When Julie and Alex realized I couldn’t read the music, they decided it was high time to teach me. And for one of the first times in my life I found that I wanted to learn something. The things guys will do for a girl. Or two. They taught me to study so much more than music too. History. Math. Science. They were straight-A students and they wanted me to be just as good. And I really didn’t want to fail their classes. I was so head over heals for them.
As virtual worlds became more widespread, some gamers began to attack newcomers, saying that they weren’t real gamers. Almost all virtual worlds were games back then after all. Interactive novels were the stuff of science fiction back then. Glasses were for correcting bad vision, not computer displays. It was a truly different world, where technology was becoming common. And many who had been apex technophiles did not appreciate losing what they thought made them special.
The fall of the Japanese Empire at the end of World War II setup conditions for the Korean War. The final peace treaty allowed Russia to occupy the northern parts of the country while United States forces occupied the south. Governments arose in both occupied zones that claimed to be the one true government. The socialist government in the north finally chose to march south and the southern forces were not powerful enough to hold. They were driven back nearly to the sea. The Korean War was nearly over in weeks.
Julie and Alex had learned to play by reading the notes but didn’t know the theory. I played by ear and always struggled to read the music. I’d always faked it good enough that most people didn’t notice. Even with them I covered it up for a while. They asked me join their music sessions after school and I successfully used the “ladies first” excuse to get them playing first so I could sync up with them. They still caught on though.
As some people decried corruption in the virtual world industry, others wished for a day before the industry went mainstream. When only highly-educated computer nerds could run the systems that ran the worlds, all worlds were designed for them. But as systems became cheaper and easier to run, the worlds would programmed for larger audiences. Some felt like as if the worlds were losing what made them great. It became a difficult time for the industry.