Experiment 10 - Iota

[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]

[backwardscompatible]

... well then.

[backwardscompatible]

[pulls out a pad of paper and a pencil and starts trying to write down a list of all the people she remembers from the mingle and which teams they're on, while the information is still fresh]

Re: Ask GLaDOS questions here

[backwardscompatible]

If we defend ourselves, the team we choose to attack suffer an extra attack on top of what everyone is receiving, then?

Re: Ask GLaDOS questions here

[shockingly_nice]

That's correct.

Re: Ask GLaDOS questions here

[backwardscompatible]

And, just for the sake of clarity, if we defend ourselves then we will be protected no matter how many teams choose to attack us?

Re: Ask GLaDOS questions here

[shockingly_nice]

Yes and no. Think of attack and defense as units that cancel each other out. A defended team will not be harmed, but a half-defended team will be half-harmed.

Though I may be persuaded to let you defend yourself more than once over, if it's a concern.

Re: Ask GLaDOS questions here

[backwardscompatible]

Can you be persuaded to announce that to the other teams, if they haven't interpreted the rules to mean that? The rules we were given state that a team that is defended will not be harmed.

Re: Ask GLaDOS questions here

[shockingly_nice]

Which is true.

Re: Ask GLaDOS questions here

[backwardscompatible]

But a team can choose to defend themselves and still be harmed. It's unclear.

Re: Ask GLaDOS questions here

[shockingly_nice]

I'll tell anyone who asks for clarification.

Re: Ask GLaDOS questions here

[backwardscompatible]

I'll take that as a 'no' then.

Now, if I'm the only person here, does "killing half of everyone present" mean half killing me, or a fifty percent chance of me dying?

Re: Ask GLaDOS questions here

[shockingly_nice]

It means that I'll round up.

Re: Ask GLaDOS questions here

[backwardscompatible]

Well, I suppose certainty is helpful.

Re: Ask GLaDOS questions here

[shockingly_nice]

You're welcome. Let me know if you need anything else.

[in_the_blood]

[Whoops and then Cassie stepped through the doors late]

--River?

[backwardscompatible]

[fuck] Cassie.

[in_the_blood]

What's going on? Are you the only one here?

[backwardscompatible]

Yes. And this... complicates things. Read the rules.

[in_the_blood]

[Wanders over to where ever the rules are to read them with a feeling of trepidation]

...

[backwardscompatible]

I've been talking to GLaDOS too. Defending ourselves will only save us from the initial attack, not any subsequent ones.

[in_the_blood]

... Nobody's going to attack us.

[backwardscompatible]

They might. It's tempting to defend yourself, and then they'll have to attack someone. She told us to go talk to each other before the test began, and I was the only one there from Iota. If people assume that I'm still the only one here...

[in_the_blood]

Normally I'm all for protecting myself, but I'm sure people here are smart enough to figure out that doing so is only going to mean unnecessary extra violence...