Cognitive Immersion Services (or "Pools" as they are commonly known by) are form of Virtual Reality simulation. Generally conducted in Pool Cafes under the supervision of a qualified technician, they can be set up for private use. However, to obtain a licence for a private set up is extremely expensive and rare. There some who operate illegal personal services but due to the intensive computing power and energy demands required, they are frequently shut down shortly after starting.
Prior to using a Pool Service, a user must obtain an CIS Licence and pass an EEG scan. Less than 1% of applicants do not qualify.
Sessions predominantly only run for periods between 30 minutes up to 1.5 hours due to the stress that can be incurred by the electrical stimulation to the brain. Users are limited to one connection a week as the drug used to induce the required sleep to activate the correct dream level can cause long term mental injury, leading to psychosis.
HOW IT WORKS
Users firstly take an injection of a special bio-nano-amphetamine. The drug is designed to induce a sleep like state required for dreaming with bio-degradable nano receptors finding their way to core parts of the users brain. The nano receptors in the injection are fully degraded up to 3 hours after the injection.
After this, the user is harnessed into a bed or chair and fitted with helmet containing an electrical stimulation array. At some up-market services, users can also immerse themselves in a pool of temperature and weight neutral liquid for full immersion. Originally, this was how the service was provided which lead to the nickname "Pool".
Users are then connected to a preselected scenario and location. This can be taken solo as a group. For public usage, sessions up to 8 users are allowed but in various militaries, sessions up to 200 users have been known to occur.