MMORPG: How a Computer Game Becomes Deadly Serious by Emile van Veen Read Free Book Online Page A

online seriously, I’d have had to arrest my own son many times over. Not only him, but also all the people he’s playing with. I happen to know that his guild is called the Hammer of Thrall. Does that make him an accomplice in a terrorist bombing?”
    “No, but this is different,” Robert exclaimed. “I saw an Arab guy, a Muslim presumably, who came to the Netherlands just before a terrorist attack, who’s receiving WoW messages that happen to coincide precisely with a message that’s left at the bombing scene, exactly on the date mentioned! We’re talking about some weird coincidences here, if they’re coincidences at all! And don’t you think that exactly because the whole game is about killing, there’s no better place for a terrorist to do his business unobserved?”
    “Maybe.” She closed her notebook.
    Andy, who had been listening to the exchange silently, as if ashamed of having come up with the theory, suddenly spoke up. “Wasn’t there an attack by a student from Leiden a couple of years back?”
    “Yes, there was,” Astrid van der Bosch replied curtly. She rose from the table. Her colleague did the same.
    “We’ll take your information under consideration. If we have any further questions, we’ll contact you.”
    Robert and Andy exchanged a quick look and moved to the door. The interview was clearly over. They shook hands with the two officials. The man, who still hadn’t said a word, escorted them back to the lobby. Unexpectedly, he addressed Robert. “It was good of you to come to us with this information. We’re investigating many leads at the moment, and we’ll also look into what you told us.”
    A little surprised, Robert nodded. “Thank you,” was all he could think of.
    The man nodded back. He reached into his jacket and retrieved two business cards. He gave one to each of them. “Keep an eye on this Khalid. If you really think something is going on, give me a call.”
     
     
     
     
     
     
    ~~~

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER VI
     
     
     
     
    Rebecca had been fiercely angry when he’d told her of the reaction of the police to their information.
    “How can they be so stupid and so ignorant?” she’d exclaimed, going off on a rant about stuffy public servants who still lived in the twentieth century. She made it sound like the Stone Age. “Just because that lady has a son who plays World of Warcraft, she’s not an expert all of a sudden. The CIA recognises the dangers of World of Warcraft, but some stupid Dutch lady thinks she knows better. If she understood what we’re talking about only a little, she wouldn’t dismiss the opportunities an online multi player game presents!”
    “Why are you suddenly so sure that all this really has something to do with the terrorists?” he had asked.
    “I’m not sure. I never said that! It’s just that we can’t be sure that it isn’t either. What they should have done is thank you on their knees for coming to them, and investigate it to the bottom. They should follow any lead! Because they don’t understand it, they’ll just let it go.”
    “The elder policeman did ask us to keep an eye on Khalid and contact him if we found out something else.”
    She had nodded and looked him in the eye. “And that’s exactly what we’re going to do. But we’re going to do more than just keep an eye out. We’re going to start our own investigation.”
    “And how are we going to accomplish that? I can’t break into his room or follow him around all day!”
    She smiled broadly and gave him a hard poke in the shoulder. “Sure we can! Just not here, in broad daylight! No, Robert, we’re going to do our sneaking in the place where we think they meet each other: World of Warcraft!”
     
     
    Now, Robert was about to embark on his first journey into World of Warcraft.
    “We’re going to do this together,” she’d told him, “even when I’m back in Scotland next week. That means that you’ll have to work hard to become an