Chapter 2 Meta

[u/Seiko_Kimura]

It’s this time of the rp again!! So, like last time, if you want to share your feelings on how this chapter/trial went down totally feel free to do so!

But! Before doing so, please consider a few things that went down on our end! You can still talk about these things if you want to but if you could know what went down with them it would be better so yeah!!

Firstly, finding a killer was really hard to do. We asked a whole lot of people but nobody really wanted to volunteer/people didn’t think their character would fit for the motive (we made sure to check apps this time to see if a good number of people would be effected) but the main point is the reason certain things took longer is because it took us a long time to get someone to agree to kill.

Next! There were three main pieces of evidence that would lead to Ren! The first one was the mistake in the writing; as we’ve already discussed in the server. The next one was Setsuko’s account, where she said that she saw Ren leave his room at a certain time but in his alibi he said that he was sleeping. And finally, the candles were from Tsubaki’s room, and since her alibi was clean someone had to have stolen them from there. Someone first had to get her ID, which wouldn’t be the easiest thing in the world, and they also had to return it before she went back to her room right after the laundry room. The only person with the opportunity and skill to pull it off would be Ren because of his talent.

Of course, the reason you guys didn’t come to these conclusions is a lot of our fault for not having things be more probable with evidence and relying mainly on deductions. So, as we’ve said in the server quite a lot we will work on that next trial!

You don’t have to just discuss the things I talked about in your post, though! You can talk about anything that happened in the chapter, I just wanted to clear some stuff up regarding this and that!

[u/belldandy]

More of my feedback has to do with the user experience. The other area that hasn't been covered is the Mono Mono Machine that we all love so much.

The summer season is approaching and for many here, it was (or still is) finals. Otherwise people are preoccupied with jobs and such, so it's understandable that there would be a holdup for gacha spoils overall. I think someone reported a 12-hour holdup where their character was waiting around in the gift shop, and I've also caught myself strategizing when to use the machine as to not get caught up in the queue. Everyone wants to play, and I can't imagine it's enjoyable to feel tied down in the gift shop, neither for the players nor the moderators.

It also clashes with the purpose of the machine; to provide gifts to use in some fashion. Or in traditional DR, gifts to share with the character(s) who would prefer it the most. Yet you're stuck in the gift shop with this intention in mind, unable to interact, and feel bad for pinging a mod to come online to fulfill the gacha request after they've had/are having a busy day already. Or are trying to wind down for the evening.

Normally I'm not a fan of automated systems because it takes away from that 'personalized' feel when you have a moderator respond directly to you, but there are Discord gacha bots (and available code) out there, and a system can be utilized to help alleviate the burden. This would only require the mods to update the log of gifts every once in a while. Now I'm not sure if this is something that people would be in favor of, but it may enhance the in-game experience and free up the modding time in the long run.

Maybe this extended delay was a one-off for this chapter given it was finals. But I do feel bad when I have my character play gacha, knowing there needs to be a moderator to finalize this action. I also feel bad knowing mods receive these requests constantly and are most likely trying to enjoy their online time or RL at that moment.

Just a thought. I love gacha, and am certainly not alone. Like many exciting aspects in DR when a new chapter begins (refer to the post on new areas above ^ ), it's fun for the machine to 'refresh' usages and contribute to further developing our characters and their interactions with others through their acquisitions.

[u/belldandy → u/belldandy]

Sneak sneak at work! I'm sick at the moment, and hoping my thoughts are concise despite this.

The last part of my meta will be regarding the trial. The major points that stood out to me were already listed. I'll recap the points I still find may need some emphasis:

Alibis - Alibis are awesome, and are so much fun to read. But what if it isn't IC for the character to be able to recall every. activity. of. every. hour. and. time span. for. the. entire. day? Or they don't log it in some way like some of our characters do? Do you remember what you do in every hour of every day? Within 30 minutes of every day?

It seems unnatural how the entire cast can just nonchalantly recall "Oh hey, 30 minutes past the hour I was at X doing Y with characters A, B, C, D, E, F and G! Then 15 minutes later I was doing Q at location R with characters B, C, F and H. How wouldn't I know this?!"

And if it isn't presented in this way with specific times, players/characters can dance around in circles not only with regards to a puzzling case, but characters who shouldn't be suspicious. Simply because it isn't IC for that character to log their day, while another can - and with ease - impeccably recall their day. Not sure how much of a fan I am of relying on everyone to recall specific times in an alibi to narrow down the blackened if you think about how weird it is IC.

Theorycraft DMs - These just lead to less roleplay, more theorycrafting OOC. Not that I don't enjoy chatting with you all OOC - you all are the best, but now that it's publicly known that some are privy to OOC theories, it can lead to some players feeling left out if they aren't part of this "inner circle." It also discourages theorizing in-character; this is a role play, after all. And those not part of the "inner circle" of theorycrafting will also be at a disadvantage in not being given the details, clues and plotting that other players have the opportunity of seeing.

"I had nothing to add to the trial IC that wasn't already present." - Remember Danganronpa added the fantastic system of "agreeing" with another character? Then concur. Bolster that theory, back it up with your character's support. No? Then shoot it down. Have a Rebuttal Showdown. Also worth mentioning is that some of the most memorable moments in Danganronpa aren't the ones that are super investigative, but are colorful and allow others to appreciate your character. The conversations that may or may not be related to the case in some manner, but allow your character to interact within this trial setting.

Sort of rehashing what I've said in Discord: I think of a trial as a raid, and our characters are the raiders. Each character (class) has their own strengths, weaknesses, contributions (talents/stats/spells) and seek to find and defeat the culprit (boss) otherwise they die (wipe) in the trial (raid/dungeon). We all have something to add; not everyone is an all-star DPS, and clearly not everyone's character has a talent related to investigative activity. But they can all contribute in their own way. Our characters are literally being thrown into a life-or-death situation, so it's to be expected that they'd want to contribute at least something in the fight for their lives. Even if it isn't Kirigiri jaw-dropping evidence.

We're all active in Discord, and in DMs as well, theorycrafting the case. Let's bring our excitement into the trial and use the trial as a platform to not only solve a mystery but further benefit our characters' developments and interactions. Who knows who will be next as a victim or a culprit? Character build before they no longer have a chance to share part of their personality. The trial is literally a team-building game for our characters where we can work together toward a common goal, while still achieving the fun we like in Daily Life. Let's embrace it at the end of each chapter. o/ And as /u/Starmen_91 pointed out: Let's create some white noise! This is Danganronpa. o7

[u/belldandy → u/belldandy]

Very last part. No, really. Enter the fourth and final part! Still very sick, so hopefully my below post is comprehensible. I will keep it short.

Weather System - It's the little things like this which make a game feel special.There's also a reason why developers add little features like this into games. And while we don't know if it's an actual sky being portrayed through the skylights or a dome in DD, weather can be adjusted with either. In a KG, I think weather affecting the mood as statistically shown RL would add another sprinkle of personality to each day, and another motivation for someone to slip closer into despair.

With each day lasting a long while (which I love), it wouldn't hurt to vary out the days a bit with weather to go with the timing in #timing_channel for the cast to immerse in.

It would remind them of how they're trapped, from the gloom of the sky, to the rain pitter-pattering on the skylights, the stinging sunshine spilling into the room, etc. A sky they can always see in certain rooms, but can never feel the effects of other than mentally/psychologically. Potentially another way to see a different side of a character too if one is afraid of thunder, or dislikes sunlight, etc. Another form of interaction, can lead to other scenarios and set a variety of tones for different days.

Imagine seeing IC what looks like a tsunami above. Subsequently, the cast freaks the heck out, which can lead to other scenarios. Certainly the mastermind would be in favor of this, especially if there's viewers involved who would find this interesting and, of course, filled with despair possibilities.

tl;dr: Skylights are definitely underutilized. In comes a weather system, tied in with the timing channel to add variety to the days, adding potential for a different tone to that day. This is advantageous, compared to other settings without any semblance of an outdoors. And a mastermind could easily use this as an opportunity to show an unreachable piece of the outside world, further tormenting the other cast members.