I would argue that it exactly the same thing.
As you say, the reputational incentive to make sure that our girls are happy is less of an incentive than it would be for a chain of grocery stores. But to counterbalance the weaker effect of reputation, we have an entire MORALE mechanic which gives us an extremely strong incentive to make sure that our girls are literally happy. Any unhappiness that might result from of sloppiness (accidental or malicious) would invoke a cube cost due to an increased number of spirals.
Except our girls don't
know that this mechanic exists, it's a purely meta element that you're trying to claim will affect the girls' fluff opinions, whereas everybody knows groceries have customer satisfaction surveys and departments.
I don't place much stock in government agencies, either. IMHO, the most effective standards are those that are self-imposed in order to please customers.
Shockingly, Haman, you, and I are not the only people on the planet, and in fact only make up a small portion of them. Filling a cup with water from the ocean and seeing no fish does not mean there are no fish in the ocean, your sample is merely skewed (because you are deliberately refusing to believe there are other viewpoints than your own).
Technically, we could "save cubes" by leaving the girls in stasis (just like a grocery store might save money by cutting corners and selling expired food), but that would be reprehensible and the negative effects would be so horrible that it would clearly not be worth it. The girls who have been with us for any length of time (i.e. all of them except the 12 Greens we just recruited) know that we're not going to do that. We might have to take some steps to show that we're above board to the new recruits, but note that our welcome package (including the cubes that were given to them during the recruiting process and at the start of the month) should allow them to start with a certain measure of trust to begin with. Additionally, the method I am proposing for stasis uses shifts (probably four shifts), so that only half of the girls will be in stasis at any given time. Anyone who is apprehensive about being screwed over should be in one of the latter groups so that they can see that the girls from the earlier groups have been removed from stasis just as planned.
Children don't stop being afraid of the dark because mommy and daddy said 'don't be afraid of the dark'. It's visceral, and like all things
unknown, cannot simply be defeated by the logical elements of a teenager's mind; it's simply not developed enough to control those fears yet.
To continue our previous discussion about the cons of stasis compared to the cons of the other options, I would like to breakdown the fears that are involved so that we don't get confused by mixing them together in our analysis:
Here are the fears that will occur regarding stasis:
1. Fear that stasis cause damage to the body or soul. This is an understandable fear, but Nagoya's experiences show that it ought to be safe. In order to mitigate this fear as much as possible, we need use a process that is as consistent and foolproof as possible and then demonstrate that it works as intended. This should calm the fears to a reasonable level, but I acknowledge that there might still be some girls who have a fear that is disproportionately large compared to the actual danger.
2. Fear of missing out due to lost time. This is the primary cost of stasis. I don't think that there's anything we can really do about it, except to explain that the alternatives are worse.
3. Fear of separation between body and soul. PMMM makes a big deal about the soul gem being literally a soul gem. Note that this is one area where I don't actually accuse Kyuubey of dissembling in canon because the description is right there in the name, but that's beside the point here since we're assuming that the lichbomb itself has already been explained to all of the girls in the MMEQ setting. However, even after knowing about the lichbomb, some girls might take issue with the idea of the connection between body and soul being severed, even temporarily. Above and beyond the fear of damage or missing out. I'm not sure what (if anything) we can do about this fear, except to offer alternatives (such as hunting in Tokyo) and hope that the fear is reduced over time.
4. Fear that the stasis plan isn't what it claims to be. (discussed above)
5. Feelings of inadequacy. The stasis plan makes it clear that we're only taking the Greens in out of charity rather than because we expect them to meaningfully contribute in the near future. But they are more of a drain on our resources than they are a benefit, so the stasis plan merely highlights a problem which is unavoidable. We can only hope that this inspires the Greens to work harder and gain Veteran status sooner. On the flip side, it also shows that we do value everyone who isn't a Green (i.e. the Veterans that we just recruited), so that part should be good for morale.
1. I've never seen this indicated in fluff, and everyone
knows that it can't damage the body because of regular healing.
2. Fear of
not being cannot be logically argued away to a
teenaged or pre-teen girl. They will have no control of their faculties, or the events of the future; in the event of a catastrophic attack or double-cross (something Tokyo girls are
intimately familiar with and liable to imagine constantly) they might as well die never knowing they'll die. "Will this be the last time I see anything?" is a
very real and present fear regardless of our assurances.
3. Again, this is an unmanageable fear as you pointed out. This is a morale hit
every time a girl goes into or out of stasis. Gaslighting: My Soul edition is probably scarier than the classic.
4. This ties into the final sentence of number two quite nicely. The fear that they'll just kill us is a
real and
present fear for girls who have likely either witnessed or
actually participated in actions that sacrificed the lives of others near them 'because it was necessary'.
5. This is less serious, because Tokyo girls likely
all feel inadequate already considering they
ran to get here. I wouldn't calculate this as part of a morale penalty.
Here are the fears associated with the alternatives to stasis from the perspective of an individual Green who is considering whether or not to do it (assuming that the pros and cons of each alternative have been explained in full):
1. Joining Nagoya: this has exactly the same fears as our own stasis plan, but even stronger because there would be more time spent in stasis and fewer ways to ensure trust.
2. Leaving and joining another group which is willing to take in new girls and doesn't have a cube shortage. There's a fear of not being able to find such a group (since SIMP knows of no such organizations) as well as a fear that the other group would have living conditions that are worse than the ones in SIMP. Some girls might be unrealistically optimistic about their chances, but we should definitely counsel against this course of action.
3. Poaching. There would be a fear of not being able to find enough cubes or a place to stay or enough to eat. There would be a fear of being alone. And a fear of being killed by demons or hostile magical girls. And the shame of stealing (and possibly causing spirals due to lack of cubes). This is clearly the worst possible option. Anybody whose mind and feelings do not incline them away from this option is either misinformed or delusional. It might have seemed like a valid option for the girls who lived in Tokyo, but the girls we recruited have options that are clearly better than this one.
4. Living in Mitakihara, hunting in Tokyo. There would be no danger of not being able to find enough cubes. The girls would still have a guaranteed place to stay and eat and they would have plenty of companionship (while in Mitakihara). And there would be little to no risk of being killed by other magical girls or the demons that are being hunted. There would still be a huge fear of Youma in general and the Beholder in particular. This fear would be well justified, since every minute spent in Tokyo is a risk. However, living in Mitakihara reduces the risk to roughly a twelfth of what it would be for someone who actually lives in Tokyo (i.e. if active time is 8 hours a day, then gathering 0.5 GCU would take 2 hours a day for a solo green). So this might be a valid alternative for some of the girls who are really dubious of the stasis plan. We should still counsel them to take advantage of stasis, but this option is not nearly as bad as the others. And any girl taking it would still have the option to switch back to stasis if hunting in Tokyo turns out to be too nerve wracking.
1. Yes.
2. Yes.
3. These are Tokyo girls, who effectively lived like bottom-rung predators in a predator-only environment. They will be able to scavenge food or find shelter easily enough. These are Tokyo girls, who were either
already alone or will still have strong enough ties to their other Tokyo friends that they'll leave
together. These are Tokyo girls, literally every other area in Japan is less likely to kill them than Tokyo,
but at least they have control of their faculties to ensure they don't have to trust a
third party to survive (see 2 from dangers of stasis). Finally,
these are Tokyo girls, if they still feel shame from thievery when they've at least indirectly been the cause of another meguca's death (and likely poached themselves, considering it was poaching, desperate or otherwise, that
created the Tokyo event in the first place) they wouldn't leave us if the world was ending; for everyone else, there's poaching. As soon as we say 'die for two weeks a month', suddenly poaching will look like a way better option than joining a group that will likely also demand stasis or dangerous hunting.
4. No, there would be no trouble finding cubes. They'd have somewhere to stay, we'd
force them to hunt somewhere Youma and the Beholder had been known to frequent on our word that 'they totally don't anymore!' and
implicitly take no responsibility for killing them if they died doing it because they were being stubborn little emotional
children. To tell them to do this is to be a mob racketeer saying 'you can always
not pay protection money' while having a hand on a wobbly display stand; you
clearly expect them to give you what you want, because the other option has a
much higher chance of immediately killing them. This, more than
all other options, is a
direct threat to their lives. This
will severely impact morale, and I wouldn't be surprised if
this alone was enough to bring it down to 0. Either the girls are
okay with stasis,
or we let them go, this option
will breed resentment for a
long time and that you think it's viable only proves you are
only looking at this situation from
one person's viewpoint, your own.
