Adventures in Neoscape

[Arc Mercer]

Neoscape. 

Arc's home away from home. The teen had spent many hours immersed, his blue haired avatar a familiar sight. It was no surprise that he was here, rather than at any of the events going on around Lumen City, the Neoscape event was just the sort of thing that he was interested in. Sure, he had plans to meet up with some of his friends at the main stage, but that was later. Right now, he had the festival here to explore. 

He was impressed with everything that was involved with the anniversary event, and Arc couldn't wait to explore all of the options. Neoscape had been around since before he was born, and getting to see all of the history behind it, that was incredible. It reminded him exactly why he wanted to study technology, why he liked being a part of the Neoscape family. There was always something to do or learn. And this was no different. Except maybe that he knew just what he wanted to start with. 

The games. 

He was pretty excited about them, getting to see games from all of the years of Neoscape's history, seeing how the graphics and techniques changed throughout the years. As far as Arc was concerned, he was one of the perfect people to appreciate the setup, as he played a wide variety of games, and wasn't really picky about genres. As long as the games were fun, that was all he cared about. 

The area for the games wasn't too busy, not yet, but Arc expected that the crowds of people would ebb and flow as people popped in and out. He glanced around, and then, with a bit of a grin, said, "Now for the hard question, do I want to start at the beginning?"

[Nanako Uehara]

Nanako was grateful that Neoscape's 25th Anniversary Toast was being held at the same time as the Lumen City Expo. To the average person, that meant being able to watch the festivities even if they couldn't get to Lumen City itself thanks to fleets of drones capturing up-close views of the action. And hey, being able to join a little festival of their own wasn't half-bad, either. But to Nanako (and possibly others like her), it meant not feeling left out of the fun despite, say, anxiety issues. The exhibitions and tech demos all sounded neat and all, but the thought of having to navigate crowds and, God forbid, talk to strangers made her want to hide in a hole somewhere.

Being online made all that easier. People didn't know who she really was, and if things got too intense for her, she could always just log off. Even in the worst-case scenarios, she could always invent a new online persona and start anew without worrying about whatever baggage she had left behind. But that hadn't been a problem yet. Another advantage of being online was that it was easier to find spaces with people who shared common interests with her. People in the real world were too unpredictable in their tastes and attitudes, which usually didn't line up with Nanako's, anyway. But here? If someone was hanging out in a forum for a certain game, they probably liked that game (that or they were a troll, but those were usually easy enough to snuff out). It didn't matter how niche or weird it was—if it existed, there was some online space for it, and Nanako could safely exist and enjoy herself there.

And today? She fully intended to enjoy as much of the anniversary event as her anxiety would let her.

The best place to start was the Game Grid, where games from Neoscape's earliest days had been reopened for modern users to explore and enjoy. Nanako felt like she had been born into the right era, when games' Neoscape integration was at its best, but it was still interesting to look into the old days and see how things had started. Plus, it meant more games for Nanako to play, even if they probably did have clunky interfaces and outdated graphics.

Luckily, it wasn't too busy just yet. But Nanako knew that could change at a moment's notice, so she had to hurry before the game servers got too crowded. She navigated her cat-girl avatar, dressed in commemorative decor for the anniversary event, through the game hub, looking for two things: a game to start with and, maybe, a sign of someone she knew. Playing games with friends was always fun, but Nanako was far too shy to actually ask others to play with her, so she just kind of hoped she'd run into someone she was comfortable with. Maybe Click would be here today. The little turtle avatar did always love music games, and Nanako was pretty sure there was some old online rhythm game somewhere here...

Someone else seemed to be having trouble deciding what to play first. She glanced over at a blue-haired avatar as he asked himself if he wanted to start from the beginning. The beginning, huh? It would be interesting to see how Neoscape gaming evolved from its inception. "But that would take a while..." She didn't even realize she'd spoken that last part out loud.

Finn Torres

[Finn Torres]

Everyone had their own reasons for coming to Neoscape's 25th anniversary celebration. Some were diehards, using the service since they were old enough to slap on a VR headset. Whether thinking it was a full-on replacement for all their internet needs, or just thinking it was the best spot for gaming and chatting in a virtual space, they were the same faces behind the same avatars showing up day in and day out. Others were there for a quick hit of nostalgia. Maybe they hadn't logged in since they were kids, or just wanted to know what all this chatter about Nesocape meant, but they were diping their toes back into the weird, wonderful world of virtual reality for the first time. Still others just didn't have anything better to do that day. The shy, the busy, the homebound, and even the terminally bored needed something to do with their night, apart from the hustle and bustle of the Lumen City Expo. Whether stealing an up close view from the main plaza, or just keeping to their own entertainment, they were here to stake their own claim on the night. Whatever one's reasons were, Neoscape's servers buzzed with more activity tonight than they had in years.

And maintaining it all, among others, was one determined code monkey.

Finn laid back on his bed, his feet propped up, a pair of smart glasses resting on his forehead, and a small, holographic ball sitting in the space in front of him. Projected from the ball were dozens of screens, floating in the air and surrounding him on all sides. To outside onlookers, it may have looked like Finn was locked in a cage of lights and sound. Yet, as far as Finn was concerned, he was in his element. The best part about being a community manager was that, barring an all-hands-on-deck catastrophe, he could just spend the day socializing, observing, and nuking trolls from orbit. On his many monitors were screens from every part of Neoscape, from the main Forum to the various virtual hotspots to the shadowy outskirts that players had long thought were abandoned. He was the all-seeing eye and the all-speaking voice of the server, and he could do it all from the comfort of his bed. Hell of a job, right?

Yet that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy himself as well. All work and no play made Finn a dull boy, and he wouldn't be a very good community manager if he wasn't engaging with the community in turn. For that reason, he'd added a third feather to the hat of his job description tonight; community manager, code monkey, and 25th anniversary DJ. He called his many screens up one by one, zooming in on them and enabling their audio to see if he could find some good material to work with. A few peeks in, he found something he could work with; two people debating on the merits of trying out the service's games from the very beginning.

"Lotta time? Maybe. But, hell, the night's still young," Finn said, his voice echoing around where the others had assembled in the game grid. " 'Sides, not like you're gonna get a lot of other chances to check out some of these oldies. Even I don't have the clearance to poke around on the 2025s too often!" Shit. That was some good forbidden fruit. Maybe Finn'd come along on this journey, too. Wait, did he just tempt himself? God damnit.

Ah well. Again, all work and no play. And seeing some of the old code base could totally give him some good ideas on how to improve the service. Maybe he could even whip up some plans for a remake or two. Briefly, he shifted his focus from the assembled duo to the server at large. "Hey, everyone, this is your comm-rep speaking. While we're all checking out the past, why don't we take a portal real far back?" he asked. As he spoke in the game, he called up a small projected screen from his prosthetic arm out of game. With his spare hand, he began fiddling with a few buttons and sliders on the holo-screen, tossing together a 25-year long playlist. "A song from every year, from the beginning to today. Now let's kick things off with a real oldie." With a snap of Finn's prosthetic fingers, the screen disappeared and the playlist kicked into action. What to our readers would seem like a perfectly modern 2020s pop-punk song began playing throughout the 'Scape, surely seeming quite dated by their 25-year-later music tastes. But, hey. The datedness was the point.

With that, Finn turned his focus back to the duo he had spoken with. He was a hell of a multitasker, and that playlist would buy him more than enough time to get his game on.

Arc Mercer

[Nanako Uehara]

Nanako flinched and even let out a little throat squeak at the echoing voice of a community manager in the air. For a moment, she was tense with the worry that she was in trouble for something. But the CM's voice was relaxed and conversational, and oh heck, Nanako had said that last part out loud. Even in the confines of the virtual world, Nanako felt herself blush. "R-Right," she stammered out. When would she get the chance to play these games again? Even if she scoured the shadier corners of the internet, it'd be hard to find them, given that they were hosted on Neoscape's own servers. But would it be possible to play them all in one night? Oh boy, here came the FOMO...

She was pulled out of her anxious thoughts by the CM's voice again, this time addressing the server at large. He announced a playlist with a song from every year since Neoscape's inception and began with a retro pop-punk song. Nanako didn't recognize it, but that was to be expected. The part that really mattered was that it added to the nostalgic atmosphere.

"Cool," she whispered.

"Yo, sweet beat!"

Nanako spun toward the familiar voice to see the turtle avatar she'd been hoping would show up. "Oh, Click! Hey." Nanako was still surprised that he'd snagged that screen name without having to use any numbers, underscores, and/or x's.

"What's up, Nyaneko? It's a real party here tonight, huh?"

"Uh-huh..." She shuffled closer to her friend, hands bunched up at her chest, as if that would keep her heart from beating nervously out of it. Crowds and parties weren't exactly her thing, but staying close to a friend would make those easier to deal with.

Click didn't seem to mind, at least. "So what're we playin'?"

"Umm..." Nanako glanced toward where that blue-haired boy had been, only to find him gone. "Maybe... one of the first ever games?"

"Sounds fun!" Click smiled up at her from beneath his helmet. His avatar's design was really interesting: a mix of a mouse and a turtle with a bit of army thrown in. Maybe he was into milsims? Nanako would have to ask about that sometime.

Nanako smiled back. "Okay." She turned back to the games portal to find something that caught her eye.

Finn Torres

[tsukistar]

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