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Manhunt: Behind Malton's Deadly New Sport
Manhunt.
Never before has one sport captured the attention of Malton like Manhunt does today. Every week, Manhunt games draw thousands of zombies to stadiums around the city, all anxious to see their favorite human players tear each other apart in a no-holds-barred orgy of guns, knives and violence. It is on every television set. Its stars make millions. Its losers are left to rot on the streets.
Manhunt Marathon: Coming to a suburb near you!
But what really happens on the professional Manhunt circuit? How did this little-known sport, once confined to the basements of seedy bars, become the great sports spectacle that we all know and love today?
This past week, we had the chance to interview three of Manhunt's most well known figures: Axehack, DanceDanceRevolution, and Rosslessness. From its humble beginnings in small nightclubs in Pasherton and Santlerville, to the bloodbath televised worldwide today, we are pleased to bring you a special behind-the-scenes look at Manhunt -- its stars, its fans, and its complete disregard for human life.
MHS: For many of our zombie readers, the very idea of enslaved harmanz hunting other harmanz for sheer sport is not only totally awesome, but it also represents the pinnacle of zombie sports entertainment. How did you become involved in the professional Manhunt circuit?
Axe Hack: I got involved after challenging Gnome to a one-on-one death match a few years back, which slowly evolved into what became the original Axe Hack's Manhunt.
MHS: A lot of us remember the thrilling conclusion to AxeHack's Manhunt 2, where Jose Cojones somehow managed to kill Vinetown Scout with a split-second, last-chance shot across three rooms, while diving behind a table. He got the kill, the trophy, and the fame. Can you tell us about your favorite Manhunt experience?
Axe Hack: Definitely gotta be the first day of Rage in the Age, where the Manhunt All-Stars bought swift and heinous death to most of the Discosaurs.
DDR: Every Manhunt has its moments, and many of the better ones have gone down in Manhunt mythos and have been recalled by participants for years.
My all time favourite memory would be the final of the inaugural Manhunt in 2007, where the last two contestants, Evieman and myself, decided that we'd been through too much to just throw it away with some off-hand murder, so we contacted the rest of the BBK and organised a controlled fight, with all the BBK and Santlerville's residents in attendance. We stocked up over a week and had pre-show entertainment and everything. It all came down to a turn-based fight; we took it turn by turn to shoot, axe and punch our way to victory, with the BBK's leaders commentating the match just off our HP values as the fight went on. It was very fight clubesque, and eventually, I got through on just 2HP, and our very first manhunt had concluded with the most climactic ending we could have mustered.
Ross: The day of the Meteor.
MHS: Up until recently, Manhunts were held underground, away from the public gaze. Now that the sport has become more mainstream, where will Manhunts go next?
DDR: Who could say? For now it seems to have gone full circle: The first manhunts, because of the one-life scenarios, were very niche competitions only for the willing and committed. Then when Axe Hack spawned the more forgiving and more fun rules, it seemed more casual and accessible to a multitude of players. Now we're going through a marathon, where if anyone wants a chance of winning they have to commit a character to a manhunt every month, which is a big ask, much like the first few manhunts.
In terms of the manhunt's evolution from the secretive backalley brawls to public spectacles, it's largely thanks to the growing level of celebrity endorsements the sport has gained over the past few years. Plenty of famed and respected warriors from all of Malton are joining the Manhunt in droves, regardless of their affiliation with the living or dead, and for every famous competitor that joins, another newbie or individual will join to see if they can match them. For me, it shows that today's hero is down to earth and willing to get down and dirty and risk their reputations in the name of fun. It would have been great to see how Sexy Rexy Grossman, Sonny Corleone or Ron Burgundy would have behaved in a Manhunt.
As for the future, how can we top a massive multi-manhunt marathon? God knows, but the most logical and most appealing direction I could see would be the classic "bigger= better" model that Axe Hack's manhunts in particular are still accumulating players from. Manhunts are growing in notoriety and popularity and what I think we're gonna need after the marathon is one big, fat, fuck-off sized, standalone event with a huge amount of willing players. the ~20 players in AHMH3 managed to rake up over 80 kills among each other in a month. Imagine the appeal of a month-long manhunt where those numbers were guaranteed to be doubled. I'd join for sure. The other idea I'm pondering on is working off of the historical appeal of the Manhunts- which is what I did with the Manhunt All-Stars. I'd like to see the All-Stars maybe undergo an annual selection based on form and perhaps pit them against a large team of participants. The All-Stars would be outnumbered, perhaps by 2, maybe 2 and a half. Lots of bitterness from the challenging team, and a lot to prove for the All-Stars- that'd be a spectacle!
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MHS: How does one become involved in the sport? Do you just wake up one day, look at your twenty DNA extractors, and go..."You know what, I really do not feel that scanning the Walrond Ave Revive Point for the fortieth straight day. Today, there is new me. Today, I am going to go out, breathe some fresh air, enter a Manhunt competition, and gundown a fellow survivor in cold blood. And it's going to be awesome."
DDR: I know it's ironic to say when put into context, but survivors are people too. When conflict becomes as routine as in Malton, some people need a holiday. And I'm starting to think that most Maltonian's idea of a holiday involves ignoring the greater conflict and just having a controlled massacre with zombie-shaped obstacles and a lot of bragging. Most participants in the Manhunts are survivors by trade, but enjoy using the hunts to let off a bit of steam, but there's also the bragging rights and fun community presence that brings people into the Manhunts.
In fact, this questions is worded so accurately I probably should have just said "yes"!
MHS: Some in the zombie community have protested the very idea of Manhunts, claiming that harmanz should spend their time fattening themselves up for slaughter, rather than running around killing each other. Is the zombie community being irresponsible by allowing their prized livestock outside the pasture in order to hunt other survivors for sport?
Ross: It's survival of the tastiest. All zombies can understand that.
MHS: DDR, as we understand it, the first Manhunts began with the Beatbox Kids. How did the idea get started?
DDR: The Beatbox Kids were an odd crew. We were still in the phase of survivors being the "good guys" of Malton when the idea was spawned, so it was more or less way for us to murder without suffering any repercussions. It also may have been part of a larger plan to let off some tension in the group. We were a very competitive and close group, like a family. And like a lot of families, we had a lot of arguments over things. Maybe the manhunts were just a way for us to get rid of all that tension... via inner-group massacres.
MHS: Your lifetime record in the Manhunts is pretty good: 3 wins and a third place finish. What is the secret?
DDR: I still maintain that my speciality is in surviving rather than killing. I've been in 6 Manhunts and died 7 times, when esteemed players Ross, Soph and Kempy have died more than that but in the 2 or 3 manhunts that they've played. Axehack's Manhunt 3 was an 80+ kill bloodbath and I went the whole month without being killed.
Unfortunately though, as the manhunts get larger and there are more targets to aim at, there is more of a focus on killing than surviving, so players of my sort are quickly losing notoriety. This is probably why I haven't been able to contend with the newer champions of Axe Hack's hunts. Thanks to the manhunts of 07/08, surviving and hiding is in my blood, but it's hard to get rid of that instinct. If we have a "one life scenario" manhunt again, I reckon I'd be on the money.
MHS: So Rosslessness, we understand that you are the brains behind the Manhunt Marathon, where men and women go out...and...kill each other...for sport...repeatedly...Do survivors now consider you to be the greatest single threat to humanity's survival? Why host a Marathon?
Ross: In terms of the manhunt, they're the most peaceful people going. They don't hunt other survivors, or even zombies, but only their own kind. PK-ing has never interested me, but man hunting is a different game. There are no victims. An individual contestant is only as good as their team. The Allstars won Rage because we were hyper organised with our own IRC, we organised our own revives, and in the hours before its start scouted out most of the other players. In Red October we won because we used our DSS Satellite Phones all the time. Planning is key, thats what makes a good manhunter.
Why run a Marathon? Firstly its easy. You just add up a few numbers. Secondly, we don't wand DDR and Axe running them all. Vapor's manhunt was brilliant, so was Yon's I'm looking at running one after the mudkip hunt. Thats four separate people bringing the love of manhunt to the people.
MHS: After the Beatbox Kids showed us the pure awesomeness that comes with hunting a fellow survivor for fun, the sport faded for some time. But then Axe Hack came along, and kept it going with a series of Manhunts. Why did you help keep it alive?
Axe: I didn't. Keeping the Malton Manhunt alive happened by accident. As I've said, the original Axe Hack's Manhunt was suppose to be a one-on-one thing between me and Gnome. It caught the attention of some members of the Beatbox Kids and it evolved into one of the most well known Manhunt series of the Malton Manhunt.
MHS: So, I overheard a joke the other day that two types of players are known to participate in Manhunts: Playerkillers and Axehack. Any truth to that..or is this just misleading propaganda spread by jealous competitors?
Axe: Well, let's take a look at the original source of the joke. People don't mention me as a Player-Killer or a Death Cultist, but by my name, mainly because of a joke I began in Axe Hack's Second Manhunt. Yes, the original source of the "Axe Hack is a horrible PKer" joke came from me, Axe Hack himself.
MHS: Well, we'd like to thank DanceDanceRevolution, Axe Hack and Rosslessness for giving us an inside look at the sport of Manhunt. Thank you again for your time and helping show Malton the joy in hunting Man, the most dangerous game. As always, it has been fun.
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