The Animus: Becoming a checkpoint agent really changes the way you view the game.
Case in point: Whereas my initial will was to have every player fail and be caught, seeing them come through against all odds, panting, crumpled manifest in hand, I developed a soft spot for them. I helped them find a way out of checkpoint 4 (or tried to, at least). I gave them advice and strategies, offering a vague idea I had of chaser movements. I congratulated them, I cheered them on. What got into me?

I could make this write-up a list of all the blunders I made that day: breaking the sunglasses I was supposed to wear, forgetting that parking meters shut off at 9 PM, forgetting quarters for said parking meters, forgetting to give Kyle his bag (about 4 or 5 times), forgetting to eat, giving the first players bad directions -- though, in my defense, Google Maps should be more accommodating for streets hiding under overpasses. Also, you surprised the fuck out of me --, causing others to bleed when I signed body parts in lieu of manifests, bringing pens that don't work, not bringing my camera, walking through an area I clearly should not have walked through trying to find the finish line from my parking spot --..... It could go on forever.

The highlights, however, are very simple -- I was in great company the entire night; from what I hear, we had one of the coolest-looking checkpoints (Chinatown ftw! Going back with my camera very soon); the player/chaser dynamic was fucking epic at this (check)point in the game: since it was accessible from virtually any angle, chasers learned to camp a corner, and players learned to sneak in from the least-protected angle (usually behind us). When Kyle, a staff chaser, came to lock up his bike early in the game, I found it incredibly awkward that a player was in our checkpoint with him. Little did I know that this activity was going to be commonplace for the rest of the night.

My first interaction with players was amusing. Here I am, enjoying my people-watching, completely lost in my own mind, and I notice someone pop into view that seemed a little exhausted. They look directly towards me, expectantly, and I try not to stare back out of consideration. Then I see the blue ribbon. Oh, right, hey, she's looking for me. Then I realized it was a good 15 minutes before I was supposed to expect players, and my checkpoint partner hadn't even shown up yet. I'm sure the confused look on my face didn't encourage her at all. But then I remembered my strat
"Fuck! --...... Fucked?"
I tried to ignore the fact she just blew through my test in about 2 seconds. Second place showed up and I decided to quiz her as well.
"Yellow! Yellow can't be anagrammed!"
Seriously, it took them under a minute to come up with that. They were fucking prepared to win. I let them go after giving slightly-off directions, and 5 minutes later, I got a call from Checkpoint 5 about my folly. Thanks for biting my head off, Lisa. :: grins ::

ZeroGee joined me after they left, and together we watched a few more runners come through unharmed. I distinctly remember our checkpoint becoming a hotspot for chasers before the 11th player came through, because I was helping #10 look for a way out despite all the pink traffic. I was thinking "Hey, maybe these are all the chasers that want a badge at the finish line -- they'll pass, and more players will come through."
.... More players will come through, right. Any minute now.... There were blocks of half-hour periods where we saw nothing but chasers. Leaving the checkpoint was as hard as entering it -- many players were stuck by blood-thirsty chasers, and at one point, we saw a brave player run out into traffic, only to be bombarded by at least 8 chasers.

Hearing all the players' stories as they came in, getting their impression of the game was very rewarding. Veteran players had elite strategies, new players were using the terrain in ways they never thought possible. The night wound down when the mass exodus of the chasers occurred. It was only then, in the last half-hour of our checkpoint being active, that we saw a steady stream of players again.

All in all, I would have to say that the game was much more intense this year than last. Smaller route + more people = more chasers = less players at the finish line. Congrats to the ones that made it!

zer0gee: In both the first Journey Chicago and The Architect and the Urchin, I was stationed at the final checkpoints. It was fun to see the triumph as people FINALLY made it to the finish, but they were all mostly haggard at that point, worn out from a long night of running through the city, and just wanted to drink a lot of water and rest. It was far, far more exciting this time at Checkpoint 4.

We ended up surrounded by huge packs of chasers, more and more newly-made as the night went on. Runners would burst into the safe zone - a large square bordered by statues representing the animals of the Chinese zodiac - to get their manifests signed, only to realize that there was no way out, chasers were lurking on all sides. A few runners tried taking the high ground and using the second-story catwalks that lined the upper half of the open-air Asian mall we were in the middle of, but all of them came back with chasers on their heels. The most dramatic event we saw was by far the runner that sped out into the middle of the traffic on Archer with eight chasers in hot pursuit. There were a number of runners and chasers resting (and eating - there were a few good restaurants just outside our checkpoint) in the safe zone, and we were all cheering and yelling as they relentlessly ran him down. It was really intense!

As agents, we did our best to help out the runners, suggesting options for exiting the safe zone, letting them know when most of the chasers were distracted hounding down some other poor runner and might not take notice of someone else sneaking away. It was awesome standing around in Chinatown in my vinyl trenchcoat - we decided on a loose Matrix theme (thanks, Dax!). We got to watch some of the Chicago traceurs-turned-chasers practice their parkour while they waited for their next victim. I think everything went really smoothly, and the game was particularly thrilling this time - kudos to Dax and all the CG0 folks that helped scout routes and checkpoints for the game!