The Code is Mightier than the Sword

Chapter 3: The Realm of Infamy

The first few minutes of the car ride took place in silence. Jason was trying to imagine what kind of job the government could have for a gamer that would earn him a hundred grand in one night. Any doubt about his DM’s ability to produce that kind of money had disappeared when he saw the car they would be taking. It was a Tesla, but it was like something out of a science fiction movie and must be the latest, most top-of-the-line model and probably cost a fortune.

Conor didn’t talk at first because he was trying to figure out how to tell Jason about the most unbelievable thing in the world that almost no one knew existed. “Have you heard of the Realm of Infamy?” Conor finally asked.

Jason thought for a while but shook his head.

“I didn’t think so.” Conor paused again as he navigated his car onto an interstate heading west. This late at night, traffic was sparse, allowing him to move to the left lane, put the cruise control on, and let his Tesla do the driving so he could concentrate on telling his story.

“Realm of Infamy was an MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) that came out several years ago. It was designed by two ex-hackers, one from Turkey and one from India. They didn’t speak much English, and their translation software wasn’t great at first, so it didn’t take off here. They wanted to design a non-traditional game where the lines of good and evil were blurred, and the best solution to a problem wasn’t always one that we, in the Western world, would think was ‘good.’”

“Hence Infamy?” Jason said.

“Yes. The game itself was pretty tame at first and nothing worse than you would see in an Assassin’s Creed or Grand Theft Auto game, but they really wanted users to create their own quests, or modules, for others to play. So they made an immensely expansive world and left 95% of it open for user content. And the users created tons of stuff, most of it much worse than anything you’ve seen, where they force the players to make choices between two horrible outcomes and then have both decisions turn out badly. As you can imagine, it wasn’t well received in the US or most of Europe. Slapping an MA+ rating on it wasn’t enough, and most stores refused to carry it.

“In addition, people had problems with the leveling system. In most games, you race to level 20 or 99, get the most powerful spells, and then you can single-handedly kill anything. This game was different. Level 12 characters could kill level 20 characters. Strategy was more important than hit points. Plus, there was no cap on experience. The highest I’ve ever seen a player get is level 30, but you could theoretically get up to level 100 or above. The game just scales up for you.”

“And it is a standard RPG?” Jason asked.

“Yes. Elves, Dwarves, Paladins, Wizards. I can explain all that later, or maybe Gracie can; she is better than I am and will be your operator tonight.”

“My operator?”

“Right, I almost forgot.” Conor reached into a small coin compartment in the car and pulled out an individually wrapped pill. “You need to take this. I hope I didn’t wait too long.”

Jason took the unassuming pill gingerly while Conor pulled a water bottle from the chilled center console. “What is this?”

“A muscle relaxant. You’ll need it.”

“It’s okay to take after alcohol?” Jason asked as he tore open the package.

“It’s better with alcohol. That’s why I gave you the beer.”

With $100k on the line, Jason didn’t ask too many questions and used the offered water to swallow the pill.

“This game is almost exclusively played with a VR set,” Conor continued.

“So, I will be wearing a headset and wandering around, trying not to bump into things?”

Conor laughed. Jason was in for a big surprise. “No, not one of those. The illegal kind.”

Jason didn’t bother asking for clarification and just stared at the driver as Conor took control to exit the interstate. Conor could feel his stare and let him wait a few moments before continuing. “What would you do if you found a new way to cook meth so it worked amazingly well as a weight loss drug? If you took small doses daily, your metabolism would go way up, your hunger would be suppressed, and you would have more energy for exercise.”

“But it’s meth,” Jason clarified, wondering not for the last time he was getting into.

“Yes,” Conor said, “it is dangerous. But if taken in small doses under supervision, it has no harmful side effects. You run a test trial with 100 adults who lose an average of 30 pounds in a month and are in perfect health. Then, after another month, 80 are addicted to the drug, and 40 have died from an overdose.”

“Obviously, you can’t go to market with it,” Jason said, seeing how the parallel would be drawn.

“Right. If used properly under supervision, it is harmless and, in fact, quite good for you. But you can’t trust the general public to follow instructions with something as addictive as that. You could say the same thing about skydiving or SCUBA. Try doing that without following the safety protocols, and you will die.”

“And this VR technology is the same way?” Jason asked, wondering how badly he needed $100k.

“It plugs into your brain full Matrix-style, sans the long scary spike, and when you open your eyes, you are in the computer game. You can touch, taste, see, and feel everything around you. You control your limbs with the same parts of your brain as in real life, except you can be a level 20 wizard throwing fireballs. However, fail to set the equipment up properly, log off incorrectly, or experience a power failure in the middle of the game, and you can scramble your brain and possibly never walk again.”

“If this system is so dangerous and illegal, how do you have one?”

“Nuclear weapons are dangerous and illegal, but the government has plenty of those. When you work for Washington, you get some perks.”

Jason nodded. “And everyone else? How do they get them?”

“There are black markets everywhere. Just because something is illegal doesn’t mean people can’t buy and sell it. Illegal drugs and weapons are sold in nearly every country every day.”

“Yes,” Jason argued, “but I’ve heard of those. I’ve never heard of this VR system. How do people look to buy something illegal they’ve never heard of?”

“First rule of Fight Club,” Conor replied cryptically.

Jason got the point and decided to change topics. He still wanted to know more about the mission. “Okay, but I still don’t understand what this has to do with National Security.”

“Before 2020, terrorists, arms dealers, and the like understood that the international law enforcement community could monitor their cell phones and read their emails. For ultimate security, you had to be face-to-face. This meant international travel. With the use of satellites, that could also be tracked. They monitored private jets flying in and out of airports and kept an eye out for large caravans of trucks moving through Middle Eastern roads.

“Then 2020 happened, and travel stopped. Terrorists didn’t care too much about government lockdowns, but if they were the only planes in the air or trucks crossing a border, it would be even easier than before to track them. The world moved to Skype and Zoom calls, and they tried it for a while, but those are also easily hacked.

“Then someone found Realm of Infamy or ROI. Because of its questionable content and rejection by the mainstream community, the game had moved to the dark web, and since two hackers designed it, it had impressive security. You could log in, meet with someone else in a tavern or empty cave, have a conversation, and then log out, and no one would ever know. The governments weren’t watching.”

Conor pulled off the main road and started navigating a few smaller residential streets. “Eventually, the authorities found out about it and started to investigate, but unless you were logged into the game and found the player character of the terrorist, you couldn’t listen in. When they logged in through a console, there were still ways to hack their account and find out where they were, but it wasn’t easy. However, it was over once the VR headsets became compatible. No one can hack the human brain with a computer. It is the ultimate firewall. If they are logged in through a VR set, there is no way to tell where they are.

“But that was just the start. These criminals soon realized they could run their whole business through the game. ROI offers the ability to buy gold coins in the game with crypto, and you can sell gold coins or items to other players for real money. So now they could do business deals without involving the banks or huge suitcases of cash.

“Terrorist cells started training in the game. Before, they would need large camps with lots of equipment that could be tracked by satellite. Now, they can have 50 men log in from all over the world and sit down for a meeting, and then they can run drills and practice suicide runs. We’ve found mockups of real-life locations in the game, and then a week later, a car bomb would go off in that area.”

“The simulation is that good?” Jason asked. “I mean, learning how to throw a fireball in a video game doesn’t mean you can throw one in real life.”

“They aren’t practicing magic. They practice formations, timing, and working as a group. Your brain controls your movements in the game the same way it does in the real world. It translates pretty well. You’ve taken some sword fighting lessons?”

Jason nodded. He occasionally went to Star Wars conventions, and he and his buddies would do lightsaber demonstrations.

“That skill will translate into the game, and if you learn some acrobatic move, it will translate back into real life, assuming you have comparable dexterity.”

Conor pulled the car into the driveway of a small home in a quiet neighborhood. It was almost midnight, and no one was about. “We’re here.” He rechecked his phone. “Time is short. We should hurry; we don’t want to keep my sister waiting.”

“Gracie?” Jason asked.

“Yes, your operator.”

“I have so many other questions,” Jason said as he exited the car and followed his host into the garage and then the house.

“I’m sure you do, but as with most things, it will be better to show you than tell you.”