[ WP ] A video game hero starts losing faith in his quest as he is besieged by game-breaking mechanics .

The Dragon Destroyer ran forward, glad to serve the person at the controls. Together, his powers, the Player ’ s skills, they would win this game. The last of the evil dragons that had terrorized his world for so long would be dead and long gone. 
 
 The breeze blew through his unhelmeted hair as he continued to run. He drew his sword, more for show than anything. He felt the fire burn through his body and into the sword, creating a striking contrast to the empty hills and flowers surrounding him. 
 
 The Dragon Destroyer, or Carl as he liked to be called, continued to run. The fate of the world was in his hands. But the hills stopped moving, the flowers stopped swaying in the breeze. He was still running, but he wasn ’ t actually going anywhere. An alert popped up in the air. 
 
 **Internet connection lost. Can ’ t connect to servers. ** 
 
 Fucking EA, Carl thought to himself. He waited patiently for the Player to reconnect to the Internet so the game could start again. 
 
 Soon he was off and running. He was right outside the castle doors. And then everything went black. All of a sudden he was back at the beginning of the level. Now he had to fight his way back through a whole bunch of monster before he could reach the castle. Apparently the game had glitched. 
 
 He ran forward again. His sword struck enemy after enemy. Each one died in a flurry of sparks, a few catching on fire and running around before they faded to dust. Carl was getting annoyed with having to repeat killing all the stupid enemies. 
 
 “ What ’ s the point? ” Carl shouted up at the sky, talking to the Player. For the next few seconds, no commands came, so Carl took it upon himself to finish off the last of the goblins attacking him. “ You heard me! What ’ s the point? How do you ever beat a game as glitched as this one? First there was the part where I was stuck in a wall. Then there was the time I had no body, just a floating head. Another when I couldn ’ t damage anyone, but they could hit me. Shit hurts. Maybe not for you, almighty Player, but it hurts me. So what ’ s the point? You win the game. Then what? What have you really accomplished? ” 
 
 Carl danced around, shouting out obscenities at the sky. The Player entered no further commands for a few minutes. Carl sat down and pulled out his flask, taking a healthy swig of his whiskey. He had broken the rules. Never reveal that the videogame characters are actually alive to the Player. 
 
 Another few minutes passed. Carl laid back and watched the virtual sun as he began to feel it happen. The Player rapidly entered controls, trying to stop it, but it was too late. The game slowly erased Carl, starting at the legs and moving all the way up his body. 
 
 “ Don ’ t worry, ” Carl yelled to the Player. “ I broke the rules. It ’ s my fault. ” 
 
 And then the game rebooted and Carl was back on the field, the level restarting for the second time now. But the old Carl was gone, a fresh, new Carl standing where he used to be. This Carl was hyped and excited, ready to help the Player win. 
 
 The end credits played as Carl slashed the dragon with his flaming sword one last time. Victory was his and the Player ’ s. The screen went dark. And then stayed that way for a few minutes. Suddenly Carl was at the beginning of the level. Apparently a power outage had happened and the game didn ’ t save. 
 
 Carl watched the world go dark again. And then a tear tore straight through it and the sky came falling down. The Player had been angered. So much so that the Player had ripped the game disc in half. Carl watched as his world faded. 
 
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