Buffy's your typical cosplaying, retro-gaming, con-going geek girl, but as her high school graduation approaches, she finds she has an unwelcome guest in her mind: the text parser.
Narrating her life like it's a classic adventure game (cough Zork cough), the text parser forces her to interact with the world through a series of a typewritten commands: Finish school.
Go to party.
Fall in love.
At first it's pretty cool. It's not easy making the transition from high school to college. It's not easy dealing with roommates. It's not easy being in a new relationship with her lifelong crush. Buffy makes some huge mistakes along the way, but the text-parser lets her fix all of them.
It's like having superpowers...until the text parser won't shut up.
Buffy is desperate to get rid of it, but no matter how many times she tries to restart or reset, the text parser won't go away. Before long, her life starts to crumble: her friends grow apart, her roommates turn against her, and her boyfriend falls into a deep depression. Buffy's life has become a game, but how can you win when there's no final boss?
Narrated in the style of classic adventure games, Post–High School Reality Quest is is a captivating coming-of-age story that T. E. Carter calls a "must read" for all gamers and YA fans.|

Buffy is playing a game. However, the game is her life, and there are no instructions or cheat codes on how to win.
After graduating high school, a voice called “the text parser" emerges in Buffy's head, narrating her life as a classic text adventure game. Buffy figures this is just a manifestation of her shy, awkward, nerdy nature—until the voice doesn't go away, and instead begins to dominate her thoughts, telling her how to life her life. Though Buffy tries to beat the game, crash it, and even restart it, it becomes clear that this game is not something she can simply “shut off" or beat without the text parser's help.
While the text parser tries to give Buffy advice on how “to win the game," Buffy decides to pursue her own game-plan: start over, make new friends, and win her long-time crush Tristan's heart. But even when Buffy gets the guy of her dreams, the game doesn't stop. In fact, it gets worse than she could've ever imagined: her crumbling group of friends fall apart, her roommate turns against her, and Buffy finds herself trying to survive in a game built off her greatest nightmares.