Steve would never call himself a gamer. Until today he'd only touched his DeepDive VR Gaming Rig once, and that was when he had opened the gift wrapped box for Christmas seven months ago. And then, for his birthday, Tony got him Redemption. The best and most versatile VRMMO on the market (at least according to the box). And even then, he had only agreed to play after Sam also demanded Steve join them in the game and guilt tripped him by mentioning how upset Tony would be if Steve didn't use his gift at least once.
And so, Steve sat on his bed with the helmet in his hands and a softly ticking clock in the background. He's supposed to join Sam and his guild in about two hours and Sam had warned him getting set up took some time. Finally he just sighed, stuck the helmet on, and laid down on his bed. He pressed the button on the helmet that would supposedly connect him in five seconds (counted down by a five gentle chimes). Everyone said it was just like falling asleep, except you knew exactly when it happened.
To Steve, it felt more like he was just falling.
He opened his eyes to a gray room. The floor was warm under his bare feet but looking down was disorienting because he couldn't actually see his feet. Or the rest of his body.
"Welcome, new player, to Redemption!" Steve jumped at the voice and looked up to see… a holographic hooded figure and text repeating what had been said floating in front of… it? Them? Steve had no way to tell if it was a male or female or if it was even either or considered something else entirely since it was an A.I. "I am here to guide you through your character creation sequence and a basic game tutorial. Do you know what username you wish to use or would you like to wait until later to decide?"
Nothing popped up to select and so Steve tentatively offered "Later?"
Apparently that was enough because the A.I. immediately moved on. "Very well. Please, select your gender." Multiple holographic images appeared. They all cycled through various pre-built character models based on the numerous races and classes. Steve was pleased to see that SHIELD really had included more than just male and female options (which had gotten them some negative pushback when they had announced it was planned but most people had been excited). Even if he just selected male for himself.
The male icon expanded and separated into two. One was cycling through the class choices while the other did the same for races. He decided to pick his race first (it's not like he couldn't change it after). There were the basics; humans, elves, dwarves, etc. The animal races; several variations of cat and dog people, bird people (two types: one with wings on their backs and one with wings for arms; Sam was one but Steve didn't know which), bear people, and an option to customize something more unusual. And some more fantastical races; cyborgs, fairies, devils/demons, angels, etc. It was overwhelming and so Steve just decided to stick with human.
If he'd thought there had been a lot of choices for races, the classes had even more. SHIELD had advertised Redemption as the most customizable game on the market and it was certainly looking to live up to the title. There were basic classes (warrior, archer, assassin, rogue, monk, priest), fantasy classes (warlock, witch, multiple different fairy and elf types, knight, animal tamer, mer, druid), dark classes (necromancer, psychic, ghost hunter, ghost, werewolf, vampire), and even some random and event/theme inspired classes like various gods (Norse, Greek, Egyptian) or from TV shows and movies (Jedi and Sith, Vulcan, Na'vi).
But it was another group, titled Superheroes, that caught his attention. There were lots of options with all the common powers like flight, invisibility, and telekinesis, but it was the one titled simply Super Soldier that drew him in.
The holographic icon looked very much like what Steve sometimes found himself wishing was the image looking back at him from the mirror. Tall and strong, with firm muscles, large shoulders, and a thin waist (the one thing he did have in common with this seemingly ideal version). Even in the holograph the man's face was the definition of heroic. He stood brave and tall and proud with a brilliant smile on his handsome chiseled face. Steve felt like he was in a daze and didn't even glance at the stats or abilities of the class or anything. He just pointed and said "that one".
"Very good. Would you like us to create a model based on our records of your appearance? You will be able to alter it as you like afterwards." The A.I. Steve had completely forgotten about asked in that same friendly but flat voice it had been using the whole time.
"Uh… sure." Steve agreed hesitantly, because he had a feeling having his body merged with the super soldier's was going to destroy the wonderful body the super soldier had. As soon as the words were out of his mouth the other class holographs had disappeared, leaving just him and the A.I. in the gray room. And in a surprisingly short amount of time a new model appeared, except this one was colored and looked… human. Steve had expected all the faces in the game to be in the uncanny valley, if for no other reason than he was an artist and noticed that stuff more than others. But it wasn't. It looked utterly real.
Even stranger was that the model was him. Just also not. Like the A.I. had said, it was him merged with the super soldier and amazingly it didn't look mangled or wrong. They had an almost identical facial structure, except it seemed to fit on the super soldier's face better and the model had a stronger jaw. They had the same pale Irish skin. Same blue eyes, same full lips, close to the same blond hair (though in different styles). It was boggling how accurate the game had gotten it. But he didn't want to change anything, except the clothes. The super soldier wore white underwear and nothing else and no matter how muscular the model was Steve would not be comfortable in only that.
"Is this satisfactory or would you like to make alterations?" The AI asked.
"Uh… I can change the clothes, right?" He asked.
"Of course. You may move on to do so now, if you wish, however it is recommended you make any desired physical changes first, including any tattoos." The AI informed him.
"Oh. Um, no, I'm fine without so just take me to clothes." Steve requested. The A.I. acknowledged the request with a tilt off his head and Steve spent 30 minutes (according to the clock on his menu screen) deciding on an outfit and its colors. It was just as he was nearly done that he realized something; colors looked different here. Sharper, clearer, more like what he imagined they would be rather than how he usually saw them. "Hey, are players not affected by color blindness while playing?" He asked.
"No. Color blindness is dependent on your physical body being unable to receive certain light wavelengths. In Virtual Reality the colors are transmitted directly to your brain and therefore do not need to pass through your retina." The A.I. answered and Steve was just the tiniest bit impressed. He'd heard that the A.I. SHIELD used for it's NPCs was incredibly advanced, but he hadn't realized how advanced until now. Because that could not be a common question.
"Well… good to know. Thank you." He finally said and turned back to his character. The super soldier now wore a mostly navy military-esc uniform, with some red and white details because he loved how bright the colors were. But something was missing. "Excuse me, can I choose a weapon?" He asked the A.I.
"Of course." Immediately a bunch of options popped up like swords, shields, axes, and a miscellaneous category. "The weapons highlighted in orange are specific to your class and you will receive additional bonuses for using them."
Steve spent about ten minutes going through them all, but nothing jumped out at him. Not until he got into the miscellaneous category, anyway, and came across what looked like a circular shield with an orange glow around it. "Hey, why is this shield in miscellaneous?" He asked, and for the first time got no answer. The A.I. was there, but it didn't react at all, as if he hadn't spoken. Slightly eerie, but Steve shrugged it off. Redemption was still fairly new (and basically the first of its kind in terms of fully immersive virtual reality) so there were bound to be a couple bugs here and there.
He tapped on the shield and read through what the pop-up said about it. It was for the super soldier class only and meant to be used on it's own, rather than in addition to a sword. It could be thrown or swung and was intended to be used as both a shield and a weapon. Steve quickly decided on the color scheme, red and white rings complete with a white star on a blue background in the middle, and added it to his character. It looked right at home.
"Alright. I think I'm done." Steve announced.
"Very good. Please be advised: your clothing, hair style, and weapons can all be altered later, usually for a fee of in game currency. If you wish to alter your race, class, or body shape you must either create a new character or pay a fee of real currency to do so. Are you sure you do not wish to make any additional changes?" The A.I. asked.
Steve gave his character another quick look to double check before he nodded. "I'm sure." He confirmed confidently.
"Very good. Your character has been locked. Please input the name of your character now." The A.I. requested and a keyboard popped up. Steve considered it for a moment then typed in his choice as he tried to ignore the fact that he couldn't see his fingers even though he could feel the keys as he pressed them.
"Very good. Please say your character's name the way you wish for it to be pronounced." The A.I. instructed.
Steve took a moment and then, as clearly as he could, said "Nomad."
There was a chime and then the A.I. said "Is Nomad correct?" Once again Steve was momentarily blown away at how quickly it had adapted. And sure, his chosen name wasn't hard, but the A.I. wasn't just playing back his pronunciation or voice. It had actually said it for itself, with its own intonation.
Then he realized the A.I. was waiting for an answer. "Yes, that's correct." He confirmed.
"Very good. Are you ready to move on to the tutorial?" The A.I. asked.
"Yes, please." Steve agreed. The world flashed white around him and Steve actually felt like his body was growing, until the light faded and he was left standing in… a dark cement hallway with boxes covered with tarps at various places, dust in the air, and exposed swinging light bulbs. It smelled damp and left a chill on his skin and reminded Steve of a cliché villain's hideout. Steve could immediately hear a commotion; a fight nearby.
He took a step and immediately realized the hallway wasn't just small. He was really tall (6 foot 2 inches, the height of his character model to be exact) and he'd need time to get used to this new body because it felt different. He felt like a baby giraffe, with long, gangly, clumsy limbs. A moment later he realized the A.I. from before, who had said that it was going to guide him through the tutorial, was nowhere to be seen. And a moment after that someone collided with him and they both went sprawling on the floor.