The screen flickered, casting a sickly blue light across Erik’s face as the download bar for the finally hit 100%. He knew the game was made by a solo developer who put years of his life into it, but Erik told himself he just wanted to "test" it before buying.

A new message appeared on the screen: "Farming requires hard work, Erik. Not shortcuts."

Erik tried to force-quit the program, but his mouse wouldn't move. The icons on his real desktop began to disappear, one by one, replaced by . A notification popped up from his antivirus: System files corrupted.

The computer fans began to roar like a jet engine. Just as Erik reached for the power cable to pull it from the wall, a final text box appeared: