I for one would love to sit down with the genius who designs computer interfaces for Dharma, and discuss over a cup hot Earl Grey (2 cream, 2 sugar) the thought process that he used to come to the conclusion that it would be a grand idea to require a user to win a chess game in order to access such critical functions as requesting a food drop, contacting the mainland, or activating the self destruct in the event of incursion by the Hostiles!

The following scenario comes to mind:

Flame Station Occupant # 1: "The Hostiles are attacking! Quick, enter 77!!"
Flame Station Occupant # 2: "I'm on it! Ok, let's see, I'll open with the Queen's Gambit Declined..."

2 hours later

Flame Station Occupant # 1: "Hurry up, I can't hold them off forever!"
Flame Station Occupant # 2: "Keep it down, will you? I'm thinking, this rascally devil has me pinned down in a Prussian Defense, this is going to take a while..."

It makes as much sense as requiring someone to enter a six number code before releasing the Swan's electro-magnetic buildup.

I for one would love to sit down with the genius who designs computer interfaces for Dharma, and discuss over a cup hot Earl Grey (2 cream, 2 sugar) the thought process that he used to come to the conclusion that it would be a grand idea to require a user to win a chess game in order to access such critical functions as requesting a food drop, contacting the mainland, or activating the self destruct in the event of incursion by the Hostiles!

The following scenario comes to mind:

Flame Station Occupant # 1: "The Hostiles are attacking! Quick, enter 77!!"
Flame Station Occupant # 2: "I'm on it! Ok, let's see, I'll open with the Queen's Gambit Declined..."

2 hours later

Flame Station Occupant # 1: "Hurry up, I can't hold them off forever!"
Flame Station Occupant # 2: "Keep it down, will you? I'm thinking, this rascally devil has me pinned down in a Prussian Defense, this is going to take a while..."

The more likely scenario is that the computer was always connected to the Marvin Candle scenes previously, but before DHARMA left they activated the chess program in case they lost.

That way if DHARMA lost, they'd think it was just a chess game, but if DHARMA won they could just go back to the bunker, beat the chess game ad pull the Candle program back up.

I for one would love to sit down with the genius who designs computer interfaces for Dharma, and discuss over a cup hot Earl Grey (2 cream, 2 sugar) the thought process that he used to come to the conclusion that it would be a grand idea to require a user to win a chess game in order to access such critical functions as requesting a food drop, contacting the mainland, or activating the self destruct in the event of incursion by the Hostiles!

The following scenario comes to mind:

Flame Station Occupant # 1: "The Hostiles are attacking! Quick, enter 77!!"
Flame Station Occupant # 2: "I'm on it! Ok, let's see, I'll open with the Queen's Gambit Declined..."

2 hours later

Flame Station Occupant # 1: "Hurry up, I can't hold them off forever!"
Flame Station Occupant # 2: "Keep it down, will you? I'm thinking, this rascally devil has me pinned down in a Prussian Defense, this is going to take a while..."


:D I was thinking the same thing. Maybe the Dharma people were actually told what moves it took to quickly win the game, but it still seems too time consuming for something as urgent as being overrun by hostiles.

well it did "say manual over-ride achieved".
maybe there is an automatic over-ride....
CTRL+ALT+DEL :rotflmao2:

I believe the chess game on the computer is a sort of security system to hide/protect the hidden critical features in case other, non-Dharma, people take over the station. I'm sure that a Dharma worker stationed there would know a shortcut to access those features in case of emergency.

Cheers
Rick

Perhaps the chess game is NOT part of the main user interface, but rather just a game. Like solitaire. Mikhail was interrupted while playing the game, thus he did not have time to quit the game.

Just my 2c.

well it did "say manual over-ride achieved".
maybe there is an automatic over-ride....
CTRL+ALT+DEL :rotflmao2:

This comment is the absolute best! I laughed so hard. So clever.