idealisticcormorant
Somehow, this timeline fits with octordle both the start of the internet and probably the writing of The Matrix. But let's say that people were just disappearing from reality before the first patch. The beta tests for the liminal space seem to work, but the designer wasn't ready for the huge leaps in technology that came with the new millennium. Even though the number isn't as high as it was in 1997, it's still a lot. From 2002 to 2006, the number of people stays the same, and 2.0 is put in. Between 2013 and 2017, when our latest patch was put in place, the numbers go up again, just as the number of missing people starts to drop to its lowest level in 30 years. Those numbers could match up with anything in our world, from the rise of smartphones to the widespread use of hybrid cars or anything else that would affect a large number of people.