Michael quit mid-match? What appears to happen

The report from raw footage: a Michael player quit mid-match, and a Michael kept playing — apparently an automatic replacement (backfill or bot takeover), with no announcement to the lobby. The remaining players spent the rest of the night confused about who, or what, they were fighting.

What we can say

• The match doesn't end when Michael leaves — something steps in. Whether it's a bot, a backfilled player, or mode-dependent behavior is unestablished.
• Expect a behavior shift: if "Michael" suddenly plays very differently mid-match — more mechanical patrols, or abruptly better — a swap is a plausible explanation, not your imagination.
• Scoring implications are unknown. The 3,000-point structure presumably continues, but nobody has documented whose score it becomes.

What to do about it

Nothing changes strategically: residents still score, exits still open, the arrest still works on whatever's wearing the mask. Play the systems, not the pilot. If the swap produces genuinely broken behavior (a frozen Michael, an unkillable stall), clips to the contact page help — this is the least-documented corner of the netcode.