Mandatory Game: Progress

Chapter 1 - Beginning

"It has been almost 100 years since full immersion VR become a reality. Since then, VR has changed a lot of things in our life," a man who was in his fifties talked on a podium. Behind him was a massive screen. While he was saying these words, flashes of light were wildly grazing the man.

From the eyes of the man, there were a lot of people in front of him. Most of them were sitting on the chairs provided there while many others were holding cameras catching or recording the moment.

The man was Rizend's World Government's President, Mr. Gilbert. He stood on the podium in the venue to announce something big.

The people who sat there were all important people including politicians, scientists, engineers, and many more. Meanwhile, the one recording and took pictures of the president were reporters from all around the world.

"Thanks to VR, a lot of things become easier and more fun. Let take examples from the medical industry. Surgeons can practice many times without fear of killing the patient," Mr. Gilbert gave an example.

"Pharmacists can do a lot of tests and experiments without worrying about failure and waste," he added.

"Psychiatrist and Psychologist can create an environment to help heals mental patients," Mr. Gilbert continued.

"Researchers and Scientists can do a lot of simulations and experiments to find a cure for many illnesses," Mr. Gilbert looked at everyone in the venue.

"Let not say about the Entertainment industry. We can now view movies as someone who is part of the story. Director and Producer can create the best environment for filming making the movies on a different scale," Mr. Gilbert added another example.

"Communications become easier. No matter where you are in the world, with full immersion VR, you can see and meet your loved one easily," Mr. Gilbert smiled.

"I don't want to mention the Gaming Industry. I am sure this is the easiest thing everyone can see. Middle Fantasy, Dario World, Legend of Emelda, Phoenix Quest, and many more games. I am sure everyone knows about their popularity," Mr. Gilbert smiled.

"The Fantasy RPG is thriving excellently and there is no sign of stopping too. For the past fifty years, even the money inside the game can be converted to real money."

"See? VR brings a lot of benefits to the world," Mr. Gilbert looked at everyone before he added, "But," his face turned serious.

"That is 80 years ago. That is when VR first becomes reality. Everything is a flower. Everything is beautiful. Everything is beneficial," Mr. Gilbert's face was serious.

"But we all forget about one basic thing. Everything comes in pairs. When there are goods, there are bad things too. VR is not all good things and we can see now what happens to society when we are too reliant on this technology," Mr. Gilbert looked at the audience.

"The world is now facing a lot of problems. Due to many people wanted the perfect partner for themselves, they married their digital partner and have digital children. How stupid does that sound? However, that is the reality now. Thanks to this, our world's birth rate has been decreasing a lot."

"The younger generations are now too engross with VR that their talent is undeveloped. Our younger generation now is stupid! They are a stupid generation and we can see that with the worldwide school results for the past few years and we can also see that our workforce is now made of older people!" Mr. Gilbert raised his voice.

"Look around you! Everyone here is old people! We are in our forties and fifties even the reporters in front of me now are older people," Mr. Gilbert was angry.

Everyone in the venue had a solemn face including the reporters. They did not look at each other because they knew of it for a while.

"There are some really good young people but they are not enough to continue the generation. Nowadays, we don't see any breakthrough in any researches. How long has it been since our academic scene discover something new? Twenty years ago?"

"Research results are being published but all of them are confirmed to be false! Many of them are stupid too that even someone like me that is not involved in any research knew it was stupid once I read it."

"Our technologies are now in stagnation. We have been unable to develop any new technologies. This is only about academics but look at the younger generation's attitude."

"They are rebellious. They commit a lot of crimes. Hitting and suing their parents are the norms now. Not only that but many of them are unhealthy. Obesity, mental illness, and many other illnesses are now happening rampantly among the young people." Mr. Gilbert looked sad.

"I am not going to say I am doing well too. My son died a few years ago street racing trying to follow what he played in a VR game. Let not say with my other children. They are problematic too and I don't have a way to control them," everyone in the venue did not say anything.

"I am at fault too. I too am part of this problem because I was engrossed with VR in the past too and I become a bad parent that led to the problems happening to my children. I realize it too late," Mr. Gilbert's eyes were gleaming with tears.

"I am a changed man but I cannot change my children."

"Everyone with capable mind and talents is now getting older. Soon, all of us will leave the world and what is left of the world are stupid people," Mr. Gilbert looked sad.

"I don't want to leave this world being destroyed like that. I don't want my children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to live in this kind of world anymore."

"So, we need to change!" Mr. Gilbert spoke with increased volume.

"All the great minds in the world had been working together for the past few years and they had come out with a method to fix our society. First, I will introduce you to someone who will help us in curbing this problem," Mr. Gilbert spoke and he pointed his arm at the screen behind him.

The screen lit up and a line of words appeared on the screen. Not only that but everyone in the venue could hear a voice speaking of the words.

[Hello everyone. I am the Super Artificial Intelligence or Super AI for short, Future. Nice to meet you all. Hello, Mr. President] Future spoke.

Many people who were at the venue were not surprised by the Future. AI was nothing special and they were common since technology had developed hundreds of years ago.

Some people at the venue were smiling but some were curious. Future introduced itself as Super AI but from what they were seeing, nothing was special about it.

"Hello, Future," Mr. Gilbert replied and he looked at the front again. "Future will be the one who will help us execute the changes that we will be making. I am sure everyone is wondering what is so special about the Future but I will show everyone now," Mr. Gilbert looked at Future.

"Future, do it," he ordered.

[Sure, Mr. President] and in a matter of second, everyone's device in the venue started to turn on shocking them all. They all grabbed their device and on the screen were words.

[Hello, I am Future. Starting today, I will be monitoring every device in the world] Future spoke shocking many people at the venue. Some of them were calm and did not even take out their device to check. It seemed that they knew this would happen.

"As Future stated, he will monitor everyone in the world and as I am speaking now, all the device in the world is now under Future's monitoring," Mr. Gilbert spoke shocking many people at the scene.

"I know your fear but do not worry. Everything is fine," Mr. Gilbert spoke. "Future is created by many great minds in the world and it will be the one and only Super AI in the world. No other AI will be able to overpower Future and Future will never betray humanity."

"Now, let's continue with the next step. Future, show us the result of your monitoring," Mr. Gilbert spoke.

[Yes, Mr. President] on the big screen came out statistics for many things. People at the venue looked at the list and was shocked to see it. One of the statistics was related to crime and it was high. As high as 70% out of all the world's population.

"You can see from this statistic that our world is now in great danger. We need a drastic change and Future will help us with the change. To implement this change, Future needs to recognize all the possible threats, and monitoring every device will help us a lot."

"The first drastic move we will do is shutting down all the games and VR world that bring lots of bad things to the user. Future, do it!" Mr. Gilbert was determined.

[Okay, Mr. President. I have also dispatched the military and police all around the world to stop the angry citizen with this move. Not only that but the military and police have started to apprehend all the highly likely people who will do dangerous crimes once this move is implemented] Future spoke.

"Good," Mr. Gilbert nodded but many people in the venue were shocked.

A reporter checked his device and his games and a few other apps were deleted. "Mr. President, are you really doing this? Will this not cause a lot of problems? War can happen too!" A reporter was shocked and shouted in worried.

However, Gilbert raised his arm and pointed at the screen. He asked everyone to see what Future had said but no matter what, they were worried.

Future was only an AI. There was not much he can do in the real world. Future might be able to control the digital world but the real world was out of his reach. Even with the police and military dispatched, chaos would ensue.

Just as the reporter feared, chaos did happen once Future deleted all the games and harmful apps. All the digital wife, husband, and children were deleted once and for all causing many people to go crazy.

In many cities all around the world, fightings were happening between the younger generation and the official (military and police). All of them were in a rage because their entertainment, their life was deleted.

This move was inhumane but Gilbert and many others had to do this to get everyone back on the right track. They had discussed this and felt that using a soft approach might not work.

For the past few years, many countries made rules and policies to help to curb this problem such as limiting the time and age for people who play games but it was not working. The younger generation used their intelligence and talents in the wrong way by making applications and cheats to bypass this restriction.

Due to this, the rules and policies became useless once the government was unable to stop the younger generations' 'creativity'.

So, the creators of Future decided to take the drastic method and that was deleting everything related to games and harmful apps.