DISCUSSION : Would you include gem choices in your story?

I’m back :3 ---- this one is rather short

  1. Why do you think other authors chose to include gem choices?
  2. Would you include gem choices in some of your future stories?
  3. What are the benefits of gem choices (in any story)
  4. What are the down sides of gem choices (in any story)
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  1. Authors probably include gem choices to earn a bit extra money, being an episode writer is hard to earn money from.
  2. Probably not, I prefer being able to make choices on what I want to do, not what I can afford to do.
  3. To earn a little bit more money.
  4. Having people not read your story due to gem choices.
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  1. The money.
  2. HELL NO.
  3. Again, dem sweet dollar dollars.
  4. Readers either not reading the story entirely or feeling like they’re missing something if they don’t spend gems.
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  1. Writers want to make money from their work.
  2. Nope! It takes away the element of choice if you think about it.
  3. The only benefit I see is that the story earns money.
  4. Readers either giving up on the story or not enjoying the story to the fullest.
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Hey, @FallenAngelNight13! I really like your DISCUSSION threads, just thought I’d mention that real quick :blush:

  1. Do they get some kind of payment out of them? I’m not quite familiar with the diamond system. But for the rest of this response, I’ll just assume that authors get some money out of putting diamond choices in their stories.
  2. Yes, but rarely and only for choices that enhance the story a little bit so that it doesn’t stop diamond-less readers from enjoying it. I don’t know if we’re allowed to mention a competitor of Episode in the forums, but my favorite “choose your story” type of app features diamond choices in their stories and I think they do it fairly well. Hopefully everyone knows which app I’m talking about.
  3. When it’s done well, it can enhance a story. And it should be used sparingly. Also, if said diamonds are not easy to earn for free, mature themes can be “hidden behind a paywall”. Example: sex scenes with an LI will cost diamonds to unlock so that it’s harder for underage readers to get access to those scenes, or at least a lot of them. Only adults with a credit card can pay for diamonds and unlock those scenes easily. This also helps to actively support a company or author you want to support.
  4. There is a particular author who I think writes great stories and I’ve been a fan of her work for a long time. I was really excited to see that she started a new story and started reading it. As always, I found myself instantly hooked to her style of writing (although I prefer some of her earlier work) but then I quickly realized… every choice featured in her story was a diamond choice. So the reader isn’t given a single real choice unless they spend diamonds. Basically, there are no choices in her story: you either have diamonds or you don’t. You either get a nice scene, or you’re forced to completely skip it because you can’t afford it. Basically, when diamond choices are done badly, it can really make the story feel flat and uninteresting. This particular story already has four episodes out, and there still hasn’t been one actual choice.
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Would you read a story with reasonable gem choices? (Reasonable being good priced, fair extra scenes / impact)

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Why wouldn’t you include gem choices in your story?

Pretending I am a gem author, and I needed advice about gem choices what would you suggest (I refuse to get rid of the choices)

Awe thank you :3

They don’t get payments — yet. The plan is after 100,000 gem spends in 60 days they can enter the payment program

I love your idea for mature Scenes costing gems.

Want to give an example of how you would write a gem choice?

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Interesting, 18+ for gem choices seems like a good idea, but how do you suggest its enforced?

Of course, getting rid of the choices is out of the question! :joy:

I guess my only suggestion would be to make the number of gems required fairly small, like 10-15 gems for a big choice.

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Before I answer the questions I just want to mention that I took part in the first gem test. This test was a little different- a copy of my story was made and at the time, not every reader got access to the gem version. That test is now over and I chose to keep both versions of my story (so no one would lose progress). I could comfortably keep both versions because the gem choices in my gem version don’t exist at all in the non-gem version. (As in, the gem choices do NOT impact the storyline and are not needed for the best experience.) Apart from a few people asking if gems were needed for the best ending or asking me how to do the coding (lol), I didn’t get any complaints in fanmail (and I was expecting some).

Why do you think other authors chose to include gem choices?
Well at the moment, it’s only open to writers in payments. Going forward, I think the main drawcard will be money (either additional $$ if you’re in the payment program or an “easier” way to get into the payment program if you’re not).
For the test, I chose to participate for a different reason. At first I thought the idea was awful lol but then I thought about it and I thought that I’d be a good “candidate” for the test. In my stories, choices matter. I wanted to challenge myself to add choices that would add value to the story without directly impacting the ending (as in, it still needed to be 100% possible to get the best ending without spending a single gem). I’m fairly happy with how the story turned out, but going forward, there are definitely some things that I’d do differently :slight_smile:

Would you include gem choices in some of your future stories?
As mentioned above, one of my current stories already includes gem choices. Going forward, it depends on the terms. If I need to include gem choices in every single episode then… maybe not. If I don’t? Then yes. Definitely.
As mentioned previously, choices in my stories matter. I often get people DMing me wishing they could redo an episode/choice, wishing that there were hints, wishing that they could redo mini games etc. Personally, I would utilise choices in this way :slight_smile: . For example, if you forgot some important information that was given previously, you’d be able to “buy” that information with gems. If you made some bad choices, you’d be able to “buy” an alternative solution or something (it would obviously depend on the situation, but you get the idea). Gem choices wouldn’t be needed to get the best ending. They would just enable a reader to get bonus points/collect points or items that they previously missed out on.

What are the benefits of gem choices (in any story)
It depends on the story. I personally think a “good” gem choice should enhance a story or give some kind of benefit, without being crucial to a good storyline.

What are the down sides of gem choices (in any story)
It’s going to depend on the author. If you feel like you have to spend money to get a good storyline, then I think a lot of people will stop reading. If you do spend the gems and feel like you wasted your money, that will also impact your reading experience.

I believe the cost of gem choices is going to be fixed by Episode?

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Oh, I see. Thank you for clarifying that! :smile:

Hey, not my idea, the competitor’s! :wink:

Oh my! Don’t even get me started! I think the competitor’s way of writing gem choices is pretty good so I would certainly base my own gem choices on that. I’d keep them occasional, with scenes truly worth paying for (including scenes that make the readers learn more about a character, the story’s world, etc without it being absolutely crucial to the plot), use it for mature themes as mentioned above, give the reader a real advantage (during a fight for example, so that they wouldn’t have to work so hard to save themselves)… I could go on and on, but I would especially keep them from fatally damaging the plot for people who can’t afford those choices.

I personally dislike gem choices that involve just getting a cool outfit/object that doesn’t further the plot. Those are kind of a waste of gems, aren’t they? So making the outfit/object add something to the story in some way and/or give the reader an advantage (with no grand crucial factor in respect of the people who can’t afford them) is how I’d fix that.

What about you? Would you write a story with gem choices in them? And if so, would you give an example?

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  1. Eh money I guess.
  2. I despise gems. So nope, never gonna happen.
  3. I really don’t know lol. For readers: There are no benefits. For authors: More money of course
  4. People who are broke (like me) won’t read the story OR they will read it, but give up (like me again)

Why do you think other authors chose to include gem choices?
I know everyone has already said money, so I’m going to add in another possible reason. Maybe to make their story feel like a featured story. Perhaps some people might think it will attract reads, because I know when the first test came out, people were keen to find gem user stories to see how they all stacked up.
Would you include gem choices in some of your future stories?
I’ve made it pretty clear on other threads that I’m a firm no. You can’t choose your own story if you’re backed into a corner because you can’t afford to make a choice.
What are the benefits of gem choices (in any story)
Well, when the writers start getting paid for it, it’s that.
For readers, depending on the story I guess they might get bonus scenes or cool outfits or whatever.
What are the down sides of gem choices (in any story)
For authors: ALL THE HATE. I have been reading this one story and we’re like half way into the story and all of a sudden there’s a gem choice. I thought “hmm… odd…” and I checked the fanmail to see if someone else had complained about it, and sure enough there was one comment about “not going to read anymore blah blah blah”.
So there’s that, AND the fact that they have to put all this effort into making a choice that’s worth gems, so that no one complains
For readers: Wasting money, having your fave story start gem choices mid way which would suck for those who boycott stories with gems, feeling you got a bad bonus scene

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Yay, I was looking forward to an opinion by a already - gem user. Thank you for sharing.

Did you have trouble picking which choices to make gems?

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Hehe I’ll share my opinion in a bit (hehe he)

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I agree, I remember reading Haute to Hell, the first chapter (i think it was that story) and exited the game when the gem choice was to keep the video you already made. Choices like that are like Grrrr!

You despise gems, but don’t you think you’d be a good candidate for making gem choice stories? Because you already know what you hate in gem stories, thus can change it?

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No problem!

Not really because I ended up revamping my entire story. When planning my stories (without gems), I always plan where I’ll add the choices and how they’ll work/affect the story. Planning gem choices was similar. In this case it was a little harder because I already had the plot and I already knew how the endings would work, I just had to think of how and where I could include choices that I’d be happy with.
In some cases, I took choices that resulted in points or gains and used gems as an alternative way to get those points/gains. For example, in my story you need to gain your boyfriend’s trust to save him. If you fail to do this on your own, there’s a gem choice where you can run after him and earn his trust :slight_smile:

I think it would be a lot easier to plan gem choices for a new story, rather than an existing one.

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OMG! I hated that choice. Kept reading, but was kind of like always mad at myself for not saving my gems enough