2010 Chicago Open Pickem

This article was authored by Brandon Mason – who has written 35 paintball news and gear articles.

In 2002, Brandon Mason and Matt Wojdynski began tracking the internet activities of Kyle Johnson, aka V. Gnome, an 18-year old computer gamer. They monitored and recorded Kyle’s AOL instant messages and gathered information about his friends and family from other sources on the net. Blending this data with scenarios from videogames and sci-fi films, they developed a mythology in which Kyle is “singled out as the savior of the human race.” The story is told in Gem Missile: A Tribute to V. Gnome, a 40-page book that incorporates photographs of Kyle and excerpts from his personal correspondence. In August 2003, Mason and Wojdynski showed up on Kyle’s parent’s doorstep in Thousand Oaks. Mason introduced himself as “Z. Figiam,” Kyle’s “mentor from the future,” presented him with the book, and left without further explanation. The plot thickened several days later with Kyle posted a detailed description of the encounter to an on-line gaming forum, along with digital photos of every page in the book. Members of the forum quickly added their own theories and responses, which ranged from close readings of the text and speculations about the gender of its authors, to admissions of jealousy and accusations that Kyle had invented the story in order to get a high rating for his thread (which in a few weeks had received over 40,000 hits). A year passed after this initial contact. In August 2004, Mason and Wojdynski mailed Kyle a package containing a photograph of their meeting a year earlier, along with a note, a certificate, and a plane ticket to Minneapolis. Kyle was met at the airport by a man in a beat up Lincoln Town Car who identified himself as “The Gatekeeper.” For two days, Kyle was led around the city in search of robots, buried treasure and information needed to save the future. Mason and Wojdynski involved numerous actors and another on-line gamer who, equally baffled, was driven with Kyle to a forest and abandoned there. At some point, Kyle noticed that his new friend had mysteriously disappeared. “I stood there alone in the woods, in Minnesota, with a shovel and a large black locked box, more confused then I have ever been in my life.” Kyle survived the trip and posted a detailed account of his adventure, concluding, “it was a great experience, and I would not hesitate to save the future again, if the chance ever arose”. Today, V. Gnome believes he is the savior of Paintball. SIDE NOTE—– WANTED: Somebody to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. P.O. Box 1122, Newport Beach, CA 92659. You’ll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed. I have only done this once before.