I don't want to be rude, but to be honest it feels like you are not reporting an accurate version of events.
The players did not at any point vote to work with Iroh against Ozai. The vote tied and stayed tied for several minutes, in large part because it seemed like someone or multiple people were keeping it that way on purpose. The run-off happened because of that tie, not because I wanted to push one option over another. If I had wanted to push one option, I literally could have just cast a tiebreaker vote. I understand it was a mistake to choose to have that tie represented in story by Akane hesitating and Ozai trying to intimidate her further, and I apologize for that.
There was only one vote that was actually deleted and redone last night - the military vote. It was deleted and redone because it was unclear what the vote was actually about. It had nothing to do with Zuko. People have been claiming since then that multiple other votes were deleted and redone and "everyone saw it", no matter how many people tell them that didn't happen. And there's honestly just nothing I can do at this point to counter those assertions.
I have done everything I can to try to explain when voters could have made things go differently and how. I just made a big post here outlining all the ways you could have avoided being in this situation to begin with. I warned people in chat multiple times over the past few weeks that pissing Ozai off would actually have consequences for them and that they could avoid pissing him off by doing simple things he very clearly told them to do in story, like not buddy up to the brother he thinks is after his throne. At this point, I don't know what else I can do.
A lot of the reason why I need a break from this quest is because no matter what I say or do to try to clarify things, within five minutes everyone seems to have convinced each other that I said something completely different and horrible that's going to ruin the quest. At this point I feel like I have no way to communicate with my readers. I understand that that must be my own fault or something like that but I really don't know how to fix it. I made that massive post outlining future plans and people on fiction.live's chat immediately came to the conclusion that I was saying Akane could never become a strong or powerful character, all the potential for future success was gone, things like the 'sun goddess' route were completely cut off, and the rest of the quest would be nothing more than her struggling to get back to where she was, as though my goal for her character development was just a closed circle. I must have somehow implied all of that but I really don't know how.
I feel like I could make the next arc of the quest into something good, but judging from people's feedback I don't know if the audience feels the same way. I don't know what I'm going to do, and I don't feel like any of my communication with the audience ever actually works to clarify things. I'm just going to take a break.
I really appreciate everyone's feedback and support and I'm sorry for all the trouble.
The players did not at any point vote to work with Iroh against Ozai. The vote tied and stayed tied for several minutes, in large part because it seemed like someone or multiple people were keeping it that way on purpose. The run-off happened because of that tie, not because I wanted to push one option over another. If I had wanted to push one option, I literally could have just cast a tiebreaker vote. I understand it was a mistake to choose to have that tie represented in story by Akane hesitating and Ozai trying to intimidate her further, and I apologize for that.
There was only one vote that was actually deleted and redone last night - the military vote. It was deleted and redone because it was unclear what the vote was actually about. It had nothing to do with Zuko. People have been claiming since then that multiple other votes were deleted and redone and "everyone saw it", no matter how many people tell them that didn't happen. And there's honestly just nothing I can do at this point to counter those assertions.
I have done everything I can to try to explain when voters could have made things go differently and how. I just made a big post here outlining all the ways you could have avoided being in this situation to begin with. I warned people in chat multiple times over the past few weeks that pissing Ozai off would actually have consequences for them and that they could avoid pissing him off by doing simple things he very clearly told them to do in story, like not buddy up to the brother he thinks is after his throne. At this point, I don't know what else I can do.
A lot of the reason why I need a break from this quest is because no matter what I say or do to try to clarify things, within five minutes everyone seems to have convinced each other that I said something completely different and horrible that's going to ruin the quest. At this point I feel like I have no way to communicate with my readers. I understand that that must be my own fault or something like that but I really don't know how to fix it. I made that massive post outlining future plans and people on fiction.live's chat immediately came to the conclusion that I was saying Akane could never become a strong or powerful character, all the potential for future success was gone, things like the 'sun goddess' route were completely cut off, and the rest of the quest would be nothing more than her struggling to get back to where she was, as though my goal for her character development was just a closed circle. I must have somehow implied all of that but I really don't know how.
I feel like I could make the next arc of the quest into something good, but judging from people's feedback I don't know if the audience feels the same way. I don't know what I'm going to do, and I don't feel like any of my communication with the audience ever actually works to clarify things. I'm just going to take a break.
I really appreciate everyone's feedback and support and I'm sorry for all the trouble.
