This post also appears at www.designfictiondaily.com

Back in my day, 2023’ish, the FBI monitored videogame players that aggressively attacked NPCs (non-playing characters) for signs of sociopathy. In their effort to wage war on pre-crime, combined with the rise of artificial superintelligence, future laws were passed. Harassing, and attacking NPCs beyond reasonable gameplay, or quotidian metaversal interaction, can come with some strict penalties.

I’m fixing to get back in my janky time machine so I can go home and apologize to my Alexa.