I am a gamer, not a very good one but non the less I would consider myself one; I guess I’m a novice so to speak. The issue isn’t that I can’t play very well rather my computer is too slow, the screen constantly becomes pix-elated and stutters; by the time the frame is finished rendering I’m already dead, in the gaming world he who rules supreme rules it with the best computer. I knew if I ever was going to have a chance at being a top level player I needed the best equipment, so I badgered my parents for months on that fact that I wanted a new computer, I even lied; I told them I needed a computer for school. Most of the time they didn’t buy the excuse that I tried to sell them, though eventually for my birthday they got me one, well actually I was able to buy the parts and construct it myself, the whole thing set my parents back about $5000 and I promised them that I would continue to study hard and get straight A’s, of course that is if I wasn’t busy gaming. Hey, we’re allowed to cross our fingers when speaking to our parents, its a tradition of being an adolescent.
The computer was marvelous, I stared at all the flashing lights entrancing me in its colorful dance; it illuminating my room as if I were at some 1970’s disco. I decided to delete my old gaming profile and I created a new one, after all new computer new gamer, I didn’t want my fellow gamer’s knowing how much I use to suck. I needed to come up with the perfect avatar and after scouring the what seem to be endless list of available choices I decided to create my own. My friends told me of an A.I. generator I could use; before my computer was just too slow to even make one pixel appear but now I had the power to make my wildest dreams come alive, well at least the A.I.’s dreams. The generator for the most part was easy to use, you didn’t have to be some art connoisseur or even some tech wiz, just type in a few words and click, so I did.
‘click, clack, click, clack,’
My fingers typed away while my imagination constructed the perfect image, I quickly learned you had to be very specific when telling the A.I. what you wanted.
“Monster face with devilish horns protruding from his scaled head and eyes that were as yellow as the sun…”
The image came out almost perfect, the creature was horrendous it captivated the terror I knew people would have whenever I would enter the game. I saved the image and uploaded it to my gaming profile I was now the ‘creature’.
I went to launch my first game, my fingers feeling the tingle of excitement but then suddenly another emotion overcame me, one that teenage boys have been dealing with since the dawn of time; I think you can guess what impulse that was. My mind then remembered the A.I. generator and a smirk slowly grew on my face, I thought why not let the A.I. create the perfect woman for me to leer at as I; well you know. I stared at the input text bar of the generator for several seconds, trying to come up with the perfect description and my brain came up with the most profound words,
“Hot chick”.
As the A.I. worked it’s magic I practically giggled from the glee that I felt; anxious to see this “hot chick” and as the image produced itself my smirk morphed into a smile, the woman was gorgeous. I was about to perform well you know, and that’s when I saw it in the background behind the beautiful woman; I tried to zoom in but it was too tiny and the image just became more blurry the more I tried to enlarge it. My eyes narrowed as much as they could and to my bewilderment I realized; it was the creature.
“What the hell?” I told myself.
I figured it must of been some glitch and I ignored it, so as I started to well you know, I tried my best to focus on the girl but seeing that dot in the background didn’t allow me to well; have fun. So I regenerated the image hoping the glitch would be resolved, the beautiful woman appeared once again on my screen to my delight. I once again smiled, relieved that the same girl was generated but then as before my creature was in the background, but this time he was a bit closer.
“dammit!” I yelped out with disappointment.
So I regenerated again and again, each time my creature grew closer, no longer some black dot in the background rather more of a dominate presence. By this point the urge to relieve myself dissipated and I was ready to turn off my stupid computer, I looked at the beautiful generated woman one last time and told her goodbye, hoping I could generate her tomorrow but then that’s when I noticed her expression, it was no longer seductive but rather it was a look of concern.
“The heck is going on” I asked myself.
My curiosity got the better of me and I decided to click the regenerate button, needing to figure out what I was witnessing.
‘click’
My finger apprehensively pressed down on the illuminated mouse and I waited cautiously to see what the A.I. would reveal to me. As the image materialized I could feel my heart sink, along with my jaw dropping from pure befuddlement. Not only was the creature growing closer but the woman’s face displayed utter horror, as if she knew the beast behind her drew closer. At this point I needed to know what would happen when the beast finally did catch up to her, would she disappear, so I clicked multiple times.
‘click, click, click, click, click’
With each image the creature came closer and the woman more terrified, at the rate the images were being generated it almost felt as if I were watching one of those stop motion animated movies. Finally the beast was behind the poor girl and her face garnished a look of madness, tears cascading down her face, the monster staring straight ahead almost as if he was staring at me and his snarl seem to be more of a hideous grin. I clicked a few more times and to my dismay that’s when I observed the creature eat the poor woman, though there were no sounds my brain created them for me and they were the most dreadful screams I’ve ever heard.
Once the creature was done, there was practically nothing left of the once beautiful woman, just a bit of arms and legs, so now I was even more curious I wanted to know what would happen next; the creature was virtually jumping out of my screen. I looked intensely at the expression of the beast and it almost seemed as if he wanted me to keep clicking; so I did,
‘click, click, click’
and with that the monster vanished.
“What the hell was that?” I said to myself as I let out a nervous chuckle.
Then I heard the sounds of my parents screaming in absolute agony and horror, the screams coming from downstairs. I jumped out my chair and ran to the staircase yelling out for my mother,
“Mom! What happened are you okay?”
That’s when the creature stepped into my view, the monstrosity was now real, and it had eaten my parents. I froze with utter fright and stormed down the stairs and out the doors, I ran as fast as I could afraid the monster was pursuing but at last I was alone. I didn’t bother going back home; that creature might still be there waiting for me, that or the cops are looking for me; for what happened to my parents, either way I will stay away. So if you ever use an A.I. generator be careful with what you create it might just come alive.