I know that Add New Option has sometimes been abused ... but it has also been used to good effect in various places. - JH
We're in agreement on this JH, as should have been clear from what I posted previously. I never stated that the Add New Option function should be completely removed, my point was that unrestricted access to Add New Option is not desirable because it lends itself, and in fact actively promotes, misuse. But I'm all for keeping it in the game in some fashion.
Might it be a good idea to start a separate story somewhat in the spirit of the defunct Horsehockey... - JH
I think this idea has merit. I don't think it would compete with NEQ or Void at all, but would actually complement Toby's Site with a third alternative.
one may argue that there is a place for silliness along with seriousness in NEQ. As long as the serious episodes stay on their side of the line, and the silly episodes stay on their side of the line, we won't have to turn the car around and go home... - Sir Toby
True, and for the most part I think the serious storylines have been respectfully left alone (which I appreciate) by the regulars of NEQ who want to get silly.
Lots42 (in another topic) wrote:
Sir Toby's response:I say, KEEP the Add An Option option. If that makes sense. The positives outweigh the negatives. It allows one to go around author abuse, it allows one to extend a story that some authors have not, it allows someone like me to go back to an old, old episode I wrote and extend it if I have an additional plot bunny.
I'm in agreement with everything Toby said here.I don't know if I'd consider the ability to work around author abuse as a factor in keeping the 'add new option' feature enabled for old episodes. In general, the episodes we are talking about have been around long enough that plenty of time has elapsed to allow people to work around any author abuse that is present. If there is author abuse that is present that hasn't been worked around by now, I'd argue that perhaps it isn't bad enough to warrant working around.
As for adding in plot bunnies I would say that most of the time plot bunnies don't actually add to the plot. For example, let's say there's a storyline where Fred has gotten lost in the caves and has become friends with a mermaid. He has to find a golden necklace in order to free the Queen of the mermaids, who he believes will help him find the lost Sword of Salamanders which Fred has come to realize is the only weapon that can kill the dragon. Let's say this storyline was developed over ten episodes with the final episode having Fred plunging into a dark chamber. The options are 1) he finds the golden necklace, 2) he doesn't find the golden necklace, 3) he finds something else. And then someone comes along and adds a fourth option 4) Fred grows wings and flies into the dragon's butt crack. Does that option really add to the plot? No. And I've come across Add-Ons similar to that more than once. And what's even more frustrating is when someone else comes along and instead of taking one of the existing options to actually move the story along, they add in yet another option - 5) Fred drops his pants and farts fire. Now come on people, these Add-ons are doing nothing for the plot of this storyline. And having Fred eat the mermaid because he suddenly has a hankering for sushi doesn't count as much of a plot bunny either.
Now if this is what people want to write and what people like to read, then hey, there's no problem here. I admit these kinds of episodes can be funny. They may even be inspired by the parent episode that they were added to. But they don't add to the storyline in a meaningful story way. (Unless Ib starts adding to them
- I firmly believe there are always exceptions to the rule, but they are for the most part exceptional.) And these Add-Ons almost always end in a dead-end with nowhere to go but more butt fire and the story that had been developing gets lost in all the butt smoke. So please don't tell me that Add New Option must be maintained at all costs so that we have the ability to add great new plot twists and turns later on when we get our great idea, which after all, is what NEQ is supposed to be all about. That may sound good in theory but I don't see that happening in practice.
Sir Toby, you've brought up two suggestions for how to deal with deleting the Add New Option feature. One is by closing off specific levels after a certain amount of time has passed by. The other is by limiting the amount of time Add New Option will remain functional after an episode is created. Both have their merits and I don't have a problem with either one, although I don't have a particular bent toward one or the other either.
I do support very strongly the idea that when an episode just has too many episodes leading off of it, it should be targeted for deletion of the feature.
This idea is much more appealing to me. It allows for us to get our creative funk on, but hopefully will also make us be even more creative than usual because we know we'll only have a few opportunities to add something on. Once those add-on options are used up, they're gone. And it would obviously deal with the issue of an episode having too many options branching out of it (which, granted, isn't an issue at all for some of us, but is an issue for others of us).Another possibility, if it wouldn't be too hard to implement, might be to limit the number of times that Add New Option could be used on a particular episode to, say, twice. - JH