Search      Members      Groups      Profile      Favorites      RSS      Register      Log in
How-To-Write an SG: Dealing with Tied Votes

 
(currently a favorite of 0 users)
   Storygames Home -> Info Street - FAQs and Guides to the City -> IF Technical Institute and FAQ
View previous topic :: View next topic  

Author Message
Reiso
Respected Citizen



Joined: 27 Oct 2004
Topics: 17
Posts: 917
Location: Western North America

Items
Legends
Fables
Strata-gems

PostPosted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 10:53 am    Post subject: How-To-Write an SG: Dealing with Tied Votes Reply with quote

This was originally a casual response to a random complaint that a tie held up a storygame for a long time. At ethereal_fauna's suggestion, I have re-posted it here.

Ties can really trip you up and hold you back, as I quickly discovered shortly after starting my storygames. Not only that, they seem to crop up a lot more often than you'd think. There's a couple of ways around this though, that help keep the storygame going and prevent it from stalling out.

The first and best choice (when possible), is to somehow combine the tied decisions into a third option that meets them in the middle. For example, if the choices are between subsequent actions that do not exclude each other (or in english, could both happen without making each other impossible), such as 'Take the kids to the Zoo', or 'Walk the neighborhood's dogs for some extra cash', then you can easily have the character walk all the dogs while at the Zoo with his children. Then fluffers wanders into the penguin habitat and chaos ensues that would have been impossible in either single choice.

Well, that can be fun, but sometimes there is no convenient way to smash two choices together like that. In fact, there will be times when the choices are mutually exclusive - you know, like 'Jumbo Shrimp' if you listen to George Carlin). A classic example is 'Kill him' or 'spare him, promising that he never need fear for his life with you.'

Combining these just cannot be done (and yes, we are assuming that your character isn't just going to arbitrarily lie about not killing him and then inexplicably kill him anyway with no greater motive than combining two options) ... so what do you do?

Well, there's a couple of options. You can make another poll, and let everyone know you're only running it for a day or two, so they need to get their votes in fast. The new poll will be between the two tied options (or more, if you're very unlucky), and you just cross your fingers that they won't tie again. If they do, or that just doesn't work for you, then as the Storygame author you might just have to make the call and say that one will happen - but in that case, make sure you have a real good reason, such as being truer to the character or moving the plot in a more appropriate direction. If neither of those work, there is only one other option I can think of, but it is sort of a cheat option that I would not reccomend unless the above suggestions fail or are impossible.

Some authors don't vote on their storygames at all. They feel it places an unfair slant on the results because the feedback should come from readers only. Others think that if they work so hard on a storygame, that author or no, they are entitled to one vote, just the same as anyone else. Both opinions are valid, and I think I could write either way; it would depend on the storygame itself and what feel I wanted for it. So if you are the kind of author that never votes on the polls, then this answer is definitely cheating. If you make a habit out of voting on your own storygame however, it may not be.

What am I getting at? Ok, here it is; hold your vote for each chapter, and wait to see if there is a tie or not. Give the votes a reasonable time to come in, but if there is a tie and it looks like all the votes are in, then use your vote to break it. I think there is a right way and a wrong way to do this, and that it is important that you vote for what you really want to happen next, if you are the type who votes at all. Changing your vote to break the tie is kind of sneaky, so you should really only do this if one of the choices is what you would have picked anyway, not just to break a tie between two choices that you didn't like to begin with. I feel that as long as this rule is followed, there is nothing wrong with holding your vote. It is your storygame afterall, and who is to say that some readers don't do the same?

But hopefully, that last resort is something that you won't have to do, and nine out of ten times, the first choices will work before having to resort to it. Alternatively, if time is not an issue for you, then you could adamantly refuse to write the next chapter until the tie is broken. New members are joining all the time, and it is only a matter of time until someone votes. Of course, that would make getting voted SGOTM a little difficult, and I wonder whether Key would approve of such an approach, but it is an option.

In any case, with the other options on the table, most of you should be able to keep your storygames going and prevent long delays when ties come up - so hopefully, this was helpful.

Very Happy

_________________


Sector 17 -- Rebuilding... ... ...

In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
Who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said, "Is it good, friend?"
"It is bitter--bitter," he answered;
"But I like it
Because it is bitter
And because it is my heart."  -- Stephen Crane
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Author Message
Merilly Dayzed
Guest








Items

PostPosted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 7:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think my approach is a little different than "the reader decides, nuff said". I know who my character is, even if I don't know where she's going. So if there's a suggestion that is out of character for her, I'll try to work in specific circumstances in which she would actually make those choices. Or at least, her reaction to the suggestion as it's being carried out against her will. Plus, in this instance, she's such an arbitrary soul that she's not going to take suggestions well so I work that in too.

I'm in the Humor and Experimental category right now, so I feel free to tweak the system a little bit and have had only one poll since I started, although there have been four parts and I'm working on the fifth. The other thing is, I don't get a lot of input because there aren't that many people here, and even less who respond. (Thanks to those who do, by the way! Very Happy)

Anyway, I would feel free to break a tie. But I like all the suggestions. I may do a more traditional storygame at some point and that would come in handy to keep it fair. I should probably try to fit the format better because I'm new, but -- um...I don't. One thing I love about this medium is that it's still in it's experimental stages, and still having the kinks worked out.
Back to top
Author Message
JezSharp
Respected Citizen



Joined: 18 Jul 2006
Topics: 31
Posts: 592
Location: The middle of anywhere...

Items
Legends
Fables
Strata-gems

PostPosted: Mon Sep 25, 2006 6:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My own way of breaking a tie when I cannot merge the two options is simply to find an innovative way of breaking it such as tossing a coin, rolling a dice or playing paper scissors stone, based on the fact that my character is torn between two options and so which one eventually sways him is an even guess...plus it is a mildly entertaining way to break a tie.

I think the key is not to get too bogged down over a tied vote, find a consistent strategy to fairly break ties that are incompatible and then stick with it.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Yahoo Messenger
Author Message
scissorkitty
Respected Citizen



Joined: 04 Mar 2008
Topics: 59
Posts: 789
Location: Escaping the Hair Lair

Items
Legends
Fables
Strata-gems

PostPosted: Mon May 04, 2009 5:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ahhh. just what I needed. Thanks!
_________________
......back and forth.....
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic   printer-friendly view    Storygames Home -> IF Technical Institute and FAQ All times are GMT - 8 Hours
Page 1 of 1
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group. Forum design by mtechnik, customized by City of IF
All site content © City of IF or the respective storygame authors.   Terms of use
Home   Book   Storygames   FAQ   Greek myth   About   Policies