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Virtual Girls — Description

A problem ignored has a tendency to grow.

Original - www.deviantart.com/code-name-c…
Image - gamingtrend.com/wp-content/upl…

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Months after the convention hosted by Virtual Worlds Unlimited that introduced the optional hypnosis feature, their sales were skyrocketing. The hypnosis feature had proven to be very popular. Warnings about its potential dangers were still being made, even by people inside the company itself, but for the most part they were ignored by the general public. Such dangers were only theoretical and therefore could be ignored. However, even the most optimistic people at Virtual Worlds Unlimited knew it was only a matter of time before something happened.

The first set of incidents involved a game called Virtual Performers. The concept was simple. The users would pick their avatar from a set of virtual performers, modify it, and then perform with it. No competition was involved so few people expected anything to go wrong with it.

Quinn was a man in his twenties. He attended the convention and purchased the game Virtual Performers several months later. The first few hours went without incident. He picked out one of the girls whose look and style he liked and adjusted it to his liking. Once that was done, he created his own virtual performances that he one day hoped to show to other people.

Then Quinn discovered the hypnosis feature. Becoming the virtual girl was something he just had to try. As soon he turned it on he became overwhelmed by the massive sensations reaching every part of his body. When it was done, the computer showed "her" how much like the virtual girl "she" had become.

Quinn was unaware of the problem. Being the virtual girl, "she" gave a performance. The computer compared the performance to an ideal version of the performance and gave "her" a score. Quinn noted the score and did "her" best to improve. Once "she" was satisfied with the results "she" tried to leave.

Only then did Quinn find out something was wrong. His computer no longer recognized his body and therefore would not let him return to it. Attempt after attempt was unsuccessful. The computer said his body did not even exist. Horrified, he decided the best thing to do was stay in the virtual world in his virtual body and warn anyone he could.

Elsewhere in the world, a teenage boy named Marion was experiencing similar problems. He selected the virtual performer he wanted, adjusted the settings to his liking, and spent a considerable amount of time exploring the virtual world. It was only when he turned on the hypnosis feature that the problems began.

The rush of sensations caused him to temporarily lose his vision. When "she" could see again, all objects in the virtual world were the wrong color. Immediately "she" knew something was wrong. Like Quinn, Marion found out the computer no longer recognized his body.

Quinn and Marion attempted to contact customer service. There they met each other inside the virtual world in their virtual bodies. Since the computer no longer considered them actual human beings, it was difficult for them to contact anyone. Over time more and more people joined them.

That was when someone at Virtual Worlds Unlimited finally became aware of the problem. An emergency was declared. Computer programmers worked frantically to shut down the hypnosis device without causing any more problems than they already had. Virtual Performers had to be shut down for more than 12 hours while they determined what went wrong and repaired it as soon as possible. It was a disaster for everyone involved but it could have been much worse.

It was later determined that in both cases turning on the hypnosis device caused the users to lose consciousness. Their minds were still connected to the machine but their bodies were inactive and therefore unrecognized by the computer. Quinn was trapped in the machine for approximately 29 hours. Marion was trapped in the machine for approximately 16 hours.

The bug in the hypnosis program for Virtual Performers was discovered and immediately fixed. However, there was still the damage it caused to Quinn, Marion, and several others to a lesser degree. Many rumors about what happened quickly spread all over the world. Some of them were even worse than what actually happened.

Virtual Worlds Unlimited settled outside of court and offered both Quinn and Marion a large amount of money. Both of them accepted. Although some in the company genuinely did it out of a genuine sense of ethical responsibility, others did it to reduce the damage to their brand that such stories would inevitably cause.