part 5: the chosen ones
The cyber community was called…drumroll please ——The Chosen Ones (TCO). By the way, I was in a few of such online groups —— two on Whatsapp, three on Reddit and four on Discord —— but TCO was the sole invitation-only club. I felt special. We all felt special.
The interface of the webpage looked like a typical organisational tool: a navigation sidebar on the left with a logo and underneath it “8/13 not complete;” the pages “READ ME FIRST,” “Home” and “Conversations.” So I was the eighth member and we were awaiting another five to arrive. The others who were already present were: #5JN♠︎, #5K3♠︎, #5KL♠︎, #5Kß♠︎, #5L9♠︎, #5LL♠︎ and #5LN♠︎.
There was a notification button beside the Conversations bar that indicated that I had an unread message but when I clicked on it, a pop up window appeared that read: “Please read READ ME FIRST, it is there for a reason.” Feisty. Fine.
READ ME FIRST:
A very warm welcome to your Gang, #5M7.
As you know, our demise is imminent… and I would have then fulfilled my greatest wish… but that would be quite unfair to the rest of the humankind if you did not have a chance to attempt to redeem yourselves, is it not?
Be acquainted or even befriend the other Chosen Ones. Attempt to work together to stop the impending disaster. This is basically a game.
Here are some rules to follow:
– do not reveal your superpower until prompted
– do not try to contact each other outside of this webapp I made you
– be kind
Each of you has an incentive to not participate in the game; but you are also promised a prize if you do play along.
The group chat will be available when the group is complete, and then the clock will start ticking. Meanwhile, you are allowed to message the other members individually. Please do not bother to be sneaky as I have Peepers everywhere, the price to be paid is too high for all of you.
I am very excited for all of this! And I hope you are too! Who knows, maybe we will meet in real life! ;)
Have a nice day. Cheers.
— “That Man”
PS: You know what will happen if you don’t obey me, right?
Yes, the world will end immediately.
I could not tell if the point of the document was to be intimidating, threatening, or welcoming, but I did have mixed feelings after perusing it three times, hoping that I would detect a tone of sarcasm or a small clue that it was just a joke. Then, I briefly considered private messaging one or a few of the other members, but decided against it; I was but just a humble worker at a Kolinski’s — it was a long day… new Superkarte holders swept half of the store clean.
On the next morning, I received a text from #5LL♠︎that read: “Hey r u a real person??” What a good conversation starter, I might start using it on first dates. At this point, we were 12/13 and I found myself holding my breath each time I refreshed the page on that day, anxious to see what would happen when the group is complete.
I texted a little with #5LL♠︎, who sounded to be very chatty and who was secretly excited about the events that were about to unfold though she articulated her scepticism around it; she was probably someone I do not mind being friends with but would not want to spend that much time hanging out with. I learnt about her gender, her occupation (baker with her own bakery) and what she thought about this (more inclined towards believing it but not sure what she could contribute with her superpower).
And then there were thirteen.
Dear Chosen Ones,
Welcome one and all to The Game!
The Game is simple: use your superpower to do a lot of good within two weeks; there are no concrete guidelines as my Peepers will be observing and judging — scoring and penalising as they deem fit. The Peeper’s decision is final. A simple rule of thumb is to not manipulate anything in means that are ethically questionable.
As you were briefed, you all have very different reasons to sabotage the Game, however, you will then have to wave the world goodbye — your life, your loved ones, your favourite cheese, everything. Of course, it is up to you to decide whether to believe this or simply walk away from this hoax (this is not a hoax).
There are two ways to prevent the end of the world: by scoring enough points in The Game or find me.
You have two weeks to save or exterminate mankind, please use it wisely. Today is Day 0, where you can collect your thoughts, get to know each other and come up with a strategy. The Game starts tomorrow!
We all try to make the world a better place in our own way, huh?
Good luck!
— “That Man”
PS: Please also do not break any of the rules.
There was now a widget on the Home page with a countdown timer with 14:00:00:00 that has not started and “Score: 0/10000000; 0% completed.”
GROUP CHAT [day 0]
@5LL: heyyyy everybody, this sounds quite serious!? let’s do it?
@5JN: Yes, let’s find that man.
@5K7: How? We don’t even know how he looks like. I think we should try to reach the score.
@5KÖ: are you all really believing this bullshit
@5K3: In my opinion, we should play the game tomorrow and observe what happens after, there is no harm in doing good.
@5KJ, @5L9, @5LN, @5M7(you): +1
to be continued…
i don't like kwy 