So passes Data Structures, and then algorithms after that. She checks twice during algorithms, but manages to follow the lecture well enough. Lunch is a burrito, and that and chatting with Hailey about a story they've been reading manage to distract her. 

Literature, however, doesn't manage to hold her attention at all. 

Their focus gets bad enough that Maya has to switch in for the rest of the class. She holds on through a discussion of the subtext in a critical reading of The Sun Also Rises, and even manages to contribute.

And then the class period ends, and she pulls out their phone on the way out the door.

This time when she checks her email there's one from the Gates of Eternity.

The subject line is "Congratulations on being accepted"

When she opens the email the header is an image of a gate in a fairly ordinary room opening out onto a massive waterfall framed by trees. A small figure is visible standing on a massive bough suggesting the trees are beyond anything except maybe redwoods in size.

Below the banner image the text of the email repeats the subject line in a large font. The email proper is below that:

Dear Sable Ross,

Thank you for your application. We here at Otherwhere hope to have you join us on launch day. If you're still interested you can proceed with purchasing here.

Being part of our initial launch will get you the Nervegear headset at a discount and with the exclusive founders edition styling. There will also be special cosmetic options available for players who are with us for the initial launch.

Otherwhere remains committed to developing an immersive player experience where all players have a chance to thrive and so there will be no functional bonuses available for the initial group of players or functional micro transactions whether at launch or into the future.

If now isn't a good time for you to make this purchase please release your slot for one of the many eager people on our wait-list. If you don't purchase within the next three days your position may be released others on the wait list based on several proprietary factors.

Happy Adventuring,

Sarah Holland, Head of Customer Relations, Otherwhere Inc.

Sable, girls—

For a long moment their head is full of nothing but excitement and hope.

Hailey is the first one to recover. She immediately clicks through to the purchasing page.

The website loads quickly. It's less bombastic than the email. It apparently logged them in automatically based on a code in the link and so their name is in the corner of the page.

The purchase section proudly declares: Founders Edition Package. Below the title is a set of three images: first the sleek black and white body of the Nervegear headset, the second is the kinect-like calibration package, and third is the standard image of Gates of Eternity the pool of water vertically contained within an archway, framed on both sides by windows looking out at a galaxy.

The text below that is stuff they've read several times before about how the NerveGear is a first of it's kind VR system and how Gates of Eternity is designed to take full advantage and deliver a more immersive and diverse experience than any game before it.

Finally they get to the price and the purchase button. It's the same as they were already told. The full price is set to be $1500 but the founders get it for only $1000 and their student discount knocks off another $200.

There's also a five dollar refund of the deposit fee for the application.

All told it comes out to $795 before tax with free shipping.

She just grins for a moment, then clicks through to check out. Shipping address will be the mailroom in their dorm building. Billing address is the same, but in Sable's deadname. Then the debit card goes in, one group of four digits after another, and the expiration date, and the verification code.

Conveniently they have all of these memorized, and don't even need to pull their wallet out.

She takes a deep breath, when it's all in, finger hovering over the purchase button.

Here we go, girls.

And then she hits the button.

The site accepts her money happily.

Thank you for your purchase. If you made any mistakes in your shipping information please contact customer support as soon as possible. Your package will ship in two days with shipping expected to take 2-3 days after that. Given that this is an expensive purchase we recommend signing up for delivery alerts. We look forward to seeing you in Gates of Eternity and hope you enjoy the other titles available before launch.

That ate a big chunk of the "personal stuff" side of their savings, but money well spent. She registers for delivery alerts, requesting texts along with emails. A few clicks later, she tucks the phone away and hustles back to their dorm room. She's overdue for screaming into a pillow about this.

It's not too long a walk. She gives polite nods to a few people Sable would normally say "hi" to, then ducks into their room. Her bag falls to the floor between desk and door, door gets kicked closed, and she hops onto the bed, muffling a scream into the pillow.

Good thing the roommate isn't here.

Wow, Ruby adds, once Hailey's a bit screamed out. We're actually gonna get to try fulldive!

Hailey collects herself a bit and nods. Yeah, they will. 

Shortly after that they get an email titled 'Preparing for Gates of Eternity'.

Gates of Eternity is intended to be very friendly to new users, if you prefer to be surprised, the NerveGear headset can guide a user through the entire setup process on launch day.

If you're interested in getting a bit of advanced information and being able to jump into the game faster on launch day please read on.

Below the first two sentences there's a large image of an empty gate in the middle of a desert with a slightly wispy view of a walled city in the distance depicted as if it might be a mirage.

If you're still with us, we're happy to have you. There are three ways to prepare ahead of time for Gates of Eternity.

Avatar Customization

Your avatar in Gates of Eternity is a very important part of your experience in the game. To ensure your satisfaction with your experience, Avatar Customization will remain open during your first month of play (measured against the real-world calendar.) 

There are three broad options for customizing your avatar in Gates of Eternity. 

Emulation

The emulation option uses data from our calibration process and optionally from user provided photos to bring your real world body into the game. For most players, a close match to their real world body leads to the best experience. Heavy divergence can cause issues with mobility and lead to an experience known as dysphoria where your mind's expectations for your body heavily clash with your experience of your avatar in game.

Inspiration

The inspiration option is our recommended option for users looking to take a step away from their original body while optimizing for playability on day one. Our avatar generation system will combine data from our calibration process with user supplied photos or artwork representing how they want to look. These inputs will be used in a process tuned based on feedback from previous rounds of testing to give you the best possible experience.

Full Customization

This option is not recommended but it is provided for use out of deference to the demands of advanced users. We recommend using data from the calibration process during as one input to your customization. For advanced users seeking to use this mode the calibration process will be available in advance of launch day.

Based on testing and feedback both during internal testing and the beta we strongly recommend keeping some basic physical attributes such as height and limb lengths the same as your real world body. Changing these attributes has been shown in testing to inhibit proprioception and lead to issues with balance and ease of movement. Major changes to weight distribution can lead to similar but lesser consequences. Testing has shown that these changes are easier to adapt to.

To avoid incentivizing all users to use Full Customization the in game performance will be roughly comparable across all three options. Each user's strength and other physical attributes will be normalized to a significant extent to avoid any incentive to optimize your physical form for performance instead of what feels most true to you.

Preparing your space

The calibration process requires an open space large enough for you to hold your arms out in front of you or to your sides. For optimal results we recommend having a space large enough to lie down with your arms above your head in one direction and 20% longer than your arm-span in the other dimension. The calibration system itself is a set of three sensors which can either be placed on provided tripods or on existing furniture with a clear view of the calibration area.

For best experience when using the Full-Dive mode we recommend having your system in a room with furniture you can comfortably lie down on. While it is possible to use the Full-Dive mode in a seated position this can lead to waking up with more cramping or muscle strain. In addition as certain bodily impulses are suppressed while you're in full-dive we recommend being close to a bathroom and having snacks prepared when waking up from a long session.

Real-World Skills

Gates of Eternity aims to be a highly immersive experience that maps closely to the real world in some respects. Your real world skills can help enhance your experience in the game. Knowing first-aid can give narrative and mechanical bonuses while helping a teammate during or after combat. Having prior martial arts experience can smooth your experience of melee combat. And having experience with ranged weapons outside the game can let you skip certain tutorials within the game systems that other players will need to complete before unlocking those weapon types.

It's not only combat skills that can boost your experience either. Knowledge of real world crafting techniques can aid you with our full crafting system, this is true whether your special interest is blacksmithing or 3D modelling.

More knowledge focused skills such as linguistics and science knowledge can also help you with certain in-game puzzles.

For fairness, there are opportunities to learn all of these useful skills in game. Including ways for less experienced players to catch up to those coming in with advanced knowledge. Part of our team's goal with Gates of Eternity is to put all claims about video games being wasted time to rest. The real world skills you'll learn in game will give you a leg up on those same fields when you take off the headset and take on the challenges in your life.

Happy Adventuring,

Sarah Holland, Head of Customer Relations, Otherwhere Inc.

Yeah, well, they're definitely going to be customizing pretty hard. Spending some time in a different body is the whole point of why they went for a bleeding-edge fulldive game. The inspiration system sounds pretty solid, though. 

She starts moving a few things around their room to try to make enough space for calibration. 

Eventually she manages it. Dorm rooms are small.

Oh well, nothing else to do for now. She heads out to the student union to grab some meal plan food, then comes back to do coursework.

Days pass like that. They attend classes, do coursework, exercise. They do their duty to get through the intervening time.

At last their package arrives. They get a text on their phone saying to look for a box labelled as "Fredrick's Fresh Fruit" and indeed when they go to the mail room there's a package with that label waiting for them addressed to Sable Ross.

Eeeeeeeeee!!!

No okay hold in the vibrating it's not going to disappear. She gets through the rest of her class period.

And then sprints to the mailroom!

It's here it's here it's here!

Okay back to the dorm back to the dorm.

Um, girls, do we wanna log in early for calibration to see about whether we wanna customize, or do we wanna wait?

How much would it suck to do that and then be locked out after until game day? She looks on the website to see whether you can log back into calibration before launch, and how far away launch day is.

The website clarifies that calibration happens in augmented reality mode and that you can redo calibration at any time until your character customization window ends if you're not satisfied with the results.

The game launch is still two weeks from now so people who were on the wait list have time to get their hardware.

That is quite a while, beloveds. I propose we wait until just a few days before, to leave time for refinement and fine-tuning, but short enough that we are not anxiously awaiting access to more content.

She sets the box down on a shelf.

They all take a deep breath.

And then they get through the next week and a half.

Sometimes it's interesting class projects!

Sometimes they take breaks to run, or draw.

Sometimes they soldier steadily through tedium.