The city appeared before my eyes. The medieval Japanese styled houses rose as bamboo, grasses and reeds sprang up from the forming earth. I heard water gurgling nearby as a small pond filled. The courtyard stretched in front of me, dotted with inaccessible buildings and stalls. A few peach blossom trees unfurled their branches into the sky and then burst into full bloom. Villagers and guards loaded, appearing at random places and then starting to walk their programmed paths.
The starting location loaded without a hitch and I soon had control of my avatar. A merchant approached me a few minutes later and began their casual talk about the weather. The topic changed to where my character was from and the notification icon blinked. The character customization screen loaded, displaying the three races: human, elf and dwarf. I selected elf and the screen switched to the menus for more detailed customization. After a few tweaks, I accepted the avatar.

"The weather is brutal in the winter there, no?" The villager asked. I nodded and they continued, "Well, if you ever need some tips for buying and selling at the shops, I'm usually at the stall at the east end of the main road. See you later, beautiful." He departed.
After a starter quest of fetching items for a shop keeper, I approached the gate to leave the city. The guards advised me to return to the armorer and purchase at least a cheap weapon. Good, I thought, they wont let me leave without a weapon.

I started back for the shop keepers when I noticed something to my right. I stopped and stared at a cluster of villagers talking to themselves. One of them saw me and they all stopped to stare back. I made a mental note to look into what would cause this peculiar behavior later before I continued my course to the shops.
Half way there, a roar erupted in the courtyard. It wasn't any sound I remember being added to the game and I almost thought nothing of it. Some of my coworkers love playing harmless pranks.
A large, blue humanoid with fierce red eyes jumped in front of me. I almost freaked out, wondering what the hell is this thing. Before I could react, the humanoid slashed into my avatar. With another roar, it leaped away, I thought it was headed strait for that group of villagers.
The world blurred and went blank. Nothing happened for a while. I couldn't hear or see anything. Then, a loud voice echoed, "Game Over."
No, no, no! What happened!?

I made the gesture to bring up the menu. Nothing. I would've sucked in my breath if my avatar could. A panicked voice cried, "Whoah, whoah…! Backspace! Backspace!" Who was that? Another voice called for some "Bob." What the hell is happening! If this was a prank, I seriously might kill someone. A third voice said, "Glitch! Containment field!"
Did he try to use an ability? It sounded like nothing that should've been in the game. I felt my avatar begin floating as my vision started returning. I looked to my right and exclaimed when I saw the short box stacks with arms, legs, an eye and a speaker below his eye. Next to him were two round things, also with arms and legs, but had two eyes and a slit under that.

"Identify yourself, program!" I barked. They looked shocked. "Program" was a safe word in the game. It forced clusters of oddities to attempt to respond to whatever you told it.
"I should be asking you that," I looked to my left and two humanoids I know couldn't have been part of the game glared at me. "Who are YOU, lady?" The blue skinned man was dressed in a blue uniform and sported wavy, metallic gray hair. The other was a green skinned woman clad in black that mimicked leather.

Ok, I thought to myself, maybe the programs are just being careful…? I cleared my throat, tugging my limbs slightly. I knew it, I'm immobilized. "My name is Sam Flint and I'm not a program." The two humans jaws dropped. They looked like they didn't believe what they saw.
I'm definitely going to kill someone when I finally log out.

"Glitch, put her offline." "Wa-," I blacked out.
When I came to, I was in a cell. Sitting up, I looked at the bars. However, they weren't bars. They looked like energy beams. I stood and approached them, barely hearing the quiet humming they emitted. Another round thing with limbs and a face sat at a desk and when he (or she?) looked up, they jumped to the floor and approached my cell. "Finally back online, mystery sprite?"
"It's Sam," I frowned.
"As you say. Bob and Matrix are looking forward to questioning you." Thankfully, it decided to leave.
With a sigh, I took a few steps to the back wall and crossed my arms over my chest. "Computer, I need my master controls, please." I waited… nothing. "Computer!" I looked up, putting my hands on my hips. Still nothing. Dammit.

It wasn't long before it returned, followed by the blue man from earlier and another. He had green skin, messy black hair and one of his eyes was a golden orb etched with a red target. He looked mean and rough.
The two approached the cell as the round thing took his seat at his desk and shuffled through papers. "So, what are you, Sam Flint?" Blue man asked. I shifted on my feet nervously.
"We asked you a question," Green man glared at me.
"I heard him," I said. "May I know where I am, first?"

There was a long moment of hesitation and the two men glanced at each other. I could tell Green Man didn't trust me. "Alright," Blue said, "you're in Mainframe."
I looked up at him. The name didn't ring any bells, "Mainframe where?"
"Enough!" Green snapped. "Now answer our question!"

Might as well be honest. I didn't have a reason to mistrust these guys. They surely put me here purely from not knowing whom I am. "I'm a game developer." They didn't believe me by the looks on their faces.
"A what?" Green demanded.
"I help my company develop video games."
"You're… a User?" Blue asked. The thing at the desk began staring at us in disbelief.
"Well, yes, I guess that is a good term for it."
Green pulled his gun from its holster, "No more lies, or I'll-"
"Matrix, put that down," Bob interjected. Matrix reluctantly obliged and Bob continued, "If that's true, boy do we have a lot of questions for you."