Iruna Online VRMMORPG

Prologue : This Is Where We Begin

Such a small, feeble piece of plastic. As seconds pass by, I tap my nails against it—the game chip in my hand.

It's been six years since I've laid eyes upon this game. Iruna Online, a simple role playing game I began to play when I was twelve. At the time, it was only out on mobile devices, but it was decently popular.

It released internationally a year later, its original lease in Japan. The western audience was lucky because of this, and received a lot of tips and help from previous players. By the time I began playing, it already had amassed over three million downloads worldwide. It isn't a lot on paper, but the world of video games was different back then.

Those days were one of the happiest times of my life. The golden days of Iruna. At the time, it was a very kind and active community. Servers were nearly full (especially Specia, most commonly used for trading), higher level players going around and guiding the newcomers, supportive and lively guilds—everything was perfect.

However, I left Iruna when it began to change. After five years of playing, I noticed changes. As the gaming world evolved, Iruna was easily labeled as an outdated RPG. Eventually, around 90% of the game revolved around Spina, the currency of Iruna. The five servers made specifically to handle the game's growing popularity emptied in no time, bots and experienced players scamming the oblivious for millions of Spina, as well as new players joining just to get good equipment and levels from the desperate old players. The comforting and easygoing relationship between older and new players changed. One of Iruna's strongest qualities was the community it built. But in the end, no one wants to play a mass multiplayer game with a sad and dying community.

It was no longer the Iruna me and my cousin knew and loved. So I left.

So on a sunny afternoon, surprise fluttered in my chest when I saw it included as one of the many VRMMOs being sold at the local Game Store. I had my doubts. But my memories of early Iruna were nothing but fond. Why not give it a shot?

Now almost twenty-four, I lived by myself in a small apartment studio. I worked as a freelance artist and a bartender. My salaries combined, I make around $40k a year. In my opinion, that's livable as a single woman. As long as I could survive and do what I loved, I was happy.

My cousin is a college student who part times as a librarian. She's younger than me by one year, my little cousin, Velvet.

We've been close ever since we were toddlers. Well, I thought we got along fine, but she says otherwise (claiming I always chased her and pulled her hair when I was three, something I never remember but to each their own). As time passed, we grew a bit distant but we always kept in contact. I still freshly remember her peaky voice littered with excitement when I brought up Iruna again last week.

She got a head start and went into it two days ago, and told me it's pretty nice. The community is reminiscent of the old days, since the whole game reset to transfer to VR. Of course I expected similarly, since even though the original mapping was 3D, a pixelated fantasy world doesn't mix well with something that's supposed to mix with reality.

We agreed a time and place to meet up, and now I'm finally trying it for the first time.

Fiddling with the game chip, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. I missed the old times, the friends I've lost and will likely never meet again. I wonder if things had truly gone back to those times.

Exhaling a sigh, I pushed the game chip into the VR helmet, the tab locking it in place. Rechecking to make sure the set up was perfect, I slowly put on the ViRea Helmet. My vision was immediately clouded a darker shade by the tinted screen of the helm, a quiet beep pulsing near my ear as the headgear powered on.