My son plays some pretty obscure online games. You have to leave the beaten track to find them. About six months ago he was playing one in my dungeon office at home, where I was using hypnosis to coax ideas out of a blank piece of paper. We had this conversation.

HIM: Did you do this ad for (Respectable Upscale Client)? With the blind chameleon?

ME: Yup. We did that.

HIM: Oh.

(Twenty minute pause.)

ME: Why do you ask?

HIM: It’s boring. Oh snap—gotcha! High five!

ME: What site are you on?

HIM: Pimped-Out Mutants Slaughterpit 6.

To my son, fourteen with a gentle soul, all games are a version of the same game. Chess, NBA, Slaughterpit. He’s interested in the pattern more than the scenario, a valuable life skill. One thing he’s not interested in is anything I’m interested in. So what was the Respectable Upscale Client doing in a neighborhood like Slaughterpit?

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