Dear Mama,
Turn the bloody alarm off (NSA spoiler alert)
A trip through the NSA Security alert mission on Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 reminds me that being meticulous and patient is a rewarding trait. I romped through the mission only to be perplexed searching for the Backpack trophy.
Crafty level designers lead you to apparent dead-ends with minimal clues as you try to figure out how to get into the fan shaft in the DataCentre. Finding the fan shaft is not that tricky but finding the fuse box annoying, i took me 20 mins of running around the map shooting red fuse boxes with no results. Best to run this mission solo unless all your team members have the same mindset.
The solution is right in your face…just pan top left near the fan and you can barely see a yellow fuse box, shoot that and then everything is gravy. You’ll end up in an office with lots of loot after scurrying through the tunnels like an oversized rat.
Fear, paranoia and glitches
Like many Brits by birth, I’ve become accustomed to my democratic privacy. I enjoy free movement across borders without much hassle.
Enter The Dragon
Since a kid, I’ve been fascinated with Chinese culture so it’s actually awesome to be finally going there as 40+ years later. It becomes apparent at the Visa application stage how controlling the authorities are and this is made worst with media coverage of official spyware install by immigration…WTF and I have to pay for the privilege of a Visa. Having an assumption of my privacy rights does not help my situation and so my anxiety level rise and hello Mr Myasthenia.
So what’s in my toolkit?
- Linux Tails iPad
- new iCloud account
- New Facebook account for self tracking ….and a few encrypted devices.
…but essentially, I’ll be offline as much as possible.
My top 5 Barriers to China
- You have to scan and upload your picture. This is easy enough but not everyone has a decent document scanner or knows how to use it.
- Confirmed hotel booking…maybe I just want to be free and last minute. Nope, this is not an option.
- Form filling 10 pages of personal data..This is Your Life
- Appointment in person…2-3 hours if you are lucky
- Figuring out the geography…China is freaking massive. I will definitely get lost at some point.
I have no freaking idea what I’m getting into but hey, it’s just another level.
I’ve already said too much
The Art of shutting the hell up is tough to maintain consistently. I kick myself at how transparent I can sometimes become, showing my raw emotions ready for exploitation.
My fellow US squad members often let slip their opinions on real world ballistics whist playing the Division which probably explains why their builds are so bloody brilliant.
Anyways…my hopes of a conflict free weekend were shattered within 2 hours of arriving back in London. On the plus side, I’m thankful for months of good health despite not visiting the gym, eating randomly and too often.
There’re in my head….
Games as a Service (Gaa) is now the dominant content delivery method on PS4 which means you pretty much rent stuff as opposed to owning it. Dammit, another thing you should add to your digital asset list on your Last Will & Testament.
PS4 Plus is mandatory if you want to play online games but comes with lots of free games every month so long as you maintain membership. So for my own little self-Denial of Service I’ve let my service expire for a few weeks, this kills of Division 2 for a while but I’ll plan to be back in August.
