«Wonderful event. I'm looking forward to seeing the full version of this game. Is there something wrong, Mr. Blake?»
«All fine. I was just wondering... how long it would take for my system to blow up, can yours handle all these assets and textures?»
«Yup, latest generation. I built it some months ago. But would you look at that!»
The wide background of the stage in front of us started to flash before displaying the game's logo. Testing? A glitch? I had no idea.
Suddenly, out of nowhere a silver-haired, silver-clad, silver-faced, silver everything female avatar materialized onto the stage. Her white irises frightened me, and her movements were too mechanical to resemble a human being. I noticed a small stone embedded in her forehead, after taking a quick glance around I recalled that no such thing was present in the avatar creation screen and concluded that she was an AI. She spoke with an apathetic and metallic tone to the audience:
«Good evening testers, and welcome to the world of Albatross Online. We're glad to have you here. To celebrate this event, the development team is going to offer you a brief taste of all the features we've added in this release. As you know, the users who took part to the previous testing period gained access to the alpha build by making a small donation for the development of the game. Those who have supported the game in its early stages will receive exclusive bonuses in the final release. Everything you'll see during this performance will be available in the current build and in the final release. Once the testing period is over, your game will be automatically updated to the full-version. Now, without further ado, I present you the lead programmer of the Albatross Project!
She took a quick bow, then faded away only to be replaced by another more masculine figure in a silver tuxedo.  At the same time a female figure with a red V-neck dress appeared in the farthest corner on the left and trotted toward the stage. I must say, that was one hell of a hilarious gait: she advanced thrusting her knee to form a triangular angle and stomping her foot on the ground, swung her right leg, forward and backward twice, threw her leg backwards in a circular motion and then extended it as far as she could, she repeated the performance, increasing the speed each time. Was she even human? She jumped straight into the backdrop, when she fell down her model sank through the floor, then materialized onto the stage and stood still with a blank expression.
A general laughter arose, they were all in stitches.
«Will you quit dicking around? Why are you using a female avatar?» The tall, manly-looking figure called Ace reprimanded the «woman» who replied in a deep voice belonging to a man.
«Well, Ace, I wanted to try out the full-body tracking of this baby with a classic, and so far it looks like it is doing a fine job!»
«How do you explain the latter? Forgot to change your avatar?»
«Oh, no, man. Don't you know that playing as the opposite gender is all the rage now? Come on, let me have fun!»
«Well, you can have fun later! Look what you've done, are you going to tell them that sinking through the floor will be an available feature in the final game?»
«Seems like an idea to me.»
«Alright, alright... it's no use crying over spilled milk. My name is Ace, and this funny guy, as much as it's hard to believe, is the co-leader of the project, his name's Faber. We're delighted to be on stage for the first time. Are you ready to begin?»
For a moment I had almost mistaken the place for my local circus, but dear old man had a flair for containing the situation. They went on listing their stupid bug fixes, minor changes and blah blah blah. I'll spare you the pain and hit the highlights.
They bided their time, but at least I believed it was worth the wait when they announced the important stuff:
«The previous build has achieved a resounding success, and we're all grateful for your support... however, this time we've got big surprises in store for you. One of the things that often fails to meet people's expectations in virtual reality is physics. Many of you have experienced what it feels like to be immersed in a virtual world and have asked yourselves «wouldn't it be stunning if the objects I picked up would have an impact on the environment?» Well, tonight your question will be answered, because we have created the most realistic physics system ever developed in the history of massively multiplayer virtual reality games. You may give a shot at it right now, grab your glasses or whatever you find around and throw them at this dude next to me. Take aim, because if you hit me, you're getting the ban hammer! Just kidding. Go on, try it.»
A water glass went flying, hitting «Faber» right in the head, then the ground, shattering itself into countless pieces as the victim cried «ouch!»
«Don't worry, he can't feel pain, I wish he could, but he can't.»
Ace pointed at the shattered glass and lifted his finger up. Within a half-second the object magically fixed himself. He made a gesture with his finger as if selecting something from a drop-down menu and the glass filled itself with water. After messing around with his tricks he pretended to drink from it and the water ran out of the glass... into his mouth! His face splitting into a smile, he turned the glass upside down and all the water spilled on the floor, then pointed to the mess and drew a cross with his finger over it, and everyone witnessed the liquid turning into air. A round of applause ensued. Afterwards, he addressed to the audience again:
«Well, is that all you've got?»
I saw another person throwing a balloon, which was obviously caught by the female figures' hands, she opened her mouth in awe:
«Oooh, perfect timing. What do we have here? Where did you find this?»
She squeezed it with both his hands, the crowd gasping, then sank her nails into the balloon and boom! The remains of the balloon scattered around the stage.
«Never mind, it's gone!»
In that moment, Ace flashed a smile and voiced his thoughts
«Now here's the icing on the cake!»
He produced a piece of paper, wrote on it with his fingers, then folded it into a paper airplane.
«See this? Whoever catches this will be rewarded with an exclusive in-game item.»
He threw it in a straight line, the small plane swiftly altered its course, gliding around the hall and descending as lightly as a feather. Before landing on someone's table, everyone stood up to catch it. People were ready to come to blows! Just a couple of centimeters above a table, someone desperately tried to catch it, but instead sent it flying high on the left side, then landed on the floor, behind the fellow, as if some extremely annoying person manipulated the threads of fate.
The crowd rushed towards us like a bunch of raging bulls.
I knew I'd catch everyone's eye, so I didn't even lift a finger and plainly let the fellow win.
«Go on, you can have it.»
Oddly enough I didn't expect his reaction, not in the slightest
«Thanks a million, pal!»
He stood up and dashed with the speed of light a moment before everyone else managed to arrive and picked up the paper, then slowly unfolded it.
Everyone stood bewildered. Was the stupid piece of paper seriously a matter of life and death? With people you can never tell.
Anyway, ol' Ace darted a nonplussed glance at him, beckoning him with his finger and with his authoritative voice.
«Come forward, kid.»
As soon as the fellow took a step, his model disappeared and materialized onto the stage. The old man abruptly posed him a question:
«Anything you'd like to say to those partaking in this event?»
Poor guy, didn't seem like he was having a good time at all. He struggled with stuttering and shook as though he ran into Death herself
In the end, the question went unanswered and the gramp had to break the silence
«Well, it appears our winner is quite the introvert type! But keep your cool, speaking in public is unimaginably difficult for everyone.»
Ace snapped his fingers and a gray, hideous and uncanny egg appeared in the air.
«Take it, it's yours.»
The item disappeared as soon as the fellow laid his finger on it with a puzzled expression. He was taken aback, and hardly uttered any sound. The old man reassured him:
«Don't sweat it. The item has been stored in your personal inventory. You may take it out any time you wish.»
In return, the fellow mustered up the courage to respond, but to my great disappointment he merely muttered a sincere «I appreciate it» and re-spawned next to me.
Ace moved on as quickly as a flash and directed his attention back to the crowd:
«Any questions?»
Someone raised her hand and began asking questions and then another raised their hand and then another and another and so on. What a pain in the ass.
While the Q&A session took place I grabbed the chance to talk to the fellow:
«So, what do you think about your reward?»
He looked at me with a dull expression, perhaps still ashamed about before and gave me a half-assed reply
«I don't know, it's sort of... strange. Sends shivers down my spine.»
«May I see it?»
«Sure thing.»
He brought up his inventory and showed me the eerie object.
I looked the egg over and noticed something rather unsettling: bloodshot vermilion eyes on all sides. Staring at you, watching your every move, peering in the depths of your soul... they blinked! I spaced out for a while wondering what sort of spawn of the devil would come out of it, then Faber's words snapped me back to reality
«Starting from tomorrow, you'll be able to set out on a journey through the latest version of our extraordinary open world maps. We will notify you via mail when the update will be ready for everyone to download. Thank you so much for joining us. Have a nice evening.»
Another round of applause. With the end of the event almost everyone logged out of their accounts. Some engaged in small talk or shared one another's their opinion on the game, exchanging friend requests and feeling delighted about meeting new people from all over the world.
As far as I was concerned, I didn't feel any better. Something was definitely fishy and I couldn't wait to find out what. Hell, I'm so curious I'd walk into a mine field all on my own to see what would be hidden across it. It's in my veins, I can't help it.
I added the guy to my friend list, but I still wondered whether he'd come back tomorrow. He looked slightly weary and his voice conveyed a feeling of distress
«Well, if you don't mind I need to go now.»
There still was something I needed to know though
«Hold on, did you read what was written on it, on the paper?»
«I'm sorry, I can't remember.»
«Jeez, are you kidding me?»
«I really can't.»
«I see... fine, will you log in again tomorrow?»
«You can count on it. I'll see you later, cheerio!»