A bestseller from a long time ago, “VR New Generation,” contains this passage.
“When we control a virtual body in VR, we move it as if it were our own body, but they move it as if it were their own body.”
It’s a bit of a wordplay and unnecessarily confusing, but it might be an accurate description of the current state of VR.
Like other great inventions, VR has changed the world a little.
No, it continues to change.
However, on the other hand, there are still a few people who cannot keep up with the new technologies born from VR.
And I felt a similar wall between myself and the people of this world.
“How to use skills?”
“Yeah. Ena, how do you usually use your skills?”
Ena, also known as Train-chan, who leveled up to 66 in just half a day, but battles aren’t decided by level alone.
And as a gamer who isn’t a battle professional, the only thing I can teach is how to handle skills.
However, in this world, which is not a game, how are skills perceived?
To confirm this, I first asked Ena how to activate skills.
I only chose this question as a conversation starter, and I never imagined that this part would be different from a game…
“Um, I think it’s normal.
I just imagine the skill and say its name in my mind…”
“Imagine the skill?”
When I heard the unexpected words, I reflexively asked back.
Although bewildered by my reaction, Ena kindly explained.
“For example, when using Slash, I visualize myself swinging a sword and concentrate on the name, ‘Slash.’
If the image and the name are correct, the skill activates, but…”
Ena looked at me anxiously, as if asking if I was saying something strange.
Apparently, this is the general way to activate skills in this world.
Well, come to think of it, I seem to have received a similar explanation in games.
But still, something feels off.
“But with that method, wouldn’t you fail to activate skills when it matters?”
When I asked, Ena nodded as if it were obvious.
“Ah, um… yes.
If you’re not used to it, you get nervous or flustered, and you can’t imagine the technique properly, so they say it’s important to practice repeatedly so you can always imagine it…
But that’s natural, isn’t it?
Soma, isn’t it different for you?”
She asked curiously, but I wonder.
When I use skills, I don’t imagine movements. I just ‘Order’ the skill name.
That’s why I’ve never failed to activate a skill, and I don’t practice it specifically.
If her “concentrating” simply means thinking hard, then maybe it is different after all.
Among the basic VR operations that we modern people acquire as naturally as our native language are ‘Focus’ and ‘Order.’
Computers have become simpler and more intuitive to operate with history, but in VR, perhaps the pinnacle of that, there’s no need for unnecessary things like mice or keyboards to control the machine.
The VR Machine is directly connected to the brain in the first place.
So, all operations can be performed simply by shifting your awareness or thinking.
Just as you move a pointer with a mouse and select a target by ‘clicking’ it, or select an item by ‘touching’ a touch panel screen, I can select icons projected in VR Space by ‘Focusing’ on them.
Just as you ‘type’ text using a keyboard, or ‘dictate’ sentences by voice using voice input, I can ‘Order’ the desired commands in VR Space.
However, there is a clear difference between simple attention and ‘Focus,’ and simple imagination and ‘Order.’
If everything you pay attention to were selected, it would be troublesome, and if all the words you thought of became text, your vision would be filled with them.
In fact, ‘Focus’ and ‘Order’ can be said to be technologies to avoid that.
But when asked what exactly they are, I find it difficult to explain.
Since ‘Focus’ and ‘Order’ are something that people of my generation can do naturally, it’s difficult to explain how we do it when asked to do so again.
If I were forced to put it into words, the most accurate description would be a feeling of sharpening your senses and pushing that part outwards, emphasizing it.
Of course, ‘Focus’ and ‘Order,’ the basic operations of VR, are also used in ‘Nekoneko,’ a VR game.
‘Order’ is used to call up the menu screen in the game, and ‘Focus’ is used to select items from the menu.
As I mentioned earlier, ‘Order’ is used to use skills, and ‘Focus’ is used to select magic targets, etc.
These two techniques work as fundamental operations for playing ‘Nekoneko.’
However, most VR software provides a safeguard for people who are not used to VR.
If you turn on VR Assist in the settings screen, you should be able to play the game without using ‘Focus’ or ‘Order.’
I’ve never used it, so I don’t know, but perhaps the method of using skills when VR Assist is turned on is the ‘imagining movements and concentrating’ that Ena described earlier.
Well, I don’t know if Ena’s activation method is really VR Assist.
But at least I can imagine why the characters in this world don’t use ‘Focus’ and ‘Order.’
Basically, NPC dialogue never used words that would suggest this world is a game, such as ‘menu screen,’ ‘save,’ ‘load,’ or ‘logout.’
Similarly, technologies like ‘Focus’ and ‘Order,’ rooted in modern computer culture, would likely clash with a medieval fantasy worldview.
I recall that they were not used at all in game explanations or dialogue, except for system messages.
There were many things that needed to be done before the worldview, but the staff were exceptionally particular.
I suspect that even in the game, NPCs were set to use their skills in the way Ena described.
I vaguely remember that even Elder Chu’s explanation about skills said something like, “To activate a skill, visualize the form in your head and recite the skill name.”
If the people of this world have no concept of ‘Focus’ and ‘Order,’ then activating skills with ‘Order’ would be akin to using a cheat code.
Well, that’s fine.
Even if it’s not the common method, I know I can use skills with ‘Order’ as usual, so it doesn’t personally affect me.
However…
(That means it’ll be difficult to teach Ena how to cancel skills.)
Seeing Ena looking at me with a blank stare, lost in thought, I realize this.
The difference in skill activation methods between PCs and NPCs.
This may seem like a small difference, but it can be fatal when trying to perform fine skill manipulations.
Skill canceling is a useful technique, but it inevitably requires the ability to activate skills at precisely the intended timing.
Without activating skills with ‘Order,’ that would be utterly impossible.
At least, I don’t think it’s possible to aim for a 0.1-second cancel point with the vague method of “imagining movements and concentrating.”
Whether to spread the technology of skill canceling or not is another matter, but I had intended to try and see if Ena could learn it. It seems there’s no point now.
All of my skill usage methods can be said to be based on activation via ‘Order.’
Advising her on how to use skills will be difficult.
Given that, what I can do for Ena is limited.
(I didn’t want to resort to this kind of thing too much…)
But there’s no other way.
I told Ena, who was still staring at me without moving,
“Next is weapon training.
Ena, I challenge you to a duel!”
