Free To Play
James was bored. He lives a fairly incomplete life, with few hobbies. Usually he invests his time into his studies, reasoning that any hobbies would just end up being a distraction for him. He only just moved to university, however, so he has no projects or work to be doing just yet. He's finished organising his new class schedule into his laptop's various softwares to ensure he is well prepared for the year ahead, but after looking through the google classrooms he's been newly added to to find them empty, he was stuck for things to do.
Most students newly at uni go out and socialise, but James is much more of a hermit. Though he can already hear drunken hollers from outside his window he just looks down on those responsible for being in such a state in the middle of the day.
James decides to download Steam on his laptop. He almost never plays video games, not out of dislike but judgement, believing them to be a leading cause of unproductiveness. He's never bought a video game on Steam but occasionally, when he truly has nothing better to do, will browse the free to play section for a shovelware game he can waste a couple hours in and never play again.
Usually free to play games have mixed reviews at best, but James is surprised to discover a free to play game trending in Steam marketplace. It has overwhelmingly positive reviews, despite its basic name and branding. It's just called "Life Simulator Game", and there are no screenshots of its gameplay or graphics or anything. The game's store page description explains that this game is free to play because it's in early development, and they want to use the data gathered from players to guide their future development. Though James is instinctively skeptical of most things he comes across in life, that rationale checks out to him. Plus, the reviews are excellent, so he decides to download it.
It doesn't take long to download, and soon James starts the game for the first time. As it does its first time installation, the game has several pop-ups. The first explains that in order to access the game, James needs to download an app with the QR code that appears. It states this is so they can receive the data of James' gameplay, using cellular networks to ensure the game still works without an internet connection. This leads James to quickly check the game's reputation on Reddit, but everyone on there swears it's not only safe but an awesome game, so he downloads the app before returning to the game.
The first task in the game is to create the avatar. The game has three ways to do this: random, character creator, or rigged character creator. An explainer opens in the game: The character creator takes the form of a quiz; the player can end the quiz at any time, and the answers to the quiz will change the avatar's stats in positive or negative ways. The rigged character creator acts the same way, but the player can select some general traits or character archetypes they want the quiz to ask them about. This gives them a little more control over its outcome, but also usually leads to more specialist character builds, since the questions cover fewer topics.
James decides to just go for the standard character creator, aiming to build a well-rounded character, at least for his first playthrough. The character creator begins, and seemingly asks some basic, foundational questions to begin with, though its effects can be a little strange.
You're chilling on a Sunday and have the day off. Do you: A) go to the gym and work out, B) play video games, or C) read a book?
James answers "read a book" immediately, and the game flashes up with a number of stat changes. Some make obvious sense, like intelligence and focus increasing, but James is also surprised to see his body fat percentage decrease. He also gains a point towards the "nerd" archetype, which James supposes is why the fat percentage decreased. He's a nerd in real life, but for a game like this he doesn't actually want to just play as a nerd, so he will bear that in mind for some of his future answers. The already intelligent and slender James doesn't notice that his answer changes him in real life to fit the answer.
2. What kind of hairstyle do you have: A) Short with crew cut, B) Medium-length shaggy, C) Long and greasy?
James isn't sure what a crew cut means, but he does want has avatar to have short hair, like he does in real life, so he chooses A. James expects this to send him down the nerd route further, but the stat changes actually involve boosts to his masculinity, confidence, and follower mentality. The phone in his pocket vibrates at a precise, imperceptible frequency, sending signals to his brain to reflect these stat changes.
3. Do you currently have any facial hair: A) Yes, a beard B) Yes, a moustache, C) No?
James answers no, and the game's only effect is decreasing his avatar's body and facial hair in the game. The dusting of a treasure trail on James' torso vanishes beneath his shirt, unknown to him.
4. When you're having a conversation with friends, do you: A) Dominate and lead the conversation, B) Contribute and actively participate, or C) Observe and mostly listen?
James answers C, observe and mostly listen, since he is a more withdrawn person in real life. This boosts the follower mentality attribute for a second time, while increasing his empathy. These personality changes are again instilled in his brain, but since the boosts aren't used by this game at all, James remains unaware.
5. How do you feel about authority: A) I hate it, B) I respect authority for my own benefit, C) Learning from authority is valuable?
James considers the options. A might result in his character being some kind of punk, and B might make them selfish, so he decides to choose option C, which most reflects his real world view anyway. This decreases his free thought and rebelliousness while increasing his curiosity and, for a third time, follower mentality. The game has a pop-up:
Trait Earned: Follower Mentality. For the rest of the character creator, you will be able to see how many other players chose each option. Furthermore, the least popular option will be disabled.
It surprises James that he is excited about this. The James that began playing this game sneered at most people around him, believing himself superior to them. James' new brain, however, is keen to learn how others answered the questions, thinking it may help him get a good result. He doesn't notice that this is a change in his personality, forgetting how judgemental he used to be.
6. How often do you brush your teeth: A) After every meal (5%), B) Once a day at night (35%), or C) When I remember or feel like it (60%)?
In real life James does brush his teeth after every meal, hygiene being important to him. However, with that option disabled, he's fine going for option B for his character. The game gives a slight reduction in his hygiene, but increases his desire for routine. The change in James' hygiene doesn't really happen in real life yet, instead manifesting as an attitude change, where taking care of hygiene feels like more effort than it did to James before.
7. When you're given a task, do you: A) Rush it and get it out of the way (10%), B) Start and work on it at a steady pace (4%), or C) Procastinate on it and do it last minute (86%)?
Despite the changes so far, James still hates lazy people who procrastinate. While he would usually answer B, he answers A as the second best thing. The game increases his decisiveness and efficiency, but a few negative stat changes happen, such as reducing his responsibility, care, and he takes a slight hit to his usual grades. Internally, James can feel himself becoming rasher and a little lazier. While he's far from dumb right now, his priority shifts away from being as based around education as it usually is.
8. How often do you exercise: A) Daily (36%), B) A couple times a week (31%), C) Never (33%)?
James' mind thinks back to the answer to that first question. He got a nerd attribute point, and if he answers never to this question he'll definitely get another one. He thinks that'd suck, who wants to play a video game as a nerd? Being unable to answer B, he decides to select A to ensure his character isn't too much of a nerd.
Upon selecting this option, the game's appearance changes slightly. It gets a little more colourful and begins playing music, while having more animations to keep James' attention focused on the game. A pop-up appears:
Trait Earned: Gym Focus. You care more about the gym than reading or numbers, so for the rest of the character creator you won't get to see how your answers change your stats. Your questions will become catered to your gym focus.
9. At the gym, your favourite exercise is: A) Lifting (88%), B) Cardio like running (4%), C) Bodyweight exercises (8%)?
James doesn't really know what bodyweight exercises are, and everyone else chose lifting. Lifting's weights and stuff, he knows that, so why not? James chooses option A. His head is feeling a bit strange, a bit slower than normal, maybe he's coming down with a cold or something. His whole body feels kinda warm, actually, so he must be getting sick. Before he can think about it too much, the game quickly gives him the next question.
10. What's your favourite music: A) Rock (25%), B) Rap (53%), C) Country (22%)?
James is definitely feel weird now, and the weird thing is he's not even sure. He's struggling to remember what music he used to listen to. Most people chose rap though, so he chooses rap too.
The game presents a new popup:
Congratulations, you have finished the character creator! Now it's time to play the game, James. Live a full day in this life to finish tailoring your character. You can do pretty much whatever you want, but the game will occasionally give you choices, and your answers to these choices will have a particularly high impact on your stats.
James grins, finally the character creator's over. He scratches his pec, thinking about whether he should continue playing right now. He's got nothing else to do this evening though. He just moved to university, but he doesn't know anyone here yet and doesn't know what the best places to go out are. So he can continue playing for now.
James clicks start, eager to get to the proper gameplay. He hasn't noticed any change in real life at all, but is impressed at how well the game's avatar matches him already. It's got exactly the same build as he worked hard for. He's a straight B student, retaining some of his intelligence thanks to his nerd attribute point. The changes to his personality are extensive but subtle for now.
The game assigns a world catered towards his character, particularly the Follower Mentality and Gym Focus traits. The game includes a vast number of different worlds, and assigns one to each player at the end of the character creator based on what it thinks the player would enjoy, though this can also mean that players get railroaded towards a certain path of transformation. The world features a mix of other players and NPCs, though this isn't stated anywhere and James assumes everyone here is an NPC for now.
The game loads and James wakes up in his bed. The flat he lives in is pretty unfurbished, only having essential gameplay items. He quickly follows his new instincts for his morning routine. Thanks to his answer in the character creator, showering or brushing his teeth doesn't cross his mind, so he heads straight to the kitchen. There are a variety of food options here, but he instinctively makes some chicken and a protein shake.
While consuming breakfast, James checks the in-game phone. The game presents him with a number of opportunities, but the one that captures his attention is the "gym" opportunity. James browses the gyms included in the game world. The gym he chooses to attend will impact his stats and the types of people he meets, but he only has access to one of them:
Elite Gym (unavailable: James is not upper class)
Budget Gym (unavailable: James is too muscular to benefit from this gym)
As Rocks Gym (available)
As Rocks Gym? James wonders what that name could hint at, but not for very long since it's the only option for him anyway. Plus, he looks up the address and discovers it's on his street. He finishes his breakfast and heads there right away.
James walks in and heads to the reception desk to sign up for the gym. He's greeted by the first NPC he's interacting with in this game. The NPC talks pretty slowly and has a vacant face, but James figures that's probably a limitation of the programming, and all the NPCs will be like that. He finishes signing up for the gym and is given a membership card. The card has a large number on it, which is currently 118. James assumes this is his membership number or something.
He heads deeper into the gym to start lifting. He' spends a while inside, before eventually being's quickly approached by another character. At first James assumes this is a NPC, but he receives a message on his screen.
Klingime3: yo, u new? u luk new. wana tour?
James14214573923: Oh, this is online? You're another player?
Klingime3: yh bro im a player. dis gyms awsum, cmon
James14214573923: Uh ok, yeah.
James begins following this other player. His avatar isn't a muscle god or anything, but he's wearing damp gym clothes so James assumes he's just finished a workout anyway. There's no option to see his stats or anything, though James can see some traits. The list of traits Klingime3 has is pretty long, he must have played this game a lot, but some highlights James spots from a quick look are "Sweat Waterfall", "Dropout Dumb", "Horned Up", "Sheep Herder", and "Gym Dedicated". This gives him a decent idea of who he's dealing with here. Since James' avatar matches his own personality so well, he figures the same is probably true for Klingime3, and the spelling would seem to support that theory.
James briefly hovers over himself and sees that his own traits are displayed. He's still only got the two of them, "Gym Mentality" and "Follower Mentality". He realises that that's probably how this Klingime guy knew he was new, because he didn't have many traits yet. He doesn't realise that the Herd Mentality trait is an advert for other players to influence his stats, though.
James14214573923: So thanks for showing me around. This was the only gym I could go to, the others were locked.
Klingime3: dose other gyms suck fr dw, dis got da best shit. like ere. luk.
Klingime3 stops in front of a bar.
Klingime3: dis dude makes drinks for us, deyre rly gud. u got cash yet?
James14214573923: Uh nah, not yet, I think. Unless you start with some. I just booted up the game and came here. What's special about a drink?
Klingime3: deyre jus good. ill get u my faves. da rocks shake is rly gud, it boosts happy stat and stuf. n it boosts mussel gains from da liftin we boutta do. ill get u dat.
James receives an item in his inventory. Klingime3 has given him a "As Rocks Shake", seemingly the speciality item for this gym, though other shakes are available. Still not understanding the wordplay at hand here, James quickly chugs it. It tastes really good, and somehow consuming it in the game makes him feel happy in real life too. His phone in his real life pocket vibrates, not only to administer the effects of the shake, but also to provide a small jolt of happiness that will make him want to buy that kind of shake again.
The NPC at the drinks stand offers James free drinks today, and he quickly buys another "As Rocks Shake" while browsing the menu for more variety. He figures he can consume them from his inventory whenever his hydration decreases from the gym session. The NPC says the free drinks can count for their loyalty scheme, and asks for James' gym membership card. He gives it to the NPC, noticing the number on it now says 108 for some reason.
Klingime3: u like it yh? u got rocks shake agen dats cool. u shud get da water too. n da hazer.
James looks curiously at the items available in the bar, just "water" doesn't seem to be available. He realises Klingime must mean the "Water(fall) Can". No stat changes are displayed, but James vaguely remembers waterfall being in one of Klingime's traits. James can't remember what it was though, for some reason his memory seems a bit worse than normal. He also takes his advice and gets the hazer.
James and Klingime3 spend a few hours in the gym together. James takes Klingime3's guidance on the best ways to lift, while Klingime3 keeps encouraging James to restock on drinks frequently. It doesn't take James much convincing though, he's still trying to manage his needs and for some reason he's constantly thirsty. Since drinking the Water(fall) Can he's been sweating a lot, which is making his thirst pretty extreme, but James doesn't realise it's the effect of that can. He's trying to pay attention to the game, but there's a lot going on and it's becoming pretty hard to follow.
James14214573923: i'm gettin hungry, there good places to eat round here?
Klingime3: da gym got gud food. ill show u.
Klingime3 takes James to small stand in the gym. It has a very limited menu, but Klingime3 immediately orders for James anyway.
Klingime3: i got us horndogs w da rocks sorce n da brainfries. deyre rly gud, ull like.
James shows his gym membership card to receive the food, the number on it now saying 88 for some reason. Klingime3 definitely seems like an expert in this game, so James happily follows his lead. Especially as James' brain slows down thanks to his activities here today, he doesn't have the capacity to question Klingime3's decisions much anymore. He happily chats to his new friend while eating the food.
As they finish their meal, James realises his sleep meter is almost empty.
James14214573923: damn bro my i gota sleep. how u do dat?
Klingime3: o yh so wen u sleep u cant play agen til tmrw irl. i got bufs cos i play alot so i can stay up lon but if u g2g u g2g, ill go urs n show u how to sleep n den c u tmrw on ere?
James14214573923: bet bro yh ill play tmrw lesgo mine now for sleep tho
James and Klingime head back to his in-game flat and Klingime shows James how to sleep. The game saves quickly, and then boots James out to the main menu. The phone in his pocket vibrates, the game's app has sent him a notification. James pulls it out to read it.
"First Day Complete! Thanks for playing a full day James, we've saved your data. It really helps us out. See you tomorrow! - Life Simulator Game"
James grins vacantly as he reads the notification. His dulled brain generates some basic thoughts in response, such as how awesome the game was and how awesome the Klingime3 guy was. He'll definitely play again tomorrow.
His mind struggles to come up with activities for him to do for the rest of his day until he can play the game again. As he itches his damp crotch to aid his thought, the effects of the horndog Klingime3 ordered for him in the game kick in, and he downloads another app that's never been on his phone before: Grindr.
