Gods in Training

It's hard to be a God in training. Civilization has advanced to a point where physical violence is obsolete. All conflicts small or large, domestic or interstellar, are mediated through virtual competitions in virtual worlds where players have the fantastical powers of gods. Jink is a student at the Academy of the Ancients where young men and women are educated in the art of becoming deities. Jink is struggling to keep himself from flunking out when he discovers an old gaming table abandoned in a corner closet of the simulation department that has been left on autopilot running archaic software. The ancient program left to its own devices for centuries has created a simulated planet that is quite peculiar. The planet is modeled loosely off of Jink's home planet, but the leading lifeforms have developed their own fascinating cultures and moral codes. They call their planet "Earth". Can studying the inhabitants of Earth help keep Jink from flunking out of the academy?