History YMMV / Daemon

** The Razorbacks. ''* shudder* '' They are ''intentionally'' designed to inspire terror, especially once you've seem them in action. Jet black, armored, autonomous racing bikes covered in shark-fin-like metal blades and shamanic runes and symbols, 3-foot long blades mounted on articulated servos instead of handlebars and blinding lasers to incapacitate you. They can operate in close-quarters (i.e. inside buildings), their hardened blades are sharp and fast enough to cut a man to pieces and then ''cut the pieces to pieces'' before they hit the ground. There is no attempt to stealth them, so you can hear them coming. And Loki has a semi trailer full of them.

* SpiritualLicensee: ''VideoGame/WatchDogs'' is essentially the Daemon's Darknet for UsefulNotes/{{PS4}}, and Aiden Pearce is essentially Matthew Sobol minus the terminal cancer that forced him to empower Brian Gragg AKA Loki Stormbringer as his successor in his war against corruption.

* DisproportionateRetribution: At one point the Daemon's agents carry out a massacre of spammers. While (hopefully everyone) would agree that murdering them is crossing the line, the chapter is certainly cathartic for readers working in IT. While it certainly improves communication speed and makes it easier on the network, One can almost feel like it was personal pet peeve of Sobol that he finally had the power to "solve". DisproportionateRetribution at its finest.

* DisproportionateRetribution: At one point the Daemon's agents carry out a massacre of spammers. While (hopefully everyone) would agree that murdering them is crossing the line, the chapter is certainly cathartic for reader working in IT. While it certainly improves communication speed and makes it easier on the network, One can almost feel like it was personal pet peeve of Sobol that he finally had the power to "solve". DisproportionateRetribution at its finest.

* AcceptableProfessionalTargets: At one point the Daemon's agents carry out a massacre of spammers.

* FridgeBrilliance[=/=]FridgeLogic: On one hand, everything worked perfectly. There were no bugs, glitches, mistakes, etc, despite the fact that there couldn't have been real world testing, beta testing, etc. The Daemon responded properly every time, and all the schematics produced working devices. On the other hand, Sobol was a genius with a ridiculously high IQ of 220. You can probably infer he was among the smartest people to have ever lived. Maybe he was just that good, putting this into FridgeBrilliance.

*** Even the way he killed them was done with DevelopersForesight, he manipulated them into killing themselves. He knew the first one was riding a motorcycle every morning before work. The death trap only activated when he pressed the button to open the garage door. The other was also predictable: he had access to server room, once he heard about the death of his colleague, he rushed there and got killed when he swiped his access card.

** FridgeBrilliance: fMRI tests for every "bad" decision Daemon operative makes. You want to downvote someone? You have to be prepared to defend your decisions in fMRI test, to a machine that knows when you even think of lying. And if you fail, that can cost you levels and reputation. Stolen something? Same. You killed someone? Same. Then you realize Loki is a sociopath. He has to fully believe that killing you is justified to be able to kill you with impunity and that is a VERY low bar to clear (self defense, needed to leave no witnesses, defending the Deamon from destruction...). Oddly enough, he can justify killing more easily than downvoting someone else, because he knows when he is just being a spiteful jerk. This whole thing makes Daemon a KidWithTheLeash to Loki. As a result, he has a lot of levels but the average social score of half a star from over 4000 reviews received from his peers.

* FridgeBrilliance: Sobol didn't create the system alone, he had a lot of help from two other programmers who worked with him on the previous game. He probably lied to them and told them they were making "The Gate" as Augmented Reality game. As such, those two were the only ones who could have stopped the Daemon before it recruited anyone.
** Even the way he killed them was done with DevelopersForesight, he manipulated them into killing themselves. He knew the first one was riding a motorcycle every morning before work. The death trap only activated when he pressed the button to open the garage door. The other was also predictable: he had access to server room, once he heard about the death of his colleague, he rushed there and got killed when he swiped his access card.
* FridgeBrilliance: fMRI tests for every "bad" decision Daemon operative makes. You want to downvote someone? You have to be prepared to defend your decisions in fMRI test, to a machine that knows when you even think of lying. And if you fail, that can cost you levels and reputation. Stolen something? Same. You killed someone? Same. Then you realize Loki is a sociopath. He has to fully believe that killing you is justified to be able to kill you with impunity and that is a VERY low bar to clear. And oddly enough, he can justify killing more easily than downvoting someone else. This whole thing makes Daemon a KidWithTheLeash to Loki. As a result, he has a lot of levels but the average social score of half a star from over 4000 reviews received from his peers.

* FridgeBrilliance: fMRI tests for every "bad" decision Daemon operative makes. You want to downvote someone? You have to be prepared to defend your decisions in fMRI test, to a machine that knows when you even think of lying. And if you fail, that can cost you levels and reputation. Stolen something? Same. You killed someone? Same. Then you realize Loki is a sociopath. He has to fully believe that killing you is justified to be able to kill you with impunity and that is a VERY low bar to clear. And oddly enough, he can justify killing more easily than downvoting someone else. This whole thing makes Daemon a KidWithTheLeashto Loki. As a result, he has a lot of levels but the average social score of half a star from over 4000 reviews received from his peers.

* FridgeBrilliance: fMRI tests for every "bad" decision Daemon operative makes. You want to downvote someone? You have to be prepared to defend your decisions in fMRI test, to a machine that knows when you even think of lying. And if you fail, that can cost you levels and reputation. Stolen something? Same. You killed someone? Same. Then you realize Loki is a sociopath. He has to fully believe that killing you is justified to be able to kill you with impunity and that is a VERY low bar to clear.

* {{Anvilicious}}: ''Daemon'' is somewhat subtle in pointing out an actual evil. ''Freedom™''... less so. Depending upon one's political views this may or may not verge into SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped.

* SpiritualAdaptation: VideoGame/WatchDogs is essentially the Daemon's Darknet for UsefulNotes/{{PS4}}, and Aiden Pearce is essentially Matthew Sobol minus the terminal cancer that forced him to empower Brian Gragg AKA Loki Stormbringer as his successor in his war against corruption.