Page 12 of Control

“Hey!” he said. “I’m not your brother. You trying to get back at me?”

“A tease for a tease,” I said as I smirked to myself. I’d often referred to Giff as my brother since we’d known each other for so long in Aurora. We’d also never looked at each other with any sort of romantic interest even after spending many nights together.

“So Ana,” Giff said to me, getting serious. “That player that started that shit a couple months ago, remember them? Well, they’re back and already causing problems again.”

“Which one?” I asked as there were a few people in the game that were consummate troublemakers. “That one girl that’s always playing dice and getting angry at people for being alive?”

“You mean Crazy Fry?” Giff asked. “Nah, that bitch is small time compared to Ronnie.”

“Oh,” I said as I realized he meant Ronnie Rarko, a notoriously obnoxious troll that seemed more interested in griefing people than actually enjoying himself. Maybe that was what he derived joy from. “I don’t get why they keep letting him back on. How many times has he been suspended now? Four times?”

“Seven,” Giff said. “And they still let that dirty bastard back in.”

“He’s such a damn blight,” I said as I looked back over to Clover to see that she was doing wonderfully as I’d hoped she would. She was looking over to me with some concern and one of her new friends told her I was on a call as there was a small phone emblem by my nameplate. “What kind of idiocy is he up to now?”

“He’s talking shit,” Giff said.

“When is he not?”

“He’s talking shit about you. Again.” I sighed.

“Jesus Christ,” I said, the exasperation in my voice obvious. “What the hell is his problem with me? What did I ever do to him?”

“He’s probably going after you again over your title,” Giff said. “Just like last time.”

“That man has no life,” I said back to Giff. “He comes of as one of those men that thinks they have it all figured out when really they are trying to force others to fit into their box of understanding. Still, not like I can stop him. He can talk shit up to a point and he’s not breaking any rules. Unless you’re contacting me because he is breaking the rules.”

“That’s the tricky part,” Giff said in a lower voice. “He’s talking shit, but not in the way he has in the past. Now he’s getting people all riled up over personal information.”

“Personal info?” I said back to him, a little confused. “Why does he even care about all that? That data’s confidential.”

“I know,” Giff said, “but he’s talking about how some men play the game with female avatars and vice versa.” I could feel the grimace coming over my face. “He’s saying that’s unethical and people who do that are pieces of shit and should be outed or kicked out of the game. He’s saying that shit about you and me and even Lookout.” I shook my head.

“Sounds like something he’d do,” I said, edging toward exasperation.

“It does,” Giff said, agreeing with me. “And apparently that idea for those around him is picking up some steam. People are talking now. That wave of conversation is spreading and it’s making some players nervous. They think their personal info could be revealed.”

“That would never happen,” I said. “The game devs would never release that data. If they didn’t they’d have a massive class action lawsuit on their hands and they’d put people’s lives in danger. It would be a train wreck of mass proportions.”

“You and I both know that,” Giff said with some reservation in his voice. “But that’s where it starts to go off the rails. Someone started a rumor that the game studio might be the target of a hack by one of the players. Some even think the hack already happened and that someone is sitting on gigabytes of player data and could leak it at any time.” I thought about what Giff was saying for a moment.

“That has to be bullshit,” I said, shaking my head. “If they’d gotten hacked they’d have said something. They’d give us a heads up to change our passwords, take measures to secure our data, that sort of stuff.”

“Or they might not,” Giff countered. “A lot of companies out there get hacked and never say anything about it until the data is sold or someone blows the whistle. Hell, the game publisher may not even realize they’ve been hacked!” He’d made an excellent point, one I couldn’t ignore.

There is a history in the corporate world where companies will get hacked and not even realize it. Or they may realize it and simply not say anything to customers for months or even years after the hack occurred. For so many large corporations out there it’s all about money and if they admit they were hacked, their stock price could suffer and investors will get nervous. I knew that Giff knew I had contacts in virtually every circle in the game from the dancers to the sports jocks, the fashionistas to the emo crews, the BDSM community to the “Vanilla Shakes,” and even so far down as the notorious schemers and creeps that always looked to steal from and take advantage of people in Aurora.

“Are you wanting me to ask around?” I asked Giff, already aware of what his answer would be.

“Probably be a good idea,” he said. “Like you said, it’s probably all bullshit but you never know. And if this talk is only getting louder, who knows. Maybe some hacker that plays will get ballsy and attempt the hack himself. Point is Ronnie is putting ideas into people’s heads and it can have a negative effect on the community.”

“Should we get a Game Moderator involved?” I asked him. “They’re better equipped to handle this sort of thing anyway. All I can really do is reach out to my contacts and see what the word is around Aurora. Even then, what can we really do aside from trying to dispels the rumors.”

“We may have to try,” Giff said. “I think if Ronnie is starting a panic amongst the player base that would probably break some rules. The problem is while he may have started it there are probably a hundred other people all spreading the rumor now and I don’t think a Game Mod really wants to start doing mass suspensions. That looks really bad, like they’re trying to hide something. I bet if they did that, then those left would look at that as confirmation that there really was a hack and it would spread more.”

“You’re right,” I said back to Giff, openly sighing. “I’ll walk around a bit, visit some old haunts and see if anyone else is talking about this. Hell, maybe I’ll just go straight to the source and ask Ronnie what the deal is.”

“Damn,” Giff said with a little laugh. “Just like your old self; no beating around the bush.”

---