It was our first game in the newest, most widely heralded, latest and greatest in multiplayer online gaming. Several friends and I had just entered the field of play. It did look exciting.

I spent several minutes scouting the terrain. A very realistic looking VR environment. The play area consisted of 2 land masses on opposite sides, divided by a body of water. Each of the 2 land masses, both rectangular in shape, were split in half by tall fortress walls. Thus, the board was essentially divided into 4 distinct areas.

I hopped over the smaller wall nearest to the water -- a logical entry point -- and began to explore. I found a passage leading to an underground cavern, where I found several ancient artifacts and relics. I couldn't carry them all, but I picked up a small dagger, and found a sheaf nearby. I suspected this would likely be a key to winning, and I didn't want to risk losing it, or worse, have one of the other competing players find it.

Along way back out, I spotted several other smaller sharp knife-like objects, each with a slightly different shape. Designs on the hilts, and very unique patterns to the blades. They would probably each have a distinct use, and could possibly even turn out to be direct keys to the ultimate objective itself, so I stuffed them into my pocket.

Upon starting the game, the directions had given us no information regarding how to win, or the conditions necessary for victory. That was part of the fun, you see. You enter the game, and only after you are in it does the game reveal the objective as you play.

I decided to head back up to the surface to see if any further information could be gleaned there, and also to keep my eye on what other competing players might be doing. Having already found the cache of artifacts, as well as the knives and daggers I carried, I suspected I already might have had a leg up. But then again, they might have found other key items that I didn't yet know about.

Outside, I saw another player, whose avator looked sort of like a monkey, scaling over the front wall. Hmmm... this being an 8 player game, with 4 humans and 4 computer AI players, the map seemed logically divided to accomodate teams of 2. For some reason, this person seemed like a likely ally, so I suggested we partner up, and it was agreed.

I told my partner about what I had found so far, and suggested that we try to figure out what the underground artifacts could be used for.

While my partner went below to check it out in further detail, I did some more exploring above ground. The 2 other human players had apparently teamed up on the other side of the big wall dividing our land mass. They would likely be our biggest competition. I could already see across the water that the computer AI players were mostly wasting their time milling around, making little progress at anything. They would be easy to beat.

But the other humans.... That was a different story.

I had an idea, but decided it would be best to first check up on how my partner was doing. Along the way, I spotted several intricate stone carvings in the wall, and made a mental note to return there. This might also have some relevance to getting the upper hand.

Below ground, my ally had gathered up a whole bunch of artifacts -- skulls, knives, pottery, masks -- all undoubtly important pieces of this mysterious puzzle. But we still weren't sure exactly what to do with them.

I decided to embark on a little mission to spy on our opponents, while my partner continued to gather artifacts and look for clues. I made my way above ground, and began to climb the rocky grey walls, frequently stopping on the ledges to look around.

When I made it to top, I peeked over the edge at our opponents' area. On a large platform, near the top of their area, they had already placed a bunch of their artifacts into the neatly carved patterns in the stone. Of course! Since the artifacts fit perfectly into the intricate designs, they must have discovered that getting them all into place was a key to victory.

They were way ahead of us, but I didn't see either of them nearby, so I went ahead and made my way into their territory. I figured they must now be off somewhere else scouting for more artifacts, or delving deeper into their underground territory.

I contemplated the idea of destroying the progress they had made so far. I could take all these neatly arranged artifacts and scatter them, or steal them, or hide them. I decided against this strategy. It might bring nasty reprisals, and we weren't ready for a full scale war.

Instead, I decided upon a more subtle approach. I took one of their skulls out of its place, ran into a dark cave, and hid it behind some barbs. They would have a terrible time finding it, but if we were lucky, they wouldn't even realize until too late that we had undermined their strategy. But without this critical piece, they would be unable to complete their design.

Suddenly I heard noises nearby in the cave. It must be them! I scampered back into another passage way, and frantically now wondered if delving so deep into their area had really been such a good idea. I might not make it back without sustaining serious damage, or worse, my character might be killed in here.

The only chance was to crawl deeper through the narrow backways, and hope it would lead to another way out. I pushed myself along, and inadvertantly made a noise scraping against the wall of the cave. They heard that. I could hear them now pursuing me.

I went as fast as I could as the passage lead upwards. Maybe I would find myself above ground soon? I could see that there was some light ahead, though I couldn't see the source. Indirect rays of sunlight, bounced many times off of multiple surfaces; I had to turn many corners before seeing the sky itself.

I marveled at the depth and ingenuity of the game's design. So many facets, such excellent detail, and very realistic rendering.

Finally, I found an opening where I saw daylight. I wasn't sure if I could squeeze through. There was a small creature occupying the space next to the opening. If it would just budge.... and it did. Sensing my presence, it walked outside, leaving enough room for me to crawl through. A non-hostile entity.

Outdoors in the open air again, I could breathe deeply. I had managed to escape our opponents. I was sure they wouldn't find or catch up with me here, and I no longer heard them following at all. But where was I?

Obviously, a very high altitude. Amazing. I looked around at the rocks. It wasn't clear whose territory I was in. I saw no signs of the walls which had clearly divided our fortified encampments.

I looked around, saw some ancient writings carved in the stone, and read. They looked like eastern religious texts. A lot of stuff talking about the nature of divinity, some mentioning God, and some might have even been from the Old Testament, but I wasn't certain of that.

I made my way down from the mountainside, and found our area again, though I'm not sure exactly how. It would be time to fortify our defenses, and prepare for an attack, or possibly a counter-sabatoge. They would know I had been on the move in their area, and would be planning some sort of revenge.

I found my parter, who was still below ground, and had began arranging our artifacts into patterns in the stone deep beneath the earth. No, no, no! This wasn't going to work.

We needed to move the artifacts to the platform high ABOVE the ground, and fit them into their places there. I explained that our opponents had already figured out this step, and if we didn't get moving, we would fall farther behind.

My partner asked a simple question. How did I know they were really on the right track? What if they were screwing up, and the artifacts really did belong below the ground? How could we be sure?

The question confounded me. I had no solid answer. The only thing I could come up with was the vague logic that if our opponents were using their time and resources to do something, they must have a reason for it, even if their reason wasn't immediately obvious to us. Therefore, it must have merit. Maybe they had found some secret clue telling them that putting the artifacts up there was a step toward victory. Otherwise, why would they do it?

On the other hand, maybe it was a misdirection tactic. Could they have intentionally arranged things in a meaningless pattern, knowing that I would find it, and thereby throw us off the trail of the real secret to winning?

My mind returned for a moment to the high rocks, and the holy texts, and I knew the answer. Within those texts, the makers of the game had revealed its devious purpose. The whole thing was a cruel prank.

There is no "real" objective. There is no real victory defined by the game. Only an elaborately designed construct with a good physics engine, some nice rendering capabilities, a whole lot of detail, and bunch of mysterious objects scattered around the map in an algorithm that can make them appear to "fit" with each other and their environment in all sorts of seemingly significant ways.

Certainly, this game engine could be used in all sorts of neat ways to have "pretend" puzzle solving competitions, big fortress battles, or duels. But ultimately, it was none of this, because the makers of the game hadn't bothered to set the parameters for victory. So anything that was done within the context of the game was merely messing around. All by design, or lack thereof.

Everything I had done since the game started had been based on my own assumptions. My first assumption had been that there was such a thing as victory, and certain actions within the game would lead to that victory. Also, I assumed that all the players (or teams of players) were competing against one another. Then, I went on to assume that various interesting objects I found along the way would aid the quest for the objective whose existence I took for granted.

I assumed that the person with whom I made an alliance was, from that point on, a true ally.

I also assumed that my opponents (as I considered them) were playing the game with the same idea that I was: That they wanted to "win", and that they considered me competition. The facts alone do not necessarily support this conclusion. Could it be that they weren't even the ones who arranged "their" artifacts in a "winning" configuration? Maybe when I got there, they hadn't even discovered them yet.

A thought lingered in my head. Despite this unsatisfying discovery, I concluded that this pointless game did have an allegorical purpose. Maybe the game was meant to represent life itself, and how it can be lived. Everyone makes up all sorts of objectives and goals, all based upon what? A bunch of presupposed notions regarding what it's all about, each of which ultimately turn out to be revealed for the shallow delusions that they are.

While pondering this, I...