Lost in the Virtual World

1. Lost in the Virtual World By Mai Phan, Victor Guerra, and Darreon Phillips

2. Level 1: Got an Extra Life? Enter Kyle, our main character of this tale. According to the norms of society, Kyle is just your average Joe from a cross section of male teenagers. At least, that’s what his appearance dictates. Every day is the same for Kyle; he comes home from school, drops his few school supplies onto the floor of his room, neglects his homework, and logs straight onto to his online gaming account.

3. Level 2: The Dreams of Delusion! One Friday, on a particularly difficult level, food, sleep, and water have completely lost meaning to Kyle. After around twelve straight hours of gaming and trying to find the key or whatever it was he was trying to find, the world dissolves into black. Kyle blacks out and dreams insane dreams.

4. Level 3: A Peek at the Real World He wakes up the next morning, still in his school clothes and still in the living room. By the time Kyle had woken up, it had already been evening: he had been asleep for about twelve hours. He opened the door and stepped outside, neglecting to put on any shoes. The sun warmed his skin; the breeze tickled his face. As he padded across the soft grass on his lawn, he found the source of the noise that woke him up: children playing across the street from his house.

5. Level 4: Learning to Live The ball that the kids were playing with rolls across the street and at Kyle’s feet. “Hey guy! You wanna play?” they ask. “Uh, no, not really… look, I have some stuff to-” “Hey guys! We have an even number now! Let’s play dodge ball!” one kid shouts. Ugh… how’d I get sucked into this? ! “Come on, I’ve never seen you around before! You’re going to love dodge ball!” Puzzled, and possibly slightly pleased someone outside the gaming world noticed him, he followed the little boy.

6. Level 5: A Soul Gained, a Meaningful Life Lived Several months had passed since the kids across the street invited Kyle to play dodge ball. Since then, they’ve invited him across every Saturday afternoon. After school, Kyle and his new “homies” ride dirt bikes on the trail near the woods next to their neighborhood. Instead of playing videogames and online games all the time, Kyle now uses technology when he rides his dirt bike, when he researches information for a project, and when he’s connecting with his new friends on social networking sites.