off and give all of my attention to the stranger. [Who might he be?]

???: "Are you analyzing again?"

Its clearly Marcell. He noticed in the first weeks already, that i posses an analytical nature and said once in a conversation, that some things shouldn't be analyzed. Instead they should just be admired, for what they are. Even if he said it to the whole group at that time, I'm still sure that he meant specifically me by that.

Nicolas: "I am admiring."

Marcell: "Oh, you listened."

He grins and lets his look wander to the sky.

Nicolas: "Its really beautifully done..."

Marcell: "Not just beautiful ... inspiring!"

As always, his attitude is eminent. He does have this imperative, authoritative, slightly arrogant character and in some situations this makes it difficult to get along with him. Generally, he doesn't take it well, if someone has a different opinion them he does. If he gets out of arguments in a discussion, he proclaims that his point is not understood, and changes the subject.

[I wonder how he recognized me?]

Marcell: "This looks like ... "

He makes a pause and starts again while pointing with a sweeping gesture at the sky.

Marcell: "... This looks like, as if a painter wiped off his brushes on it."

I consider the comparison. He shows a shifty smile.

Marcell: „This reminds me of a college of mine, back when i was at the university. He had an unsuccessful picture, that he used to wipe of his brushes on. One time, a customer came into his atelier, saw the wildly over-painted Picture and asked what he wanted for it.“

Nicolas: "Are you serious?"

Marcell: "Yea!"

We both laugh.

Nicolas: “And, Did he sell it?"

Marcell: "Yea, he got about fife thousand for it. He was bragging everywhere about that, saying that even his trash is valuable."

Nicolas: "When destiny kisses your ass! ..."

We laugh again.

Marcell: "Well ... now he is homeless."

The cheerfuller smile fades from my face.

Nicolas: "Really? ... What happened?"

Marcell: "Women, Drugs, Gamble, he left nothing out. He was neither good with money, nor with fame."

Now, the whole story leaves a bad aftertaste and i begin to regret laughing about it.

Nicolas: "Then, this seems to be more of a tragic story."

Marcell: "Well, when you know a story to the end, then they all seam tragic."

I'm not sure if i can agree to that and decide to change the subject instead.

Nicolas: "So, we have four hours ... what should we do in this time?"

Marcell: "I'm pretty sure, that the guys outside don care much, as long as we stay in the simulation."

We decide to look around along the shore and see, if there is something to discover. Small groups of people are appearing all around the lake and begin to expect their surrounding with cat-like curiosity. Some smell on the strange flowers some are splashing in the water and some are ... just standing there, overwhelmed by the authenticity of an artificial world.