This is a Beta Test?! - A Literally Broken System

You've probably already heard a lot of stories about random people being whisked away into a world of fantasy or technology. Some might end up in a fantasy world of magic and mystical creatures, while others might just find themselves stuck in a dystopian future filled with espionage and intrigue. There were also some that might claim to have been sucked into their favorite game; blessed with the ability to level up and learn everything through the power of the game's so-called 'systems.' Well, I for one, wished for any of these sorts would actually happen to me as well.

What, did you expect me to deny that? Real life's boring. Sue me.

But then again, that wasn't how the world worked, right? I was cursed to live a normal life, have a normal job as a lab scientist, probably marry and have a kid somewhere down the line as soon as I get enough balls to try and ask someone out on a date, then probably die of lifestyle disease due to my hatred for getting sweaty and working for those gains. It was dreadfully normal; like a predetermined timeline filled with nothing but story beats and railroaded decisions. Want to eat? Work. Want to have a roof over your head? Work. All for the cash to make said things happen, of course. But what if that wasn't the case?

Well, that's what games were for, right?

So here I was, downloading a new game that caught my eye from some random developer I haven't even heard of before. Although, judging by their chosen pseudonym of 'Guidance,' I'd guess that they at least had some faith in their programming and game-making capabilities.

"Let's see here...." I leaned into my monitor as I read the game's general description. "The Seams, huh..."

Kind of vague for a name, all things considered. Judging from the screenshots, it was a general run-off-the-mill indie game with surprisingly well-done graphics. The devs must've had enough skills to make quality 3D models if the screenshots weren't lying to me. And I at least had pride in parsing through lies and marketing bullcrap on the internet.

"Action-RPG..." I scoffed under my breath as I read through the description some more. "Well, the premise looks good at least..."

Travel through the vast expanse of the Seam, it said. Infinite worlds, it said. If the devs weren't lying, then I'd guess they used a seed generator to make said infinite worlds.

"Not like they'll be ballsy enough to hand-make more than a hundred planets or something..."

Having played a ton of garbage RPGs as of late, I kind of got burned from trying out stuff that wasn't from trusted devs for a while. There was just too much garbage floating around these days that if it weren't for a keen eye and thorough digging through countless reviews, I probably would've stopped playing indie games altogether.

"That was fast..."

I raised an eyebrow as the screen showed the state of my download. It was surprisingly large considering that it's an indie production. I guess 3D models made up the bulk of it. Then again, it promised a lot of things that sounded too good to be true to be coming from a newcomer in the industry.

Wordlessly installing the damn thing, I drummed my fingers as I watched the progress bar load to completion; clicking on things that didn't need to be read as I finally glanced at the newly-made shortcut on my desktop.

I snickered at the small glowing door that denoted the new game. It had the title subtitled underneath it, and its purple hue kind of looked feminine if looked at in a different light. "Cute..."

Welp... Time to check if it would even run.

Double-clicking on the icon, I waited with bated breath as I saw my cursor turn into a blue circle. The system requirements didn't look too demanding, but PC games always had that 'wildcard factor' in them that may or may not affect the way they'll run on any given system.

"Load, for heaven's sake..."

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I stared in wait as my screen turned black, denoting the continued loading of the game as placed my chin under my hand. My rig wasn't running on bleeding edge, but it could at least run everything that was released in the current year. I find it hard to believe that an indie game would make my PC chug this hard.

"Guess it's unoptimized..."

Then again, it was an indie game. If it runs, with a stable frame rate, I'd already count that as a win.

A few more seconds of waiting later, the black screen staring right at me remained unchanging as I wiggled my mouse to make sure my PC won't go to sleep mode. This was taking too long. Did it freeze up on me?

Clicking on the screen to see if-

*ERROR*

Well, that's just fantastic...

I sighed as I read the glaring error window that appeared on my screen. My desktop returned to the forefront of my monitor as the program shut itself down, leaving me with no game to play and a problem to troubleshoot if I wanted to. The question then would be...

"Do I want to spend time trying to fix this?"

I whispered to myself in the relative silence of my room as I stared intently at the error box. Did I really want to play this game that badly? I haven't even seen a single review on the thing yet. For all I knew, I was the first person that even downloaded the thing for craps and giggles. But the premise though...

Dammit...

Closing the error prompt and right-clicking clicking on the shortcut, I set the properties of the executable file to run the program as Administrator. I didn't know why I even had to do this since I was the sole owner of my PC, but I can't declare myself knowledgeable on operating system jank to try and fix it anyway.

"Hopefully it works..."

Giving the game another shot at loading, I leaned my head on my hand again as the familiar black screen returned to haunt me with its vagueness. I guess it's chugging again, but-

*NOW LOADING...*

Progress? Well, I guess running the thing as Admin fixed whatever it was that's causing it to crash.

Time to wait then...

....

.....

Well then... I guess it's still chugging if it was taking this long.

A few minutes have passed since the loading screen showed up, and I haven't seen any sort of indication that it was even loading beyond the fact that the three dots at the end were blinking in and out of existence, signifying that it hadn't frozen up just yet. Why was this taking so long? I did read the system requirements for this thing, and I made sure that my rig could handle it before even clicking the download button.

"Piece of garbage..." Was this game just that poorly optimized?

I felt myself nodding off as I struggled to keep my eyes open for the boring loading screen. It didn't even bother having a token splash image for it too. It was just a black screen with the words 'Now Loading' on it. For every second that passed with this thing not booting up, I felt the urge to delete the game grow even higher. This was me actively wasting my time now, and I still had work tomorrow.

I sighed as I closed my eyes, "Maybe it'll be done loading by the time I wake up..."

I'll give it one more chance. I didn't want to imagine the fact that I wasted a whole evening downloading a broken game. If it ever crashed or froze again, then it's straight to the recycle bin with this game.

I let out one last yawn as I felt my consciousness slipping away from me. I'll give it some time to load. Maybe it'll be worth it...

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*Welcome, New Somatic*

Ughh... A voice?

*Please state your name*

Weird BGM playing... A somewhat sultry tone asking me to state my name...

Did the game load?

*Please state your name*

Opening my eyes to the sight of a large black and white box floating in front... of me.... Wait... What?

*Please state your name*

I quickly found myself looking around at my surroundings, noting the distinctly pitch-black color of pure nothingness. I couldn't even see what I was standing on!

*Please state your name*

My attention went back to the giant box in front of me. There was a blinking space below the words being uttered by the voice as if it was relegated for me to put my name in. I guess I should- wait... Wait a minute! Was this even happening?! Was any of this real?!

*Please state your name*

Looking at myself, I at least still had the clothes off my back, which were a standard t-shirt and pants combo. I had nothing on my hand, and nothing else beyond my own body. Was I even the same gender?!

Placing a hand on my- Oh... Okay... I honestly wouldn't have minded becoming the opposite sex, but it was still a comfort knowing that I was still a dude.

*Please state your name*

Calming myself down, I stared intently at the prompt box constantly telling me to state my name. I couldn't believe it... It's really happening, huh...

I got sucked into a game world for purely arbitrary reasons.

I don't know what game this was, but I'm adaptable if all else. I learn fast, and I sure as hell will abuse the ever-living crap out of whatever mechanics this game might hold.

"Heh.. Hahahaha..."

It's happening, boys! I'm gonna live a life of novelty and excitement! I'm not stupid enough to think that it'll be all sunshine and rainbows, but it beats working night shifts for subpar pay any day!

Placing a hand on the box, I tried to input my usual handle...

...

...

Ehh?

*Please state your name*

Wait, how am I supposed to do the input when there was nothing in terms of an analog for a keyboard or something? Huh...

*Please state your name*

I tried everything; typing on a mental keyboard, writing my name on the prompt, even tracing the letters with my fingers. Nothing happened. Maybe a verbal prompt?

"MoriyaMomiji."

I waited patiently as I uttered my handle. I could've used the ubiquitous one, but I was feeling rather nostalgic for this name.

So... Guess it's loading then?

...

...

*Please state your name*

"What?!"

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