Discussion Question #3

Assess whether Larry McVay's plan was successful or not.

I think Larry McVay's was successful, in the sense that the man who stole from his was brought to justice. McVay himself did not believe his plan worked, because he intended to kill Mr. Ortolan.
In the book Erebos, Nick discovers that the video game, that has taken over the lives of many of his schoolmates and friends, is all a secret plot. He finds this out by investigating the game further with two of his friends, Emily and Victor. After much research, they begin to unearth more and more answers about the game until they discover its purpose. Erebos was created by a man named Larry McVay, who, many years earlier, had created a different video game. A large company run by a man named Andrew Ortolan stole this video game from McVay and made a large profit off of it. Larry, having had his greatest work taken from him, made another video game shortly before killing himself. This game was Erebos, and the final mission of the game was to assassinate Ortolan.

What Players Were Wearing During Assassination

Larry McVay had created his own character in the game, and had prepared what  his character would say in the future, whether his plan failed or succeeded. "My plan has failed. If I were still around to see it, I would probably be very angry." (336). This shows how Larry did not believe his plan had succeeded. All he wanted was complete revenge on the man who stole his work from him, and had no remorse for the people who got injured and the lives he ruined. Even though his attack had scarred Ortolan and likely made him  regret what he had done, McVay still believed his plan hadn't reached its final goal: the killing of Ortolan.

Ortolan Behind Bars

Afterwards, Nick rounds up the people that played the game, and talks to them. "The sole aim of Erebos was to get back at Mr. Ortolan for one of his dirty tricks. It didn't work. On one hand that's a good thing; but on the other hand he shouldn't be allowed to get of scott- free." (330). Nick rounds up the kids to use the evidence to put Ortolan in jail. He makes it so that McVay's plan could be successful, but in a different way, so that his friends won't be killing and no one has to get hurt or die. This is the correct way. I think even though McVay did not believe he was successful, that he, in fact, was. The man he was after got what he deserved for what he had done to McVay, and the kids didn't have to be exploited any further.
In conclusion, I think that his plan was successful. The man that had committed the crime was put to justice, and what McVay had planned was accomplished, just in a different way.

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Erebos Book Review
About the Author, Ursula Poznanski