Welcome to the year 2400
. Not much has changed, but virtual reality has replaced reality. The masses are addicted to their virtual reality glasses. And everyone has a pair. And if you don't, then you essentially don't exist. Because everyone, everywhere is in Neverland.
How did this happen, you might ask?
I'll tell you how. My name is Lorel. Yeah, I'm addicted to virtual reality, so what? Everyone does it. It's not any worse than all those kids who were addicted to smartphones in the early 2000s. We used to learn in middle school about those hideous bulky glasses Samsung and other tech companies used to sell. They're not like that anymore, as you can see. Now they're fashionable, and light-weight. Okay, here's a brief timeline on how we got here.
Back in 2050...
Virtual reality glasses became widely popular. At first, people were doing it for fun. Using them for a quick "VR Break" during work, or only testing them out at malls and what not. But once they became so sleek, comfortable, and available, things started to change. It happened after Apple stepped into the market and made virtual reality glasses that were as dominant as iPhones once were (they used to call those "iGlasses"). Then, Google, Facebook, and other huge tech companies entered the market, mass producing glasses, which in turn became so cheap that just about anyone could buy a pair.
2100-2200
Here's when sh** really start to hit the fan. For a brief while, smartphones and virtual reality glasses coexisted. But people became bored of cellphones. They needed more interaction, more excitement, more screen time. People turned to other ways to escape reality and find solace in technology. Cue virtual reality glasses.
It was somewhere around the year 2150 that Neverland was created, and 2167 when Neverland Identities (NIs) were formed, which you'll hear more about soon. What you really need to know is that people took their NIs more seriously than their actual living, breathing bodies. We are obssesed with being the perfect versions of ourselves, and in Neverland, we can be. Now do you get the worldwide addiction?
Jump to 2350...
At this point, VR glasses were so important to people on Earth that they had become a necessity, like water. NIs and the realms in Neverland had been around for centuries now, and they were so popular and civilized that you were considered crazy (actually, mentally crazy), if you did not go to Neverland (there's only about 10,000 people on Earth who don't... no one knows what they do).
Anyways, between these years is when cities began to emerge in all the different realms of Neverland, and people became so invested in being in and building the realms, that they started spending their entire days with their glasses on.
You wanna know what we do in Neverland?
Let's find out
Once you slip on your glasses and click the small button, your mind is transported to Neverland, while your body remains on Earth.
Neverland consists of many different "realms" and in each, many different experiences. Once you're there, you're given the options of where you would like to go. Here are some of the choices you'd see:
Are you asking yourself, "what's so great about about this place?"?
Well, here's the thing. There's really no such thing as an identity in Neverland. Basically, you can be whoever and whatever you want. The only thing is, once you choose who and what you want to be, you can't change it. Still, your sex, class, and background carry absolutely no meaning here. It still exists, but nobody cares. Once you enter the world, you leave it all behind, and you appear as a kind of "silhouette." For example:
Now you're asking, "what do these people actually do?" Aren't you?
Depending on what realm you are in, you can do various things. For example, if you are in Cosmo Land, you can explore the galaxies and the different planets that constitute the universe, including the cosmos, the milkyway, and so on. Basically, you can go to all the places that those people back on Earth never figured out how to get to.
Going to Cosmo Land is definitely my favorite. There are cities connecting the entire universe, and we never run out of fun things to do. Here's what one city looks like. It's called "Universe City." (Named after something called "universities" people used to apparently go to?)
I mean, how could you stay on Earth and live such a boring life when you can "be" in a world like this...? Cosmo Land is a place for young NIs like myself. There's awesome clubs where we can go out and have a good time and meet new identities.
Do you get it now?
After reading about all of the places and possibilites you can experience in Neverland, do you get it? Do you understand our mass addiction? Do you really think you would be strong enought to abstain from using your pair? I mean we get them the day we are born. It's tradition at this point. And there's nothing, absolutely nothing you can do about it.
Well...
Thanks for reading my story, and I hope you are understanding of us...and if you're not, believe me, soon you will be. Enough of that, I gotta go before the door to Cosmo Land closes for the day.
Sincerely,
