The Never Game

She blinked. “Oh, I never told you: it’s my job.” She dug into her pocket and handed him a business card. “I’ll introduce myself proper. My real name is GrindrGirl88.” And she shook his hand with charming formality.

22

Maddie Poole didn’t design games, didn’t create their graphics, didn’t write their ad campaigns.

She played them professionally.

Grinding — as in her online nickname — was when one played hour after hour after hour for streaming sites like Twitch. “I’m going to give up asking if you know any of this, okay? Just go with it. So what happens is people log on to the site and watch their favorite gamers play.”

It was a huge business, she explained. Gamers had agents just like sports figures and actors.

“You have one?”

“I’m thinking about it. When that happens, you end up committed to a gig. You’re not as free to play where you want, when you want. You know what I mean?”

Colter Shaw said nothing in response. He asked, “The people who log on? They play along?”

“No. Just watch. They see my screen while I’m gaming, like they’re looking over my shoulder. There’s also a camera on me so they see my cute face. I have a headset and mic and I explain my gameplay, what I’m doing, why I’m doing it, and crack jokes, and chat. A lot of guys — and some girls — have crushes on me. A few stalkers, nothing I can’t handle. We gaming girls gotta be tough. Almost as many women play games as men, but grinding and tournaments’re a guys’ world, and the guys give us a lot of crap.”

Her face screwed up with disgust. “A gamer I know — she’s a kid, eighteen — she beat two assholes playing in their loser basement in Bakersfield. They got her real name and address and SWAT’d her. You know it? Capital S-W-A-T.”

Shaw didn’t.

“When somebody calls the police and says there’s a shooter in your house, they described her. The cops, they’ve gotta follow the rules. They kicked in the door and took her down. Happens more than you’d think. Of course, they let her go right away and she traced the guys who did it, even with their proxies, and they ended up in jail.”

“What’s your tat?” A glance toward her neck.

“I’ll tell you later. Maybe. So. Here’s your answer, Colt.”

“To what question?”

“What we’re doing here. Ta-da!”

They were in front of a booth in the corner of the convention center. It was as big as the others yet much more subdued — no lasers, no loud music. A modest electronic billboard reported:

HSE PRESENTS

IMMERSION

THE NEW MOVEMENT IN VIDEO GAMING

This booth featured no play stations; the action, whatever it might be, was taking place inside a huge black-and-purple tent. A line of attendees waited to get inside.

Maddie walked up to a check-in desk, behind which sat two Asian women in their thirties, older than most employees at the other booths. They were dressed in identical conservative navy-blue business suits. Maddie showed her ID badge, then a driver’s license. A screen was consulted and she was given a pair of white goggles and a wireless controller. She signed a document on a screen and nodded toward Shaw.

“Me?”

“You. You’re my guest.”

After the ID routine, Shaw received his set of the toys too. The document he’d signed was a liability release.

They walked toward the curtained opening to the tent, lining up in a queue of other people, mostly young men, holding their own controllers and goggles.

Maddie explained, “I’m also a game reviewer. All the studios hire us to give them feedback about the beta version of new games. Immersion’s one I’ve been waiting for for a long time. We’ll just try it out here for the fun of it, then I’ll take it home for a serious test drive.”

He studied the complicated goggles, which had a row of buttons on each side and earpieces.

The line moved slowly. Shaw noted that a pair of employees — large, unsmiling men dressed in the male version of the women’s somber suits — stood at the entryway, admitting a few people at a time, only after the same number had left by a nearby exit, handing back their goggles to yet another employee. Shaw noted the expressions on the faces of those leaving. Some seemed dumbfounded, shaking their heads. Some were awestruck. One or two looked troubled.

Maddie was explaining, “HSE is ‘Hong-Sung Enterprises.’ A Chinese company. Video gaming’s always been international — the U.S., England, France and Spain all developed games early. Asia’s where it really took off. Japan, in particular. Nintendo. You know Nintendo?”

“Mario, the plumber.” Once off the Compound for college, then work, Shaw’s education in modern culture took off exponentially.