Challenge #03654-J001: Walking With Buddy, Beta Test

A hospital uses a VR system to help patients who are in physical therapy, and refuse to let themselves be given strong painkillers, deal with the pain and focus on their exercises. The gentle landscapes and virtual worlds make it more fun, too. -- Fighting Fit

Gaming and medical therapy have been hand-in-rubber glove for quite some time. People need less painkillers when their minds are fighting the evil forces of Xur. Or, for that matter, mining for resources in a world made of blocks.

Some early explorations of gaming and physiotherapy were limited by the technology. Patients recovering from spinal chord injury could not, for instance, bear the weight of the virtuality goggles at the time. Some made use of large enough screens, and travel rollers in combination with supports for the patient.

The advent of the Virtuality Eyepieces was a godsend for the medical profession. Light, simple, LCD on somewhat sturdy frames. The glasses could work regardless of the patient's frailty and could also augment the reality around them for safety purposes.

They would later see common use as the Eyescreen.

Here and now, Sergeant Trent was doing more walking than he had ever done in a physiotherapy gym. He was not walking through a game world, but walking through a picturesque landscape.

It was peaceful and beautiful. There were no enemies, merely meadows and distant trees. There were hills for him to roam around on, at present. The mountains were only theoretically reachable.

The dog in his eyescreens was a simulation. An encouragement for him to walk just that little further, today.

"What'cha found, boy?" asked Trent, as the virtual dog dug in the ground. "What'cha found?"

Sometimes, it was something Trent could use in his virtual world. Sometimes, like now, it was treasure.

A shiny golden medallion with an interesting sigil on one side and the words 20 Miles! on the other.

"Ah, goddamn it," Trent chuckled. "Y'all keep reminding me this place isn't real. Assholes."

"We have to," said his therapist, Megyn. "It's the law, right now. Something about people pirating escape environments like this and wasting away in-harness. I doubt it's ever happened, but it's what the right wing keep repeating to avoid paying for stuff like this."

"Yeah yeah, I know the song. We support our troops until they need homes, food, and medical care." Trent rolled his eyes, and paused to watch a bird. "Thank small mercies for volunteering to test this for the next time they sprain something at golf."

"Little bit too cynical there. I'll make sure a recording accident blips that out of existance," said Megyn. "And this too. We must praise our kind donors for their generosity in getting all the bugs out of the system."

"It's the patriotic way," singsonged Trent. "Welp. Buddy's leading me home, so it's the downhill part of the course. Guess the testing's almost done for the day." He looked at his virtual medal. "This looks like cheap crap. I gotta be honest for the coders, right?"

"Well they won't let coders near actual treasure so... they have to imagine stuff. They tell me they can do better gemstones."

"Honestly? A gemstone reward system might work a bit better."

The walk 'home' was on the same rig as before, but with most of the resistance motors offline. Thanks to Trent's input, they let him pet the virtual dog, Buddy, before exiting.

He was back in his chair and victorious, no matter how cheap the medal had looked in virtuality.

"Why is it," Trent panted, "that my legs hurt now?"

Because he was no longer distracted from what he had been doing with them. "Because the game's over," said Megyn, "and you're not having fun any more."

[Photo by Vyacheslav Makushin on Unsplash]

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