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Beta-Testing Madden 2023

For years now, Richard had dreamed of being a football legend. But given his innate clumsiness and inability to pack on any muscle, his body had clearly disagreed on the man’s dreams and ambitions. Luckily for Richard though, the man still had an avenue that allowed him to be the superstar he had always longed to be: video games. He knew it was pitiful to play a game just so he could pretend to be a hunk, but it helped him live the dreams he had always wanted to experience. With a controller in hand, he could play any player on any team he wanted. He could help lead his team to victory to the point where he would be the sole individual responsible for getting the virtual AI-players to become Super Bowl champions.

While he enjoyed the sight of many hunks (even in their video game form), no one stuck out to him more than the Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. With his impressive physique, killer beard, and stunning face, it was understandable why Richard gravitated so heavily towards the jock… he was everything Richard had aspired to be! There were so many dreams that Richard could easily recall where he’d wake up to have the body and life of Travis Kelce, excelling on the field and then scoring in the bedroom with his girlfriend. If only dreams could come true...

As Richard arrived back at his family’s house (where he still resided in his childhood bedroom), he groaned as he heard the loud voices of his younger siblings hooting and hollering as they played on his gaming console. He loved the kids to death, but it was so annoying to experience such noise after just arriving home from a terrible shift in retail. The store was absolutely hectic given the Friday rush of customers eager to get their merchandise before relaxing all weekend, so it was safe to say that his register was constantly swamped with no relief throughout the eight-hour shift. 

Because of this, the 24-year-old man’s usual meekness quickly flew out of the window as he longed for some semblance of peace and quiet for one night. Peeking his head into the room with the two kids, Richard immediately yelled at them and told them to get lost so he could relax and play some games later. Despite the pair of 10-year-old boys’ whining, the man remained firm in his stance until the two boys admitted defeat and rushed upstairs to their bedrooms. Upon hearing the slam of their bedroom doors, Richard breathed a hearty sigh of relief and smiled to himself upon actually getting his way for once.

While he walked down the hallway to his bedroom, Richard stopped himself as heard the voice of his mother state that he had received a package in the mail. Hearing that she left it on his bed, he cried out a simple “Thanks Mom!” and finally closed the door of his bedroom. After peeling off his unfashionable uniform, Richard fell backwards onto his bed while letting out a deep exhale. Noticing something in the corner of his right eye, the man tilted his head to see a rectangular box laying next to him. Not remembering ordering any package, he sat up and pulled the box closer to him. Interestingly enough, the box had no return address, so the source of this delivery is a total mystery to the man. 

Using a pair of scissors on his desk, Richard wasted no time opening the box to discover its contents. As he pulled back the flaps and looked inside, the man gasped in shock at what he saw inside. After taking a second to verify that what he saw was true, he grabbed and pulled out a clear video box that had the text Madden 2023 - Beta Test Edition scrawled across it in black marker. How was this possible? The 2022 edition of the game had just come out a few weeks ago! 

Opening the box, he watched as a folded up note fell out and dropped onto the floor. Upon putting down the game and leaning down to grab the piece of paper, Richard began to read the note typed on the official Madden letterhead:

Congrats Richard, 

You have been selected to be one of the first players to try out a beta-version of our 2023 edition of Madden! This opportunity has been funded by S-C LLC, a major collaborator with the NFL. We hope to receive your feedback in two weeks about any sort of kinks that you experience while playing. 

Thank you for your assistance, 

The Madden 2023 Dev Team.

Finishing reading the note, Richard found himself in utter disbelief that he had been blessed with such an honor and privilege. The concept of getting early access was incredibly exciting to the man, especially given how much he enjoyed playing the game to live his football fantasies. It was understandable then as to why Richard found himself buzzing with excitement and energy to the point where he left his room to go try out the game. 

After placing the game into his console, the man grabbed his controller and fell back into his highly-cushioned couch. Watching as a basic loading screen manifested onto the screen, Richard waited a good 30 seconds before the game finally sprung back to life and brought him into the main menu of the game. While the graphics were clearly not properly mastered, it still looked surprisingly realistic for being just a beta version of the game.

Upon setting up his campaign and picking Travis Kelce as his character, the man began to spend hours and hours playing the new game. For the most part, he was relieved to see no real bugs or issues in need of fixing (besides the graphic remastering) since it helped him remain heavily invested in the game and focus on his team’s success. Given the late hours, it wasn’t a shock for Richard as he began to struggle to keep his eyes open and start messing up in the game. Pausing the game to take a slight break to rub his eyes, the man leaned his head against the back of his couch and allowed them to close slightly. If I only rest for a second, then I can just get back to playing the g-... 

Suddenly, Richard jolted back awake to find his ears assaulted by a symphony of loud noise. Opening his eyes and looking around, he gasped as he suddenly found himself sitting on a bench and leaning against a wall of lockers inside a busy locker room. Looking around in confusion, the players moved around in silence as they got dressed and began to head out of the room in a single line formation. 

Feeling both confused by what he saw and dazed from his drowsy state, Richard sat up and gasped as he looked down at himself. Not only was he now dressed entirely in a football uniform, but as he saw the large #87 on his torso, he realized that he was wearing the jersey of Travis Kelce! “Holy shit!” Richard exclaimed, stunned as he could hear a much different voice coming out of his mouth. With the click clack of his cleats ringing out, the man eagerly ran towards the restrooms to look into a mirror. 

Just as he had expected, the reflection of his football crush was staring back at him. It seemed unbelievable, but Richard had actually gained the body and life of Travis Kelce! Looking intensely in the mirror, the man was in awe of the jock’s striking features, impressive beard, and nice physique. Even while saddled up with all of this heavy bulky gear, Richard knew that this man was physically gifted. After taking a peek by lifting up the jersey to stare at Kelce’s abs and checking beneath the waistband of Kelce’s pants, he soon found himself rock hard at the body he was now in control of. However, somewhere in his mind, the vision of the empty locker room told him to stop admiring himself . The team was seemingly already on the field, so Richard knew he had to get out there ASAP!

Quickly grabbing his helmet, Richard jogged out the same way the players went and gasped as he suddenly found himself out in a crowded stadium. As he stepped foot on the well-maintained grass, Richard jumped as the crowd suddenly roared to life. It was strange to see such excitement for a Chiefs’ game, and by extension, encouragement and cheering to inspire his own performance as Kelce! Wandering throughout the crowded sidelines, he was confused as he saw the players of his team huddled up but not saying anything. Upon making his way over to the team, the arrival of their star tight end finally elicited the coach to begin hyping up the team and encouraging them to go out there and kick ass. With the coach’s parting words, Richard suddenly felt excited yet nervous to experience his first ever football game… in the body of a hunk nonetheless!

Despite his nervousness, there was a sense of calmness that had quickly settled over Richard as he made his way out onto the field after his team went on the offense first after kickoff. Luckily, this body seemingly had some sort of muscle memory, so the former average man was able to easily excel as Kelce. He was grateful for that though, especially since it just helped him better visualize his dreams of being a star NFL player! 

For the first three quarters, the Chiefs easily blew the other team out of the water as they’re able to score constant touchdowns. Richard had found great joy in these quarters too given the fact that he had been responsible for scoring several of the touchdowns while using this body’s skills to his advantage. As the final quarter finally began to start, it seemed unlikely to Richard that the other team would be able to catch up the astounding lead the Chiefs had. But despite this fact, he was still eager to work as hard as possible and further the team’s lead. 

Just as he got into position to prepare for running at full speed down the field upon the snap of the ball, the new Travis Kelce smirked as he felt incredibly lucky to be living such an incredible life. Hearing the sound of the ball landing in the quarterback’s hands, Richard wasted no time breaking into a hard sprint down the field. Just as he looked back and prepared for the ball to be thrown to him though, Richard gasped as he suddenly found himself stuck in place. “What the hell?” he thought to himself as he attempted to figure out what’s going on.

But as his eyes rapidly shifted around, the new jock soon realized that the players on both teams had also found themselves deeply rooted in place. Seeing all of this occurring brought his mind back to the various other strange things he saw after stepping onto the field. Why was the crowd so noisy, screaming at the top of their lungs even when nothing was happening in the game? Why did all of the players and the coach stand idly in place until he arrived to speak with them? It felt as though everything had been put on pause, much like what Richard did when he streamed his favorite show or played his favorite video game... “Oh shit! Am I stuck inside the game?” he cried out as the cruel truth of the new reality he found himself living in finally dawned on him.

* * * * *

“I’m coming Mom!” Richard’s little brother screamed as he put the video game on pause and headed off to see what was going on. He wasn’t sure where his brother went, but when he woke up this morning to see the console on and a single controller resting on the couch, he was eager to give it a shot. The kid had a slight understanding as to why his older brother was so stressed, but he still didn’t think it was fair that he wasn’t allowed to play on the game system. Just because his brother paid for the games didn’t mean that it was only his! Their parents got the system for all three siblings to share, so the younger brother was eager to use it as much as he could whenever Richard was out of the house.

While he wasn’t a big football fan, the game was already turned on and on the main menu screen, so the kid decided he might as well give it a go. Clicking a new game, he set up a game where his avatar was that of Patrick Mahomes II, the quarterback of the Chiefs. For nearly 30 minutes uninterrupted, the kid was a quick learner as he was able to throw touchdowns that had led the team to absolutely destroy the opponents with ease.

After doing the few chores that his mother demanded of him, the kid returned to the game and resumed the play. Luckily, the game allowed him to easily throw the back to a #87 player who easily brought it in with a touchdown. This process continued for the remainder of the quarter until his team had won the game. It was surprisingly quite fun, so the kid thought maybe it would be fun to play this more often. Although he was slightly confused by the cocky man who kept showboating after consistently scoring the team’s touchdowns. It was amusing to watch the man taunt the other team after scoring a touchdown, but it was quite strange since no other players had done those kinds of moves after scoring a touchdown or winning the game…

* * * * *

Despite the initial shock of becoming a video game version of Travis Kelce, Richard soon began to adapt and accept his new situation. While there was an annoyance about the fact that he couldn’t go beyond the realm of whatever stadium he had found himself playing in, he tried to focus more on the concept of being an incredible player. There was nothing he could really do to fix this, so there was no real use thinking intensely about it or searching for a solution. 

The few concerns that he had though were in regards to the long-term effects of his life as a video-game player. He remembered that the letter said that it was a two-week beta-test before the company came back and took back their copy of the game. Would he be erased with any potential updates and replaced with an AI-version of Kelce after this? Or would his personality mesh with the scripts written for the AI-character to essentially create a free-thinking character able to behave however he wanted? Was it possible for the game developers to find his soul and pull him back out of the game? There were so many questions that Richard had no idea how to answer, so he soon found himself thankful for the fact that when the game was turned off, he no longer had the ability to dream. He was enveloped into total darkness that provided him temporary relief from this life-concerning quandaries until the game was turned back on and he was put back into use in some way.

While he had wished to become Travis Kelce, this certainly hadn’t been what he had in mind. Despite this, Richard was still looking to find enjoyment given the fact that he knew how much time he had left. So, the new Kelce began to act more brash and wildly to the sea of adoring fans. Sure, he knew that they were just scripted to cheer him on, but it still made him feel good as he danced in the endzone and brought them up to their feet in either a roar of applause or booing!

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