Short Story Where kids get Sucked into a Computer Game
Jul 23, 2023 13:47:23 GMT
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Post by vidiconalias on Jul 23, 2023 13:47:23 GMT
I want to preface this by saying that I went to a school for delinquents, as such, our curriculum was sorta dated: the internet safety portion of the life-skills class I took was about staying safe on Myspace... Anyway...
When I was in 9th grade (2013), we had to read a story- it was either a short book or part of a collection of stories. This story was about a group of teenagers who were all social pariahs and would meet online to play a fantasy game where they all played as animals (I remember one of them being a cheetah?) They were all part of an online Grateful Dead fan club and they all lied about themselves and pretended to be popular/cool kids: One kid said he was a football player, the girl said she was a cheerleader, that's the two I remember. I think the book took place in the late 90s or early 2000s. The main character was a nerdy kid who lived at home with his mom, his dad was always away on business trips and would mail him computer parts for the holidays. My memory is super fuzzy, but if I recall correctly, the book ends with the kids all getting sucked into the computer and becoming their animal characters, then it sorta "pans out" and reveals the true identity of each kid (In the beginning of the story, the only kid that's discussed outside of the online environment is the main character, the nerdy kid). One of the kids is actually an old man pretending to be a kid, one is terminally ill and laying in a hospital bed.
I know these details are rough, but I wish I could find this story. I've been looking for it for years to no avail. I tried reddit and goodreads and had zero luck outside of finding one other user who also remembered the story. I've also tried contacting various old classmates who remember the story but don't remember any other details besides what I've given here. IIRC, the teacher just printed the story out and brought it in to us in stacks of paper stapled together.
When I was in 9th grade (2013), we had to read a story- it was either a short book or part of a collection of stories. This story was about a group of teenagers who were all social pariahs and would meet online to play a fantasy game where they all played as animals (I remember one of them being a cheetah?) They were all part of an online Grateful Dead fan club and they all lied about themselves and pretended to be popular/cool kids: One kid said he was a football player, the girl said she was a cheerleader, that's the two I remember. I think the book took place in the late 90s or early 2000s. The main character was a nerdy kid who lived at home with his mom, his dad was always away on business trips and would mail him computer parts for the holidays. My memory is super fuzzy, but if I recall correctly, the book ends with the kids all getting sucked into the computer and becoming their animal characters, then it sorta "pans out" and reveals the true identity of each kid (In the beginning of the story, the only kid that's discussed outside of the online environment is the main character, the nerdy kid). One of the kids is actually an old man pretending to be a kid, one is terminally ill and laying in a hospital bed.
I know these details are rough, but I wish I could find this story. I've been looking for it for years to no avail. I tried reddit and goodreads and had zero luck outside of finding one other user who also remembered the story. I've also tried contacting various old classmates who remember the story but don't remember any other details besides what I've given here. IIRC, the teacher just printed the story out and brought it in to us in stacks of paper stapled together.
