Quest!

Hold a conversation with a woman face-to-face!

Restrictions: In-person. Non-VR generated. Unpaid interaction.

Difficulty: Variable

Reward: Access to electronics and internet

Zack studied the notification as he rode down the elevator. After a few moments’ thought, he had decided to find a woman at the building’s fitness center. That should be easy enough. Find someone. Talk about the weather or something. Get back to his life.

He pushed the door open and scanned the fitness room. Men and women of all ages were scattered around the gym, using the various types of fitness equipment. Most of them wore sleek workout outfits along with customized armbands to measure their performance and offer suggestions for improvements.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then DaEvo flashed a few pink hearts across his OptiGlasses, and numbers appeared above the women’s heads. Data populated first for those he could see fully or glimpse via the mirrors around the room, then for those hidden from view who had open social connections via their wearable tech. Zack grinned. More stats. Maybe this app would be useful after all.

Please choose difficulty:

Easy / Medium / Hard

Zack considered this. The app didn’t go into details on what rewards he would earn for each level, but he assumed he would get something better for completing more difficult quests. He selected Hard from the menu and watched the quest parameters expand.

Quest!

Hold a significant conversation with a woman face-to-face!

Restrictions: In-person. Non-VR generated. Unpaid interaction.

Difficulty: Hard

Requirements: Select a female with an overall level of 75 or higher

Bonus Points: Use a sexy growl

Bonus Points: Make her laugh

Bonus Points: Make physical contact

Zack winced, recalling his own Level of eight. But he knew the app was buggy. There was no way he was a noob. So obviously, Level Seventy-Five would be wrong too. Anyway, he just needed to have a minute of conversation with one of these women. He looked around the room for the best option. His OptiGlasses highlighted all the level Seventy-Five and above women by superimposing a pink heart above their heads. Augmented Reality at its finest. Unfortunately, everyone was focused on their workouts and didn’t look to be in a chatty mood.

Maybe he should have started off with easy mode to get an understanding of the baseline difficulty levels. Jumping into a game without understanding the basics was such a noob move. But he wasn’t willing to admit defeat now, and he didn’t have time to waste figuring out how to change the difficulty level.

“Hey,” Zack whispered, trying to figure out how to produce a sexy growl so he could get the bonus points.

His OptiGlass screen remained blank, but Zack couldn’t shake the feeling that the app was laughing at him. A pink heart flashed on his screen.

Quest tip: Try “Hey, babe.”

“Hey, babe.”

A man built like a bodybuilder walked past and gave Zack a questioning look.

Zack grimaced and tapped his OptiGlasses. “Sorry. Talking to my girlfriend.”

The bodybuilder rolled his eyes and kept walking. Zack looked at the clock. Ten minutes had passed already. He needed to pick a woman and make this happen.

Zack looked around to make sure no one was within earshot and tried again, looking in a mirror this time to test out facial expressions. His crumpled, overweight reflection stared back at him. “Hey, babe.”

He couldn’t remember ever saying that to a woman, but then again, he had never been particularly successful in relationships. Maybe this app would actually prove useful. A sort of tutorial for life. Did it have save points? Save points would be great.

It had been a while since Zack had dated. He’d had several girlfriends in college, even if none of the relationships had lasted more than a few months. They were always looking for couple time and never agreed that gaming together counted.

The growl wasn’t quite right. Zack searched his memory for some sort of reference point and settled on those old Batman movies. Who didn’t like Batman? He smoothed his tangled mop of brown hair to the side and once again faced the mirror.

“Hey, babe. I’m Batman.” His growl was more of a rasp and tickled the back of his throat. He coughed to clear it.

Would you like to complete a tutorial level to prepare for this quest?