private Infiltrator. 1x1 with Unicorncob

[Unicorncob 5,628]

"Well, it's up to you really," Oliver said, showing her around the different arcade cabinets. "Just tell me if any of them catch your eye."

There were fighting games, shooter games with light guns and more.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,426]

"You invited me, you decide." Jenna said with a small smirk, as she had stated before, this day would be Oliver's turn to lead the way, "Besides, I don't even know which of these are meant for two people and which just happen to be two machines next to each other." "And all of them catch my eye, they all are full of flashing lights." 

[Unicorncob 5,628]

"Well I meant if you find any that you're interested in trying," Oliver pointed out. "I don't wanna drag you into something you don't wanna do."

There were some fighting games and some shooter games with light guns. "You might be good at some of these."

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"All of them?" Jenna said "That's where my interest is, I haven't played any of these, so I don't exactly have favorites." "But since you are so difficult with making decisions, guess some of the ones with the guns could be good start, I'm curious if skill with real weapons translate to the games at all."

[Unicorncob 5,628]

"I just figured you were tired of people telling you what to do and would want to decide for yourself what you wanna do," Oliver pointed out, going up to one of the gun games. "But sure, we can do this one. It's two-player as well."

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"There's a difference between being told what to do, and getting another opinion." Jenna pointed out "besides, I have decided everything since we first met, there's a reason why I'm insisting you to choose during a day when you invited me out."  she picked up the plastic gun and weighted it in her hand, unsurprisingly, it felt like the toy it was.

[Unicorncob 5,628]

"I just don't want you to think I'm forcing you to do something you don't want to," Oliver said, putting some money in the machine and picking up the other gun. "I figure you've gotten more than enough of that already."

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Jenna didn't want to repeat what she had just said, so she didn't say anything more on the topic for now. "So, what is the challenge based on with this one." she asked instead, positioning the pistol like one would a real one "I doubt they have managed to simulate recoil and such." 

[Unicorncob 5,628]

"You're right, since they're just plastic cases with light trackers," Oliver said as the game booted up. "It's a rail shooter, you just shoot zombies as they come at you. Don't let them hit you three times or you die."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,426]

"Always three lives, I wonder who was the first one to make up that number." Jenna said while playing, she may have not had much experience in games, but she did know some things, like many of the clichés. It took her a moment to get used to the mechanics of the game, her experience with real guns actually inconvenienced at first, but she got hang of it quickly enough. 

[Unicorncob 5,628]

"Something about the rule of three," Olver said, shrugging as he shot at the screen. "Something about it feels like an achievement, y'know? Not too much but not too little either. There's something just pleasing about it."

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"It's pleasing because you've used to it, if it was a different number from the start, that one would be the one feel pleasing and three would feel weird." Jenna pointed out as she played "I wonder if it has some psychological reasoning, games were originally made to make you spend as much money as possible on them after all." 

[Unicorncob 5,628]

"Makes sense, it's why they were so hard as well," Oliver pointed out. "The more difficult it is, the more you game over, and the more money you have to put in to keep going. It's a wonder it caught on as well as it did."

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"It's a fine balance." Jenna noted "Make it as hard as possible to make people spend money, but don't make it too unfair so that people want to play it." "In fact, the hardness may have been something that helped with the popularity, humans are very competitive, and with there being leaderboards in-game, it motivates people to try again and again until they beat the others." "It also probably helped that the cost was relatively cheap, you tend to spend more when each payment is less" "People are more likely to buy ten things that cost ten bucks than buy one thing that costs hundred. 

[Unicorncob 5,628]

"That makes sense," Oliver agreed, still shooting at the screen. "They all have this 'I'm almost there' factor that makes you firmly believe you can beat it even if you have to give up even more money."

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"Manipulation is a powerful tool." Jenna said as she played "Though now that time has passed, the highest possible success has been reached in some games, even if the game is technically endless." "As example, that one old game, Pac-man, when you reach a certain level, the game just starts glitching out, making it unplayable." she let out amused exhale "It's kinda funny isn't it, how history repeats itself in games too, back in the day, you could pay to continue playing instead of starting again when you lost, and you had to constantly pay to play in the first place." "Nowadays, you can pay your way past hard parts and the companies want you to constantly use money to get the best experience." "Some things never change." 

[Unicorncob 5,628]

"Yeah, it's kind of a shame," Oliver said. "How you can just pay your way to things instead of getting better and earning them through skill. You don't really learn anything from just throwing money around, you know?"

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"Greed ruins fun." Jenna concluded "And I'm not even sure which species to blame in this context, while I'm sure we had something to do with the creation of that system, it wouldn't exists without customers willing to pay for it."

[Unicorncob 5,628]

"Yeah, it's kind of a two-way street," Oliver agreed. "It's bad that people are exploiting people for their money, but people are encouraging the practice by paying for it anyway just to get what they want."

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"To be honest, it again goes back to humans being easy to manipulate."  Jenna concluded "I mean, we are being brainwashed so I won't claim we can't be manipulated, but from our point of view, humans are lot easier." it may have been a weird direction to go to, but due to her life, everything in Jenna's head would eventually go back to Talon in some way or another. 

[Unicorncob 5,628]

"I guess so," Oliver said, shrugging. "I won't deny we aren't, but there are some who really take advantage of it. I guess Talon are a bit like that with other dragons, huh?" He asked carefully, hoping not to offend her.

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"Talon takes advantage of everyone and everything." Jenna simply responded "The problem with dragons is that Talon is the only place where dragons hatch these days, so they can start the manipulation from the moment we take our first breath." "Meanwhile humans get usually involved in older age." "It brings interesting point about the differences between us, humans who are being manipulated only for a short while become very loyal, while we who are being controlled from birth still end up rebelling." she was one-handing the game now, not too focused on it, yet still doing fine in it "And for the Order, they also manipulate people, boys to be exact, from since they're kids, yet I have never heard anyone going rogue from their ranks." 

[Unicorncob 5,628]

"Well you're proof that Talon isn't always what it seems for dragons, but maybe there's something going on with the Order," Oliver suggested, watching Jenna play. "Maybe they're doing something to keep them loyal. Like some kind of drug or something."

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"Yeah, it's called religion." Jenna stated "Not to take any position regarding the things you humans believe in, but religion is powerful tool to control humans, and The order uses it without shame, I mean, the whole order is named after a saint." "And having faced some of their soldiers, they truly believe they are fighting a holy war, they think we are demons."  "I'm yet to hear of any dragon that follows religion, in fact, our eastern relatives have religions build around them by some humans." 

[Unicorncob 5,628]

"Religion can be dangerous, yeah," Oliver agreed. "Some people are quick to exploit the beliefs of others. And I bet your friends in the east are pretty proud that some humans see them as gods, huh?" He smiled.