1 IEVR

IEVR, or rather Immersive Experience Virtual Reality, is also known by a few other terms, one being Full Dive.

This was an Era-Changing genre for games and gamers alike. The ability to experience a game like it was reality was thought of for hundreds of years but the limitations on technology just couldn't bring this to reality.

That was until a leading company in the gaming industry brought out the Immersi-00 in the year 5369 and thus the arrival of IEVR. This technology allowed for all developers of games to use this as a platform for new and innovative game. Games which ranged from genres of RPG, Sports, SCI-FI were able to be created freely. The most popular was certainly RPG and it's variant of MMORPGs as it allowed a gamer to join a new world as someone else, almost like living a second life. Worlds that ranged from fantasy to ones that had alien technology, the possibilities were endless and the developers of these games explored every corner they could.

Unfortunately, most of the creators and developers of the Immersi-00 were fired by the majority shareholders of the company due to a conflict in interests. As creators and developers, people who strive for giving a fulfilling experience to their audience, they wished to pursue the limits of reality disregarding the costs. The problem was that the shareholders wished to continuously update the Immersi-00 and gain as many profits as they could, which of course they did in the end as they had the hold over the company and those below couldn't say anything.

In the year 5505, the company brought out their new Immersi-07 which did include updates and new features than the previous versions, which overall brought in billions of profits within only a few months. The majority of the gamers were very happy with this and continued to buy it even though there were other companies releasing similar technology as it reached a realistic experience of 60%. However, the hardcore gamers and pro players were starting to become dissatisfied as they want a complete experience.

Their wish did come true in the form of a company that had no previous gaming history. The company RealiChek brought out their own technology called Niva. This technology brought a new standard to the Era of IEVR as it was proven that they accomplished a ridiculous realistic experience of 100%. If it wasn't due to the various options within the game, you would be convinced it was a new world. Pain, happiness and various other emotions are so similar that you cannot discern it from reality. Of course there is an option to turn these settings down individually but there is no physical harm a person can get from the Niva apart from possible mental trauma.

There was news that the developers of the Niva technology were actually the founders of the Immersi-00 but these rumours were never confirmed. Or that they used dark technology that is from hundreds of millenia in the future, but of course that was dismissed as ridiculous.

One thing that sets Niva apart from the Immersi is that players can die in real life, if they choose to do so. The characters within Niva only have one life and if you die using this character, you have to create a new character and start all over again. But there is an option for real death upon character death where a contract is required to be signed in order to take away responsibility of a player's life or death from RealiChek's hands. This was rather controversial, but due to the strict terms within the contract it was still acceptable. A few groups of players decided to sign this contract, as they consider themselves to be hardcore gamers and they love the feeling of adrenaline pumping through their veins, and what else but potential death could give them the greatest experience?

The funding for Niva came from a spider web of connections, and it was actually had complete support by several countries Health Departments. This is with the promise that patients who are in comas can play this game, it would provide them a world to be in rather than perpetual darkness.

The Niva is slightly different for those who are in a coma though. They would be able to tell that it is actually a game from the layout and the players, however they would have no option to log-off themselves. This is to prevent errors that may happen.

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Within a hospital room, a mother and father were making a decision for their daughter. Their daughter was called Isabella Winter and she was the apple of their eyes.

Isabella Winter as a child was considered a genius and was always full of curiosity towards almost anything. She was extremely outgoing and had a vivacious personality that drew people to her. She was a pretty girl, not a beauty but she still was nice to look at and had many pursuers, men and women alike.

However, her curiosity was her own undoing. Like how curiosity killed the cat, she suffered the same on one fateful day. On her way to college one morning she came across a disturbance that was a corner away from her when she was walking. Obviously being it her who came across the sounds of buildings collapsing, she couldn't help but go see what it is even if it was only from a distance. In the end she was struck in the head by a stray object very forcefully, resulting in severe blood loss. She was lucky to have not died, but she did end up in a coma at the end of it.

Her mother and father were told that the coma didn't seem as simple as it looked, it was most likely a permanent coma as when compared to the other statistics they had collected, Isabella fell under this category. They then had the choice, to either send their daughter to death, wait for her to wake up or join a program the hospital was running.

They obviously would not be able to bear sending their daughter to her death even if they were legally allowed but they still wanted to do something for their daughter, thus signing up to the program. This program was naturally the Niva technology and patients who are undergoing a coma can be sent into the Niva world but there was a prerequisite that stopped many parents from joining the program, a contract that enables the death of the player inside of the Niva World.

Both of her parents gritted their teeth and resolutely signed the contract when they saw their daughter lying lifelessly inside the Lifepod. What difference did it really make when she was in that pitiful state.

What they didn't know was that their daughter would have woken up in a few months if not for them, but no one knows if it is a blessing in disguise, not even fate.