cc:
[email protected] re: re: Counseling Available
Jesus christ, what the hell is this? How fucking dare you send out a message this morning telling us how and what is appropriate right now? Oh, and real gracious of the corporation to spring for the “co-pays or deductible” costs for this counselor you're bringing in. Couldn't you wait at least one day before pulling this bullshit on us?
Dave was our friend. He was the friend of a ton of people on your mass-mailing list in this office and even outside of the fucking GameCore division. If all you can fucking do is send out the same form letter to everyone—from employees who didn't know him to people who knew him as a brother—then maybe you should just stay quiet and let those of us who want to mourn do it in peace.
And yes, I know I sent this to everyone on that same mailing list. That's not a mistake. That was intentional. I wanted everyone to know how I fucking felt.
Brett
[email protected] (Samantha Strickland) 6/7/13, 11:13am
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re: Dave
Hi Steve...
I just checked the website and saw it wasn't updated. Then I checked Twitter and oh my god... I'm so sorry, Steve. I know you weren't there for long, but this must still be so hard on you. And I can't even imagine what the other guys must feel like.
If you want, I could drive up again this weekend. I don't know if it would help, but I know you might not want to be alone. Just let me know. If you get a chance, tell the rest of the crew that I send my best wishes.
Love,
Sam
[email protected] (Steve Norman) 6/7/13, 12:37pm
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re: re: Dave
Thanks for the thoughts, Sam. I'd love to see you this weekend, but you don't have to drive up. Everyone here is just in shock. I'm in shock. While I only knew the guy in person for a few weeks, you know I've been a fan of the site for years. It feels like he's an old friend or something. It's so weird.
Jill and I are the only ones in the office. We're sorting through the content set to go up over the weekend. We're holding back a bunch of articles because we don't want the site to put up any content related to death or violence. Given that we write about video games, that means trimming a whole lot of our articles.
Ken went home. He knew Dave longer than anyone. I think they went to high school together. Brett was...uh...sent home by the HR department. You should see the letter he sent to them. Maybe I'll forward it to you eventually...
No one even knows the details of what happened yet, but I hear it was bad. Real bad. The people who do know won't even talk about it. Just makes me sick to my stomach. I'll probably head home as soon as we're done here...
I'll be all right, Sam. I'm more worried about the rest of the crew. E3 is basically canceled for us. I assume we'll all come in on Monday, but what it's going to be like... I can't even guess.
Thanks again for the e-mail.
Love,
Steve
[email protected] (Jill Wright) 6/7/13, 1:55pm
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re: Articles
Looks like we're done, Steve. I'm going to head home. You should too. I don't really want to be in this office any more. Not right now.
Jill
[email protected] (Yancy Rand) 6/7/13, 3:30pm
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re: Monmouth Hills
Mr. Norman:
I did not think that I would be writing you again, but I have found some new information. Since you are the reason I started looking into this again, I thought it was only fair that I pass it along.
In my last message, I told you about Benjamin Rickett. He was a member of the Monmouth Hills class that was present during the bomb incident. It was only because I happened to investigate the murders he committed that I ever connected the two events.
So it turns out that Rickett was not the only member of that class to end up rather infamous. Andrew Mullin, who graduated in the same year, was one of the three men who robbed a series of banks in Denver, Colorado back in 2006. They met a poor fate at the site of their sixth robbery, dying in a shootout with the police. Rhonda Bourn became a high school teacher in New York and was arrested for sleeping with several male students under the age of 16. Tyler Norris left the country in 2004 and joined a terrorist cell in Pakistan. As far as anyone knows, he's still fighting out there against the U.S. troops stationed in Afghanistan.
I can not begin to guess what all of this means. I don't believe that this is normal. All of these people were students who were present in the lab when the threat was called in to the school. Perhaps the trauma of the bomb squad bursting into their classroom set them down a dark path. I don't know. But I will continue to look into it. I am too curious to give up now.
Yancy Rand
[email protected] (Steve Norman) 6/7/13, 5:54pm
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re: re: Monmouth Hills
Mr. Rand:
Thank you for the follow-up, but I have to admit that I am not sure how much I really want to delve into this story. Recent events have shaken some things up for me. If you find anything else, please send it along... But I'll need to think about how much I want to be involved.
Thanks again,
Steve Norman
[email protected] (Yancy Rand) 6/8/13, 8:13am
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re: re: Monmouth Hills
Mr. Norman:
I do realize how life can get in the way sometimes. Nevertheless, I hope you reconsider. In almost three decades as a journalist, I have become rather jaded about some things. The one thing I have not become jaded about is my role—our role—as reporters and investigators. There is always a greater truth to discover.
Yancy Rand
[email protected] (Greg Norman) 6/9/13, 9:27am
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re: Is this right?
attachment: sf_man_dies_in_bizzare_self_mu.pdf
Steve:
I just stumbled upon this article. It says that he worked at GameCore.net. That's your office, isn't it?
I can't even guess what drives a person to do that to himself.
Dad
[email protected] (Steve Norman) 6/9/13, 10:44am
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re: re: Is this right?
Dad:
Yeah, he was a friend of mine at the office, actually. I didn't know about the details, and I certainly don't understand them. Honestly I think it's kind of an insensitive article.
Steve
[email protected] (Greg Norman) 6/9/13, 12:05pm
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re: re: Is this right?
Sorry... I didn't know. I didn't think he was actually at the same place you're working. If I knew, I wouldn't have sent the article. My e-mail would have probably been a bit nicer, too. That's truly awful. I am sorry for your loss.
Dad
[email protected] (Steve Norman) 6/9/13, 2:44pm
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re: fwd: Is this right?
Hey Sam,
I figure if there's anyone I can talk to about this, it's you. Even though I bet you'll be mad at me. I'm forwarding an article that my dad sent to me about Dave Ritter's death. I'm guessing he didn't really know that I worked closely with him. Otherwise, it was a total dick move sending this to me...
Anyway, I can't get it out of my head. I just don't understand. When I heard he killed himself, I could at least wrap my mind around i
t. Some people are depressed. It's an illness. You don't always see the signs, even when they should be apparent.
But this is something different. This wasn't a suicide, no matter what the doctors or police or newspapers say. No one kills themselves like this.
You know what I'm thinking. Dave was further into the game than I was. He spent the whole weekend before playing it. That's not the only thing... I've been talking to this reporter from Vermont. Or, really, he's been talking to me. I really think there's more to this game than meets the eye.
I don't know whether I want you to talk me out of it or I want you to give me permission to keep digging. I guess I'd be happy either way. I just need to know what to do. Reading this article makes me need to do something—anything--to try and understand. This was someone I knew. Someone I chatted with. Someone I read and watched for years even before I began working here. He didn't just do this to himself out of nowhere.
Tell me what you think. Tell me what to do.
Love,
Steve
[email protected] (Samantha Strickland) 6/9/13, 4:51pm
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re: re: fwd: Is this right?
You know what I want to say, Steve. I don't think you should spend one more minute thinking about that game. Let's say you're right and it has something to do with what happened to Dave. That's a huge step, and not something I'm willing to believe. You don't want to have any part of anything capable of doing that to someone. If there's even a chance what you say is true, uninstall that program and never look back. Never think about it again.
But I know you, Steve, and I know that's not how you think. You see a mystery. You see something that needs to be solved, even though it's probably a waste of your time. I hope it's a waste of your time...
Go ahead. Find out what happened to Dave. Just try and do it without playing the game. As much as I want to guarantee it had nothing to do with any of this, I still don't want you taking any risk, no matter how absurd.
Be careful,
Sam
[email protected] (Steve Norman) 6/9/13, 5:30pm
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re: re: fwd: Is this right?
Don't worry, Sam. I won't do anything stupid. You're right. I'm probably just seeing patterns in the chaos... But I can't just let this go.
Love,
Steve
[email protected] (Ken Greene) 6/10/13, 10:22am
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re: Apology
Hey Steve,
I'm sorry about this morning. I shouldn't have yelled at you. You weren't trying to be insensitive. You were only trying to help and I overreacted. We're all on edge here. I've already been looking into getting us all into another office in the building. Maybe that will help. Maybe not. Maybe things won't be the same again. I don't know.
While shouting at you wasn't the right way to go about it, I still disagree with you. I don't see any reason I should quit playing the game. This morning I made another breakthrough. I realized that if you use the syringe while you're in the top level of the guard tower, the movement of the guard slows down and he changes shape. This lets you escape the tower.
With as much respect as I can muster, your theory that the game has anything to do with Dave's death is ridiculous. I appreciate your attempts to understand what happened, but there are some things that we can never make heads or tails of. I knew him for most of my life and I've accepted that.
Even if you're right—and this is a really big fucking “if”--and the game will help me understand why he did that to himself... I don't think that means I should stop playing. It means I have to keep going.
Ken
[email protected] (Steve Norman) 6/10/13, 11:03am
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re: My biggest favor yet
Anna, please don't hurt me. I'm pretty sure almost everything I've asked of you has been well outside of your job description. Still... I think you're the only one here who can keep a level head about everything that's been going on. The editors in the office were close friends with Dave. I don't really want to bother them with my investigation. I'm worried that they'll think that I'm trivializing his death by trying to tie it to this damned computer game.
But I think there might be something to this and I might not have much time. Ken is playing it now, and he's advancing further than I ever have. Jill has been talking about picking it up, too. Even I admit that I'm tempted to try to push forward in Room 127. Something about it calls to me. Curiousity, I suppose...
I need to find some kind of proof that Dave was playing the game. I need to be able to show them—and show myself—that it's dangerous. I need to get onto Dave's computer.
A few minutes ago I went by his office. The computer is gone. I figure your office might have it. Is there any chance I could get just a few minutes on it. You can look over my shoulder the entire time. I might even want your help searching it.
This is way too much to ask of you. Turn me down if you have to. I just need to try everything I can to figure out what is going on with this game.
Steve
[email protected] (Anna Walker) 6/10/13, 11:31am
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re: re: My biggest favor yet
Steve, you have to know that would be a huge violation of company policy. I'm sure you'd want me to get past his password, too.
I'm not saying I won't do it, but I need more. Right now, this all sounds a little crazy to me.
Anna
[email protected] (Steve Norman) 6/10/13, 1:06pm
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re: I've reconsidered
Mr. Rand:
Looks like I was a bit premature to reject your help. I read through everything you sent me again and it's a huge step in the right direction. Granted, I'm still not sure how it connects with the events I'm trying to piece together.
I know you couldn't get the roster of the class where the bomb was found, but is there a chance you could find the teacher's name? That wouldn't be protected information and he might be able to help us out.
Thanks for your assistance,
Steve Norman
[email protected] (Ken Greene) 6/10/13, 1:28pm
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re: The next steps
Steve:
When you get out of the guard tower, things start getting weird. My screen was warping and tearing, like somehow this barely 8 bit software was pushing my machine too hard. The music got all distorted and it was even more jarring than usual. I thought it was another glitch—this really is a poorly coded piece of shit—but even when I went back and did it all over again the same thing happened.
There was a note on the top level of the guard tower where you get the syringe. It was shorter than the rest. All it said was this:
“We are working on a better way to see the world.”
Do you think this is a new gameplay mechanic?
Ken
[email protected] (Steve Norman) 6/10/13, 1:45pm
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re: fwd: The next steps
Anna:
Take a look at this message Ken just sent me. This is what I'm worried about. This doesn't sound right. Even I know that if a game installed from a floppy disk is pushing the processing limits of a computer built in 2012, something is wrong. And it doesn't look like Ken wants to stop pushing forward.
I need proof so he'll quit.
Steve
[email protected] (Brett Jackson) 6/10/13, 1:59pm
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&nb
sp; re: Your investigation
Ken told me you were trying to figure out why Dave killed himself. At first, I was furious. After all, you haven't even been here a month. It's not your place. But then Ken said that you thought it had something to do with Room 127. That's the name of that weird game you and Dave were playing right?
When I sat down to think about it, I decided I couldn't stay quiet any more. I needed to tell someone.
Last week, Dave sent me an e-mail. I didn't think of it much at the time. Even after I found out what happened, even when I knew he sent it only hours before...
I didn't want anyone else to find out about it. The whole thing was weird enough. Adding this to it would only make people hurt even more. I didn't want his family to read it. It wasn't him. Maybe it was the depression that had overtaken him. Maybe it was something else. I don't know... But right now, Ken has spent the last hour in his office with the screeching music of that damn game playing. I told him to turn it down and he won't.
If there's even a chance these things are connected, you better fucking make sense of it. So I forwarded the e-mail to you.