05
Demo Derby
Darren Wiznitskiy left the racing stadium and went back to main highway, noting to himself that the players here have too high hopes. Something could be done about that, maybe an analyze skill that will tell you who you’re up against? No, too valuable of a skill. We can limit the betting… limit rewards… keep them from playing against players with an obvious chance of winning. He rolled through his options as Chief Programmer and CEO of Omnicorp inc. He’ll come up with something.
All in all, the racing was kinda fun, very realistic. He noted that the haptics feedback was spot on, still feeling a crick in his neck from the excessive G’s while doing a quarter mile in under a second.
His next stop was the Demolition Derby. Loads of fun! He always loved the old school games where you had to smash and bash your way to victory, or even race while totaling other cars… what a great release of anger!
But that’s not what he’s here for. Not fun, not anger management… work.
This one is going to be a tricky inspection. In his mind he’ll have to make sure that the violent whiplashing effects are accurate in enhancing a player’s involuntary control of their cars and characters. IRL, you hardly know what you’re doing in a real car accident, and people don’t recover from a spin that fast.
The legal department will have a heyday when they see his requests for that.
He dove into the similar overlarge parking lot and went inside the stadium. People were cheering and he could already hear the sound of constant metal on metal, revving, explosions and more cheers of satisfaction and disappointment.
He sighed, knowing he wouldn’t be able to enjoy it this time… the drawback of being an executive. You create all this amazement for people but you can’t enjoy it yourself…
Now, onto work. The stadium was packed. It was the standard arena with seating all around, an announcer box about two stories up, tickets were being sold and taken for seating, and in the middle was an arena of dirt. Check, check, and check. Though I could make it bit smaller and push up the prices for tickets, make people pay more for last minute buys.
He walked in and watched the last few minutes of the derby. There were two cars left, the others having been beaten and crashed to smithereens, or towed off and placed on the edges. Even from far away he could see a few players left slumped in the driver’s seat, or left lying along the edges.
The two cars had circled around and faced each other from opposite sides of the arena, revving their engines, though the revs didn’t sound all that healthy, neither was the state of the rest of their cars. But they were still going.
The two had set off, coming straight at each other, jumping and weaving on the uneven dirt. They collided!
They both had enough still in them to back up and ram against each other again, and again! Boy was this a climax. They started circling closely, trying to ram the other first. Then one turned out and made a sharp turn. The black one was chasing the once red car all around. There hadn’t been a hit for over a minute now, just a game of chase.
Then a siren sounded, not an ending bell, but a siren. A handful of land mines dropped from midair and settled around the arena.
The black car hit one! It was immediately sent up into the air and on flames.
“VICTORY!!!” The announcer yelled over the speakers.
The crowd went wild, people jumped out of their seats and into the arena.
“Careful for the mines,” the announcer said as people flooded the victor. But as soon as he said it, someone had set one off and sent ten players flying into the air! Another went off and even more players flew around! It caused such a chain reaction that all the land mines had been set off, and one lone player stood unharmed! The winner was even caught in all the fun and had been blown up too!
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Check, check, check! Complete mayhem! Lots of dangers to kill players immediately. Check!
Hardly anymore players tried to get into the arena now, but they had started cheering, throwing beer bottles around and caused more ruckus. He didn’t wait for the excitement to cool down. Darren went to the registration section and put his name in.
There was a line for competitors, which meant he would have to wait a good ten hours before competing. But he made a dirty face at the NPC, “Check my status. I should be first.” The NPC checked it, and sure enough, he had been bumped to first up in the next Demolition Derby.
“Have a nice day McLightning!” The NPC smiled.
He chuckled to himself and walked back to his truck to get some good ol’ beat up car with all the riggings for demo derby. Namely his refurbed POS. Reinforced panels, spikes on the hub caps, with a plated engine block, steel plating underneath, not to mention all the virtual stats of the car that made it virtually indestructible.
“Three! Two! One! CRUSH!”
The twenty player stationed at the edge of the arena rushed forwards and came colliding all together. They backed up and the chaos really started.
McLightning turned and rammed into the car beside him, backed up, got hit from the side and spun, rammed forwards into another car and sent him spinning…
The motion was unbelievable. Those players inside must really be suffering. Imagine what it must be like not having visual stabilizers in their software. (He did. It was an upcoming improvement he was piloting, not out for public sale yet.)
McLightning had a line-up right in front of him, ten cars had managed to to be in a line right in front of him. He revved forwards, bashing each one as he went and managed to make the last car explode in a pillar of fire. He backed up and turned around, getting another good shot. He plummeted forwards for another fatal crash.
He was now pushing three car out and into the wall. The first one hit the wall, the middle one was crushed, and the third had a dent the size of a house, but still managed to back up. McLightning pushed forwards again and pancaked the other two, causing their cars to send another gout of flame out of their engines.
Now there were two cars left, plus McLightning. Looking at the state of their cars, he was sure to win. There wasn’t even a wisp of smoke coming out of his own hood.
McLightning revved, chasing one of them around. Finally getting close enough, pushed turbo, and slammed the guy, sending the whole car flying off a bump and hitting the wall, slumping to the ground. McLightning followed through and slammed the car once more into the wall and backed up. The player tried coming out, but McLightning stepped on the accelerator again! Finishing off the player too. Realistic blood splattered on his windshield. He laughed. That’s what you signed up for, bud. If you don’t like it, stick with hot wheels.
The last car had surprised him, coming from the side and causing McLightning to spin again. It was a good hit, enough to turn him around and give him a good getaway.
Now the game of chase began. McLightning sped off only to find himself the one being chased. What fun! He sped around the arena a few times, did a couple of high speed hairpin turns and got into a good head-on crash. The crowd was going wild. Still not one wisp of smoke.
They chased each other around some more, McLightning just waiting for the other guy to burst into flames. That or wait a minute for the landmines…
They chased some more. McLightning trying to not cause any damage for over a minute… it had worked!
Sirens! And a handful of landmines dropped.
They sped around and around, McLightning carefully noting where the mines were on his map and just waiting for the last car to hit one.
Apparently this guy was just as good, or lucky.
Finally he had enough waiting. McLightning spotted his opponent and got him good in the side, pushing him into a mine. The car exploded, McLightning pushed through and under. The car flipped head over heels and smashed down, flames coming out from under the hood. Then the car exploded too!
The player had already managed a safe escape, but McLightning reversed, unnecessarily consummating his victory.
The crowd’s cheers turned into cries of sorrow for the needless kill. Some had still jumped the walls and came to see who was in the car, though not as many as the previous match. Hardly anyone was dying to congratulate him.
He didn’t wait to be congratulated as the crowd to ran into the arena just to get themselves killed, but waited a second for it to begin and left before any mines had been activated.
He made it back to his semi with a crowd of players around him. Some had managed to bypass the land mines. He still didn’t get out as he approached his semi, rolling inside and closing the door. He then ordered the semi to start moving, heading onto the next arena.