I’m a sucker for mobile games. I grew up in the golden era of them. I spent countless hours as a kid racking up high scores in Temple Run, Jetpack Joyride, Fruit Ninja, you name it.
Usually I’ll play just about anything. If it has bright colors and an even remotely entertaining concept, I’ll give it a try. Playing these dumb, mindless games was a relaxing way for me to kill time. In a stressful world, its nice to just shut your brain off sometimes.
Recently, I had had a lot more time on my hands. I lost my job a few months ago and the job market had been stale. I had easily sent out hundreds of applications without a single interview. At best, all I would get was the typical “thank you for your interest but at this time we will not be moving forward…blah blah blah” email. My savings was dwindling fast and I needed to find something quickly.
When you’re unemployed and live alone, you get bored pretty quickly. I could only send out so many applications before my brain would start to shut down and seek another form of stimulus. That’s when I would turn to the games on my phone. Even if it were just for a few minutes, it was a way for me to zone out and avoid thinking about how I was going to be able to pay my rent.
Despite my love for mobile games, I will admit that they are nowhere near what they used to be. Almost every single game in the App Store is just complete garbage. You know the ones I’m talking about. The ones that are so poorly animated it looks like the developers made it in a few hours at most. Not to mention, the CONSTANT onslaught of ads. After every single level there’s an ad for another shitty click-bait game. It’s enough to drive someone insane sometimes.
But every once in awhile a somewhat interesting game pops up. I download it, play a few levels, get annoyed with the ads. Then the cycle continues. It wasn’t uncommon for me to get stuck in an hours-long rabbit hole like this.
One day, I was feeling especially frustrated. I had just received another handful of job denial emails and things were looking bleak. I was down to the last of my savings and was on the verge of being evicted from my apartment. I had about two weeks before I would be single, unemployed, and living in my parents basement. I shuddered at the thought.
That night, the stress was eating me alive and I couldn’t sleep. At about 2:00 AM I let out a defeated sigh, resigning to the reality that I would not be sleeping tonight. I pulled out my phone and started playing my usual crappy puzzle games.
I’ve played so often that I typically recognize a lot of the ads. I felt like I knew the king from Royal Match’s ads on a personal level and had all but memorized the solution to the “sort-the-colored-balls-into-different-jars” ad. I’ve gotten good at finding the small X to close the ad and clicking it without being involuntarily re-directed to the App Store. But that night, an unfamiliar ad grabbed my attention. The screen went black then green, digital font words flashed across the screen:
DO NOT SKIP THIS AD.
I let out a chuckle. “Pretty desperate, huh?” I thought to myself. I went to close the ad but paused. Something about it felt off. I decided I needed to see where this was going. The screen went black again then words came across the screen again in the same neon green color. It looked like someone was typing, almost exactly like you see in movies where a hacker is typing in a code.
YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED TO TAKE PLACE IN A MISSION. TAKE OUT THE TARGETS AND YOU WILL BE REWARDED. DO YOU ACCEPT? [YES/NO]
“What the hell, why not?” I thought. It kept my attention this long, might as well see what it’s about. I clicked “YES.” From there, the game trailer began playing. It was your typical sniper assassin type game. You were to be given a file describing a person (your “target”) and it was your job to find that person in the crowd and “take them out.” I had played games very similar to this before.
But here’s the thing. The game looked incredibly realistic. I could make out every tattoo, freckle, and scar of every single person that popped up on the screen. This wasn’t your typical ad-bait mobile game. This was clearly a passion project for the developers. I was skeptical because a lot of games use this trick. They show you a trailer that looks great to get you to download the game, but then the actual gameplay looks nothing like it. But, at the end of the ad, another message popped up; this time in standard, white font.
“We use AI in our game to create a truly immersive feel for our players. However, the AI develops its database from real locations found across the internet. As a result, some gameplay locations and characters may be recognizable to user(s). Do not be alarmed. This is normal.”
I was already intrigued, but it was the next message that had me hooked:
“Our goal in developing this game was to make it as challenging as possible for the players. As a reward for your efforts, cash prizes are available for successfully completing missions. Good luck! - Anonymous Studios.”
“Oh I’m so in.” I said out loud. A fun, realistic looking game that claims to offer cash prizes? Sign me up. My skepticism was still at an all time high and I figured it was probably a scam, but at that point I was desperate for cash. I was broke; if they were to scam me, they wouldn’t be getting much. I figured I had nothing to lose and downloaded the game.
When I opened the game, I had to create a profile with some basic information. Against my better judgement, I gave them my name and my email. I also linked my PayPal to receive my potential prizes. Like I said: I had nothing to lose.
Once I signed up, I loaded into my first “mission.” A Manila folder came across my screen:
CLICK TO OPEN.
I followed the directions and the folder opened. Inside, a picture of a man was paper clipped to the top of the page. The man looked to be in his early 60s with short salt-and-pepper hair and a well-kept beard to match. He was wearing a black pinstripe suit and a bright red tie, which contrasted well with his crisp white shirt. He reminded me of George Clooney. On the other page, a piece of paper read:
TARGET: MR. [REDACTED].
MISSION: MR. [REDACTED] IS THE CFO OF A MAJOR FORTUNE 200 COMPANY HEADQUARTERED IN [REDACTED]. WE HAVE REASON TO BELIEVE HE IS COMMITTING SECURITIES FRAUD AND STEALING MILLIONS OF DOLLARS FROM HARD-WORKING AMERICANS. HE ROUTINELY GETS LUNCH AT THE BODEGA NEXT DOOR TO HIS BUILDING AT 12:30 AND EATS IN HIS OFFICE ALONE.
REMEMBER: YOU MUST ONLY TAKE ONE SHOT. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED.
DIFFICULTY: EASY
REWARD: $1,000.
“Simple enough” I thought. I figured the reward would be in-game currency that I could use to upgrade my character or convert to real money for pennies on the dollar. I shrugged and began. Once the game started, it was as if I had been teleported to [REDACTED]. The ad was telling the truth, this really was an immersive experience. From my character’s point of view, I was on the rooftop of a skyscraper looking at another skyscraper across the street. I was able to clunkily move my view around (my phone screen was way too small to do this smoothly) and get a full view of my surroundings. It was a bright, sunny day. The traffic below was bustling with the sounds of honking and braking. The city was also flooded by the sound of the constant hum of people talking. For a quick moment, I forgot I was laying in bed in my underwear.
On the bottom corners of my screen, there were two buttons. In the bottom left corner was a button that said “CHECK WATCH.” In the bottom right corner was a button that said “HOLD TO AIM. RELEASE TO FIRE.”
I clicked the “CHECK WATCH” button and my virtual arm came into view. The silver watch on my “arm” read 12:29. I knew from the description that the target would be leaving the building across the street at any second. About 30 seconds later, sure enough, Mr. [REDACTED] walked out the front door. I watched through my scope as he entered the bodega. Ten minutes later, he reappeared with a brown bag and a soda in his hands. I lost sight of him as he entered back into his building so I began scanning the windows to find him. A few minutes later, there he was. Sitting at his desk in his luxury office eating a sandwich.
Simply following my instructions, I took aim and fired. What I saw next made my stomach turn. I’ve played violent video games before but this was different. This was too realistic. The bullet hit his head and crimson blood spattered across the room and on the wall. The man laid on the ground motionless; blood and pieces of his brain seeping out of the hole in his head and onto the floor.
I was frozen. I couldn’t look away. I continued watching through the scope as a young woman entered his office. I couldn’t hear anything, obviously, but I could see that she was screaming and rightfully distraught. As others began running into his office to observe the commotion, the screen faded to black and another neon green message appeared.
MISSION COMPLETE. WELL DONE.
I had to put my phone down. I was trembling and on the verge of throwing up. This was too realistic for me. I was genuinely horrified of what I had done.
“For what I’ve done?…” I thought “…it’s just a game…” I reminded myself of the ad.
“It’s just AI. The ad specifically warned you about this. You should have known this would happen. What else did you expect?”
Still though. I’ve seen AI art and while it looks pretty accurate, there’s always something just a bit off about it. Especially when depicting people. Someone always has an extra finger or something. Not here though.
While I had started to calm down, I was still shaking and trying to catch my breath when my phone vibrated. I picked up my phone and saw a notification from PayPal:
“Payment received - Anonymous sent you $1,000.”
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. What is going on? In a matter of 10 minutes, I had made enough money to cover my rent payment for the next month. And that was for completing an “easy” level. But at the same time, I felt disgusted by the amount of detail that went into the game.
I had a million questions running through my mind like angry bees swarming their hive. What is wrong with people? Why would someone develop a game so horrific? Am I getting scammed? Is that money real?
Despite all these questions, there was only one thought in my head that I kept returning to. I wanted to play again.