Full Immersion [for what it's worth]

>Is this like the hunger games? Because I would hate that.

>"What the hell am I supposed to do?"

"I keep hearing this..buzzing in my head at times. I barely even notice it if I'm not paying attention. I thought it was voices at first, but I don't know now. I know I can..feel..words being said somewhere."
"Ah, that would be the Input. Beings of your race from another dimension are supposed to advise you and the other players as an added layer of help and complexity. Most players are not aware of Input, and cannot even perceive it once it has been pointed out."
"Uh-huh..that seems like kind of a convoluted way of helping."
"I confess this program was not originally built for the purpose it is being used. It was originally a mode of fun..well, it still is actually. But it is also used for this now."

"Okay, well, I remember basically what was said on the ship before you guys put us in those pod things, but it was really vague. What exactly are we supposed to be doing here?"
"Well..to put it as simply as I can, your planetary cultures is being tested, and the group brought on-board, yourself included, are a very important part of the test. I clarify that while the part played by those brought onboard is important, the fate of your people is not solely your responsibility. All the same, you should certainly attmept to win the game."
"And..how do we do that?"
He holds his hands palm-up. "That I do not know. The software we are running was not originally designed with a win condition. Rather..whether you have won or not is decided by people, not this machine. And they change the requirements each time based on what is known of extant culture. Also, it would be unfair extreme for them to have told me how you win, as I am helping."
"So, you're not just gonna tell us what we're supposed to do and leave, then?"
"That is not my plan. Honestly, allowing one of our kind to help a people is unusual, but allowed under certain conditions when one truly wishes to be that helper.

"...I confess there is something I require help with, however, in order for me to properly help you and yours."
"And what is that?"
"Do you recall in the room of pods, there was one that was..preoccupied?"
"You mean occupied..already taken?" The green elf nods. "Yeah. I saw them."
"That was a member of the last people we tested using the system on this ship. They are not supposed to still be there. In exchange for being allowed to help your species, I am to get them out."
"You can't just turn off the system or something?"
"Sadly no. Aah..this system runs like a dream you are having. It is connected to the sleeping of the player's mind. When one willingly quits or dies in this world, the connection is safely severed, but attempting to do so otherwise, with the way one's mind is entangled with the system, will have unpredictable and not likely pleasant results. We had to retrofit the version of this program adjusted to your kind on top of the existing system. To the player still here it was as if the world shrunk to a void with only them in it, and then expanded back out into a different world. Honestly, it was thought that experience alone would be sufficient for them to quit."

"So..why would someone stay in this game for so long anyway?"
"Aaah...the current suspicion, or fear, is that they believe they can still win the game somehow. The fact is that every player other than that one was..highly hostile to the other, and ultimately all killed each other not very long in. They were the sole, and unsuccessful, peacemaker in the group. But their race failed for entirely unrelated reasons. Even had those brought into the ship been cooperative and successful, reorganization would still necessary."

>