MMORPG: How a Computer Game Becomes Deadly Serious Read Online Free PDF Page A

dedicated to Heineken beer. Next to it was a whiteboard with the names of all residents on it. When taking a beer, all you had to do was to put a scratch behind your name. At the end of the week, it was pay-time for personal consumption. Judging from the list, there were some heavy drinkers around. Michael was one of them.
    The other two refrigerators were filled with everyone’s food. The rules were simple: everything with your name on it was yours. If it didn’t have a name on it, it was free booty.
    Robert retrieved his milk and, leaning against the sink, he finished the entire pack. Finally, he began to feel a little better. He turned to the coffee machine and poured two coffees. Also taking his bread, butter, and hagelslag , some delicious kind of tiny crisp chocolate crumbs the Dutch put on their bread, he returned to the living room.
    “Here you are,” he said, handing a cup to Michael. He noticed the American was reading the Herald Tribune . “Could I have a piece of your paper?”
    “Sure. Take the front section, I just finished it. It’s about yesterday’s bombing.”
    Robert spread the paper on the table and started to scan the front page while he prepared a sandwich. Finished, he turned to the full article on the bombing, eating at the same time.
    Halfway through, he suddenly froze. His brain came to a full stop for a second, then started to run on full speed. He almost felt a physical click when several things came together in his mind. Not bothering to clean up, he moved to the door.
    “Hey, where the hell are you going?” Michael had half risen from the couch and was staring at him curiously. “Are you all right?”
    Robert gave him a wave to indicate that he was fine and ran upstairs, taking two steps at a time. At the top floor he nearly collided with Khalid, who was about to go downstairs. Robert stared at him. For a moment he hesitated, inclined to say something about what was bothering him. Instead, he simply said “Hi!” and moved on.
    In his room, he grabbed his mobile phone. Last night, Rebecca had given him her cell phone number. Before calling her, he opened the diary function and looked up some dates. Satisfied, he called her number. She answered on the first ring.
    “Rebecca, it’s Robert. I need to talk to you. Now. Where can we meet?”
     
     
    She came to his place wearing jeans and her black Barrera polo shirt, since she had to be at work an hour later anyway. When she arrived, Robert waved her to one of the tiny chairs. He’d searched his memory several times and put his findings to paper.
    “I’m so glad you could come, I must talk to someone about this. It may mean nothing, but there are too many coincidences. I need your opinion.”
    She looked around and folded herself carefully on the indicated seat. A smile was on her lips, but she also looked serious. Robert was glad she seemed to take his sudden summoning so well.
    “Is this about what you told me yesterday? About that guy and World of Warcraft?”
    He nodded, holding a finger in the air. “Yes, but yesterday I didn’t remember everything. And I hadn’t read today’s paper.”
    She held his gaze. “So what did you remember exactly? And what’s in the paper?”
    “Yesterday, you told me that the bombing was supposedly done by some terrorist group that called itself the Hammer of Righteous Justice, right? And that they had written their name on a painting?”
    “Yes. At least, that’s what I heard on the news.”
    “Okay, but that’s not all!” He held up the front page of the Herald Tribune . “An hour ago, I was reading this newspaper. And in this paper is one thing that wasn’t on the news, at least you didn’t hear it. Or maybe it wasn’t released yesterday. Listen to what the paper says, I’ll only read the important part:
     
     
    The attack is claimed by an unknown organization called The Hammer of Righteous Justice. The official spokeswoman of the Department of Justice confirmed that they are