HGS Convergence Discussion Thread

~Simple Seer GC hasn't opened the Voidlands portal yet.

~The Gamechanger, we need to talk.

We don't know if you realize this, but we are concerned with how you are currently running Convergence. You have a lot of things planned for the future, especially with the Voidlands and Timewrecker Arcs. Since several people are involved in them, these arcs will take weeks, if not months to finish depending on the responses from the other players. This may result in Arc Fatigue, especially for the former since the players directly involved will be trapped in a Closed Circle until it ends.

Another thing about your arcs is that some of us feel that you are too controlling of them. You Railroaded the players in your previous ones at least twice, as shown in these two posts. Not only that, you actively called them out for not following established rules for your arcs, refusing to let them make their own choices and instead forcing them to follow your preset storylines.

Additionally, you also interfere with other players' subplots by making your characters mess with them, or worse, kill their characters off, a major example being player!Scipion's attacks on the Legion of Doom, which you discussed only with him and not with Bale (though Scipion himself's not our concern right now since he apologized for his Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies attempt after the Nominator Games). This is a violation of one of the general RP rules and it makes you a hypocrite since you are not allowing the players to interfere with yours either.

We get it, this thread was your idea. Your stories are interesting and you are excited to tell them. But by refusing to listen to the other players, you are taking away their enjoyment of them and investment in the thread as a whole.

As a solution to this, we recommend that you take a break after the Voidlands Arc and give the other players a chance to GM their own big ones. We also suggest providing a skeleton for your next one and prepare situations for the players, i. e. provide the basic premise of the story, then let the players make up the rest as they go and drive the plot themselves (though to be fair, you did that when you allowed them to come up with their own stories on how the nominators and their tributes went to Det. GC's party). And as for interrupting others' storylines, please discuss with them first before making your next move.

If you refuse to make a compromise with us, then you need to accept that there will be inevitable breaks to your storylines. This is the very nature of roleplaying, and sometimes your arcs go in unexpected directions because of what the other players do. Instead of having your mind set on how to make sure the arc goes exactly as you planned it, you should anticipate curveballs and, when they come to fruition, think about how you could use that new story direction to make the arc even more interesting.

The whole point of RPing is character interaction, and while arcs help drive the players, they should also be given the freedom to do whatever they want as long as they follow the general RP rules. Large-scale plots like what you're doing right now aren't truly meant for roleplays, but rather for collaborative fiction.

The bottom line is: this RP thread isn't yours and yours alone. It's for all of us to share, and we all should have the right to say what happens there and what doesn't. Like with the main thread (and other RPs), the main goal is to have fun. If you continue exhibiting your current behavior there, you are only spreading discomfort and frustration to the other players. They may not show it through their characters, but they are clearly upset with your attitude.

TLDR: You are too controlling of your arcs and interfere with others' without their permission. If you still refuse to listen to us and correct your mistakes, you will be banned from the next arc that is a major influence to the story. This is your final warning.

Edited by TroperNo9001 on Oct 5th 2019 at 10:38:09 PM

Sorry for not responding for over 24 hours, but this admittedly put me in a BSOD. Not exactly the best thing to wake up to, especially when there was no foreshadowing to said discussion prior to this announcement.

Decided to respond here first instead of Discord as I figured I'd be bombarded with questions as I make a response, which is something I dislike as I find it distracting.

Yes, I will be sending PM/DMs more to get people's permissions and to make sure everyone is on board. As for a skeleton of arcs and making things more open, probably best to discuss that on Discord as while I am open to that idea I don't think this is the right place to do that. I also would be willing to work with other people's arcs, provided they too give a skeleton.

Edited by TheGamechanger on Oct 6th 2019 at 4:27:21 AM

Mhazard, the eggs you're talking about aren't supposed to be nuclear ammunitions. They were meant to be egg-shaped stasis chambers.

Edited by Oggy123 on Oct 7th 2019 at 7:03:14 PM

I was expecting to give Susie, Nagisa and Magolor some challenges instead of letting them to steamroll everything effortlessly. Heck, had they been organic eggs, I would've put some Facehuggers inside just to see what'd happen if one of those hugged either of them.

Edited by Mhazard on Oct 7th 2019 at 8:15:18 PM

Mhazard, you can now use Homura and Kyouko (if you want to use her, since she's still a gem).

Edited by Oggy123 on Oct 8th 2019 at 10:34:29 PM

I'd only keep Kyoko, for now. After all, Ribey still needs someone to interact with.

Edited by Mhazard on Oct 8th 2019 at 11:51:19 PM

Just boarded the plane, so my sorta-hiatus begins now. This also extends to the main thread, so I won't be able to host, run, screen, or make saves during that time.

Just arrived, so I'm now following Eastern Time for the time being.

~Oggy 123, GC is kinda against your decision to make Mr. Star save the nominators from Valecor's nightmares because 1. there was no hint as to what powers Mr. Star has, and 2. Valecor and his legion will punish anyone who tries to stop them on Villain Day.

What about just 6k1 and/or Power Stroke?

Edited by Oggy123 on Oct 14th 2019 at 2:02:16 AM

They will have to suffer his nightmares.

Also, I just watched the Grand Finale of MLP, and Bale confirmed on Discord (no pun intended) months ago that all his characters from there including the Mane Six (who are separate from 6k1's tributes) are alts due to the controversial twist (he watched the leaks and planned this AU ahead of time).

Edited by TroperNo9001 on Oct 13th 2019 at 4:16:20 AM

Just to let everyone know, I'm having internet troubles today, so that's why I'm not active on Discord, the main thread, or Convergence. Don't know what's causing the problem, but this is why I have a love-Hate relationship with technology.

To those involved in the BTS/Jimin arc, please slow down a little. I'm working on my post and I have a lot to respond to.

I'm unable to use Discord as my internet's down again, but the brain monster's headache isn't caused by sound at all as whatever noise it makes doesn't do that, it's the actual death that caused it. Yep, it's that eldritch.

Again can't use Discord but the giant robot is nowhere near the nominators, I intend on having it be fought later. The nominators would not be able to see the robot as that's how far away it is. Probably won't be fought for a day or more, that was merely a boss preview.

Edited by TheGamechanger on Oct 23rd 2019 at 1:33:42 PM

Edited my last post in response. I'm guessing that not even 6k1's app could detect the bot.

Edited by TroperNo9001 on Oct 23rd 2019 at 1:49:53 PM

My internet is still down as of this post. That means all my posts yesterday were all done by my phone. I still can't use Discord even though I finally installed it on my phone as I forgot the password and the email I used for the account isn't compatible with my phone and thus I can't use a "forgot password" request.

Regardless as some of you still haven't edited your posts yet I want to make clear that the robot cannot be seen by the nominators unless they had some sort of special ability to sense/see it, as I see the robot being far enough away that it's either below the horizon or if it could be seen at all it would be an unnoticeable tiny speck.

Please don't let anyone notice Timewrecker in the Arena until GC says so. He's still in the Aquatic Planet.

Edited by TroperNo9001 on Oct 24th 2019 at 12:20:27 PM

Boarding my ~15 hour flight now, so I'll be switching back to Philippine Time when I come back.

Mind slowing down the thread a bit?

So... I'm going on a short Convergence hiatus. Life has been hectic, and on top of that I'm seriously starting to lose enjoyment of Convergence as a whole. I do have a couple of concerns with how the RP has been going lately, but I won't go into details right now. Maybe later tonight I'll make another post here in this thread explaining my concerns.

And yes, this means that the BTS Arc is also on hold for now (not that anyone else is directly involved in it right this moment anyway.)

Yes, I'm feeling it too. We'll talk further about the concerns later. It's best to be careful about the situations we have at hand; it's VERY finicky at the moment.

Alright, so, to keep things as concise as I can manage, the main problem I see in Convergence right now is the tone.

I don't know if it's always been like this to some degree, but with Villain Month especially, Convergence is really turning out to be a Cosmic Horror Story. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with horror elements in the RP, but at this point the Nightmare Fuel and dark, depressing arcs and their outcomes are getting a little too much for what I thought was going to be a relatively balanced, light-hearted RP.

And yes, as GM, Gamechanger does have the right to set the tone as he wishes. However, as a player, I want to come out and say that I disagree with his vision for the RP as a Cosmic Horror Story surrounding Valecor, Timewrecker and whatever other villains he has in store. Why? Because, to my mind, that kind of setup for Convergence doesn't properly reflect the actual HGS thread.

Yes, there are some moments in HGS that would definitely qualify as Nightmare Fuel (hello, V Incident!) and I'm all for making them part of the RP, because those incidents do reflect the forum game proper. However, most of the Nightmare Fuel comes from Original Characters and plots independent from the actual HGS. The reality is, right now, there are way too many active villains in the RP right now - and a fair few of them are overpowered and pretty much unstoppable. Combine that with Villain Month and you've got an RP where basically nothing happens except the villains tormenting the heroes over and over again, with the heroes being unable to do anything to stop them. That shit's getting stale. It's emotionally and mentally taxing to constantly write about our characters in utter misery like we've been doing nowadays because none of us entered this RP expecting it to be so… dystopic and hopeless. That, and after a point, Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy sets in and we stop caring about our own characters because they now only exist as playthings for the villains to torment however they please.

As of now, Jimin is the only villain I've properly introduced to Convergence. His villainy, I feel, is kind of unique from most of the other villains in Convergence, because he's very sympathetic and could even have a chance to redeem himself. He's also a direct nod to Season 60, being one of the main antagonists there, so his presence is relevant to the HGS itself. I did have a couple of other villains planned, including Dark Psyche and one of my other recent tributes, but I held off on making them super relevant at all because of the sheer number of villains we have already.

Anyway, you might be wondering now: if a Cosmic Horror Story doesn't properly reflect the HGS forum game, then what sort of tone does? Well, for me personally, I expected and kind of hoped for Convergence to be more of a comedic/slice-of-life sort of thing with a focus on HGS lore, a series of reasonably balanced Arc Villains and the occasional dose of Nightmare Fuel, usually from the actual seasons (such as, again, the V Incident.) In fact, one thing I wish for Convergence going forward is a greater focus on tributes who are not villainous and plotting to kill the heroes/nominators - tributes who are well-known for other things, such as being funny or awesome.

I want to be able to give Felix more focus - not even as a recurring character who interacts with the important characters or anything like that, but rather as the centerstage of small scenes I'd occasionally put into my posts about him as a member of Stray Kids, constantly judging his bandmates' and managers' fashion sense. Hell, I'd thought of doing such a scene yesterday for his bandmate Lee Know's birthday. Aside from being too busy to comfortably do so, I also decided not to do it because the way Convergence is now, those scenes would be out-of-place. The clowns have been shooed out, and I don't know when they're gonna be welcome back in.

This post is already getting way too long, so I'm going to end it on this note: Convergence's current climatic, dark tone isn't suitable for a roleplay that's supposed to reflect the Hunger Games Simulation itself, especially this early on in the RP. I also fear that if this keeps up, Continuity Lockout may occur and drive potential new players away from the RP. This is the main reason I've decided to go on hiatus, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way, either. As HGS regulars, we should all have a say in what sort of tone would best represent the forum game and be most suitable for the RP. The GM may be the showrunner of this RP, but it's our RP, and we as a collective should be the ones to determine the basics of it.

Thank you for hearing me out. If you've made it this far, I have nothing but respect for you. I hope to begin a conversation about this issue here in the discussion thread, especially for those who are not in the Discord server.

I Don't really have a lot to say about it, but personally I guess you're right, especially when I saw what happened with Morth and Elliot Sigma. Even storywise, I think it would be best to have more lighthearted/slice of life's moments.

To be honest, I also have these kinds of depressing/nightmare plans for Convergence with unstoppable villains and all, especially for the end of that arc. However, I won't mind to put them on standby and wait for more joyful moments, it would be nice to alternate moods.

Sorry for how I made Dark Billy like. But honestly, I get swept by the Villain's Month, Timewrecker, and Dark Nominator badnwagons, and I actually enjoy RP'ing as Dark Billy despite him being supposed to be an evil version of Billy.

Honestly though, I do also plan some breather after the whole thing with Timewrecker. Going to admit those plans are as follows. Some slice of life interactions with the nominators and tributes, bringing back Elliot's dead family through some means (like the Dragon Balls or the Infinity Stones), doing a Touhou maid cafe in their universe that is open for the multiverse, and doing a vacation through (original) Kendor that will involve the nominators and their tributes.

Edit: Also, I think I can balance it out mid arc with some Billy's Clone moments too, like with his new Starble. Also offtopic, but about the subject of Morth and Elliot Sigma, I do feel Thunderblight Ganon's attack served as a catalyst for those

Another edit: While it's a RP, I do agree that the Elliot Sigma and Morth arc is major Tear Jerker, even with how I characterize Dark Billy in universe. Especially the mention of the unborn child from one of Elliot' s family member being killed off

Edited by Billy5545 on Oct 26th 2019 at 6:22:02 PM