MidReal Story
Virtual Thrills: SkydiveXR Secrets
Scenario: SkydiveXR
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“I don’t know,” I say, squinting at the VR booth in front of us.
I’m trying to keep my tone light, but I just can’t help it.
I’ve been burned by bad VR before, and it’s made me wary.
The last time I played a game, the graphics were worse than an Atari and the controller was sticky with god knows what.
I’m not eager to repeat that experience.
But Mia’s eyes are still wide and bright with excitement, and I know that my protests are just halfhearted.
She knows it too.
“Come on, Alex,” she says.
“It’s just for fun.
And it looks awesome in there.” She points back at the booth and the massive screen showing a virtual reality skydive.
What if we get stuck?”
I ask, unable to help myself.
What if the game has some horrible bug and we’re trapped in there forever?”
She rolls her eyes.
“Don’t be such a baby.It’s 2025, not 2010.”
I take a deep breath and remind myself that this is Mia.
Mia, who’s known me since we were five years old and has come on every crazy adventure I’ve ever dreamed up.
Mia, who’s also never led me wrong when it comes to exciting new experiences.
Mia, who happens to be the most impulsive person I know.
And all of that means there’s no way I’m talking her out of this.
“Fine,” I say, “but if things go wrong, it’s on you.”
She grins and grabs my hand, pulling me forward so quickly that I barely have time to get my balance before we’re standing in front of the booth.
The attendant grins at us as we approach and hands us two pairs of those weird looking goggles—though these are sleeker than the last ones I tried and seem to fit more comfortably over my head.
I adjust them until they’re snug and then glance back at Mia, who looks ready to jump out of her skin with excitement as she puts hers on too.
A voice says in my ear, and I glance around the booth for the source.
But I can’t see anything except for the attendant reading something on his tablet and the massive screen at the front of the room.
I glance over at Mia again and realize that she’s blinking her eyes rapidly, just like me, and it only takes a second to figure out what’s happening: we’re being transported into the game.
The second I realize this, a sense of vertigo comes over me—the kind I usually only feel when jumping off cliffs or from airplanes—and I have to remind myself that we’re still on solid ground as I gasp and grab onto Mia’s hand more tightly.
We’ve been sucked into a new world: a world of blue skies and fluffy white clouds above us, and green fields dotted with trees below us.
As we fall through the sky, I take a moment to appreciate how real everything looks; how much better this is than any game I’ve ever played before.
Then I remember where we are, and I have to laugh.
Because I’m basically describing a real skydive.
In other words, I’m here to play a simulation of falling through the air—and my first thought is that it looks too real.
I glance at Mia to find that she’s already laughing, and then I realize that I must have done something ridiculous with my face when I started freaking out.
I feel myself blushing as I fight back a smile.
Mia laughs even harder at that, and I can’t help but join in.
Her laughter is infectious, and being with her makes everything better.
She always knows how to make me feel better.
I glance at her again to find that she has tears in her eyes from laughing so hard, and that just makes me laugh even more.
We’re still laughing as we hit the ground—though, of course, it doesn’t hurt—and once we come to a stop, we take off our goggles and turn to each other.
“So,” I say, “what did you think?”
“That was amazing!”
Mia squeals, already bouncing on her toes with excitement again.
“Yeah,” I say, nodding.
“It was pretty cool.”
Mia narrows her eyes at me.
“You didn’t seem so sure at first,” she says.
“Just because you were scared doesn’t mean I was.”
She sticks her tongue out at me, and I grab it between my teeth, grinning as she giggles and tries to pull it back.
I hold on for a moment longer than necessary, just because I like seeing her smile, but eventually she pulls it free and grins at me again.
“Just admit it,” she says.
“It was awesome.”
I laugh again, because really, what else can I do?
We’re here for an hour of virtual reality skydiving—and, okay, maybe some other games too, if Mia has anything to say about it—and it’s not like I can just sit around being scared the whole time.
Mia’s not going to let that happen anyway.
Instead, I take a deep breath and try on a smile for size as I say, “All right, all right, it was awesome.”
I know, I know,” she says, still grinning.
“And you’ll see,” she adds.
“You’re going to end up having an amazing time by the end of the day.”
She punches my shoulder playfully as she says this, but I don’t mind.
She’s right: even if I’m not a huge fan of video games, I always have a great time when I’m with her.
And I’ve learned that I’ll do pretty much anything if it means getting to see Mia smile like that for a whole day.
“Come on,” she says.
Let’s go again!”
We take a few more turns on the game before moving on to some other VR experiences—Mia has to play at least three different shooting games, after all—and by the time we’re done with everything the hour has flown by.
As we exit the booth, Mia is practically buzzing with excitement as she turns to me with bright eyes and says, “So what did you think?”
“I told you,” I say with a grin.
