All About Future Week

[Judge Sam]

Future Week was a collection of themed events that took place in Episode #3. The idea behind theme weeks is that they intertwine an activity, a challenge, and another event with a theme that spans that Episode. In this case the theme was the future - the future of the game and the future of the Spies series.

On the first day Future Week was explained and the players wondered what was in store.

"Judge Sam" became a much older Chief Justice Sam while the players posted some pretty humorous pictures of what they might look like in the future. Things looked relatively calm. Levi, Kirsten, and Thor were just hanging around a rather dull spies6 AIM chat room when out of the blue...

spies15Qi has entered the room.
spies9felix has entered the room.
spies15Qi: it work!!!!!~~~~
spies15Qi: wait
spies15Qi: felix?
spies15Qi: how u get here to?
spies6levi: WTF?
spies15Qi: this my plan not urs!!!!!
spies15Qi: somethin go bad
spies6levi: Ummmm, who are you?
spies9felix: oh u stfu
spies6levi: Me?
spies15Qi: i qi best player of spies 15
spies9felix: ur name is not qi
spies9felix: it's queef
spies9felix: get it rite plz
spies15Qi: felix i remember
spies15Qi: you lose spies 9 hehe
spies6levi: Seriously, what the heck is going on here?
spies15Qi: you spy
spies9felix: whatever i lost but the spies still won so
spies9felix: its ok u tart
spies9felix: go back to china plz kthx!

Qi, from Spies 15, and Felix, from Spies 9 came to Spies 6 from a time warp. They and many other players from the future would come to haunt the Spies 6 players for the next three days. (Future Players were played by players of previous Spies games and were not there to impart any game-related information.)

The future players ran rampant for the next three days, sending cryptic PMs to players, haunting IMs where they taunted the players with their knowledge of the future, and funny posts in the Burg. They pretended to be from the future and as such, knew the full outcome of Spies 6, and taunted the players with 'hints' and knowledge of how the whole game turned out.


The future players were: spies9Christine, spies9Bo, spies9Felix, spies10Melecio, spies10Spike, spies10Xoe, and spies15Qi. Click on those links to see their pictures, signatures, and haunting posts in the Burg.

Highlights of the public hauntings include:

• Jane came from Spies 11 to ask for help in finding the witches hiding in her 1700s pilgrim town! Poor Jane hasn't had much luck so far, but maybe you can help her out by clicking that link. (must read!)
  
  
• spies10Spike wrote a touching Ode to (militant feminist) Yvette in which he lovingly writes:
  
  Yvette, Yvette
  I'm getting desperate
  Is it yes or no
  I just gotta know.
  Please don't rain on my umbrella.
  Otherwise, I'll go serenade Gabriela.
  
  
• Christine and Bo suspect spies9Felix may be a Spy in their own game and call him out. Meanwhile spies10Spike and Melecio feud.
  
  
• Finally, spies12Judas has something, for the record, he wants to say.
  

[Judge Sam]

So anyway, while the future players were haunting the Spies 6 players there was some other Future Week action going on.

Players were also treated to a look at Unions of the Future. This flavor post includes shocking information about Wal-Mart! Lots of information on how professional union busters systematically destroy worker's attempts to organize. The future of unions sure looks like a scary thing...


That brought us to the Future Challenge where the Spies 6 players would all collectively battle against the future. But it wouldn't exactly be an even fight... because it would be everyone in Spies 6 versus one future player. That's right, in each of nine different mini-challenges, it would be one versus the mob to win points. The team ~ Spies 6 or the Futures ~ with the most points would win the challenge and several rewards. If the Spies 6 team won, the Citizens would receive role powerups and a role investigation. If the Future team won, then the Spies would instead receive these prizes.


In this way that provided an interesting tension... not only were you trying to defeat the future player to win points, but possibly Spies from within your own team may be subtly trying to hold you back.

The challenge was a collection of nine unique mini-challenges, each taking about a half hour over nine rounds over two days. It was pretty grueling and there were a lot of different games. Games included estimation of push pins, checkers, and 20 questions. Some highlights:

Alphabet - The Spies 6 team had to construct a 20 character phrase pulling alphabet letters on a virtual refrigerator while just one Future player tried to screw em up. Oh but there may have been more disruption afoot, as perhaps the Spies took this opportunity to surreptitiously move letters around as well.

Color Puzzle - The Spies 6 players had to put together pieces of a puzzle and collectively solve it before one future player got the answer (they received the puzzle complete as is). Click on the link to solve the puzzle yourself. You have to figure out which two images are exactly the same.

Point and Click - In this game, the Spies 6 players had to work together as a team to make a word while being disrupted by the Future player. Pretend each player had a mini-chalkboard and could write one letter on it to make a word. They basically had to make 10 words while the Future player got to occasionally re-order the lineup of players. It was played here.

Bomb Drills - In this game, players had to overwhelm the future player by creating a thread with four replies in it before the future player could lock the thread. If they got enough posts, they would win. It was a pretty frantic 15-minutes game which involved a lot of strategy as to how the players would decide to work together. You can see the game here.

Gigantic Map - In the 1500s some guy made this incredibly intricate map of Europe called the Carta Marina. It was like almost a five foot square engraving. You can see the map by clicking on this link.

I gave everyone that link and we played a Where's Waldo-ish type game. I would show them a tiny picture on the map and they'd have to find it, or I'd ask them a question about the map. Since it was 2 vs. 9, each one of the 9 got a square to look in. Each round I also gave the 2 one different square each to look in, one of which contained the answer.

[Judge Sam]

It all came down to the final challenge as the winner of this last round would decide which team won the entire thing. The previous eight games had been contested closely over eight rounds over the past two days and it all came down to this: Qi and Melecio VS. the Spies 6 mob.


In the end, Iris beat Melecio in solving the puzzle and won the challenge for Spies 6 and the Citizens! All Citizens would receive a role powerup. Additionally one player would receive a role investigation. All players would secretly vote on who they wanted to win it. Who would the players vote for to win the role investigation and who would they use it on?

Unfortunately with the challenge over it was time to say goodbye to the Future Players as they departed back to their home games for good.


During the time they were there the future players had a lot of fun haunting the players individually. Unfortunately I cannot post those publicly now, but after the game I will edit in a link to their own private confessionals where they posted all those hauntings. It may be awhile before we see some of them again but those Spies games will be here before you know it!

Woo boy that's a lot of stuff for future week... but there was more! The future week Activity instructed the players to create a Time Capsule with their thoughts, opinions, and sensitive information inside. Each player would write a message they wanted to put into the Time Capsule to reveal after Imprisonment #9, an event that would take place one month and six Episodes from now. At that time the Time Capsule would be opened for all to see.


What would be revealed when the Time Capsule is opened far into the future? Well I can't tell you just yet because it hasn't happened yet! Check back later for a future update. Many players decided to be creative with their time capsule entries, some revealed sensitive information. And of course a lot of players have been eliminated since that time... I wonder what the dead players will have to say from beyond the grave.


I can't wait until the Time Capsule is opened.

If that wasn't enough, players were treated to a future themed Imprisonment story for the third Imprisonment. This one featured a tale about traveling through the spatial dimensions... and one player would be trapped in the first dimension forever. In that story it featured a a cool video explaining the dimensions which you may want to watch. You could start with the first video to get a more full explanation but 2 and 3 are where the juicy stuff is.

Players were also treated to the Future Vision. I have a vision… a vision I saw that portends the future. It was a collage of cryptic images that showed me not only the future of these particular labor spies and upcoming Union events, but of future Spies in future Burgs. It was a cacophony of futures… all of which eventually will become true….


The Future Vision! A vision of many things to come in Spies (and other) games in the future. An unbeforeseen look at the future of game development right before your very eyes. =) Cryptic, yes, but a lot of what’s coming up is right there.


Additionally, since the theme week was the future it would not be surprising that many of the events would take place in the future. The Time Capsule would be opened after Imprisonment #9, the future vision hinted at upcoming events, and... one player was even told of their own future elimination.


Yes, I can confirm that Ed was told that he would be Imprisoned at Imprisonment #5 at the very end of future week. The Spies had selected a future Imprisonment as part of the Future Week twist. How could they select someone so early when they had no idea what the future would hold? How would Ed react when he was told that he was doomed to go six days from then? Could he possibly avoid his fate by using roles or was it an inevitable conclusion?


I'll tell you the full story after the game.


So that pretty much sums up Future Week. It was a collection of a lot of really cool events, and several parts of it are yet to be unrevealed! I especially liked making the future vision and seeing players from the future. Cool to think about. When I started up Spies 1 three years ago I never dreamed this is where we would end up.

[Judge Sam]

(this was posted in Ed's confessional immediately after future week)

*Judge Sam knocks on Ed's door late at night*

Judge Sam: "Can I come in?"

*Judge Sam sits down in the parlor and sips some tea*

Judge Sam: "Hey Ed... how's it goin? How's the family? Great weather today wasn't it. Kids had a blast playing outside."

*the two small talk for a little bit*

Judge Sam: "So anyway, something happened the other night that I'm here to tell you about. You know all this Future Week business... people from the future, visions, events, all that jazz. To me it was all a game. I knew what was going on and all the jokes and things were funny and it was just a good time.


To be honest I was surprised some people took the visions to heart. Cause I know it was just all a show. But then something happened... something happened which I never expected. Something I didn't know about.

It was an actual vision... a vision of the future I'm almost certain will come true. And in the vision it told me to come tell you about it. You, specifically Ed. Because you have a special role in all this craziness..."


Judge Sam: "Which is why you're Immune from Imprisonment #4! That's right - you're completely safe at this next Imprisonment. That's gotta be a load off your shoulders right?


You're Immune because you will have important information... you see, in the vision I was told who would be Imprisoned in Imprisonment #5. I saw what would happen then, something about laxatives, looking through people's credit histories, and security guards. That part was hazy, but there was one part that was clear as day. Who gets the axe."


Judge Sam: "It's tough to say... I guess I'll just show you."

---

They ended up cornering him in the employee bathroom.


The punches flew, sending the man back against the tiled wall. As the blows continued, sweat and blood sprayed onto the mirrors, the floor, the walls...


Sweat and blood that would be washed down the bathroom drain, leaving the scene of the crime spotless.

Ed has been fired and Imprisoned by the Spies.

You will never see him again.

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---

Judge Sam: "I'm so sorry... I was as struck by this image of the future as you are. Your Imprisonment.... foretold to take place at Imprisonment #5. Your fate revealed to you now."


Judge Sam: "But is your fate inescapable? I'm not sure, the vision seemed extremely strong, but... not every future is inevitable. No matter how slim the chance, anything has the possibility of being changed. Your futile grasp at survival may be fruitless but...


It's not like you have anything to lose."

[Judge Sam]

36 long, treacherous days after it was buried, the group dug up their Time Capsule and everyone's messages were revealed. (including a video message from a Spy!) You can read them all by clicking that link. Khaled revealed his role, some of the players wrote funny messages, and others had written thousands of words of now-useless speculation. It's got something for everyone!