Chapter 26: Administrative Issues
I looked up at Lena. Her eyes were tight at the corners, her lips were pursed, and she clenched her phone in a death grip. I knew exactly how she felt.
She tilted her phone toward me. She smiled and then her smile thinned.
She was looking at me through Third Eye.
I didn’t dare look at her that way, not if I wanted to drag myself back to our Discord conversation.
Cancellation!
Third Eye Productions seemed to have unlimited resources. But this was 2023. “Unlimited resources” really meant they had the backing of some techbro with more debt than sense. Whatever investors they’d lined up would vanish at the first hint of legal repercussions.
No more physical signup bonuses with insane distribution schemes. No more server farms melted to clothe us in fire and light and movie-grade costuming.
No more Third Eye.
I squared my shoulders and started typing.
OldCampaigner: Have you talked to the devs about this?
NugsFan15: It’s why I invited VisibleFromSpace.
OldCampaigner: What did they say?
NugsFan15: You’re welcome to search and find out. I promise it won’t take long.
I did a quick Discord search for the Third Eye developer’s charming username. The only part of them that had charmed me so far.
Four previous instances where Erin had typed VisibleFromSpace, three with an @ to try to ping the dev. One time each that ShakeProtocol and DeepingShadows had.
None of them had gotten a response.
Just to be thorough, I checked the other rooms, too. The only place the name VisibleFromSpace appeared, other than in Offline users, was in General Chat. First the automated Discord message, then Erin, had welcomed them to the server.
They had not responded.
Forget taking sides. The dev couldn’t be bothered to show basic courtesy.
Based on the server logs, my afternoon catastrophizing looked ridiculous. Of course, I didn’t have a log of Erin’s DMs with VisibleFromSpace.
Regardless, the dev’s presence still bothered me. I still thought they should have declined the invitation.
But I also thought they shouldn’t have implemented invasion PVP in an Augmented Reality game, so what did I know?
OldCampaigner: What about AlephLambda? They’re so much more active on Official.
NugsFan15: AlephLambda told me they would share my concerns with the development team, but that I had nothing to worry about. And, I quote, “:)”.
Lena and I both snorted.
Ashbird: There’s one mystery solved.
NugsFan15: Oh?
Ashbird: You didn’t invite AlephLambda over here ‘cause you didn’t want to use up the world’s emoticon supply.
NugsFan15: Ha!
Discord chimed on Lena’s phone, then, a second later, on mine. I switched to my DMs to find Erin had sent me a message.
NugsFan15: It’s probably fine to say it in chat, but just in case, here it is privately. I did want to invite both, but VisibleFromSpace seemed more serious-minded so I asked them first. They agreed to join, on the condition that I didn't invite AlephLambda.
Lena scrunched her face up. “What the fuck?”
“Yeah, that’s...” I shook my head.
OldCampaigner: Weird. Did they say why?
Rather than typing an answer, Erin quoted it. “VisibleFromSpace: AlephLambda needs to concentrate on supporting the broader playerbase. I will be more than adequate to address the needs of your wiki team.”
“Control freak much?” Lena asked.
I nodded. “Glad I’m not the only one getting a real bad vibe from it. It almost sounds like some cult shit. Isolating people, you know?”
“If I didn’t think AlephLambda was a friggin’ chatbot,” Lena said, “I’d want to help him out.”
I faked a scoff. “Now why would a heartless bitch want to do a thing like that?”
She gave me another ineffectual punch and left her fist resting against my shoulder. “Don’t let it get out that I almost gave a shit. My public would riot.”
“Your secret is safe with me.”
“I guess AlephLambda’s not really isolated, though, you know?” Lena scratched the side of her head with her phone. “He talks to people like 24/7. Which, again, chatbot.”
“Yeah,” I said.
Maybe AlephLambda needed some help, if only to get out from under an overbearing boss. Maybe AlephLambda was a chatbot, like Lena said.
We couldn’t do anything for them, either way.
Could we do something about Third Eye getting sued?
I switched back to Erin’s server.
OldCampaigner: If the devs really aren’t concerned about the PVP issue, maybe we’re overreacting?
NugsFan15: I don’t see how.
Ashbird: Ooh, can we blithely ignore our problems and just have fun?
I shot Lena a glance. She didn’t return it.
NugsFan15: It isn’t your responsibility, so I understand if you want to do that.
OldCampaigner: It isn’t your responsibility, either.
Nobody typed anything for several seconds, then Discord flashed ‘NugsFan15 is typing’ for a heartbeat and her message appeared. She must have written it out in Notepad and copied it.
NugsFan15: If someone learns of Reactants because I have posted extensive information about how to find and use them, and they use that knowledge to harm themselves or others, then it is as if I’ve trained them to use a weapon. At best I’ve failed them and at worst I’ve enabled them.
“Nope.” Lena shook her head. “No. Hell no. Right?”
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Right,” I said.
OldCampaigner: What you administer is a wiki for a mobile game.
I’d initially typed out my line with Erin’s name, then deleted it when I realized I hadn’t noticed her use any real names in the Discord server. If she wasn’t comfortable with it, that was her business, not mine.
Still, without the personal touch, I thought my line sounded lame.
NugsFan15: What’s your point?
See?
OldCampaigner: Not a shooting range. Not a fencing school. Not any kind of school.
NugsFan15: So because I do not have to be licensed, I shouldn’t care if I make things worse for everyone?
OldCampaigner: So
OldCampaigner: You have to trust people.
She didn’t respond.
OldCampaigner: You gave us some fantastic tools to help us play Third Eye, but you’ve let us use those tools the way we want. That’s why there’s room for us to disagree about the Crystal find, right?
NugsFan15: If there’s room to disagree, it’s because you’re acknowledging someone could have misused the wiki. In fact, you both believe they have.
Lena leaned over and said, “Nice job breaking it, hero.”
I glared at her. “At least I’m trying.”
“Hey, we already established I’ve got a rep to maintain.” She rubbed her fist on my shoulder, then set her jaw. She gripped her phone with both hands. Her thumbs flew.
Ashbird: I know they have. That’s how wikis work.
“What the hell, Lena?” I made a grab for her arm; she dodged without even looking my way.
NugsFan15: Exactly!
Ashbird: Nope.
Ashbird: Cam said you have to TRUST people. That’s how wikis work, too.
Ashbird: People contribute and some of ‘em lie and the ones who figure out the truth, they’re gonna be the ones who work smarter and harder and fix the lies. Turns out most assholes aren’t amazing at long-term planning. Source: am an asshole. And when the dust settles from the edit war, the content ends up right enough.
NugsFan15: You are prepared to let whether Third Eye gets sued rest on whether things are Right Enough?
Ashbird: The devs should fix their shit. I’m with that. But that isn’t on you.
NugsFan15: And if that isn’t sufficient?
Ashbird: That’s why it’s called trust.
I’d followed this exchange, looking back and forth between Lena and my screen. “You’re wrong,” I said quietly.
She gave me the finger without looking up from her phone.
“You,” I said, “are not an asshole.”
Her thumbs froze mid-tap. “... Thanks.”
NugsFan15: That is a lovely sentiment, Ashbird.
Ashbird: Yeah, I’m kinda great like that.
Erin couldn’t see how the freckles showed on Lena’s cheeks as they reddened. Her loss.
NugsFan15: I even agree with you. We have to trust, even when it’s hard.
OldCampaigner: I’m sensing a “but” here.
NugsFan15: But I still have to do what I can. One of our users has written a more detailed assessment of how Third Eye Productions could be exposed to liability and sent it directly to their business address. Surely someone there will listen.
NugsFan15: If I can buy a little more time, it will be all right.
I raised an eyebrow.
OldCampaigner: Someone here is a lawyer?
NugsFan15: Yes.
OldCampaigner: Cool.
OldCampaigner: This isn’t the right way to keep buying time, though.
NugsFan15: What do you mean?
OldCampaigner: How many people in your server don’t have at least one Reactant?
NugsFan15: Two. Unless you don’t have one, Ashbird?
“There’s proof you won’t get kicked,” I said.
“Uh-huh,” Lena murmured.
I glanced at her.
She held her phone far from her face. Her camera flashed.
“What are you doing?” I shouldn’t have bothered asking.
The selfie she posted in Erin’s Discord answered my question.
Thing was, I knew Lena wanted it to answer Erin’s.
The only stills I’d seen of Lena’s Third Eye avatar were the pictures I’d taken the first evening. My camera work was probably better than hers, but even an awkward selfie showed off just how incredible she looked. Her wings stretched out of frame, so you couldn’t really see what they were, but you couldn’t miss the flames of her dress and hair.
NugsFan15: Oh!
NugsFan15: You just have to tell me how you’ve done it! It must be Fire and Water, yes? But when we combined those it just gave us steam. Is it different when the same person has both Reactants?
NugsFan15: Or is it Fire and Earth? Have you solidified Fire? Do you use all three together somehow?
NugsFan15: And my goodness, how much have you found that you’ve been able to figure out a complex structure like this? I have to update how we think the generation algorithms work.
NugsFan15: I want to ask if you are a fashion designer or character designer IRL but that is Too Personal. But I am wondering if the skills transfer. Please DM me if you want to tell me if you are.
Even if Lena had wanted to answer this stream of text, she couldn’t have gotten a word in edgewise. Discord told us that Erin continued to type.
Lena blinked at me. I blinked back.
“I think,” she said, “we need to figure out how this shit works.”
I nodded. “Scroll up and I’ll distract her?”
“Sounds like a plan.”
OldCampaigner: That’s going to go straight to her ego.
NugsFan15: Ha ha! Sorry, I got too excited.
OldCampaigner: It’s fine. I’m sitting next to her so I get to see her turn into an apple.
“I did not,” Lena snapped.
“I thought you were scrolling up.”
“I glanced at your screen.”
“Point. You have an unfair advantage.” I reached up and pretended to adjust my monitor away from her. She leaned over me to keep peeking.
NugsFan15: You two are very sweet.
OldCampaigner: We’ll sour on you with time.
OldCampaigner: At the risk of speeding up the process, I did ask about how many people had Reactants for a reason.
NugsFan15: Right. I supposed so.
My smile slipped.
OldCampaigner: People are finding Reactants whether we post about them on the wiki or not. Hell. I’ve already been invaded.
NugsFan15: I know the problem is worsening. I just don’t want to accelerate it.
OldCampaigner: You know how to find Reactants, then?
NugsFan15: I have been tracking where they’re found. ShakeProtocol demoed a program to predict their appearances. One hit and four misses so far but it may be better than searching blindly.
Would they share those results on the server? We could get Lena real Fire, not just what came with her avatar.
We could get me Water.
OldCampaign: Maybe don’t share that part with the wiki yet.
NugsFan15: Even the knowledge that PVP is possible is going to encourage some people to seek it out.
OldCampaigner: Yeah, it will. But there’s no way to keep them from learning forever.
NugsFan15: I know.
OldCampaigner: If you wait too long to tell them, they’ll know you hid the information. tbh, I figured out you had the moment I got my Air.
NugsFan15: I know!
OldCampaigner: How long are you going to hold off?
NugsFan15: Until the developers see sense!
I leaned back and rubbed my eyes. My chair creaked and I felt a flash of panic. It was the third most expensive thing I owned. Way more than I could afford to replace. If it broke I’d have to sit on a kitchen chair and my back would never forgive me.
Was I wrong to push like this? Yeah, probably, in the sense that badgering Erin seemed to upset her, but not persuade her. Ultimately, she was the wiki admin. I could propose the addition of a page as an editor, but she could delete it if she wanted.
I didn’t think I was wrong to want her to post, though.
I straightened up. The chair remained blessedly silent.
OldCampaigner: This isn’t the right way to help.
OldCampaigner: Right now, you have the community’s trust. People rely on the work you’ve done. Rightly! It’s an awesome wiki.
She started typing but I beat her to the punch.
OldCampaigner: If you wait so long that players think you’re hiding things from them, you’ll lose their trust. You’ll lose the chance to help them. And the chance to keep them from going too far.
Erin stopped typing. Lena was still scrolling up.
For a moment, I had the Discord all to myself, and I stared at my words and tried to decide if I sounded sensible or self-righteous.
Then Discord told me someone else was typing.
I hadn’t noticed one of the names on the right slide from Offline to Online.
DeepingShadows: That’s harsh, OC.
DeepingShadows: Wouldn’t you say, “We’re all trying our best?”