Realism

The walkway passes EA Sports. 'You're in the Game.' The place is the new American factory, a campus of sorts. Not pretty, not Ivy, but corporate. A dozen men play soccer on a grass pitch between the buildings. There's a spiral, perhaps intended to meditate on the virtues and values of gaming.

On their way to the nearby mall four young men from EA. Gamers, designers, who knows. They're bald or close to it. Jeans, sweatshirts. Hip, hep, cool.

"If you play the game with the old card," one is saying, "the ACS card, you can see guy. He thinks he's hiding behind camouflage but with the old card you can see right through it. And like when you come in a room, you know, with the new card it takes a minute, beause you have to wait until 'your eyes adjust'. But with the old card you can blow that asshole away."

One of the other guys says, "Realism isn't fun, is it?"