Glowing orb in video game represents Eve's Apple

In the world of “Assassin's Creed,” the chief protagonist is a soul and time traveler from the time of the Great Caesar of Rome.

The mercenary Enzio has traveled to the world of 1502 A.D., fights his enemies with sword and spear in the alleys of ancient Eurpoean cities and the great halls of medieval castles; he enters various dimensions of the space-time continuum by placing a glowing orb in the midst of stacked cubicle shapes stored inside a special chamber.

“The glowing orb is the apple, the one Eve gave to Adam in the Garden of Eden,” explains Daniel Barkley, a Clifton 8th grader who is competing in the championship flight of a global competition to amass as many as 30,000 Microsoft points worth cash money in the world of gamers. They may be exchanged for game DVD's he and his friends play on the X-Box.

The orb – the apple - represents knowledge of the world.

“It was brought to Earth by aliens from outer space,” he concluded.

His ranking at this time is the 46th competitor in the world tournament currently under way. He has acquired 13 such games through just such competition, trading Microsoft points for the games at area shops and big box stores. He has been playing since he was 4 years of age, has amassed 15,735 career points - 670 in the current tournament in which he is competing - and still found time to qualify for the A-B Honor Roll twice in the 7th grade.

What would he like to do when he grows up to be a man?

“I want to work for Lion Head Studios or Rock Star Studios,” he says. Rock Star won the game of the year honors in 2010 for its creation, “Red Dead Redemption.”

It's all about a protagonist who quit roving and raiding with a gang of men who roamed the west in the year 1911 after the U.S. government gave him the option of either quitting the gang and becoming a government operative, or losing his family.

What creed drives young Mr. Barkley and his social set in the small world of “gamers”?

“We just think of everything electronic as to how we can entertain people – history, politics, even conspiracies.”

He met his girl in the cyber world of gaming. She is a young lady from the Dallas area of about the same age who competes alongside the boys for top honors. He carries her picture in his billfold, finds it hard to keep a proud grin off his face when he shows her picture; he sets it lovingly on the console and admires her countenance thus depicted.

Of course, she is lovely.