on december 31, 2007, find815.com launched, and players were able to start the game. a newscast kicks off the game, and visitors learn that oceanic airways is making two monumental decisions: (1) the search for flight 815 is to be called off, and (2) oceanic airways will be returning to the skies. protagonist sam thomas is introduced, and his connection to 815/lost is explained in subsequent video diaries. it turns out that sam's partner, sonya, was a flight attendant for oceanic, and was on flight 815. only a few short months after 815 crashed, oceanic will be calling off the search and focusing on its return to the skies. however, sam has been quite vocal about the need to continue the search, and how he's going to "get to the bottom of what's really going on". one night, sam receives an email, from an unknown person, with an attached picture of sonya. however, upon closer view, a few clues were hidden in the emailed picture. after writing down all four clues ("the black rock", "christiane i", "sunda trench", and "tell no-one - grave consequences"), sam replies to the unknown source, and then receives a garbled response with a hidden website in it ("the-maxwell-group.com").