TODAY

check_me: It's been exactly one month since you became a guardian of this game, Guardian #27. Congratulations to you!

disappointed: Yes, congratulations on your first successful month!

Pandacake: Thank you! And it looks like this month is the hardest month in the history of the game... There are so many tickets that there's not enough time for each one. Even though the number of guardians has increased about 10 times.

Pandacake: Moreover, everyone's job performance needs to be monitored, because in such a rush, some guardians turn out to be fake and don't ban violators. These are handled by certain trusted staff, but their members are very few and evil guardians can stay in their authority for a long time.

Pandacake: It also often happens that in a mass of reports, we can inadvertently ban innocent players. They create appeals, and we have to look into each one, send explanations and evidences, and communicate with the players. But the real violators also create appeals, so there are just as many of them. I've banned more than five thousand players since I started. But the situation hasn't changed much.

disappointed: I see... Well, you should know that the players are no better off. It's made it harder for us to enjoy the game.

Pandacake: We're doing the best we can. But it's an impossible task.

check_me: Do you think it's all after him?

disappointed: Vitaly?

check_me: Exactly.

check_me: He tried to change, found a new friend, and ended up being betrayed. Can you imagine that? And he's an introvert with almost no friends.... If that happened to us, we'd feel the same way. It's reflected in the cruelty of his methods.

check_me: He realized he couldn't beat us because he was losing every game he played. And he wanted revenge. Not just us, but the whole game for what it had done to him.

Pandacake: Revenge on the game... That way... For what happened to him online...

disappointed: You can actually make more friends online, and more loyal, than you can in real life.

Pandacake: Anyway, he's obsessed with this game, and I can definitely say that his real life isn't interesting at all.

check_me: About the second one, as sad as it sounds, I agree. But about the first one, there are many players with thousands of levels and lots of outfits. Such people spend all their time and money on just one account in the game.

Pandacake: I know who you mean. Grinding like they're on a farm. But he's got a special concern, I'd say.

dissapointed: He's all special. That concern, that he's got it all in his head.

Pandacake: Definitely. If he was on the light side, I think he'd be an interesting friend. And I'd be friends with someone like that.

check_me: And me.

disappointed: I wouldn't mind either.

Pandacake: We'd all like to... He really would have been an interesting friend. But the choices he's made can't be changed. He's a villain. Who we have to stop.

check_me: But we can't stop him.

disappointed: Well... We could try.

Pandacake: How? What are you talking about?

check_me: Try what?

disappointed: You and I are mathematicians, Jakob. But I'm moreover also a programmer, though not a professional one. I mean, of course, I can't create complex programs, but I understand the concept of how they work.

disappointed: So. We can find him ourselves and meet him face to face. He'll play another game with us, and we'll play ours.

disappointed: He'll think he's in control, that he's smarter than us, that he has total power over us. And his attentiveness will be eclipsed. In the meantime, we will study his behavior and understand how his way works.

check_me: How?

disappointed: To start with, pancake a good expert on human psychology. If I remember correctly, a few months ago you wanted to start doing this?

Pandacake: That's right. After our last meeting with him, I became very interested in the workings of people's psychology. I wanted to understand people like him, so I started watching psychology courses.

disappointed: Great. Then listen up.

disappointed: Pancake will analyze his behavior and let us know what he pays attention to, what he relies on, and what's on his mind when it comes to his power. I, as someone who knows programming, will recognize in this information what things in the game his thoughts might relate to. That way we'll understand the system of how his methods work, find a vulnerability in it, and exploit it.

check_me: How are we gonna find it?

disappointed: He watches the chaos he wreaks and enjoys his revenge. Until we know his method, we can't say if he's watching all the games at once or not. But I can guarantee that he's involved in at least one of those games himself.

dissapointed: His favorite game mode is Sandbox. That is most likely where he will be located. So, to find him, we'll be re-entering the lobby until we see him.

Pandacake: But how do we know who he is?

disappointed: Good question, to which I have an answer, though not a specific one.

Pandacake: What is it?

disappointed: The last time his account was online was months ago. Clearly, as always, he created a new one.

disappointed: It'll probably be completely different from the old one. Then there's no way we'll find him. But it's also possible that he kept his style. It's possible that his nickname, his outfits, his bio will be similar to the past. We have to keep a close eye on all of this and not overlook anything. In that case, we can make it work.

check_me: What is the approximate chance that at least one factor of the new account will be similar to the past?

disappointed: After his first few games, he actually wanted to completely change his appearance. But lately he's had to decide on his style. So I'd say there's about an 80% chance of that happening.

check_me: Got you.

check_me: So what do we do if we find him?

disappointed: Let me start by saying I have no idea how he's pulling this off. But clearly not by hacking this game. If he had hacked it, he would have done something different. And in that case, the vulnerability would have been fixed quickly.

disappointed: What's my point? My point is we can outplay him if we play as a team. As we've seen from his past games, he's good at manipulating people. But if we all pull together, we'll take away a lot of spots and roles. And if we stick together and set out to take him out, nothing will help him. No manipulation. No deception. No tricks.

disappointed: Absolutely nothing.

Pandacake: I like your plan!

check_me: Absolutely. It's a very good plan.

disappointed: Well, if you're satisfied, invite the others who are online. They're not in the game at the moment, but you can contact them on social media. Text them, briefly explain what the issue is, and insist that they join as soon as possible.

disappointed: With each passing day, the game gets one step closer to its end. Too much time has passed as it is. As Pancake said, the situation has become critical.

Every hour counts.

...

Jakob and Emi followed their friend's advice. But since their friends were busy, they had to wait a considerable amount of time before they logged into the social network and read the messages. But no one was logging out of the game. The plan to save the game was of great importance, so needless to say, they canceled all their activities to have the whole day to implement it. petit_donuts accepted the invitation first, followed by 5w6 half an hour after her.

disappointed: So, everyone is all in. I'll now re-explain the current situation to keep everyone up to date.

disappointed: Also, while you were joining, I came up with a plan of action in case you get suitable roles. I hope you have gold in your account, because at the end I'll tell you which one of you will be using which talisman. You'll have to spend all of your gold to upgrade that talisman.

disappointed: Don't spare it, because if our plan fails, your gold will no longer have any value.

...