- Location
- Italy
+ a bit of Tokyo Ghoul if I remember right. Maybe even something else
Dragon Ball: After the End
- Location
- Here and there
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Honestly, If you're writing an Omake to get a bonus, you probably shouldn't be writing them at all. They're nice little pieces of side content, and as useful as the bonuses can be, they're just that-bonuses. Writing Omakes is not really a major part of gameplay.
- Location
- Rockford, USA
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Well, I had one idea for the background worldbuilding, decided to use the mechanically-incentivized means of posting it, and wrote it up in half an hour while under considerable self-imposed pressure. This is the result - one idea, passably described, which earned a Major Bonus.
(I do think this reward system is a little broken, though. As-is, I'm more mechanically incentivized to split my best DB:AE ideas across several micro-Omake than to make a cohesive short story out of several of them. Something to remember for my writing guide.)
*unamused expression*
There are more effective ways of staging a protest, and they make me less annoyed with you.
This was not an issue in particular previously, or I would already have patched it. Now that it is an issue, a patch is forthcoming.
Honestly, it's been changed so much it's basically unrecognizable.
HoratioVonBecker
Imperfectly Aligned
Sorry - I wasn't intending the omake itself as a protest. That would have been rude! I'm not even sure I realized I should ask for a patch until after I posted that omake, and I was half-planning to just ask you directly.
(I've just noticed that my mind is a bit shaky right now - I should go have food. Apologies if I'm not wholly coherent right now.)
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- Location
- Here and there
- Pronouns
- He/Him
and there go spur-of-the-moment micro omakes for the people who would have done those. Exploitation of game mechanics is not the same as abusing trust.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Okay. Well, in the process you're falling into the role of the sophomoric guy who points out that technically an all-you-can-eat buffet is contractually obliged to let you take a wheelbarrow full of food home, to which they will reply "no, we're not," and kick you out of the restaurant. It's shaky ground to stand on.
Remember to apply both mathematical analysis and theory of mind to the underlying dynamics of systems with rules, not just one or the other. For systems from which the human element cannot be abstracted out (restaurants, businesses in general, and SV quests), a mathematical optimization of the rules themselves is not necessarily a reliable path to best outcomes for everyone.
Whether That One Guy gets it talked out with him, or just gets kicked out of the space, depends almost entirely on how he approaches the people with the power to decide which of those things to do. If the person in charge finds it more convenient to kick out the person who abuses free ice cream day by taking home a five gallon drum of the stuff every week, than to somehow negotiate with that person... they will. And they may just say "okay, no more free ice cream because That One Guy used up all my patience and most of my ice cream budget for the rest of the year, singlehandedly."
I would advise you to be careful about that, because...
Dammit now THIS happened.
HoratioVonBecker
Imperfectly Aligned
Well, my blood sugar is now stable and I feel neither dull or crazy, so I'm taking one more go at patching things.
Profound apologies for causing offense. May I hear your favorite method?
On the one hand I'm grateful, and on the other, your phrasing implies that I caused the problem. I do hope that's not the case - I'm not confident in my assessment of what I did wrong.
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- Location
- Here and there
- Pronouns
- He/Him
You know how you said you were going to exploit the Omake system by posting a bunch of micro Omakes unless a rule was put in place preventing that? Yeah that. That was what you did wrong.
HoratioVonBecker
Imperfectly Aligned
That is not what I meant to say. (I meant to say 'my muse is a munchkin and my artistic pride wants in on it'.
) But I can totally believe that that was how it came across. Whoops!
- Location
- Here and there
- Pronouns
- He/Him
That is not what I meant to say. (I meant to say 'my muse is a munchkin and my artistic pride wants in on it'.
- Location
- Actually pretty lost
Honestly, the omake intake is small enough and informal enough that I think you can probably just eyeball each omake and say "well, I like it but I don't think it's really big enough to qualify for a bonus, thanks though." I can't think of a failure state arising from you just using your judgement on a case-by-case basis.
EDIT: Well, at least I can't now you've been made aware of the possibility of jerks trying to game the system in bad faith.
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Cariyaga
Handsome Gentleperson
- Location
- United States
Salt is one possibility for failure state, without explicit rules.
Not saying they're necessary, or that that's likely, but it is a possibility.
- Location
- Actually pretty lost
I don't think there's likely to be any salt over not accepting an omake as worth a bonus? For all the wailing about in-game events, I've literally never seen a quest where the QM saying "thanks, but I don't feel comfortable giving a reward for this" was received with anything but good grace. It's pretty obvious when that's going to be the case - here, it only happened because the writer admitted they were deliberately gaming the system.Salt is one possibility for failure state, without explicit rules.
Not saying they're necessary, or that that's likely, but it is a possibility.
Cariyaga
Handsome Gentleperson
- Location
- United States
He didn't, actually. He said that the incentive structure was such that gaming the system was rewarded, and that he might in the future, but as far as I can tell it wasn't his intent this time.
- Location
- Rockford, USA
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Ideally, raising the point that the issue exists without forcing a confrontation on the issue. Looking over your posts again, and considering your blood sugar, I can take it on faith that that's what you were trying to do. The issue here was your phrasing, which -- blood-sugar-inspired though is may have been -- implied that you were trying to protest by way of exemplifying the issue. A somewhat hostile basis on which to open negotiations, had it been deliberate.
That being said, while you did not intend to send that message, the genie is out of the proverbial bottle now, and the patch is now necessary. Previously, I had noted that the issue existed, but nobody appeared to be violating it, so I let it be without comment and simply presumed good faith. Now that the idea's out, though, it cannot really go back in.
I originally considered various word count limitations, but the issue is that that would be a kludgy solution, and it would cut out a lot of good omakes. Somewhat fittingly, the thread was just recently discussing powerful short-form storytelling. I don't want to penalize that.
Of course, this time it's actually pretty easy to get out of that, "dilemma." A kludgy solution is what we adopt when we don't have the ability to administer a more elegant one, but I don't have that problem. This is creative writing. I am a professional author, I've worked as an editor for an actual literary magazine, and I hold a degree specifically in creative writing. I'm quite literally an experienced and certified expert in the field, as exactly for this use case as one could ask. I don't need to do something clumsy like implement a word count requirement; I'm quite capable of solving the issue myself. It's a very freeing realization.
So the new rule is that I simply now reserve the right to reject omakes if I wish, with or without feedback depending on how much mental energy I have at the time. The specific use case I have in mind for this rule is if somebody writes a zero-effort omake in five minutes, but the rule's flexible enough that I can apply it more broadly if I wish. Nothing which earns staff attention gets a threadmark, for instance. I have a fair amount of respect for the principle against ex post facto, so this won't affect existing and rewarded omakes. The new rule has been added to the Rules Screen under, "Omake Rewards."
- Location
- Here and there
- Pronouns
- He/Him
...so out of curiosity, what bonus DID my terminus quest Omake get? I know some ideas were bounced around, but I don't remember anything being decided on?
Also, while I get feedback will depend on your mood, is it possible to get feedback further down the line? Because I need to practice, and this seems like a cool place to do it.
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- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Poptart mentioned it. Bonus to interacting with high technology, as I recall.
- Location
- Actually pretty lost
That might come in handy if we can set our R&D people on reinforcing the Hall's ki-hiding properties with that stealth metal.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
If the escape plan works and we flee into space, I suspect we'll use the cookie before that time.
Cariyaga
Handsome Gentleperson
- Location
- United States
@PoptartProdigy Is the chapter title still the same, or...?
- Location
- Rockford, USA
- Pronouns
- They/Them
The chapter title was in reference to something entirely different than the main part of the vote, but thanks to the willpower check blowing, it now works for multiple things!
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Ah well, it's like Montrose said.
"He either fears his fate too much,
Or his deserts are small,
Who dares not put it to the touch,
To win or lose it all!"
Then again, he died at thirty-eight. So yeah.
"He either fears his fate too much,
Or his deserts are small,
Who dares not put it to the touch,
To win or lose it all!"
Then again, he died at thirty-eight. So yeah.
- Location
- Here and there
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Yeah well, go big or go home doesn't really work when you're betting your own house.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Well hey, at least they remember Montrose for something.