The game:
Watch Dogs is a third-person, open-world game set in Chicago, Illinois, albeit a heavily fictionalized version of the city. The player controls a character who has access to a media player with a catalog of assorted music.

The ritual:
My friend was born in 1989 and died in 2021. He lived his life in Champaign, Illinois, two hours south of the game's setting. My friend was a member of the band Vanattica for a period of time, the lead guitarist in particular. The player character's media device in Watch Dogs includes a song by Vanattica entitled "Confidential Liar," an alternate, revamped take of their song "Confidential Lying" which was included on their "Behind Closed Eyes" EP. This is neither here nor there, but the earlier take, "Confidential Lying," is a superior version of the song with heavier guitar more in step with Vanattica's earlier metal influence. They later eschewed this for a more pop-influenced sound and eventually, unfortunately rebranded as a Christian band called Hobart Ocean, which is when I stopped listening (my friend had long left the band by that point).

Neither of these versions of the song includes a guitar solo, leaving this ritual somewhat lackluster, but if "Confidential Liar" is what we have to work with, then that's what we'll work with. This ritual involves travelling to the southernmost point on the game's map, facing south, listening to "Confidential Liar," and playing air guitar to honor my late friend's life.

My friend and I grew up in Illinois, the sixth most populous state in the United States, founded in 1818 and commonly recognized most significantly as either the location of Chicago or the longtime home of Abraham Lincoln, who was featured prominently on the state's license plates when Watch Dogs was released. I first met my friend in 1994 in kindergarten class. He was a part of my life for twenty-seven years.



Watch Dogs is set in Chicago, Illinois, about one hundred twenty miles north of Champaign, where my friend and I grew up together. There is an industrial area at the southernmost edge of the Chicago map in Watch Dogs that gets you as close to Champaign as is possible in the game (without using any mods). The first step of the ritual requires one to travel to this location.

Facing toward the south will orient the player toward Champaign, Illinois, where my friend lived his entire life on the west side of town, which is also where we attended grade school together. Champaign is slightly southwest of Chicago, so the above screenshot is somewhat off.

"Confidential Liar" is located in the song catalog featured in the game's media player. Unfortunately the band has only this single song included in the game. My late friend is playing guitar on the recording. However, at the time of Vanattica's move to Los Angeles, he had left the band. I don't know that the band was ever the perfect fit for him, but their other recorded work features a significant amount of his talent on display, in particular his obvious love for metal genres and guitar solos.

Press play.

Unfortunately, there is no guitar solo, so one performing the ritual must use their judgement on when to play air guitar in honor of my friend, or they can play air guitar for the entire duration of the song, which lasts for three minutes and thirty-nine seconds. For me, this is the most emotional part of the ritual.

My dear friend of twenty-seven years was a casualty of the opioid disaster of 2021. He was one of the most unique people I've ever had the privilege of knowing and my life will never be the same without him. I'm often hard on myself about his death, wishing that I had done something helpful to intervene. This is an excruciating way to live and is unfair to myself. The reality is there is nothing specific I could have done and I do not have the power to save a life by sheer willpower otherwise. But I still miss him.

Nostalgia is a drug as addictive as any other, and sometimes equally as dangerous. I hope this guide illustrates a method for honoring someone's memory while at the same time accepting the circumstances of reality and remembering that the future is unwritten, and for that reason can be a hopeful direction to orient one's life.