Then came sleep, as that was another thing that certain players realized was off. They realized that if they did not want to sleep, they did not have to. This place was one they could not leave, but that did not mean they could not get any fresh air. There were ten outdoor areas for them to visit, which was ironically the same as the number of starting areas. Also used by the same number of people who were split into each of the ten starting areas in the game. A player who travels and explores the beta testing area instead of the game world itself would notice that it was similar, as there were ten of everything that split into ten different areas for all the ten thousand and nine players. There was one massive dorm area, but there were ten different pathways that led to ten different areas. One of which no one had an area that they really knew much about, because of the developer told them it was a hidden area.
Although how this tied back into sleep being off was that no one actually needed to sleep... ever. If one did not sleep, then that was on them, as they had to literally choose to go to sleep, and if they never chose to sleep, then they would not ever go to sleep. Leading many players who did not play the game to realize they could just stay up without fail, as they only went to sleep when they chose to go to sleep. The stranger thing was that they would sleep for the exact amount of time they thought about before doing so. All players had no problem sleeping once they wanted to do so, as soon as they lay down and thought about it. They were instantly out like a light for that amount of time, no more, no less. How were these players able to realize this was happening? They used the timer that was tracking the time they were not playing the game to do so. They wrote down the time that it was before going to sleep and then subtracted that from the time it was after they had woken up. To discover the difference was the exact amount of time they were asleep. There was never any difference, as they always slept for the exact amount they thought about and only when they were lying down in their bed. They could not go to sleep anywhere else, or while doing anything else, either. There was no napping, true daydream, or micro naps that were possible. True daydream is the part where they actually fall asleep, rather than just daydream while still awake or daydreaming while still awake, but not fully focused on anything beyond what is immediately around them at the moment. This looks like sleep, but actually is not, as a mere in between state of some sort. It is not sleep, because the person can fully see, hear, feel, etc., everything in front of them. Thus, it is possible that people merely assume that this state is 'sleep' when it is not fully, and if no one disturbs a person like this, they can stay in this state for hours at a time. Not sleeping, but not fully awake either.
Then came the two biggest red flags, which were that those who were not playing The Decagon noticed about this area that they were in at the moment.
The first being that they did not need to drink any water, regardless of how much time passed. Some people had never done the previous things, but the fact that no one needed to drink water was what was really off putting. This was something that was noticed after a mere three days and is what started this whole mess of people noticing something was off. After all, a person could only go three days with water, it is said. Yet some people have never been seen drinking anything at all. They have access to any liquid they desire, including water, and some people have not consumed any liquid since being here. Also, another thing that is off putting is that they can literally order any liquid they want as something to drink; if they can drink, they can order it regardless of what it is. This discovery was not widespread, however, because those who did it were not the most social amongst the ten thousand and nine, resulting in them staying to themselves. Those who did not go about telling anyone what they were doing, thus when they did, and what happened, never spread beyond the confines of their room. It was only after the third day that someone started realizing they had not had anything to drink in a while, nor did they ever feel thirsty until they wanted to.
Second, being moved itself was something that was neither needed nor chosen. One could stay within The Decagon indefinitely, without ever leaving it for anything. A player had to choose when to stop playing, just like they had to choose to play in the first place. It was the most obvious and blatant thing wrong, as there were players who had never stopped playing the game since it started. Thus, they have never moved since that point, not an inch at all. Their bodies are completely motionless, as that is how the Virtual Reality devices they are using have been set up. This is not a VR setup like the old times, where it is only sight and hearing that is the virtual part. This was a fully body Virtual Reality instead, thus the body was remaining motionless on their beds. After all, if they were not, then they could bump into something, as even those set up made for the old time version were not used here. There was no omnidirectional treadmill that they were all given. They were given a device that they wore over their eyes as they lay down. They assumed this was how the Virtual Reality of the current day, which is already in widespread usage, mimics reality so easily and completely. IT was making the brain think it was present in the space, thus acting and reacting as it would have otherwise. They truly had unlocked the reality part of Virtual Reality and had finally applied it to gaming, like the original proof of concept had wanted.