Its Kinda Like a Game: Press Play

Chapter 2

I stepped off the city bus, which had stopped around two blocks away from the complex. Generally on a Friday it was better advice to avoid that street, unless you actually needed to be there.

On slow weekends, the cars could fill the three hundred-car parking lot. When we had busy weekend, there could be cars down the block. Today was not going to be a slow day however.

From the stop to the front door was a short five-minute jog, which left me slightly winded. I knocked on the door, as the complex didn’t officially open for another twenty minutes.

I stood impatiently, tapping my foot while I waited for one of my co-workers to finally come to let me in. It was maybe a minute or two later when one of the new workers finally let me in. There were no words exchanged, as there was much to do.

I walked behind the main desk, and unlocked the safe where my ID was inside. I got together with four others, and we split up the rooms that we were each to prepare.

Within the two-story complex there were eighty rooms, meaning each of us had twenty we were in charge of setting up and preparing. I quickly started with my downstairs rooms, as there was less to do. There were three different types of rooms, along with one master room, located dead center of the first floor.

The first type of room was the smallest size.  The maximum player hold it had was four players. These rooms were generally what filled up most of the time. Inside each room was a large table, with an HD screen, with a smooth metal frame and legs.

The concept was that each player would arrive, and would pay per game with prepaid cards that they bought as they entered the building. From there they would be escorted into the room, where they would place the card into a slot on one side of the table, and would be returned once that game was played.

Once each player assigned to the room was inserted the room master would flip a switch that would divide the room into four sections with a small walkway in-between with a small perimeter around the table.

I was what the complex knew as a programmer. Inside my ID code was a start up sequence that would boot up the systems inside the room, allowing the room to be useable. Among the staff there were only eight total programmers. The four of us here today were the ones responsible for the days on the weekends. The other four worked Monday through Thursday.

Once the place opened up sixteen others whom we called floaters would uphold the rules. Basically they were each assigned five rooms in which they would float through and make sure all rules are being upheld correctly, and would be responsible for checking for cheating.

The other rooms were of similar principle, except large by scale. The next size room up could hold six players, and from there the largest public could contain eight. However, in the center of the complex, there was a grand room.

After I made my rounds through the assigned twenty rooms I walked through the corridors and came to the biggest room in the complex. The people who came to the complex every week were simply known as the Regs, which was a short for regular. It was a pretty basic name, however those who were able to utilize this room, were not basic. Of the hundreds that were regulars only the top twenty were aloud to use these rooms.

Paid members of the complex had their own personalized key cards that tracked their wins, and their loses. The top twenty were composed of players that had the least win to lose ratio. It took all four-programmer keys to start up the sequencing in this room.

Tonight was a very special night. In the last few years that this place had been running, only one tradition has stuck. The top twenty would all come to this room at 11:30 and would play a randomized bracket tournament to decide who would be the top player till next year.

As we all entered our IDs the player chart popped up with the names of those that were aloud to enter this room. The top name was one that had been up there since the beginning, Anonymous.

The name truly suited its owner, as no one knew who he was. When he made his appearances, he wore a white Anonymous mask, fitted with a voice changer on the inside, effectively hiding his identity very well. He had been a member since day one of this complex and had only lost a total of twenty matches. His standing record really was a remarkable feat in itself.

Seeing the name up there each time made me smile, after all, I was Anonymous. As I scanned through the players that would be competing against me tonight I realized two other names, which I could put a face to.

The first was the eighth top player: SpartanWarrior. I knew him by Dillon. Dillon had joined the place later on, maybe a year or so after I had joined. It’s just another reason why I had decided to keep my face separate from the name.

The second dame was the eleventh top player:  DemonicFist.  This was James. Both of the two Neanderthals joined together, and had been trying to push their way up since then. This however, was not somewhere that you could bully, and push, and pride their way up. You had to work for it.

The third reason that I kept my identity quiet was because the winnings that I produced in monetary currency was probably enough for me to pay for my own place, and live quite comfortably. If people knew that it was I with that kind of money, well Dillon and James would visit much more often.

Suddenly the usual fuzzy sound of the intercom system being accessed and the manager’s voice boomed throughout the place. He was in his mid twenties and was a pretty cool boss as far as cool bosses went.

“Attention all programmers and floaters, please remember that later tonight we will be having the annual Bracket Duels. Which means that It will be a very busy night in terms of attendance.” As he continued he talked about remembering to be one call, ready incase there is an emergency in the Grand Hall, the tournament room. Of course that didn’t apply to me, as I would be in there the entire time, winning.

Soon after the others and I agreed that there was nothing more to be done, and headed out to the main lobby, where the floaters were putting on specialized vests, that we had to wear now in the incident after one player had a huge anger fit, and attacked a floater.

The other programmers and I wished them the best of luck and headed into the evaluation rom, where we monitored the whole buildings network system, and made sure that it was working properly.

When we walked in, there was a series of monitors that displayed the connectivity of each player to their room central, and from there to us. If there were any problems, for the most part the four of us could fix any major problem from here.

It was from here that I would spend my time till around 10:30. When that time came around I would clock out and wake my way around the complex, joining rooms where there was an open spot until the time came around in which my attendance was required.