Experiment 10 - Eta

[testingphase]

[ The elevators do not take you up to your living area. Rather, they take you DOWN, to a small room with three white walls, and one that is a thick, translucent plastic. There appears to be a chute of some sort behind the plastic wall. ]

Now, in order to determine how well you know each other, we're going to see which teams are the most popular. The rules are simple:

* At the end of the test, each team will suffer an attack. Each attack will kill about half of everyone present.
* You may choose one team (other than your own) to defend from this attack. A team that is defended will not be harmed.
* If you wish to defend yourself instead of another team, you must choose a team to attack.
* You may not refuse to choose.

Comments

Ask GLaDOS questions here

[shockingly_nice]

Final decision

[shockingly_nice]

[withabowontop]

Well, she doesn't mess around, does she.

Re: Ask GLaDOS questions here

[flynnitomite]

If we choose to defend ourselves, does that afford us the same protection as a team choosing to defend us?

[proto_hero]

[immediately moving to one of the walls and pounding to it, trying to hear ... well, anything from the other rooms.]

This is different from the other test she ran.

[enrichedcenter]

Popularity isn't the same as knowledge.

[withabowontop]

[checking the chute out]

That's not reassuring.

Re: Ask GLaDOS questions here

[shockingly_nice]

Yes. One unit of defense, whether from your own team or another, will cover one unit of attack.

[withabowontop]

No. It's a mind game. Who'll you defend, hoping someone'll defend you back. Fun.

Re: Ask GLaDOS questions here

[flynnitomite]

One unit of attack? So if I'm hearing this right, that means if we defend, we save ourselves from a first attack, but we're still open to another teams attack, yes?

[proto_hero]

No. This one -

[frustrated, still trying to get some sound through the walls]

We could beat it if we could communicate with each other.

[enrichedcenter]

So don't play the game.

[withabowontop]

Morse code a plan of attack?

[withabowontop]

You think we should pick a team to attack instead?

[proto_hero]

Yeah. But it's not reverberating.

Re: Ask GLaDOS questions here

[shockingly_nice]

That's correct.

[withabowontop]

[checks for the usual cameras as he paces the length of the room to look for any weak points]

[enrichedcenter]

No, I think we should skip the mind game. Protect someone at random. Don't let her get her kicks.

[proto_hero]

[falling back, letting you do that while he thinks]

Alphabetical order. If we can't talk, that's our only chance of getting everyone.

[flynnitomite]

She gets her kicks either way, mate. I'm with Barton on this one.

Re: Ask GLaDOS questions here

[withabowontop]

If each attack kills off about half, more than two attacks means we'll all probably die?

[withabowontop]

That's saying everyone else picks in the same order and Gamma doesn't decide to skip Iota.

[enrichedcenter]

Uh, no offense, but you'd torch your own mother if it'd save your own skin. You're disqualified from giving your opinion on this one.

Re: Ask GLaDOS questions here

[shockingly_nice]

Very good. I can see you must have done well in math class.

[withabowontop]

She's testing to see how well we know the other teams. Sacrifice and hero stuff, right? The strong protecting the weak. So, defend the teams who are going to be self-sacrificing or attack the teams who will try to defend themselves.