Page 38 of Glitched Play

Her expression shifts before she can hide it, and I catch every stage: wonder first, then excitement, then disbelief settling softly around the edges. She swallows once and looks back at the room like it might disappear if she blinks too long.

I recognize all three because I saw the same combination in the mirror when I built my first office.

I hand her a tablet.

"Email."

She takes it. Although she looks at the ten thousand dollars of equipment on her desk.

"Logins and access permissions. You have carte blanche with a few exceptions."

Then I place a final folder on her desk. "This is a problem."

She looks down at the folder and back at me.

"Good morning to you too."

I ignore that. "Dara can help if you need anything."

She opens the folder. "What is this?"

"A problem I don't have time to solve."

Technically true.

Mostly true.

The issue isn't gaming.

It's our streaming platform.

User watch time has been declining for six consecutive weeks despite viewership increasing. Nobody can identify why.

The analytics team thinks it's a content problem.

The content team thinks it's an interface problem.

The platform team thinks it's a user behavior problem.

They're all wrong.

I just don't know how.

"I thought I was hired for gaming."

"You were.”

"Then why am I looking at streaming analytics?"

I shrug.

"Problems don't care about job descriptions."

"Or maybe you think I can't solve gaming problems yet."

I pause. "Interesting."

Her eyes narrow. She knows exactly what I’m doing, challenging her on day one. "That's not a denial."