grabbing components at every available opportunity. He’d reported enough components since the beginning to have a comfortable request point level; this would allow him to recharge his laser to stay alive. He had an M3 laser, as well as an M2; the M2 was readied as it took less request points to recharge the M2 than the M3 from control. The beginning had just come again, as usual, and the more powerful weapons could wait until later on in the contest. For now, the key was to collect components, reformat some commies, and prepare to die over and over. Flipper was traveling throughout the InFiNiTy CoMpLeX with virtuoso skill. The commies were singing banana boat two rooms ahead; he thought it all too easy as they were in a good mood. The wound from the laser to Flipper’s back was mild but enough to send him right into attack mode.
My arms tightened up and my fingers got ready to pump
out as many keystrokes a second as possible. The rookie
player made a big mistake; the stun from the laser lasted
for a much shorter time than the rookie expected. Flipper
ran west then north. The stun was now completely warn off;
south then east. East again; got him! I slammed the key
macro with my fully tense hand knocking papers off my desk.
On my screen I saw the delightful response to one keystroke:
zap johnson
again
again
*** YOU HAVE HIT JOHNSON
req recharge full
*** YOU HAVE HIT JOHNSON
*** YOU HAVE MISSED JOHNSON
zap johnson
*** CONTROL: RECHARGE REQUEST DONE.
*** YOU HAVE HIT JOHNSON
again
again
*** YOU HAVE HIT JOHNSON
*** CONTROL: Lieutenant Flipper has reformatted Private
Johnson.
*** YOU CAN’T SEE “JOHNSON” HERE!
Sure, I’d fired one time too many. Macros weren’t perfect - just a list of commands from a single keystroke - but they were a major part to keeping the enemy stunned. I knew that; with macros, wit, and the right alliances, Flipper was fully armed with more than just the best virtual weapons in the game. The player behind the character, the experience, and creativity made the game a fully weaving of the different users experience and personalities. It was more than shoot- em-up death; it was a combination of strategy and insanity that I had never experience in a game before. It would be an understatement to describe it as intense. On top of that, it was nothing more than a repeating cycle. The loose alliances with the other players governed who would maintain control of the CoMpLeX and rule its virtual interface until the end; after the end, it just began again.
Flipper had stashed components in his private, locked room for use later on in the month. He had begun to assemble components into rocket rifle parts and ammunition, for when the heavy battle began toward the end of the cycle. My stash area was a fully organized artillery; my team and I now had a full base of operations inside the CoMpLeX map. We had just finished mapping out the enemies advances from the Triad and started planning our assault and defense. I wiped the sweat from my brow.
I realized my eyes hurt. The coke on my desk was long since empty, and the CD playing in the background had long since finished. I had a bunch of homework to do for US History class, and would be waking up for high school in 5 hours time.
Just enough time for a few more hours in the CoMpLeX. I grabbed my keyboard and instantly, Flipper went back into traditional mode; reformatting A commie, G commie, and two other players to get enough experience points for increase strength and hits. Flipper would soon have enough experience to become a corporal, and by the end of the cycle, a general. The request point bank was nicely sized and could hold him out for the month. He was at a comfortable level. The alarm clock went off. No sleep had occurred. Off to school.
Over the next three days, our alliance established quite a presence on the CoMpLeX; as were our enemies and competitors, each building up their strongholds in different areas of the CoMpLeX. It hadn’t taken long to heat up since the beginning, and several major wars had already occurred between Flipper and his allies of Team Black and our enemies in the Triad. I would sit late at night controlling Flipper’s every move, obsessed with Team Black’s success during this cycle. Several other smaller groups had tried to gain a foothold in the CoMpLeX, but none were as established as us. In the previous month, it had also been the two same groups fighting for control. What made it different this month was that after the fierce fighting between Flipper and company last month, there were many new faces and characters in the CoMpLeX. With increased numbers, it was becoming more difficult to establish control. The more parties involved, the more bloody the war.
One of the smaller groups that disturbed us was started by one excellent player. He was joined by more inexperienced players, but with him at the helm, they had cornered an extremely strategic part of the CoMpLeX. They weren’t large enough to be a threat on their own, but Flipper had encountered some intelligence from commie ranting and ravings that this team - known as O - was considering joining the Triad. This worried us. We spent more and more hours, with Flipper working overtime in the CoMpLeX to fill up our supply of heavy artillery.
A week later, we found out that the O and Triad indeed were working together, they had just hoped for us not to notice O and plan to fight both of them. However, we had uncovered this by them not covering their footsteps - and we did not leave footsteps when we found theirs. We knew what they thought we did not, and now we had about a week to come up with a strategy to win. We found a major flaw in the teams strategy the next day.
Team O and The Triad’s bases had a major design flaw. They were back to back - as Flipper and company could not cross into their rooms, they could not tell this until one of Team O’s players defected to us. They were set up in a 6 by 6 grid with their main supply rooms in the middle. With the rocket rifles Flipper and Black had built from components and stockpiled, they could take out three room in any direction. We laid out the plan - one of the four Team Black members would gather on each side of this six by six array next time everyone was in the CoMpLeX. We’d each have fully loaded rocket rifles, and take out their base of operations in one swift move.
Three days later was when it happened; the final battle of the cycle. My arms were extremely tense, my brain was moving at a hundred miles a minute, and my wild cherry diet Pepsi was filled to the top of the three liter bottle. I was ready; I suddenly was Flipper as I dropped into the CoMpLeX in my old familiar room. One of my teammates was already there. The other two came shortly and we all loaded our inventory with the appropriate weaponry. Triad and O were on- line - and knew that Team Black was - and we all knew this was going to the be final showdown. What they didn’t know that we knew was that they were allied and had prepared for this was on two fronts. Team Black wished each other well. Flipper headed out of the base south and within 30 seconds had been in three battles with other users, all of which he one. It was the fourth fight with Cab the Commie (the most vicious of the AI generated commies) that finally reformatted Flipper. “CHRIST!”, I yelled, and grabbed the two liter. Reformatted. Just what Flipper needed. I yelled out loud. Then I dropped back in. Back at the starting point. It was okay, Flipper still had his experience, but had to drop off to Team Black’s room again and hustle back before the assault began.
Reloaded and back out, Flipper went west this time to avoid the conflicts happening directly south of the base. Soon after going west, he headed south, and then back east to finish the loop around the mayhem. Cab the Commie was running around his circuit creating all kinds of trouble, reformatting members of both Team Black and the Triad/O marriage. Flipper ran into Bond, one of his teammates, and he told Flipper that Black were all in position. Flipper readied my rocket rifle. I readied my fingers and brain. In one glorious burst of text and virtual fire, all four members of team black annihilated the other team we had just surrounded. This major injury took away enough of their request points that for the rest of the month, we would have no problem maintaining control. The cycle was one for team black.
I relaxed. We had done it. My voice phone line immediately rang, and then call waiting came off. It was Bond (Andy) and Ferret (Rob), two of my Team Black mates calling to tell me we had done it. I assured them I knew, but was very happy as well. This meant another FREE month of access to the CoMpLeX - the winning team always gets the best prize. Flipper would maintain control for several more months over the CoMpLeX until I realized that it was in fact just a game; a very intriguing game. We had won the free access for another month, and the game ended. It was reset, and there we were at the beginning all over again. The cycle had started again.
Flipper ran through the entire CoMpLeX grabbing components at every available opportunity. He’d reported enough components since the beginning to have a comfortable request point level; this would allow him to recharge his laser to stay alive. He had an M3 laser, as well as an M2; the M2 was readied as it took less request points to recharge the M2 than the M3 from control. The beginning had just come again, as usual, and the more powerful weapons could wait until later on in the contest. For now, the key was to collect components, reformat some commies, and prepare to die over and