System Jazz

[Government Issued Quest: Reach Level 10 within 3 days. Importance: Utmost. Difficulty: Average. Progress: 1/10, Exp to next level: 0/100. (69/72 hours left).]

The best thing about sandboxes is that you can do whatever you want.

People won't railroad you into a set chain of events, or say what to do.

The worst thing about sandboxes is that you can do whatever you want.

They won't hold your hand or help at the start.

The games I played so far, – and there weren't many, – started with a cutscene.

They provided some explanation and introduced the main goal.

This one is like Flipper, but the aim there is obvious, don't let the ball drop.

What about CineMraft? The only clue is the task.

[If you struggle with the controls, try our tutorial.]

"No, it's not about the controls, for fuck's sake."

The system should hint at how to earn Exp instead of advertising that shit.

There must be an explanation somewhere, how else would new players start?

It mentioned a FAQ before, except it won't appear in the main menu.

The moment the headset is on and it loads, the character appears in the village.

There are no loading screens with useful tooltips. The only info comes from the visual scanning.

The setting looks medieval, and the higher-level players appear out of a high fantasy.

They run around in ridiculous-looking armor, and some have magic staffs.

Most look like me though, using the basic peasant clothing that isn't in the inventory.

These tools aren't meant for combat, so what do you do with them?

[If you struggle with the controls, try our tutorial.]

"I swear to God."

Come on, Arnim, calm down, this is only an idiotic AI, don't let it upset you.

When the Boss is this insufferable, puffing some smoke helps.

Is that possible in Deep Dive? Even if they have cigs and drugs, how would they simulate the effects?

One more thing to investigate, but let's check that mission out first.

After an hour here, the Exp still sits at zero, and the clock keeps ticking even when logged off.

It's not an option to put it out forever. The worst-case scenario is to ask Baldie about it tomorrow, yet it's still early.

How do people even click on things?

Sometimes thinking about them, or saying it out loud does the trick.

Yet, the brain goes wild about the quest and this won't open it.

There's no cursor to navigate, and since the scene turns as the eyes move, it's tricky to focus on the icon.

[If you struggle with the controls, try our tutorial.]

"I'd die before doing that fucking shit."

The sights are amazing but these messages will cause hair loss.

And they paywall everything, the feds can't be serious about playing this twelve hours a day.

Talk about time, the sun dips below the horizon, and torches light up.

It happens fast like in the winter, yet the weather feels warm.

Feeling the air temperature alone is crazy, and it seems so natural that I didn't even think about it until now.

It only takes a few minutes and you forget about wearing the controller.

"Okay, open quests."

If it worked with the inventory, why wouldn't it work with the icons?

And voila, the little exclamation mark lights up, the description filling the view.

Stop overthinking the controls, Arnim, they're simple enough.

"Now we're talking."

[Government Issued Quest: Reach Level 10 within 3 days. Importance: Utmost. Difficulty: Average. Progress: 1/10, Exp to next level: 0/100. (69/72 hours left). Completion reward: 7 days of Premium subscription, and a personal AI assistant. Failure penalties: investigation.]

"Wow, okay, that's harsh."

Who cares about their premium, and an AI assistant?

Still, it would be stupid to ignore it if they launch an investigation, whatever that means.

If the feds see the big red container and realize that both parents are gone...

They might put me in a jail cell, or a foster home right away, so let's not risk it.

Of course, the description won't tell how best to complete the task.

What is there to do here? Are there puzzles to solve for Exp or is it the good 'ol grinding?

[If you struggle with the controls, try our tutorial.]

"Shut the fuck up."

Patience is running low and the avatar still didn't move from the center of this village.

It's part of the problem, so let's explore the area.

And no, not the tutorial, the map shows a little flag where the training grounds are, but I'll head the opposite way.

"Wait a second. There was a map here all along?"

How did it hide in plain sight? It shows a green dot in the center and the immediate area around the character.

Not much, like fifty meters in diameter. Yellow dots show the other players moving around and NPCs are grey.

A number in one corner changes fast, and a few icons with arrows float around the edge of the round instrument.

They always point in the same direction, even after turning around.

What they mean is a mystery, except for the training ground's tiny flag, and screw that.

There's no option to zoom in or out on the map, so it's more like a proximity indicator, than something to navigate with.

There's one thing to try though, and it's embarrassing that it didn't occur to me yet. Saying things out solved most issues, so let's do that next.

"Open the atlas. World overlay? Map."

The third one works, always the simplest, so there is no reason to overthink these.

Still, it's almost blank, the only place it shows is the main square where this avatar stood for so long.

"Okay let's explore the place."

It should be historical, that the character finally moves somewhere.

It happens after spending more than an hour here but there's no rush.

They want people to spend twelve hours a day in here, not one, so it should be fine as long as stuff gets done.

[If you struggle with the controls, try our tutorial.]

"What? Why? I didn't even ask questions, zip it." Incredible, this is borderline harassment now.

It's easy to walk around, why would they need to teach the controls, when everything's fine?

"Talk about this place instead or let me explore." Some players look this way funny, do they hear everything?

And the messages only appear in my head so arguing with the system could look stupid from the outside.

Add to that, the text floating above spells Noob.

It's even more visible in the dark, the big white letters radiate as much light as the torches along the streets.

The moon and the stars look amazing too. The name is in the way when looking up, isn't there an option to hide it? Oh no, it's coming...

[If you struggle with the controls, try our tutorial.]

"Over my dead body."

The message disappears and the avatar invades the night, searching for adventure.

The first slot in the inventory shows an axe, and the tool appears in the hands after looking at it.

"Let's hope there's something to smash with this."