In an instant, the pixelated world distorts, wavers, and dissolves. Vibrant pink, green, blue, and purple hues taken from the palette of one of those trendy nail salon window paintings fades away, replaced by gentle, infinite white. But the seemingly eternal vastness doesn’t represent the truth – the available random-access memory that runs this world is quickly being consumed by digital warfare played out in ones and zeroes, hash collision attacks, and pointer exploits. Functions are being hijacked, variables overwritten, entire programs shuttered and spun up. This faux expanse is all the computer’s hardware can muster to host our digital representations.
Of course, some might argue that my avatar is the only actual representation between the two of us. But that would be a very narrow-minded view. Just because someone doesn’t exist in meat space doesn’t mean they aren’t real. For that matter, there are plenty of people you can meet in the flesh who hardly qualify as real. At least in my opinion.