In an upset that resulted in the loss of more then a dozen interns and at least two sets of car keys (well, more like misplacement. The interns not the car keys.), staff and members of the online gaming forum City of Gamers laid siege to the offices of Upper Deck Entertainment including those of Official UDE Netrep™, Kevin Tewart and several Konami offices in Japan late yesterday afternoon. It is a move so shocking police are saying "What the hell is a net rep?" Indeed.
The offices in both countries are being occupied at the moment solely with City of Gamers forum members and staff. Strangely, no hostages were taken, but several security guards and Konami/UDE representatives were hit over the head with Yu-Gi-Oh tin containers. Conflicting eye witness reports say the containers ominously read "Dark Beginnings" or "Dark Revelations". Police believe this is some kind of ritualistic statement and now have SWAT teams surrounding the American offices. There is currently no word on what action Japanese authorities are planning.
While details are sketchy at the moment, sources say the move was prompted by a series of erroneous and/or confusing rulings laid out by the card game's developers and executives. "It was awful," said an anonymous witness to the scene. "There were all these old guys running around with Spider-Man t-shirts and pot bellies. And there were all these geeky kids with glasses and these big giant bazooka type thingies. I swear to God, I saw a monkey fly out of one!" That witness is currently being treated for post traumatic stress syndrome and checked for possible drug abuse.
At least 3 CoG members were captured in the assault, but none would reveal their real names and none were carrying any form of identification. Referring to himself only as "The Ruler of Chaos" one captured member stated to police "All we wanted was some consistency. All we wanted was clear concise card text. All we wanted was someone who would listen and explain why things were the way they were. But would they listen? Oh no. So we knew it was time to act. We knew it was time to take matters into our own hands!"
Although police say they have no idea what any of the captured members are talking about, a handful of experts we spoke to believe the isolated nature of the Trading Card Game community and the further isolated nature that results from popular online forums resulted in a form of militant cult like behavior. Dr. Heddy Uperarse of the Institute for the Studies of Human Behavioral Sciences and Cross Pop Cultural Influences (ISHBCPCP) says "The cultish and terrorist type nature of these varied age males is apparent in their use of titles. Some even referring to themselves as Judges, Bishops, Generals, Rulers and even Jedi of varying levels. No doubt some even look upon themselves as Juries and Executioners."
"We're dealing with a very deviant form a behavior and the police will need to exercise extreme caution when negotiating with them. They clearly feel a need to take over where they feel their game developers have failed them. Hence the use of monikers that denote rulership or mastery of some kind." Although, Dr Uperarse could not explain why a large number of the City of Gamers assailants were dressed like referees. "I'm not sure. Has anyone checked to see if a lot people who play Yu-Gi-Oh! work at Footlocker?"
As of this printing, no demands have been issued or made public. At least several phone calls have been made from the Upper Deck offices in the US to the Konami offices in Japan and there has been one confirmed report of a large Dominoes Pizza order.
We asked Official UDE Netrep™ Kevin Tewart, who claims he barely escaped the assault with his life, what he thought the motivations were behind this siege of his long time workplace. We expect an answer from him any day now and are keeping a close eye on our email just in case.
The offices in both countries are being occupied at the moment solely with City of Gamers forum members and staff. Strangely, no hostages were taken, but several security guards and Konami/UDE representatives were hit over the head with Yu-Gi-Oh tin containers. Conflicting eye witness reports say the containers ominously read "Dark Beginnings" or "Dark Revelations". Police believe this is some kind of ritualistic statement and now have SWAT teams surrounding the American offices. There is currently no word on what action Japanese authorities are planning.
While details are sketchy at the moment, sources say the move was prompted by a series of erroneous and/or confusing rulings laid out by the card game's developers and executives. "It was awful," said an anonymous witness to the scene. "There were all these old guys running around with Spider-Man t-shirts and pot bellies. And there were all these geeky kids with glasses and these big giant bazooka type thingies. I swear to God, I saw a monkey fly out of one!" That witness is currently being treated for post traumatic stress syndrome and checked for possible drug abuse.
At least 3 CoG members were captured in the assault, but none would reveal their real names and none were carrying any form of identification. Referring to himself only as "The Ruler of Chaos" one captured member stated to police "All we wanted was some consistency. All we wanted was clear concise card text. All we wanted was someone who would listen and explain why things were the way they were. But would they listen? Oh no. So we knew it was time to act. We knew it was time to take matters into our own hands!"
Although police say they have no idea what any of the captured members are talking about, a handful of experts we spoke to believe the isolated nature of the Trading Card Game community and the further isolated nature that results from popular online forums resulted in a form of militant cult like behavior. Dr. Heddy Uperarse of the Institute for the Studies of Human Behavioral Sciences and Cross Pop Cultural Influences (ISHBCPCP) says "The cultish and terrorist type nature of these varied age males is apparent in their use of titles. Some even referring to themselves as Judges, Bishops, Generals, Rulers and even Jedi of varying levels. No doubt some even look upon themselves as Juries and Executioners."
"We're dealing with a very deviant form a behavior and the police will need to exercise extreme caution when negotiating with them. They clearly feel a need to take over where they feel their game developers have failed them. Hence the use of monikers that denote rulership or mastery of some kind." Although, Dr Uperarse could not explain why a large number of the City of Gamers assailants were dressed like referees. "I'm not sure. Has anyone checked to see if a lot people who play Yu-Gi-Oh! work at Footlocker?"
As of this printing, no demands have been issued or made public. At least several phone calls have been made from the Upper Deck offices in the US to the Konami offices in Japan and there has been one confirmed report of a large Dominoes Pizza order.
We asked Official UDE Netrep™ Kevin Tewart, who claims he barely escaped the assault with his life, what he thought the motivations were behind this siege of his long time workplace. We expect an answer from him any day now and are keeping a close eye on our email just in case.
