Absolution
An Experiment in Immersive Storytelling
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Behind the Scenes:
Who Doesn't Love Loot?

I blame cereal boxes.

They used to come with all kinds of fun toys. You had to dig around or dump the sugar-coated cardboard to find them, and then you had a new toy to burn off some of that excess energy from the pounds of sugar you just consumed. Terrariums in Alpha Bits, Jackson 5 records in Super Sugar Crisps, Star Trek badges in Kellogg's Sugar Smacks, U.S. Navy Frogmen in Corn Flakes...glow in the dark pens, Storyscope (like a tiny Viewmaster!) buried in Crunch Berries, digital watches in Honeycombs, Flintmobile in Fruity Pebbles, 5-in-1 Spy Kit in Pink Panther Flakes—some of those were before my time. Still, I remember one of my uncles had some of these left over from when he was young.

I remember getting bouncy balls, collector cards, Bazooka gum inside of Ghostbusters cereal, whistling pops, Wacky Wafers, gumballs, Mr. T stickers, glow-in-the-dark stickers, rubber dome poppers, pencil toppers, 3D glasses, water transfers, bike reflectors, Wacky Walkers. Every kind of entertaining choking hazard marketing teams could imagine would entice children to harass their parents.

It wasn't just cereal boxes, though. Fast food was also a big culprit. McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, and even Taco Bell have given out little pieces of loot to sweeten the bribe of convenience for parents to give in and take a break from home-cooked meals.

Thanks to the 80s and 90s, my brain is now hard-wired with a dopamine hit every time I collect a little trinket. But it didn't stop there; this kind of thing is everywhere. Video games have a reward system that works the same way—the more you play, the more you get: high score, level-up, next stage, magic sword, epic sets. Super Mario Brothers, The Legend of Zelda, EverQuest, Diablo, World of Warcraft, and Animal Crossing. All games have it. They all reinforce this reward system, keeping you hooked, keeping you interested, and wanting to keep going.

Obviously, I took this same evil mastermind strategy and used it for Absolution. Throughout the story, I sprinkled little pieces of loot to make the experience feel more real and provide those wonderful dopamine hits to Zarina.

I attached Slovenian coins to many of the packages she received and tangible puzzles to solve, then later delivered actual loot for her to keep. 

I'm sure Zarina would have liked to read the story as a piece of fiction, but all of those little extras certainly helped push it over into an incredibly memorable experience for her.

Some things from the story Zarina received are for her eyes only, and I won't be putting them on the Internet because secret loot makes for special loot. Maybe one of the special pieces of loot was getting an actual werewolf to bite her, turning her into a real werewolf. 🤷

There is one big piece of loot, though, that you haven't seen much about yet.