Play Fair

By BanishedTitan Link to channel: youtube.com/BanishedTitan

I am a huge gamer. It is my passion, career (I’m too young to have an actual job) and my hobby. One of my favorite series is Halo. I love the freedom fps(s) have to offer. My favorite game in the series is Halo: Reach. Nothing will change that. However, a series of events that happened to me just a few weeks ago, made me think darker about not just this game but games in general. It all started when I was at middle school. I had recently passed my annual exams and wanted to relax. I went back to see my gaming collection to find Halo: Reach and searched a long time to find it. When I did, it was just like it was when I last played with it, except for a few minor scratches. (It may have been my brother being clumsy with the disc) When I signed into my account, I noticed that there was something strange in the corner of screen. Thinking it was just my imagination, I went into multiplayer. I was in the stage where you can hide from noobs on top of glass by using the jetpack. When I killed about 3 elite players with the melee attack, a player without a game tag came up to me and commented, “DUDE I WISH YOU GOOD LUCK. PLAY FAIR. 5” After that, he vanished. I did not know what to think. I thought it was a glitch in the system, after all my Xbox 360 had a lot of bugs in it. (Due to the fact that it is quite old) I was a bit frightened about my experience still, so I decided that I would stick to campaign for a while. I played with my little bro Declan, but right away I noticed something was off. My brother asked me, “Hey Cole, why does your character not have a face?” I thought he was playing with me, however, when I looked at Noble 6, the head was visible, but the face was not. Then I made a joke saying, “Maybe the ghost of a player is trapped in the game and wants to haunt me.” Why did I joke about that? Declan said, “Well if that’s true, even though it’s not, were dead.” I laughed hysterically. However I was still a bit frightened. I had just read Ben Drowned earlier and believed in ghosts. Although I thought that the idea of a soul residing in a video game was as true as hell being a winter wonder-land, I still wondered if it really was. Declan played with me for a few hours until he got tired. Oh well. I guess it’s just me and my Xbox 360 now. I was looking for a glitch or cheat or mod that would give me an advantage in the game, so I went onto YouTube. I scrolled down so many glitch videos, until, I found one that looked like it could be some use to me. When I clicked on it, it started up quite odd actually. Instead of a guy on a webcam saying stuff like, “Hey guys this is RainbowSpace 2.0 here, and I’m going to show you how to -blank-;” it instead showed a red text saying: WARNING IF YOU HAVE MET HIM THEN DO NOT ON ANY CIRCUMSTANCES TRY THIS; HE KNOWS YOU ALREADY AND WILL STALK YOU. I was a bit freaked out when the video showed this but continued. I realized that the gaming was about to start. It had no sound. It was a lot like the BEN.wmv video except less creepy. I saw text saying, “You have to be a character of the darkest yellow color and you must crash your helicopter into a Banshee.” I expected it to be harder but whatever. Then before I knew it the video was over. So I exited the browser, turned the computer off and went to my Xbox 360. I loaded up the title screen. I noticed that someone made a new profile and I assumed it was one of my friends who made it. I signed out and signed into my own. I decided that I would go to the glitch right away. By the way this glitch gives me the ability to fly. (For those of you who don’t know (probably all of you) I went to New Alexandria and did the Glitch. However when I respawned, a dark figure appeared to be stalking me. I tried to run away but he was too fast for me. Out of the figures curiosity, (probably to mess with my emotions) he hypnotically beckoned me forward. I couldn’t stop Noble 6, it was almost as if the game was controlling itself. Five seconds later, I don’t even know why I bother….. HE SPOKE! “I smell fresh meat… in the air… It must be you… PLAY FAIR. YOU IGNORED MY WARNING… YOU IGNORANT CHEATER… GET SCARED… AND I WILL HAVE BEAT YOU!!! 4” I laughed saying stuff like, “You’re just inside my Xbox 360, and you can’t do anything about it.” He responded every time by saying, “Are you sure?” It went on for fifteen minutes, until, he said, “You shouldn’t have done that.” I immediately knew this was a BEN reference. 	I responded by saying, “You have met with a terrible fate haven’t you?” He said,” IM MUCH MORE THAN WHO YOU THINK I AM. I WILL GIVE YOU A CHANCE. PLAY FAIR!” Then he left my screen. I was shocked. I had just challenged Satan or whatever at his own game. I started to wonder if the “him” reference to that glitch video was talking about who I just met. Then I realized my player’s left arm was missing. I was on the verge of hysterics. I wondered if I was hallucinating but I knew I should know better. A message popped on the TV saying, “13-25-14-1-13-5-9-19-10-15-8-14-18-5-9-12-5.” I was confused by this until I realized each number corresponded to a letter in the alphabet. It said, “My name is John Reily.” (I decided to space out the words) I immediately looked up John Reily on the internet. I found information for him on a link, I would rather not mention. (You probably assumed I was going to look up a gamer profile. Well you’re right.) It said that he was born on May 15, 1993. He died from an unknown force while playing Super Mario 64 (DS) on June 22, 2011. I was spooked by this Idea that John Reily (or who knows what) was in my game. I decided to do some more research about this mysterious figure and I found out something hard for the rational person to believe. Many other people have reported encountering this figure in their games. So I’m not crazy! There was a rumor going on that John Reily was chosen to travel back and forward in time as a demon to kill players who cheated with their games. The organization who chose him to dirty work was Nintendo. I was shocked to hear this. I never thought companies would hire supernatural forces to do their dirty work, however, it is easier to believe it after I’ve gone through. I found on the forums a website that apparently was made by John Reily and I thought this could be a clue to what I have been through. (I would rather not share the link with you) I went onto the website and suddenly, a text popped up on the screen saying, “I want to play with you. Do you want to play with me?” Now don’t get me wrong. I’m the type of person who knows not to click on a creepy text like that. There were two texts that I could click on: Yes and No. I chose no of course. However, it appeared that I couldn’t choose no. I kept clicking for perhaps 10 minutes, until, another text popped up on the screen saying: You have to say yes Cole. I screamed. How did he know? Was this John Reily or a stalker who got good grades at M.I.T.? After a long time of thinking, I decided to click yes. Then, out of nowhere, a game called, “Sonic.lost” popped up. I decided to play it. I did not know what horrors awaited me.

(So for you readers who haven’t read the first part of this chapter, please read it! If you don’t, you will not understand this at all. From Cole) Okay, so let us continue where we started off. I had chosen the play button for Sonic.666 and waited for it to load up. Finally the title screen appeared showing Sonic strangling Tails and beating the forest animals. I was horrified. I knew that Sonic was the hero of almost all of the games. (Except Sonic.exe) When I knew the game was about to start, I prepared myself for any screamers or pop-ups. It started out with a level labeled, “He made the world hell” 1. I saw Dr. Eggman (or for old school players: Dr. Robotnik) crying. When I looked closer, I saw that he was holding his own left arm with his right arm. (Which appeared to have been ripped off.) Then, all of a sudden, Sonic appeared and said to Doctor Eggman,”You nasty bag of filth, did you really think that I was done with you? I want you to play with me.” Then, a stage popped up, which was labeled: Not alive 1. I didn’t want to play anymore. I cried as I asked God to help me beat John Reily. However, my pleas were never answered. I knew that I would have to face him like a man. So, I said, “You’re a puppeteer, aren’t you? You are a manipulator. You want to tap into my emotions like a lab rat.” Then, I decided to play the Sonic stage. I played as Doctor Robotnik and Sonic appeared to be chasing me. I had enough. I decided to run right into his filthy body. Then, an animation of Doctor Robotnik being mutilated was shown. I threw up. Then, all of a sudden, a distorted voice said to me through the speakers, “You bag of flesh, bones and soul, I am mankind’s bane. I control you now. What is it like to be afraid?” Yeah, that’s great. Now he wants to play with my unstable teenage emotions. What’s going to happen next? Will he harvest my soul? For the love of 64-bit, I don’t even know what is going on anymore. I’m starting to question if this is really John Reily. Maybe, someone killed him and took his name. (BEN reference) No, that’s what he wants me to think. He is really just a Satan in a video game. Wait. If that is the case, why has he not killed me? My sanity is melting as I write this. I fear that I will be killed from behind. There, I said it! Anyway, back to the sonic game. I now had the option to play as Knuckles. He got killed when Demon Sonic started to rip out his throat. Tails got killed when Sonic tied up all her limbs and pulled them off. Then, a text popped that said, “I am god within these walls.” Okay, now I’m scared. A text popped up saying, “3” It showed a YouTube video, showing Noble 6 screaming in agony as a dark figure pulled off his other arm. “2”	It showed Link slowly dying, with no arms and one leg. “1” It showed Mario rotting as a torso with a head. “0.” It showed Samus as a headless torso. Then, a bloody face appeared on the screen saying, “Your god has abandoned you. You are starting to see reality. It is your species that is dying.” Then, a cluster of screaming and crying babies being abused by a faceless man was shown. Then, on the screen, it said -1.

The Diary Entries of John Tobin Reily (Note: These diary entries of John Reily were found off of eBay. They are a rough translation due to poor spelling. After careful investigation for in case this is a fake, I found out that the people who sold it were John Reily’s parents. What a bunch of bad parents. Who sells their own son’s personal diary after the son dies?) 6-1-2011- What a big day! My first year of college is almost over. My grades for the exams are all within the A-B range. That will certainly impress my parents. I have decided to go and buy some more games for my recently bought NES. Mario 3 would be nice to play at the moment. Another reason is, because, my recently made friend named James loves the NES. He is my first friend I have had since early high school and I hope our bond continues. 6-2-2011- I have gotten Super Mario Bros 3, Ghosts and Goblins, The Legend of Zelda and Metroid for my NES. I will play them in this order: Metroid, The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario 3 and Ghost and Goblins. I will post my footage on my channel. (NOTE: I have tried to find his YouTube channel and eventually did but it turns out that the channel was suspended for some reason. Also, if this guy ordered Ghosts and Goblins for the NES, he must not know how hard it is. Man this guy was a newbie.) 6-3-2011- I asked my friend Maria out for a date. To my advantage, she said yes. We were able to schedule it to be at Mario’s on June 21st. I have 18 days to prepare. I will have to go on online to learn how to be cool on a date. If I mess up, I will lose her. If I don’t, I could be one step closer to being a father. So I went on ehow.com, and now, I think I know what to do. Ah the internet, it has taught me so much. 6-4-2011- I’m feeling very weird lately. I’m having this strange urge in my head telling me that life isn’t worthwhile. I’m going to tell my brain that life is worthwhile. Love, movies, friendship, money, a better future, life has it all. I asked my friend if he wanted to go to the video game exhibit in Washington DC. He said yes. After an hour and a half road trip, we arrived at our destination. It was awesome when we got there. It had all the systems from the Atari to the Xbox 360. After spending two hours or so in DC, we headed back to the campus. It took slightly longer on the way back. However, who’s complaining? 6-5-2011- Man, I am tired. It must have been caused by my lack of sleep last night. Oh well, I might as well get started with that homework I have to do. When it comes to college and homework, there is no mercy at all. I spent about an hour or so on homework, then when I was done, I went on my computer to play games. Yes, I know, I am what you would call an addict (Same with me) but what am I supposed to do about it? I really need to view things from another angle. I better not talk about games too much when I’m with my Girlfriend. I’m going to come up with a list of what she likes to talk about: Movies, her life, what happened during the day, cute animals, etc… 6-6-2011- My student loan debt is pretty high, I’m going to publish a book I was working on to cut down on the debt. (Exact reason why I published this book in the first place, to make a bit of cash for my suffering) My mom and dad will be very proud of me for this. (So will mine, as well as my English teacher) I better start go to the New York Times publishing company to submit my manuscript. 6-7-2011- I went to the New York Times website and after I emailed them my work, they sent me an email back. It said that it would have to read over for edits to be made. That’s fine. I can handle it. I better continue working on my top 10 greatest villains in movies, books and video games video. 6-8-2011- This is great news as in “written down due to being beneficial to my online life”. The great news is that I now have 5,000 subscribers on YouTube. “Geared up Gaming” will make a celebration tonight! Wahoo! This could be a double video to go along with top 10 villains video as a way to show my love for my fans. 6-9-2011- This is terrible. A college student who I was working with to help get my novel published got my manuscript published before me. He then replaced my novel with a children’s book. How I so very hate him. (FOLLOW UP): I was able to get the dean to handle this issue and he put the student who forged my work on probation. As quick as lightning, the publishing company put my name on the books that he published. That will teach him a lesson. 6-10-2011- This is great. The arrangements have been made and now I am a legit author. They put the royalties of my book in my bank and so far, I have made 800 dollars in royalties. At this rate, I might pay off my student loan in less than a month. I met up with the plagiarist who betrayed me and gave him a good smirk. He growled at me and shouted in Latin translated to English, “You will be damned, cursed to kill from when you die, to the end of time. Play fair.” Then, I blacked out and woke up in the nurse’s office. The nurse told me that I could get back to my classes and she gave me the homework assigned from my teachers to the dean to her. Then, I saw a 12 written in blood on my palm. I washed it out and tried to forget about it. I need some sleep. However, I better get started on my homework. Man, college is stressful. (NOTE: this is where the creepy part starts. Things will only escalate from here.) 6-11-2011- I was freaked out yesterday about the incident, so I went to my friend who saw what happened and asked him about it. He told me to shut up when I told him about the student and the curse, since he told me that no one said anything to me, I just blacked out. Then, I asked my girlfriend about the curse and she said the exact same thing. This cannot be fake. I have had no experience of being drunk, hallucinating or drug addictions. Am I imagining things? Do I even exist? I started to doubt myself until I saw an eleven written on my palm. 6-12-2011- I just woke up from a terrible nightmare. In the nightmare, I was working with my friend down a bridge, then, he disappeared into the mist. Then, a mysterious figure with a grey hood walked towards me. He told me how I would look like in later life. It was awful. The future version of me had blood coming out of yellow eye slits, a set of flimsy and hanging arms, a flame going around him and a smile stitched onto his face. He said, “Be still, I will your face look better.” I could actually feel pain. Whenever I struggled, he said, “Don’t squirm, it will only make it worse.” After what felt like an hour, he said, “All done. Now, wake up!” I woke up crying with trauma. I looked in the mirror and saw blood coming out of my eyes. Then, I noticed a 10 on my arm. Now, I know that I am not drunk. God save me. 6-13-2011- My roommate (Joseph) asked me what was going on. He said that I looked awful. He wanted an explanation. When I gave him my journal entries to read over, he told me that he knew what was going on. He asked me to meet him at the library tomorrow at precisely 3 PM. I don’t know if he will send me to the mental ward or not, however, he spoke very seriously when he told me his instructions. He could be legit or not. I will have to find out. 6-14-2011- I arrived at the library ten minutes before 3 PM and decided to wait until Joseph arrived. I then noticed an 8 on my leg. Good thing I was wearing long pants. I decided to unfold my pant legs so nobody would notice. That will help me to not attract any attention. Then, Joseph walked up to me. He got out a huge book that looked as if it was written before my grandmother was born. He told me that I was having my experiences because of a demon called Amoda. He was the creation of Satan when he tried to produce offspring of the Virgin Mary, hearing that God would have a son. He was unsuccessful and in retaliation, he created Amoda. Amoda has no knowledge of humankind and will possess it’s victims to drive them insane. He gains the idea of emotion by playing with children, making them scared, then comforting them to ensure a false sense of security. He will then gain knowledge of human nature and emotion from the children and it is said that once he reveals his plan to them, he will send them to an alternate realm where he proceeds to stalk them for all eternity. The parents don’t know this, as he leaves a copy of the child he stole to fool the parents. The age range of children that he stalks is 3-7, however, it can go up to 10 if the child has mental impairments. Man, this sound’s creepy. Joseph told me to meet him at the bar 6 days from now. He will perform the cleansing ritual there. 6-15-2011- I was researching on the computer, trying to find out about Amoda. Then, all of a sudden, A face with a set of WHITE EYES, BLACK TEARS and an OOZING, STICKY LIQUID COMING OUT OF A SOWN ON SMILE, popped up on the screen. (What the h**L?) I tried to scream but no sound came out. Then, the oozing liquid CAME OUT OF THE SCREEN, and formed a dark tall figure that said words in a way that hell itself could not imitate, “WAKE UP JOHN REILY!” The figure then proceeded to kill me, putting black and red appendages down my throat, making my body shout out in agony. The figure then started to count to 10, the closer he got to zero, the more painful it got. When he got to zero, in a second long burst of pain, I woke up, realizing that it was all a dream. I looked in the mirror and saw the number 7 written all over my face. It took forever to wash it out. I then cried for the rest of the night. Amoda, go to the land of fire where you belong. It would do everyone a favor. 6-16-2011- I decided to post my experiences on YouTube. If anyone on my channel were to give me advice on my torment, the internet is my best bet. So, a few hours after I posted what happened, a guy responded. He said he worked at Nintendo. He told me that he could help me with what was happening. He told me some about the punishment of those who didn’t play by the rules. I was uncomfortable about that and said no. He told me that I would eventually give into my fate and then he left, causing me only to think about those last words. I then saw a 7 written on my arm, which made me think, “What will happen when it reaches 0?” 6-17-2011- I was still freaked out by that dude from Nintendo, so I looked him up. Apparently, he works at Nintendo of America, in a division that apparently is not even known by the president of the company himself, the anti-cheat division. It was a secret Nintendo organization that tried to modify systems so cheat devices didn’t work, like the Game genie or Game Shark. It never really worked until the Wii came out, due to the fact that the only way to cheat was through hard to obtain software. I have a friend who has great tech skills, maybe I could get him to obtain more info about this mysterious employee. It would distract me for some time about the countdown and Amoda. 6-18-2011- I got some info from my friend about the Nintendo employee. Here it goes: Birthplace: New York (hey was I born in New York) (John Reily, not me) Name: Toby Neil Rohjin Age: 57 Personal Record: Was accused of murder but found not guilty Legacy: It is said that a group of four teenagers entered his house in Harrisburg and found tables of technology far beyond the current time. When government agents went to his house to check for dangerous items, they couldn’t find anything. People on the internet say that he put all his items in a large secret compartment, which hasn’t been found to this day. People even go as far as to say that they have saw him press a few buttons on a watch he carries all the time and then disappear into thin air. Relationships: Was said to be married to a woman named Claudia Faith Edwards but denies this, as saying that he never married. I got all the info I need. Something about the secret compartment in his house sounds suspicious, so I might as well travel there with my roommate to see what really is going on. 6-19-2011- I drove with my friend to Harrisburg to find the secret compartment of the Nintendo employee. After a while of searching, I found a shelf. I pulled a statue and the shelf turned to reveal a secret compartment. I found a bunch of pictures of me in there, a bazooka, a strange watch, a flash drive that said, “I am the virus” and a bunch of other strange items. I heard a noise from outside and we rushed out the back door, taking the flash drive. Tomorrow, I will go to the cleansing ritual. Finally, that damn demon will be cast out. 6-20-2014]1- I went to the bar with my roommate to perform the ritual. Joseph did a strange sign to the bartender and he said, “Quick, we must go to the basement so no one will see.” When we were in the basement, the bartender said,” This is the cross we will use for the ritual. We must put it carefully in a bowl of cold water, surrounded by 5 candles and then put a wooden bird’s nest beneath the bowl. We must get a fan going behind the nest and then light the nest on fire. We must make sure the candles don’t go out. Then, we will need at least one drop of your blood in the bowl. Finally, we shall recite the lines: Amoda will not hurt me, I do not give into his power, people of grace will defend us, with the blood as my beacon, I cast Amoda out of my body. You will then put out the candles one by one, every time you end one of those five lines. Then, the fire will go out and you will inhale the steam to confront Amoda. Make sure you have the cross with you at all times when you do.” We then did the ritual and I fell asleep. I woke up in a strange and gloomy version of the bar. I then saw a man that said, “You have come to face me? You must do the ultimate test of will to defeat me. You must kill your roommate.” Joseph then appeared. I didn’t want to. Joseph told me that I must. I said no. He then grabbed me by the chest and threw me across the room. Joseph then said, “You have failed. Misfortune will strike on you and 1 that you have made relation with. You shall die a horrible death.” I then blacked out. I woke up in the basement and I saw the bartender was dead. I then saw Joseph with pure white eyes saying to me, “Do not follow me, for you will suffer last.” Joseph then pushed me down and walked out of the bar. I then tried to follow him, out of curiosity. I then followed him to a playground out of the Philadelphia area. He then said to me, “This is not real suffering, for you are cursed, not me.” Joseph than put a gun up to his chest and said, “Goodbye John, I will remember you in hell.” He finally pulled the trigger. I carried Joseph’s body into the street. People were screaming and crying. It was awful. Even worse is that, I think I failed the ritual. To make that even worse, I will have to put this all behind in order to not lose my cool on the date tomorrow. God help us all. 6-21-2011- I lost my cool at the date, so I’m going to commit suicide. Since I’m going to die anyway, (It’s amazing he didn’t know until now) it won’t be much of a problem. However, I now know why I was cursed and the person who is behind all of this. It is me. Toby Neil Rohjin is my name (John Tobin Reily) but scrambled. I found him and punched him down at the floor when I realized this and then he said, “What does it matter? We are both going to die anyway. For I am you from the future. I know you have that flash drive. I also know that you are going to kill yourself. Here is a helmet I have been working on. Plug the cord on it into the tiny hole in the flash drive. Plug the flash drive into the computer and put the helmet on. There is a glitch in super Mario 64 that will kill you.” (So that’s how he spread onto the internet and became a virus.) The old man gave me the instructions for the glitch which I would dare not write aloud. Better make my last journal entry interesting. 6-22-2011- I am nothing but a parasite. When I die, I shall create a paradox that will end civilization in one universe and have it normal in another. The normal one is the one you are living in. This is the last hour of John Reily. Goodbye. Play Fair (continued) So, the rumor that John Reily was taken in by Nintendo as a homicidal anti-cheating device was false. In reality, it was just a future version of him who worked at an obscure branch of company who released his soul as a virus. I heard a rumor from a web forum that does not exist anymore that in reality, JRDIENOW1.exe was said to be the John Reily computer virus, which spread across the internet and hacked into video game consoles, cars, radios, laptops, phones, everything possible and then tricked them into thinking that people were to be killed and it is said that the Chernobyl meltdown was actually caused by it.