part three: May 20 - The Tournament South Bend

Listen to the audio version here:

Nick and Jim hurried down the street to meet up with the rest of the squad.

Jim laughed, “I’ve created a monster. I’ve been playing this game for over a year, and in three months you’re a squad leader and we’re in the tournament. I never thought I’d ever be in a tournament. I practically had to beg you just to try this game, and now you’re dragging me down here every day.”

“Well, you were right about one thing, I needed to unwind. But now I’ve put so much time into this tournament that my GPA has started to dip. As soon as this tournament is done, I have to get my GPA back up where it belongs.”

They waited in front of the coffee shop, the bright spring sun warming the street. Nick turned to Jim as they waited for the rest of the squad to arrive. “You’re my second, remember that.”

“Yeah, thanks.” Jim pointed down the street. “Here they come.”

Nick had started to visit the game room every day after school. After his second visit, he had signed up for a personal account, then he dug into his savings to purchase the top-of-the-line gaming links for himself and Jim.

As with everything else Nick did, he had excelled at this game. He had worked his way up the ranking to squad leader, recruited a squad, and then had talked them all into signing up for the upcoming tournament. The team spent hours preparing for the tournament, and Nick had drilled them until each member recognized every hand sign and they had mastered every routine and weapon in their arsenal. His squad couldn’t believe that he had only started playing three months ago; some of them had been playing for several years.

Nick had heard of the game—it was known to be extremely violent and not completely legal. It was just the sort of thing Nick had never been interested in doing. The whole thing was too far out of his comfort zone and his good-boy, Eagle Scout persona. He had never done anything risky, but once he started playing the game, he couldn’t get enough. He told himself that he wasn’t addicted—he just wanted to do something different before he went off to college. But after his friend Jim had repeatedly invited him to the game shop that the local gamers called the Back Door to play a few rounds of Urban Legends, he was hooked. Upon playing one game, he wanted more, and he spent every spare minute he could squeeze out of his strictly regimented day to log in and play the game.

Not only had Nick spent every minute he could spare after school to go to the game room to practice, he had recently started to skip classes in preparation for this tournament. In the last couple of weeks, his grades had dropped significantly enough that his parents had been called into school concerning Nick skipping classes and those dropping grades. That’s when Mr. and Mrs. Havill had found out that their son had become fascinated with an online game.

Nick’s father had flipped out. “You’ve been skipping school to sit in a game room playing some asinine war game? What’s gotten into you?” his father had bellowed.

Nick tried to explain, “My grades are still good, and my team and I are preparing for the upcoming tournament. Once the tournament is over, I’ll put all of my attention back into school. I can pick up the few points that my GPA slipped on the finals. The tournament is next week, and finals are the week after. My team is relying on me, and I’m the squad leader.”

Needless to say, Nick’s parents were not buying into any part of his gaming plans. So Nick had no other solution but to go behind his parents’ backs. He carefully lined up all his ducks for today. His parents would be in business meetings all day. They would not have an open link for the school to notify them that Nick had been dismissed early due to illness until they were heading home. By that time, the tournament would be over, and he’d be back home in bed looking oh so pitiful and studying his notes when his parents arrived home. Duck one and two lined up. He was free and clear to miss today’s classes. Duck number three—his friend Liza had promised to share her notes, so he’d have those by the time he got back home. Now all he had to do was get to the game room for the tournament. Most of his team had always been able to skip an occasional class; their parents weren’t as anal as his, and they had planned for weeks to coordinate for today. If they could only place close to the top, they might even be in the running for the upcoming International event this summer.

The team met at the coffee shop and ordered the largest Colombian dark roast on the menu with extra shots of espresso, then loaded up on the sugar to keep them going. With caffeine and sugar rushing through their veins, they arrived at the game room with several other squads. Everyone sat down at their assigned station, logged in, and waited to receive their assignment. Nick glanced at the clock—9:25 a.m.

Their task was to infiltrate an enemy town, take down the police and military facilities, then eliminate vital services and capture prisoners. Nick’s team drew the antagonist role. They would have to defeat the local protagonist.

Jim groaned, “I don’t like being the bad guy.”

“Just remember what you are always telling me—none of this is real and it’s all about strategy,” Nick told him. “Besides, to learn to defeat a bad guy you need to think like a bad guy. So just look at it from that point of view. We don’t know what the next round will be, and we need to be ready for anything.”

Jim frowned. “Yeah, I guess. I’ve just never been comfortable with the violence that the bad-guy role is always assigned. It’s easier being the good guy.”

Nick looked around the control station, then up at the clock—9:28 a.m. “Alright, everyone. We’ve worked for this for weeks and we’re ready.” Most of the group nodded enthusiastically. Jim looked up at the clock—9:29 a.m.—and nodded.

“Okay, here we go!”

They all entered the game. Nick felt a jolt, then he was spinning out of control. He thought he was going to be sick, then everything went black.