Polls about COG, HG, and IF games

Same here.

Even if I’m just looking at the code, I like to identify what the story did well/did not do well IMO and then just make a mental note of that for my own stuff.

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while I like to replay some others routes (Not all), there are some stories for exemple I like to play them cose I like the story itself and the world the story happen .

A good exemple is Pendragon Rising, I always romance Yvaine (never bothered to see the other romances), but I really like the world and wish there was a sequel . I still make a run of it now and then…

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I replay a game if I believe there’s a better ending, until I get that ending and only if the game has hooked me. I rarely replay a game, though.

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Is there such a thing as too many endings? I know hardly anyone enjoys railroading, but is is to some degree necessary?

  • I enjoy railroading.
  • I dislike railroading, but I feel there is an argument for it.
  • I want there to be as many endings as possible.
  • A few solid endings are preferable.

0 voters

1 Like

I guess my short answer about endings is I like it if there are a few significantly different endings, but I tend to not care if the ending is the same with some minor variation (e.g. the ending is identical but with an extra sentence or two saying “and since you adopted a cat, the cat is here too”.) By which I mean if I get the “good-” ending, I’m not going to replay the entire game just to get the “good+”, if you get what I mean.

On the other side of the coin, I generally DO like it when there’s a few “main” endings, and then sort of “Where are they now?” character epilogues that can vary based on your actions and interactions. I guess for whatever reason these feel more meaningful if they’re compartmentalized a bit from the narrative ending? I’ll have to think about that a bit more.

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In my new WIP, i spent a couple hours just plotting the overarching story and finished with like 20 something endings. I know I need to trim that waaay back, but is there such a thing as too many endings?

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I mean, at the end of the day I don’t think I can really answer that question without knowing what the endings are, and how they differ from each other. If you feel like each ending is meaningfully different, and each ending is a logical and emotional result of the decisions that lead up to it, then I say why not? The only real downside I can think of (besides the extra effort that would entail) is having that many endings may discourage a lot of people from playing through enough times to see them all, which isn’t necessarily a problem. I’d be curious what others have to say on that, though.

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I don’t enjoy railroading, but I also don’t have much of a problem with it.

If I have to choose between a railroaded, well written story, that has emotional depth and hits all the beats, and a story that has huge branching, but sacrifices structure and impact to be able to do so, I’d choose the first, almost every time.

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To quote what I have said before concerning the question of railroading/ending(s) earlier in this thread:

Because these are written by one person - sometimes two - and they are hundreds of thousands of words long, I would argue that there has to be some railroading.

For instance in Dragon Age Origins, the Darkspawn will always defeat Fereldan’s army at Ostagar otherwise the plot of that game would be wildly different.

The branch and return model is the best possible model authors have at the moment because it balances the needs of the author to not have an endlessly growing story and the wants of the reader to have a feeling of control within the confines of the story.

For me personally, I understand when the author railroads you into certain plot points because otherwise their version of the story couldn’t exist. As a reader, I respect the story they want to tell and it’s not my business to tell them how their plot should go.

That doesn’t mean I may enjoy where they may be taking me or how they take me down that route, but if that’s the case then I just don’t bother reading it anymore.

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I like a few different ending, but for them to be significantly different.

Or

There’s a handful yes/no factors that don’t impact each other and the answer for each is explained in the end.

1 Like

I felt kinda sad to see so many people against mature content. I think we should have a place for all sort of stories.

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What do you mean? We have a section of the forum that’s called Adult Content.

I know. I’m talking about the pool in the first post. A third of the voters thinks that mature content should be excluded.

That poll is over a year old, so it may or may not reflect the current opinions of those who voted. And unless I’m reading/interpreting the poll wrong only 6% of the ~650 voters think that mature content should not be included with COG/HG.

The other 55% voted that they shouldn’t be treated any differently from PG games (so I assume not excluded) and other 33% say that authors should have the appropriate warnings ahead of time but not outright exclude them.

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It’s also worth noting that 77% of voters wanted sex scenes with their ROs so people clearly still want mature content somewhere even if is not in exactly the same space

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As @AChubbyBlackCat pointed out, it wasn’t a third of the voters. But I’d like to add that that is not what the poll says. The option clearly states:

I personally think they should have their own sections, and not be included with COG/HG.

As someone who voted in this option, the way I understand it is to have a separate app for games with mature content, like we have the omnibus app for COG, for HG and now for Heart’s Choice. I think that’s the responsible think to do.

Keeping everything together makes the life of parents and guardians a lot harder, not to mention the fact that, as far as I know, you cannot currently use parental control to lock this game and not that one. Guardians would have to lock the whole app.

There wasn’t even an option in the poll to exclude mature content completely. It was about giving them their own proper place. Heart’s Choice does it partially, but since it’s meant to be exclusively for romance, games of other genres which contain mature content (whatever that may be, from racy to gore) are still lumped together with the others.

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I’m not sure we’re looking at the same pool. And I see your point about parental control. But that option only had 3% of the votes. The question is weather mature content should be excluded and 33% just said yes without any other comment.

Should CYOA’s with mature content be excluded from COG/HG (even if the Author treats t with extreme care) ?

I think they should for possible trigger warnings, or for the inappropriate references, and etc.

Well, that’s the only poll there about mature content.

EDIT:

OK, now I saw it. Sorry about that. When I read it I somehow read it as “it should be excluded except if it has trigger warning”. My bad.

However, I still hold the position that if games with mature content had their own place, this wouldn’t even be a problem.

No problem. And I totally see your point about making the life of guardians harder. Hadn’t thought about that, not being a parent myself.

1 Like

Future is in the vast majority. Sci-fi fans are truly oppressed :disappointed:

In all seriousness, addressing a few other points: I’ve noticed that romance and romantic options are a feature in basically every COG and WIP, but there are very few that focus on romance (the most successful of which being Wayhaven). It’s a trend I probably won’t reverse because I can barely write a paragraph a week thanks to brain-stuff, but it’s something I’ve noticed.

So, here’s another poll:

How do you prefer romance as a focus in a story?

Examples:

  • Most romance have the romance as the primary focus – other themes might take the spotlight on occasion, but for the most part, they remain secondary.
  • Wayhaven has romance and the supernatural mystery hijinks take center stage, often one going in hand with the other. Both are primary focuses.
  • In most COGs or WIPs, you have the option of romancing another character. While this opens up subplots and gives more content, it is possible to not have any relationship and still not miss out on the core focus of the story. In tjis case, the romance is secondary.
  • I prefer it to be the primary focus of the story
  • I want it to be the primary focus alongside another topic or theme
  • I prefer it to be a secondary focus
  • I prefer it to not be in if it isn’t one of the primary focuses
  • I prefer it not being in at all
  • Other

0 voters

I’m the third option, personally.

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