Creatrix

Chapter 24 - Collective Imagination

‘It feels so real doesn’t it? Creation I mean, all the characters, and when you’re touching things, even eating and emotions. Is it the same for you?’ Anika asked; she didn’t really know anyone else who played the game and hadn’t talked about it before. She was eager to know if it was this intense for him.

 ‘Well yeah, I guess. It’s so close to real life, even the magic feels real, and the kissing.’ He blushed and smiled.

‘So you’ve kissed people before then?’ Anika asked.

‘No, only you.’ He lied.

Charlie loved playing Creation; he was a skilled player and was animated when he talked about the game. He had convinced his mum to invest in lots of units and turn her tired tearoom into an exciting cyber café.

‘The reason it all seems so real is because of the AIR Unit, AIR stands for Amagdala Interactive Response. It’s designed to make everything seem as real as possible; it responds to your emotions and interacts with your sub-conscious mind.’ Charlie explained.

 ‘You mean the Lightcrystal?’

 ‘Well, yes. The Lightcrystal picks up what you are feeling from the finger sensors, but it’s more than that. The pod that you hold in your hand creates a vibration through your system that puts you into a trance state, and then it interacts, directly with your imagination, through the AIR unit. Creation is in your head. It’s just like dreaming.’

 ‘Yeah, I was told that when I was training, there were all these exercises I had to do, moving things using my thoughts and energy. But how do I see the same things that you do, I mean, where is the world? It can’t just be in my head.’ Anika reasoned. ‘It would be a different world for everyone who played.’

 ‘Well that’s why there’s a central server.’ He told her. ‘A seed map, if you like - connected through a satellite. There are basic territories and programmes to play, quests and games, but the experience and outcome of the game is different for everyone. Do you want some hot chocolate?’ he asked.

‘Yes please,’ she said, and he left the room. The game was supposed to be that real! Anika thought she’d made it like that because she was trying to escape in it, and thought she was crazy, pretending that it was more real than her real life. Charlie soon returned carrying two steaming cups. He put them on top of the boxes and they carried on talking about the game. Anika mentioned Dorchia and the darkness, but neither of them talked about what happened in there.

‘So what about when you get hurt in a fight? It’s not that painful, you get wounded, but it doesn’t hurt and it heals quickly. Why is that, if they wanted to make the game so real?’ She asked him.

 ‘They can’t make a game that hurts people, can they?’ he said, ‘Besides, it’s part of the game, in Creation it doesn’t hurt to die, you pray and you learn to heal quickly.’ He said.

 ‘And what about the other characters?’ she asked, ‘like the sorcerer, and Eve, and Lydia, are they all just imagined?’

 ‘I’m not sure; some of them are programmes, the characters in the quests. Non-Player Characters. Some of the villagers and town people are game regulators, but most of them just players like us.’ Charlie told her. ‘Some people think the NPC’s and a lot of the characters are all drawn out of us,’

 ‘What do you mean?’ she asked.

 ‘Well, people think that we mentally project some of the characters– we imagine them together. Making a kind of collective dream world.’

‘And what about these entities?’

‘I think we imagine them, we must do, if they are drawn by our fear.’