Josore

It all happened yesterday afternoon. It was a nice warm sunny day. Summer breeze blowing through the window with the scent of nature carrying with it. The air felt so relaxing and comforting enough to just relax. Not worry about anything, also not worrying about the current issues in the world.. Just sitting back with your mind blank and relax. However, I had plans today to try out my new VR system. It came into the mail last night as I was coming home from my part-time job. It was for extra money so I could pay off some of my bills. However, last night was my last day there since I will be starting my new job soon.

As I was working through opening my package. I came across a name as I was removing the bubble wrap. In big bold letters it read “GENESIS-FVR”. Which in short read full virtual reality. Working to uncover the rest of the box. I remember a news interview on TV that took place a week ago.

“Hello ladies and gentlemen. I am now stationed inside the well-known corporations known as FTV which is short for future tech virtual. Which in itself is a branch off of Future Tech. But what I am here today is to show you what FTV has in store.” News anchor walks over to the leader of FTV Andrew Florence.As she walked up to him. She gave a quick handshake and introduction. “Hello” said news anchor. The CEO followed as they began talking about both the Genesis and the future it holds.

As people were talking all about the device. I’ve been working on a special project of mine that I help kick-start a few years ago. I’ve been working on the overall image and getting people involved. Together, we slowly we were able to bring the project to life. Now we have a deadline where we want to publish it to the world. At the beginning of that I was in contact with an old friend of mine whom I’ve never since my highschool days.

He was also interested into a virtual world and the impact it can have. As I was working hard at my work I could remember a piece of what he said back then. “John, after we're done with school. I’m going to create my own company and teach people about the future and what good it can do.”  After we graduated from highschool I’ve hardly seen him and so I started to forget who he looks like.

Cyberspace, a place as vast and endless as our own universe. Where anything can and will happen. It is all determine in the actions that go on in it. In a corner of the vast space of cyberspace lies a layer of festive activity. It’s so abundant that it can be heard throughout of cyberspace and beyond. You have to be their in order to understand what really goes on.

Just one step and you're set. Moving your feet as you gaze at what you see as the jungle, ruled by skyscrapers. Lights shining in your eye leaving you the impression of excitement and wonder.

As if you were in your own world, just wanting to be discovered.

Everywhere you see, you are meet with the images of popular items and accessories. Some in regular clothing while others in what it seems to be cosplaying. However in this world, this was normal. Being able to dress the way you wanted and letting yourself be out there. As amazed you are with your eye view. You can’t seem to get yourself to look away from the sky and the buildings within it. Look closer you see what look like stars just twinkling in the night sky. Trying to make itself known through the city lights that already greet you. With vehicles flying overhead leading you to a large object in the sky.  Which was the last thing you notice in the night sky. The lone moon that you depict to be an iconic thing to the futuristic city that you are in.

Like something from a sci fi film. Your glazed is set on what it looks t be shops and broadcasting buildings. One of them depicting an upcoming tv show and another one premiering an anime movie. Notice that some of the people around you sitting down and watching either their favorite show or looking through the web. Crowds of people cheering while others sitting and chatting with each other. As if the social network develop to something more than screen to screen chatting.

Amazed as you are. You suddenly get interrupted by a buzz in your pocket. Pulling out and revealing what it seems to be a small pocket device. Curios how it works you notice a glowing button with the home icon on it. With no thought at all you click the icon button. Without warning a small screen is shown in front of your face. What it seems to be info on you as a person. In the top above your figure called “avatar”. With just one glance you understand what this meant. Since playing precious MMORPGs. You get the gist on how this works.However what previous gaming platforms don't have. Is the option to go out there and experience it yourself.

Searching through your options you ear drums are blasted by the ringing of music. Not just any kind of music. Your kind of music. That’s right, your favorite song being played throughout the district you are in. You first think that your mind is playing tricks however the feeling was real. Not wanting to feel embarrassed, you move your hands in a dancing motion. Cause that’s who you are unless with a group of friends. Then you dance it all out. With the thrill of adventuring the whole known area. You decided to move away the area which most of the loud noises were coming from. In so you get to the less noisy part of the section you are in.

Standing where I was as if I was frozen in time. Gazing out in amazement as I was blinded with the shine of lights. Which were covering the endless sight of towers around my view. It was a sight that I've only seen in magazine covers of cities from around the globe. With the amazement I sought controlling every inch of my body. I over hear a sweet catchy melody. As I look towards the direction where the music was coming from. I see a sign above the speakers printed out in bold letters, “MUSIC OF THE WEEK”. “Where have I heard that song before..?” As I was in thought, thinking of the song they were playing. I over saw a few images in display above the sidewalks in the area I was in. As I was looking around I come across one that seemed to stick out the rest. With the words that were also in bold letters above, “ARTWORK OF THE WEEK”.

For someone who mostly lives in a rural area in a nice small town. I’ve never really visit to many big cities due to my job always consuming my time. “So this place is going to take time to get use to.” thought to myself. With the thought of adventure and curiosity now flooding my head. I begin my long journey throughout the big city. As I continued on walking through a street I keep noticing ad after ad. Some of them were artwork of some project and others were ads for things to come. Like a never ending posting throughout this street and beyond. One particular game i found interesting was a game called “VRGUN”. Which was a VRFPS which you can invite your friends in a real life simulation of a battle. It gets addicting sometimes however I haven’t got the chance to play due to work. “Wonder if any of my friends are online?” as I thought to myself.

After casual walking for a good 15 minutes in the city. I came across a fence bordering the sidewalk. Beyond the fence I came across a sidewalk that lined up with trees of each side  Also with a fence bordering the sidewalk.  At the end of those trees lies a gigantic tower. With a stream of blue neon color going up the tower to the top.  If you looked up you're sure to fall on your behind. Amazed by its stature, I notice a way in from watching a couple walking in it together. Out of curiosity I walked into the gigantic structure. Right away I was greeted by a few elevators. Carelessly walked into the elevator and notice a panel. Displaying which floor to go to. “I think I go to the top floor first”, said to myself as I went for the button. As I went through floor after floor. I felt the sense of gravity trying to pull me back down. Giving the realistic feel as I traveled up. After I finally reached the floor I was going for. I slowly stepped out into a floor that was half/half of basic flooring and glass floor. Giving a perfect few of the whole city. Like a vast sea off buildings and shining lights. Like something off of an illustration of a nighttime cityscape with an  enlarge moon which was hard not to see..

At that moment I started to hum a melody that would fit this situation.it was an old habit of mine.  At that moment I was randomly patted on the back by someone. It was completely out of nowhere. Completely shocked I jumped a little. After looking around I notice a familiar face which happened to be Eric. I ask, “Wait, Eric is that you?” as i said with amazement. He replayed, “Yes it’s me. What do you think?” I replied, “Not only do you look like your UTAU but you sound like him too.” again as i said with amazement. Eric is a friend of mine I known from online chats. “Looks like i'm not the only one too. You look like your as well.” as Eric added. “Oh that's right. Guess I lost my thought as i was walking around.”. Eric laugh “Guess no one can complain. I didn’t notice until I walked across a mirror”.  

Soon as one friend greeted me I was surprised to see two others in the background. Kristin and John. Two others from the same chat as me and Eric. Looked like they used their names instead of using a fake name. However, looks like they are dressed as their UTAU as well. “What a surprised to see you hear!” Kristin said as she and John walked in at the same time. “I know right, it's like we were meant to come together here.” Eric laugh saying it as a joke. Reason they knew who we were because only our friends know we would dress up as our UTAU. The system only allows the person who created an UTAU to dress up as one  At that moment I realized about the other members in the chat. “So did you guys run into anyone else from our chat room? Looked at one another meaning they probably didn’t. “This is a big place after all, it was luck that we ran into one another” as John stated. “Only reason I found Kristin cause I figure she used her name” as John said as Kristin looked over with a blank face. “Saying I have no creative ideas for a name's..” Kristin looking with the same face. “No that’s not what I...” Kristin keeps given the same expression.

“Um, oh that reminds me!” as John tried to dodge what they were talking about. “It was a complete luck that we came across.” said John. Kristin with a blank stare disappeared and continued with the conversation. “Before what we were saying, I wanted to add you guys to my friends list. This so we can find one another in this city.” As kristin pointed out. “I already added John, would be a good idea to add you guys too”. She send us invites to her friends list. It popped up in front of us as a small box with a “no’ and a “yes” option. I casually accepted it and in that moment a green orb the size of a golf ball was hovering over them. “Guessing the little orbs above us means we are friends?” as I said. “Yeap, it actually mentions that in the helper's guide. Green orb above us means friend, blue meaning causal like someone you don’t know and red meaning someone you blocked/no in a good status.” She finish that as I replied, “I haven’t really looked in the guide at all. I’ve been wondering around looking at every place as I go.”

“I’ve been doing the same as Joshore, I also notice that is the name you choose for yourself in this world instead of your chat room name.” Eric said to me. “Yeah I thought it would be cool if I had a different name for this place. Though I think I should've add my UTAU name instead but it’s too late for that.” I nervously said to them. “No, that was actually a cool name you put for yourself, if I could change my name it would be EricTheGreat (TvT (emoji))” As Eric said with the utmost pride. At the same time everyone getting a sense of exasperation from what he said but we kept it to ourselves. I decided to take a few steps away from our new found circle to look out into what is called Utau City. Smile with amazement as I was joined in a shoulder to shoulder with Eric, Kristin, and John while gazing at the same spectacular site which was in front of us.

“Still hard to believe we're actually here.” Everyone else looked towards me as I continued saying, “We are actually citizens, to this virtual city. A place we thought wouldn’t be possible to join back then.” Everyone smiled as I completed my sentence. Everyone looking forward to the site. “You’re right.” Eric said “We are citizens” John said. “To this world” Kristin said. “We are citizens of Utau City.” as everyone said in unison.  I step in front of them, “I guess I can’t speak for this city but welcome to the city everyone.” As I said with a heart warming smile.

Welcome, well that’s what is you're supposed to say when you greet someone that is entering  into something new. Well to start this off, I would say we start off where I was coming home from work. I’ve recently learned about a new game system that allows new experience for gamers everywhere. As a fan myself I had to try it out. make sure I didn't get caught speeding while rushing home. I stopped by a commercial store so I could get the GEONOSIS-XO. Which is the product every geek, gaming magazine, and every talk host was gossiping about. Saying it’s a key to a new world. That you're able live a life in the game. Hearing all those words my the child in me come out in excitement.  I was always fantasizing about this since a popular sci-fi tv show back in the day.

The year is 2045, with the advancement of virtual reality on a never ending to perfection. Just like the iPhone, the well known company of VIRTUALO. The company responsible for the GEONOSIS-XO. Kept coming out with newer models so they could perfect VR till the point they finally came out with the GEONOSIS-XO. With the wide use of the internet, scientist also have advanced in nano tech. Where they were super like that they were having little robots in the Stratosphere. They send out bits of information to one another which widens the use and less internet problems.If a problem were to accord, they would just use another system of nano drones nearby. This helped solve the connection problem for the whole world. Which is a good news for me since my connection wasn’t the best in the world. With all that said.

I finally arrived to my place with the idea with putting on my new toy.  Like all devices, it ask me about my DOB(date of birth), and for my measurements to collaborate for my avatar that I will be using, etc. Tricky part was how to dive in. Before I did anything reckless I looked into the information in the guide. It says once I got everything set up I just “Lets go”. In an instant my mental state was transformed over.  Didn’t feel a thing but the moment was mind blowing. I was questioning about a tutorial but that was quickly answered when I came across it while in the dive.

“Welcome to the dive player! You have the option to explore a world like no other. However, before you can go into said world. You first need to figure out how to operate while in the dive.” I was amazed with excitement as the system was explaining the tutorial to me. “First off you’re going to learn how to walk, talk, make hand gestures, and how to safely logout when you are done.” As all of this was being process in my head I made sure I kept all the details. “We'll start off by walking to this marker, should be easy for you.”  The system interrupted me while I was starting, “When you're trying to walk it’s the same as your brain sending information to your legs. In short, think that you are walking. Since your using your physical body to move. You need to use your mind instead. That goes for every other task that we are going to cover.” Once again I started the tutorial “Ok, so I think about walking..and I will walk..” It was easier that I thought. In time and expansions. I finally finished the tutorial.

“Thank you for finishing the tutorial. You should have a better experience than you would have if you didn't take this tutorial” “Before sending you off” A pop up screen came up in front of me asking for a name. Since there was so many possibilities. I thought to myself “Which would be the right name for me” System interrupted me “Remember only alphabet words will be accepted. ”

With that said I decided on “Joshore”. It’s simple and easy to say. With that all said and done. I  was transported in a small room. Well that’s what it looked like at first till the lights reached my eyes. What it that small room was was actually a subway cart. Turned my head and notice other people just arriving just like I am. darkness of the tunnel we were in was suddenly replaced by a glaring light. It looked to be a night setting by the light was actually pointing towards a tower. Looked to tower all the others. That was just before I realize that this world was one giant metropolis. From our distance with the lights shining was a interpretation of a light show. The sight was memorizing. Took no time at all to enter the big city. Notice some activity and advertisements. As the subway cart was moving more into the city there were more and more ads.

As I was observing the environment around me someone shouted, “We're almost there.”  Another person, “can’t wait to get off!”  Just noticing some people came into this game with their friends.  Others with their family members. As we were about to stop the overhead came to life, “Please please stay still as we are about to stop. No pushing or shoving while getting off the subway cart!.”

As we made our stop I carefully got up and started to make my way towards the door. As I was exploring the station. Making my way what looked like a door. A system helper AI came in front of me. Dressed up as a subway station employee. “Hello citizen!” She smiled. “I see you're a newcomer to this city.” “Yes, I just joined today” As I replayed to her. “Well before you can go out I need to show you some key things you need to know.” As she continued, “As you know the system telling your about the tutorial and how to logout. Well here in this city we have what you call a -Home icon-. With this you will be able to use the map, the shop, locate your residents, find friends, and even join/leave a group”.

As she was explaining I interrupted her, “By the way,why is my map blanked? Shouldn’t it be filled with information about where to go?”. “Well the reason for that is up to you. Like any other game you played, You have to explore to find out where things are. However here you only need to go to each sections for the city to find the information” As she stated I ask another “What are sections?” “Oh I forgot to explain that, sections are what help organize this city. Tell you where your are in the city. With each section they each have different ways of running things in this city. Right now they are labeled from A to Z. However, they are also have names which you will see when you get to there later on.” “Core..? What’s the core?” Ask that once I notice I have one location on my map. “That is the center of this city and runs everything that goes on in this city. All the major holidays are ruined here as well. Such holiday would be New Years. Here you will find allot of opportunities and things to do from playing games to hanging out with friends from other parts of the world.”

With amazed all across my face. I was eager to explore this city. before I started to walk again the Helper AI also stated, “Oh before you go. The -Home Icon- of -Home for short-. has all your information about you. You're able to update your information later on. As of right now you have no image for your avatar in your profile. You will get the chance later on. Well, thank you again for visit our city Joshore”. As i was making my way out of the door. In unison with my moments. The system was playing the theme song as I walked out greeting me with the words. “Welcome Joshore, to Utau City”.