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Claire took a deep breath and looked around her room, Clinton had helped her set up according to the recommendations. They'd moved her furniture around enough to clear a space for the stretches needed during the calibration process and her bed was also there so she could lie down when she was in full-dive. She steeled herself and fiddled with the interface necklace it was a bit uncomfortable so tight around her neck. With another deep breathe she slid the interface headband (she refused to call it a crown) onto her forehead and tapped the button for startup. There was a brief moment of double vision as her real vision contested with what the headband was sending her before she let her eyes fall closed and the projected image properly took primacy.
"I love intense experiences. So I'm all for it; how often do you get to feel like that in real life without permanent consequences?”
“I’m pretty sure I’ve never passed out from pain, but I also can’t say I ever wanted to.”
“I turn the filter on for important fights or missions, it’d be a little rude to risk messing things up for the people I’m with, but one of the best things about this game is that I get to do things I never could have done otherwise, and sometimes pain is a part of that.”
Claire thought about that for a moment. “I can’t say I entirely understand but I do like how immersive everything is. It’s nice that it all feels real, even if in reality there’d never be a ropes course with so few safety measures. Of course, in reality I don’t think they could make netting that worked like this either.”
“Probably not. Sanctuary compromises a bunch on realism to enable safety features. Honestly, everywhere on Foundation does, not as much though.”
“The best part of this game is that you can just try things. So that’s my advice: don't worry too much about the consequences and just follow your curiosity and your dreams and try things.”
“Isn’t that just something people say about life?” Not that it was really good advice for life. There were big consequences for making some choices.
“Sure, but in real life there’s a lot more limits, from finances if nothing else, and if you hurt yourself it takes longer to recover. Here in the game, the worst that can happen is you need to ignite and wait in the between until you’re resurrected. That’s supposed to take longer than in the beta but it’s not like there’s nothing to do there.”
Claire considers asking about what that's like but decides it would be better to ask someone a bit more normal that question. “Okay. Any more specific suggestions?”
Emily pauses a moment and assumes a slightly more guarded expression. “Treat the NPCs like they’re people. They will change their behavior based on how you treat them and they’ll be more willing to bend the rules or help you find secrets if you engage with respect.” In her experience, a lot of people aren't receptive to the idea.
"I guess I ended up treating the help system a bit like a person during setup. I wasn't really focusing on it though, everything just went smoothly. I guess that's something of a sign in and of itself."
“Veria's great! She's better for people who treat her like a person, even if she does have limits. She'll be happy to explain them if you ask though. They all have pretty respectable reasons."
Emily smiled. “Anyway, ready to get going again?” Emily reached down with a hand.
"You're welcome. Hopefully we'll run into each other again." Emily gave a wave before walking off.
A few seconds later there was a chime from her interface and a notification symbol hovering next to the pink diamond.
It took her a couple tries but she managed to open up the interface and find a friend request from Emily waiting for her.
After a little more time on the ropes course, just to avoid letting the shock turn to some sort of long-term avoidance, Claire spent the rest of the day exploring. The scale of Sanctuary was incredible.