Category Archives: Digital

Herobrine

Story: So Herobrine is a mythical being in the world of Minecraft. So, basically in the early development stages of Minecraft, Notch, who was the creator of Minecraft, would put in the developer logs, like removed Herobrine. And the story that was eventually developed around that very innocuous term, was that um Notch had a brother who died at some point in development who played the game, and his brothers soul became trapped in the game, and essentially began haunting players by attacking them.and the avatar of the character, herobrine, was like the default character, Steve, but without pupils in his eyes just like white in his eyes. And he was basically invincible, and could set you on fire, and just do very awful things to you. And multiple times during the beta development cycle, notch would put in removed Herobrine, and for the young kids who played the game who knew that story, we were always like: [in a quiet yell] ‘Oh my god! Hes back! He came back. Like what the fuck.’ and we would always be really freaked out, because the devoloper was confirming that herobrine was a real thing, and it wasnt just a bunch of kids, it was also like the developer of the game that was talking about it.

Context: I was told this story by the informant in person, and recorded them so that I could better transcribe later on.

Thoughts: The informant said that they loved telling this story, as it helped them to remember some great times with their friends playing Minecraft. They think the story stuck in their head so much because it is the only ghost story that they ever genuinely believed in.

Analysis: I remember the Herobrine legend – me and my friends also were also terrified of a potential encounter with him. I know this folklore was more widespread, but it was crazy meeting someone who grew up on the opposite side of the country talk about it, especially with the developer log detail which I had never heard before.

A Glitch in the Matrix – Sourceless Light

Context: J is my friend’s father, who works as a dentist. He claims this story happened to him a few years ago when he was in his mid 40s. The topic of living in the Matrix spurred this conversation.

Me: What if we were all living in the Matrix? What if none of this is real and we just respawn when we die?

J: I think you’re actually closer to the truth than you think.

Me: ?? What do you mean? You think we’re living in a matrix?

J: Well, I haven’t experienced anything disappearing or people “glitching”, but I have encountered a light with no source.

Me: Uhhhh what?

J: Ok story time. So I was driving on this highway in the Valley with a friend, right, and it was really late one night. Along the middle were these street lamps that made a pretty noticeable cone of light. Like, they did a good job of lighting up the streets.

Me: Mmhm, I see what you’re saying.

J: Anyways, they were pretty regular, and we didn’t really pay much attention to them. Then we saw a cone of light with no lamp to cast it. Looked EXACTLY like the light from the other street lamps, just being produced by empty air.

Me: That is sooo bizarre. Were you able to investigate it?

J: I wish we had. We easily could have, since there wasn’t anyone else on the road, but we just drove on. We still talk about it sometimes, but we’re still scratching our heads to this day.

Me: Noo I can’t believe you didn’t investigate! The curiosity would’ve killed me. Did you believe in the Matrix before this?

J: No, I didn’t really know that people actually believed in it. I just thought it was a movie. After seeing that, though, I looked into it more and was kind of surprised to find more stories like mine.

Me: Do you actually believe those stories now? That we could actually be living in a matrix?

J: Well, they’re certainly more believable now hahaa. If it wasn’t a “glitch”, I don’t know what it would be. Maybe our eyes were just tired but that was really quite strange.

Me: Wow, thank you so much for this story!

The concept of living in a simulation, or simulation hypothesis, is not new, with roots dating back to the ancient Greeks or Indian philosophers. However, the popularity of movies such as The Matrix and Inception brought the idea into the mainstream. Personally, I do not believe that we live in the Matrix, although stories like these are very intriguing, since they remind us that there are still so many things that we don’t understand about our universe. Though I have read stories about such “glitches” online, with the most popular ones being about surviving a supposedly fatal accident unscathed, this was my first time hearing about a glitch through someone that I know. It was definitely very confusing and left me with many questions about the world and what I have been taught. Although I have not experienced any glitches myself, hearing this story led me to become more open to other ways of interpreting the world.

Baron Pit Dodge ball

Context: League of Legends is a popular video game in which players are placed into 2 teams of 5 and must fight each other. There is also a wide roster of characters for the players to pick from and use. Due to the free-flowing rule set of League, many community-made mini-games have been created. One such popular one is ‘Baron Pit Dodge ball’. In this game, all the players confine themselves to a small circular part of the arena called the ‘Baron Pit’ and create a line using place-able items. They must also pick characters that have primary abilities that have to be aimed. They then play dodge ball by only using a single aimed ability. There are many adaptations of this game, and every group of friends will have different in-house rules. S. is once such example as she plays this game with her friends quite often.

S: “In a league of legends, my friends and I would play dodge ball in the baron pit, we would put wards in the middle and make a line for the court. We then would only play skill shot champions, if you die, you are out.”

Reflection: ‘Baron Pit Dodge ball’ is an interesting case where the community of a video game has created their own mini-games within the confines of the greater video game without having to change or ‘mod’ the game in any way. It is particularly interesting when these mini-games emerge because that indicates that the rule set of the video game is loose enough to allow for such creativity on the player’s part.

Club Penguin Iceberg Flip

Context:

J is an 18-year-old from Canada who has parents from the Philippines.

This conversation took place over a discord call with my friend group when I brought up old games from our childhoods. We talked about club penguin and were discussing the club penguin “secrets.”

Text:

J: I remember like… when everyone was playing club penguin, there was this one rumor that you could flip the iceberg if you had enough penguins standing on one side of the iceberg. I think it was… the left side? I can’t really remember.

Me: yeah yeah, I remember that! I tried so many times.

J: Yeah exactly! But then people started thinking that like.. you needed to use the- the, what was it called. ummm…. the- Oh the jackhammer. I think.

Me: The one with the like orange hard hat that you got in the mines right?

J: Yeah that one! Everybody was convinced that like the reason it wasn’t flipping was because you needed to do that on a side of the iceberg with enough people. But it just like, never like flipped. BUT! I think on the final day of club penguin when the servers were getting shut down, I’m pretty sure it flipped over and there was like… a dance floor or something like it was a huge deal because everybody wanted to flip it so bad. And it like- finally happened.

Me: No because I like remember that happening and I like lost my MIND!

Reflection:

Like many childhood games, there were many rumors and secrets that were propagated over the internet and the game community. I think it was nice that at the end of the game, the developers were aware of the rumor and made it actually happen as a nod to everyone finally getting some closure to it. Rumors and secrets like this help to distinguish the game and make it more interesting for children. Especially when children could not get club penguin premium accounts, the secrets and rumors helped to make every player feel like they were part of something exclusive.

The Kong-Kong Gwishin

Background: This story is passed around between students. The informant relays that this story was especially common in “doksuhshil,” a Korean building used for overnight studying where students could rent out cubicle-like spaces for a day and study until 3-4 AM, and “hakwon,” the prep schools that are extremely commonplace in Korea. 

Context: The informant conveyed this story to me over a video call, during nighttime in his house. He adopted a steady but story-telling tone, drawing out words for dramatic effect and making use of pauses. 

Relation to story: The informant states that this story was common especially around finals seasons and during high school/university tryout exams (Korea, unlike America, has necessary exams to get into certain universities and high schools). He mentions he first heard it from a classmate, then continued to hear it throughout his academic career. 

Text:

*(Notes: The informant will be referred to as “G” in the following text. Furthermore, this was originally told in Korean; it appears here in its translated form, translated by the interviewer.)

G: The name of this story is the Kong-Kong Gwishin. (TL: Kong-Kong Ghost) It was in a high school somewhere. There was a very hardworking student, but they were always ranked second. Even if they spent the night studying, they would always rank second. So, this student one day, they really wanted to rank first, so they spent nights and days studying, but again they ranked second. And, their seatmate who didn’t really seem like they studied at all, always was first. So, one day, they started to have somewhat of a competition. 

I: Both of them?

G: Probably one-sided. The second-rank student cared a lot more about it, probably. So, one day, the second-rank student called the first-rank to the stairs, and pushed them, thinking “If only they weren’t there, I could become first.” As such, the first-ranking student fell to the bottom of the stairwell and died. In the exam after that, that second-rank student finally placed first. They felt guilty, but their greed to be first was so great that they said “There’s nothing that can be done about it,” and thinking that way, they continued on. 

I: That’s so hardcore…

G: All over ranks. I mean, I guess I get it. But still. One day, that second-rank student was staying late in school and studying. Then, all of a sudden, all the way at the other end of the hall from the classroom, kong…kong…kong…kong….drrrrk. “Nobody here~” The one they had pushed to death with their own hands, that voice of the first-rank student, was echoing around the hall. After that, kong…kong…kong…kong….drrrrk. The door to the next classroom opened, “Nobody here~” and again: drrrrk. “Nobody here~” The student started to be scared, and remembered: Ah, if you meet eyes with a ghost, it’s said you’ll die, and quickly hid under their desk so their eyes didn’t meet the ghost’s eyes. Kong…kong…kong…kong…finally, the ghost was in front of their classroom. Suddenly, the door opened drrrrrk and at that moment, the student made eye contact with the ghost. The student died in that instant, and they heard “Found you~” before they died. 

I: How’d they die if they were hiding under the desk? 

G: That’s the scary part. See, the first-rank student had been pushed off that high stairwell, and fell backwards. Since they were falling backwards, they ended up landing on their head, and so their ghost hopped around on their head—kong….kong….kong…kong…—and had opened the door that way. 

I: So the ghost was already looking straight at the student from the moment they entered the classroom? That’s so scary! I definitely would’ve made that same mistake…

G: Yes, exactly. So, that’s the story of the Kong-Kong Gwishin. 
Interpretation: The environment and context of this story add significantly to the terror. The informant explains that this was frequently told in doksuhshils, which were often in tall office-style buildings with equally high stairwells; this makes the horror of the first-rank student falling down the stairs all the more real. (Note that Korean schools also almost always have several stories, as compared to American schools which do not always have them.) Since said doksuhshils were also frequented by late-night studiers like the student in the story, they also likely felt a thrill as they imagined this same horror happening to them, an interesting break in the monotony of work. This story also reads like a warning to not let greed consume your life, especially in relation to studies. Korea, being a heavily academic-oriented society, places immense importance on entrance exams for schools. This stress and pressure this brings drove the second-rank student to do a horrible thing, excusing it under the guise of it being necessary to succeed, and they suffered the consequences. The surprise of the gwishin finding the student because of their own murderous actions, even though the student hid, imparts the message that one cannot escape the consequences of their actions and warns students studying to be careful to still remain decent people even under stress.