Social Engineering Challenge 5: Do You Feel Bad?

Checking in from class. Time to task completion: 60 minutes.

My task for this week: fake an injury in class and seek sympathy from a fellow player.

Looks like I've received another task that can only be completed in class. Instead of targeting an individual player, I decided to make a small scene and hope someone asked if I'm okay.

Today was presentation day for me. I had to be walking from my desk to the front of the room a few times, so I planned to trip on a chair during one of those transits. My plan only worked partially at first. I tripped, made a noise, and hobbled over to my destination. Some fellow players reacted, but none immediately offered sympathy. Prof M asked if I'm okay, but she's not a player. I could stop here and say mission failed, but I'm not giving up that easily.

I finished my presentation and took my seat. I waited a few minutes for a lull in the conversation, and remarked that my ankle was still hurting. I rejected Prof P's offer to seek medical attention, but noticed Agent Raven Blue stifling laughter. Bingo.

I turned my attention to her, and said, "You should feel bad." to which she responded, "I do feel bad!" The conversation continued for a bit longer, but I had elicited sympathy. She continued to laugh, but I could tell her sympathy was genuine. I can relate to the laughter; I commonly chuckle when I see others get hurt (assuming it's minor like stubbing a toe).

Through this exercise, I learned that Agent Raven Blue is sympathetic to others (though it may take some coaxing in some situations). I or any other players who noticed could exploit this later on to get information or favors from her. Sympathy is a very powerful emotion, and is very easy to exploit once it's been exhibited.

I myself felt a bit bad for exploiting the emotions of my fellow players. While this task was remarkably similar to last week's assignment, I had an easier time completing this task. We collectively know that we're actively attempting to exploit each other to complete these assignments, so I'm expecting no hard feelings associated with this. I had a harder time exploiting a stranger, as it's more difficult to predict how they might react.

- The Admiral