On Earth, inside a research institute with a certain level of confidentiality, a mysterious email was sent to Senior Researcher Li Shen's personal email inbox.
He stopped his work on designing the new generation of spacecraft and looked towards the bottom right corner of the screen.
【Congratulations! You have obtained the first batch of internal testing qualifications for the game Xing Hai. This is a highly free, fully open game that uses consciousness body access technology and is themed around space colonization. The game device will be mailed to you shortly, wish you a pleasant game!】
"Whoa! Has today's spam emails' technical capability already gotten this high?"
Li Shen pushed up his glasses and sighed genuinely.
The firewall of this research institute is not something that any random cat or dog can break through.
As for the content of the email, he didn't take it to heart at all, completely treating it as a low-level scam.
One must know that the applied research of brain-computer interfaces has only emerged in recent years, and even now it is still unable to stably acquire brainwave signals.
Connecting human consciousness into a game? It's completely a science fiction story!
However, having said that, the four words "space colonization" were enough to pique his interest.
Li Shen had also played many games of similar themes; they were either not realistic enough in details, or not high enough in freedom, or the process was too short, all were difficult for him to be satisfied with.
The only one placed with high hopes, star citizen, seeing its development time exceed 10 years, the game entering version 4.0, is still just a half-finished product.
The official version is nowhere in sight.
If there really was that kind of space-themed game mentioned in the email, let alone being chosen as a free internal test participant, even if it cost a lot of money, Li Shen would also be willing to experience it.
As a Senior Researcher, his salary was quite high.
"Speaking of which, if this is a scam email, isn't something missing?"
Looking at the email that lacked a jump link, Li Shen was puzzled for half a second.
"Forget it, maybe the scammer just forgot, let's continue working!"
...
A few hours later, in another city 700 kilometers away.
Zhao Kai also received the same email.
Consciousness body access technology.
Staring at these words in the email, he was a bit stunned.
During an overseas peacekeeping mission three years ago, Zhao Kai performed bravely and made a great contribution, but he was hit by a shrapnel piece, suffered severe injuries, was paralyzed from the waist down, and had to retire early, returning to his hometown.
Since then, Zhao Kai's life changed.
Although he actively followed the psychologist's advice, developed many hobbies including gaming, and regained confidence in life, that sense of emptiness and loss could not be compensated for.
"Even if it's all fake, to be able to run again, to be able to touch a gun again, to be able to prove that I am a useful person, that would be great..."
It's just a pity, this is impossible.
Although he wasn't a scientist, Zhao Kai would read the news every day.
He knew very well that this level of technology, this kind of fully simulated game, would probably not exist even in another 20 years.
The doorbell rang.
"1102, you have a delivery!"
What was delivered was a small box; after opening it, inside was a piece of silver-white metal the size of an earphone case and a manual.
There were only two lines of text on the manual.
"Xing Hai Dedicated Terminal Device"
"Please place this device on your temple and follow the subsequent prompts to complete character creation and login, wish you a pleasant game~"
...
"Click it open and see!"
"That's right, streamer, click it open and see."
Under the gaze of nearly ten thousand live viewers, Yang Rui, a gaming streamer with the online name "Jin Yi Ye Xing", clicked open the "spam email" he had just received.
"Oh, a space-themed game~"
This is worth talking about.
"Let's just assume it really exists for now. Open-world games of this theme are actually the hardest to make, have the highest chance of failing, and are most likely to die suddenly."
He said to the live camera.
"The word 'space' easily gives players an imagination, making you feel this game is grand and wonderful! Making you think you can land on many planets, visit all kinds of cities, appreciate all kinds of beautiful scenery, experience all kinds of wonderful characters and stories, and also experience magnificent interstellar wars, future technology without limits, and so on and so forth..."
"But in reality, to truly create this content, the amount of work required is unimaginable."
"Let alone those small studios with less than 100 people, even large game companies with thousands of employees, wanting to create a planet with sufficient playable density, would also require at least several years of effort."
"In the end, basically all space games have the shortcomings of being grand but empty, and petty, and in the end can only barely make do with constantly copied and pasted game scenes or procedurally generated garbage content, making players constantly repeat monotonous game content."
When saying these words, in Jin Yi Ye Xing's heart, he was actually a bit disappointed that something couldn't live up to expectations.
A highly realistic open-world universe game, who wouldn't want to play?
I want to play too!
The star sea, that is humanity's ultimate dream.
Unfortunately, the developers are not capable enough.
Regarding his view, the vast majority of bullet comments expressed agreement.
"That's right."
"Ah, so sad, I feel like I won't be able to play a game like this in this lifetime."
"If only I could be born 50 years later."
"Feels like you're hinting at Starfield, 【manual dog head emoji】."
"Super Xiao Tao: Please turn on your microphone to communicate!"
"Tao Da Pao's famous quote: Space is not empty, is it possible that it's full of amusement parks?"
"Starfield is the weakest of the weak! Speaking of which, is star citizen the best space simulation game in terms of details right now?"
"That one... let's wait until the official version is released before talking about it."
The discussion became increasingly heated, Jin Yi Ye Xing was just about to say something more when the doorbell rang.
"Wait a moment, I'll go get a delivery."
Shortly after, Jin Yi Ye Xing, holding the delivery box, returned to the live camera.
"Guys, I... I seem to have received the device sent by the game development company!"
This matter was hard to explain, because he had never left his address with the game company at all, and even receiving the email was only five minutes ago!
"Holy crap, are they serious?"
At this moment, the live stream room exploded.
"Is there really a fully simulated game? It wouldn't be the kind of helmet from Sword Art Online in the box, right? That's not right, this size, it can't fit..."
"It should be a script, the streamer is clearly putting on a show."
"Yeah, it's a script at a glance, this plot is a bit old."
Jin Yi Ye Xing opened the package and read out the words on the manual.
"Xing Hai Dedicated Terminal Device"
Seeing that "game console" that was only the size of an earphone case and no more than one centimeter thick, the bullet comment army completely lost it.
"Wow, it looks like a truly advanced device (emotionless)."
"Should I cooperate with the streamer and shout awesome? Should I? Should I not?"
"Please, at least make the acting a bit more convincing..."
"This is just a piece of metal!"
The extremely curious Jin Yi Ye Xing didn't pay attention to them; following the manual, he placed the device on his temple and found that it actually automatically adhered to his skin.
Immediately after, subtitles appeared out of thin air.
【Starting character creation, please customize your character's body shape and appearance, or directly scan your own physiological features to use in the game; note, a larger body shape means a higher starting Strength attribute and a lower Agility attribute.】
【The character's six main attributes are Strength, Agility, Constitution, Spirit, Perception, and Intelligence】
【During the game process, there is no need for manual allocation of points, attributes will automatically increase based on daily behavior preferences, combined with the professional sequence.】
【After character creation is completed, wait another 24 hours, and you can log in to the game, wish you a pleasant game!】
No way...
Astonished.
Without using a screen or projection, directly displaying images on the retina, is this Earth's technology?!
【Please select a professional sequence, currently open professional sequences: Soldier, Scholar, Investigator】
【Soldiers gain more experience from combat, prioritizing the increase of Strength and Agility when leveling up】
【Scholars gain more experience from research and decryption, prioritizing the increase of Spirit and Intelligence when leveling up】
【Investigators gain more experience from exploration and collection, prioritizing the increase of Constitution and Perception when leveling up】