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I hate being a Warden. I really do. Even when I get to the top, it'll all be so futile, like being king of the dungheap.

But, this is OUR dungheap so we have to make the best of it. I've refined my thinking over the last couple of days, which is why I'd like to extend an invite to stories_unwritten, who shares my goal.

Even though we'll eventually have to resort to viscous backstabbing, for the time being I think we should work together, as the newest and most motivated Wardens, to bring about a new status quo and better way of doing things.

I've done some analysis of the competition and will post my thoughts soon. (TL;DR, there isn't much.)

But for the short version, Chris and SindriV are obviously the old guard with their more than decade old accounts, they've become fat and complacent and need to be toppled. Chris may put up a little bit of a fight, but not much of one, and Sindri is just passively waiting for the end.

Then there's enterpride, Petros, Clayfinger, and Milton, and that's really it as far as the ones that might create a threat.

Petros and Enterpride have my respect for tearing down other Wardens, but in the end there's only room for about two spots of relevance, and I'm willing to share the first and second place with you, SU. We just need to coordinate tossing down the others, so the third spot will be Sindri, we can create a sizable buffer of his bloated corpse against the others.

In the meantime we should use this thread to strategize on the storygames we'll be publishing, track progress, and find a mod to be our patron.

The ones we have to beat:
SindriV - 2011 account, 731 comms, 13 stories, no longer writing
Chris113022 (he's Chris) - 2014 account, 309 comms


And the mostly unimpressive competition, starting from the bottom:

applegirl - 57 comms, Exemplar? Exemplar of what? Bitch hasn't logged in since 2015, irrelevant.

Unforgiven - 57 comms, made 1 post, 1 game in 2020, never returned.

Clayfinger - 58 comms, yeah we know who this guy is. He's low on the list but in the contest. 2024 account, sort of straddling the line of new, perhaps there can be a place for him in the new regime.

MiltonManThing - 60 comms, 2024 account also. 3 games, the longest and highest rated one however should be unpublished by the rules of the site.

Bucky - 2014 account. Seems to have been very active at one point but only 64 comms? Last game written in 2017. Last posts display strong markers for autism.

Agstand - 2016 account, 77 comms. 2 games, last seen 2022. Mediocre.

Morgan_R - Still active, joined 2012, ancient. 81 comms. Only 1 game, rated under 4/8. Last game rated was in 2023. Keep an eye on if they begin to write?

RNDGamer, another Exemplar. From 2019, 1 game, 87 comms. No games rated but their own. Possibly died of Covid.

Tim36D - 2014 account. 88 comms, 1 game. Still active, but last game rated in April 2024.

IronPanther - Another 2014. 99 comms, why not just write a short story to round up? 1 storygame, last game rated in 2017, no activity since 2019.



The top 10, these are the "best" Wardens.

jster02 - 2016 accounts, 2 storygames, 120 comms. Shouldn't everyone be making at least 50 comms a year if they're even somewhat contributing? I don't understand this list. Still active, doing idk what.

readwithjeremy - 164 comms, 1 game. 2022 account, last active 2024. Hates the site, loves chess?

AzBaz - Exemplar. What is an Exemplar? 185 comms since 2017, only 1 game, in 2024 they said they're no longer writing here.

Romulus - since 2011(!), 7 storygames, 186 comms...last activity 2024. Really got to be here ten years or more to look even somewhat capable as my fellow Wardens, wow.

pugpup1 - Exemplar, and everyone past this has weird titles I'm not bothering with. Another ancient from 2011. 4 games, 199 comms, why not round that up, what are you doing? just write a long forum post about anything and Mizal will commend it! Active this December but last game rated in 2022 and last forum post a day before. 2 featured games. Dead but could rise.

fresh_out_the_oven - banned


Here are the active threats:

enterpride - 226 comms, very active. 2018 account, 4 games. Wears blackface? Potential threat level: medium. Tears up other Wardens with honorable reviews, I can get behind that.

Petros - 2022 account, 266 comms, last online in December. 6 storygames, but mostly short. Potential threat level - medium. Last posts insulting a weaker Warden, I respect it, we could join forces.

Clayfinger - intends to become a contender with this contest too, enjoys mod protrction.

Stories_unwritten - that's you. Set your own threat.

NeonCatYT - has some kind of cult of personality but stats are low

Poxy4 - seems like a bitch

Morgan will never write, review, or post, I actually have no idea what's going on with her either, maybe she's had the same tab poem on her phone for years.

Nothing beats applegirl tenaciously holding her place on the board for 11 years with less than 60 comms and without any sign of a pulse though.

Hit List

This is our Hit list so we know who to target and can cross them out one by one (this one is mine so make your own).

applegirl - 57 commendations
Unforgiven - 57 commendations
Clayfinger - 58 commendations (active threat !)
MiltonManThing - 60 commendations (active threat !)
Bucky - 64 commendations

Agstand - 77 commendations
Morgan_R - 81 commendations
RNDGamer - 87 commendations
Tim36D - 88 commendations
IronPanther - 99 commendations

jster02 - 120 commendations
readwithjeremy - 164 commendations
AzBaz - 185 commendations
Romulus - 186 commendations
pugpup1 - 199 commendations

fresh_out_the_oven - 216 commendations
enterpride - 226 commendations (active threat !)
Petros - 266 commendations (active threat !)
Chris113022 - 309 commendations (active threat !)
SindriV - 731 commendations

I am confused, NeonCatYT and Poxy4 have no commendations? are they not irrelevant?

NeonCat and Poxy were just two other Wardens I noticed so I marked them down. Any Warden that writes anything could in theory become a threat, it's not that hard to break into the top 20.

     NeonCat I don't know much about, but he could work on his grammar and Proxy just writes short stories and while I think story games were suggested to him I think he was unsure about it but I read those older threads a while ago so I'm not sure. I don't think he's a 'threat' to you in your sense, the most he can get from the short stories is 1 per and he doesn't do them often, and if he takes up writing longer stories it'll probably be clear.

Fine, I shall update it:

Hit List

NeonCat - 0 commendations
Poxy - 0 commendations

stories_unwritten - 6 commendations

applegirl - 57 commendations
Unforgiven - 57 commendations
Clayfinger - 58 commendations (active threat !)
MiltonManThing - 60 commendations (active threat !)
Bucky - 64 commendations

Agstand - 77 commendations
Morgan_R - 81 commendations
RNDGamer - 87 commendations
Tim36D - 88 commendations
IronPanther - 99 commendations

jster02 - 120 commendations
readwithjeremy - 164 commendations
AzBaz - 185 commendations
Romulus - 186 commendations
pugpup1 - 199 commendations

fresh_out_the_oven - 216 commendations
enterpride - 226 commendations (active threat !)
Petros - 266 commendations (active threat !)
Chris113022 - 309 commendations (active threat !)
SindriV - 731 commendations

The rest will fall in due time.

Just to let you know, Fresh is banned.

thank you, I see. But it is still my intention to get more commendations than them.

MrAce321 - member since 2020, 3 games, 28 comms, also in the contest. Promises to kill himself if I beat him as icing on the cake. (Better start tying the noose now buddy.)

     Don't get cocky, if you get too sure of yourself you're weaving your own doom. I know from experience.

Sticky, glutinous backstabbing.

I do not trust you but we can be sessa-takuma !! It means to improve ourselves through friendly rivalry.

Looks like we need two stories or more to be in top ten, this might take a while, maybe a few weeks or months. It is best to write fast with quality. Reviews are not a good deal for speed i think. Thankfully writing stories unwritten is my hobby !

We can do it ! Ganbatte.

Considering how quickly RK rose through the Marauder ranks with featured reviews and is ranked higher than some users with commended stories, I wouldn't be so quick to discount them. 

The best technique imo is to write exclusively 29k storygames. One day I will figure out how to write shorter stories and amass all the commendations on the site.

RK opened his account at about the same time I did too. I've really been slacking, huh? ToT

     It's either you're slacking, RK is built different, or a mix. I think it's a mix, most likely but I couldn't tell you the ratio.

He is built different, and we love him for that.

I am glad he is not warden then.

Lol. Because there are people who love him, because he's built different, or both?

yes ｼ

...Wow, such an informative answer.

Clayfinger, if anything I feel like it's the opposite. You got 3 genuinely enjoyable well-made games. And for any of one of them, a case can be made for commendation, while meanwhile, I'm out here with 1 game which is a gay and depressed spin off. While those are awesome, I do want to make a game of my own, so this contest is kind of my best opportunity to get something good out there.

Haha, seems like we both have some catching up to do.

You had a couple good ones you later unpublished. What happened?

My first one was a pretty fun game. It was about this thief who had to survive prison, and I turned it in for Sherb's contest. I got some really good feedback about major mistakes I made, so I ended up unpublishing it, deciding to work on it later.

My 2nd one was not a contest game, but it was this chill game about going on an adventure in a river boat. I kind of ran out of ideas for that one, so I unpublished it, deciding to work on it later. I feel like I could have added more branches and a more robust storyline. I kind of liked the Thelma and Louise style, so that would probably be one branch, but I do want to add a lot more to the story.

But I'll return to both of them and try again at some point.

Oh yeah, I remember those. They were pretty good as is, but it's cool that you intend to re-release them with corrections.

RK was one of the main reviewers in the summer contest wasn't he? You haven't been slacking, he was doing more than most people and really focused in on reviews that month.

Sure thing weeb, that works. I haven't decided what my second story will be yet, depends on if I want to learn to script or not. I might be able to pad out my jockstrap with some reviews if I have to but meh. I've looked over games before I made my account that I'll go back and rate later, but these long form comments are not really my thing.

Enterpride has declared himself on our side so that's good for now, not sure if he might still become an issue later though because he looks like one of the top reviewers. But there are a lot of other details to hash out before we get to the top anyway. For instance between @Chris113022, @Petros, and @MiltonManThing, which one do we want to keep as chief harem boy?

Don't have a lot of details to go on, but Chris has been here 12 years, he's probably getting too crusty, and Petros might make a better court jester. Personally I feel that of the three, MiltonMT has the most supple skin.

...Supple skin?

Why are you talking about a second story when you have no words to show for the first? You have been absent from the progress thread.

Why should I tip my hand in the thread when everyone on my hit list is watching?

     They're all watching you make big claims of success without anything to back it up with here. Have you even written anything to show you're actually doing something? I don't mean to be rude but I'm getting a little ticked off with how sure of yourself you're acting.

Run along little girl, we've got a coup to carry out.

Don't call me a little girl.

Smart, I like it ! Let your enemy think they know the truth when they truly glimpse only a fraction of it.

     You two are taking this more seriously than I thought you would. I can't see how that could be a bad thing though.

Sages will always be better than Wardens.

Go sages! :D

And Architects will be better than Sages. As soon as I earn 15 more commendations, the 2nd and 3rd most commended individuals on the site would be Architects!

(But of course End will still be in first place leading the Marauders). 

>:/

I'm rooting for you guys.

You have made a powerful alliance this day comrade.

it's easier to surrender than to rise to the occasion and fight back.

     You are both getting this wrong (unless I'm stupid) Enter is saying he's rooting for you, like cheering you on, that does not mean the same thing as he's on your side.

Sorry if I am misunderstanding, but is he not rooting for us to defeat him and the rest of the wardens? So that means he does not have the strength to fight back !

I think he just hates the rest as much as we do. I still consider him an EVENTUAL problem but for now we can have a truce.

I doubt that's what he means, but I guess this isn't a possibility.

Piece of advice. Never say sorry, kid.

._.

Ooh wee what's this, new challenger AND a promised reward? I didn't notice you before but consider yourself added to the list.

then shall I prepare your funeral?

     Again, get too sure of yourself and fail the nit's all the worse. If you don't manage it this i probably going to get quoted.

You are right, writing 2k a day is not enough, I must do better ! Especially to defeat these wardens who have done nothing for years. Thanks for motivation ｼ

     No problem! I have no doubt you'll write enough, it's just the quality overall and making it longer does not necessarily translate to better.

I'm waiting for the reveal that this has been Mizal the entire time trying to push the Warden charity while she was supposed to be offline.

Why do I have to be the shitposter, can't I be the other one? シ

are you copying me?

@stories_unwritten How are you doing?

I was hoping for more challenges from people who needed 5+ years on the site to even begin to become relevant, but I think we've flushed them all out and can now move in for the kill.

Except for the guy who will kill himself. So helpful, that one.

As of now, SU hasn't logged on since yesterday.

I'm fine thank you. And you?

what do you mean move in for the kill? Is it Marte you are speaking of, I can free him to participate in the contest if we wanna recruit?

What is your contest progress mrAce?

You made 3 stories in five years, I sure am being held to high expectations in my two months of existence.

And who's Fresh?

"Who's Daiki" Pt 2?

Nah, Fresh wasn't an alt spammer so it isn't the same.

Alternatively, you could just write good stories.

Well, this looks interesting. What's happening here?

You joined the site a month and a half ago, you have zero commendations, and are taking orders more seriously than anyone ever has. I don't know if that's a compliment or an insult but it's certainly something.   

Well, I'm a Marauder, and this seems like a fight, so should I join? Do you want all Marauders to join in every fight, all Architects to make amazing stories, all Sages to be calm and wise, and all Wardens to be moderators? If that's the case, then we might as well turn this into Harry Potter and make a sorting penguin, learn we are all lizards, and be transphobic.

So much for the great rebellion.

One could always hope that they are avoiding the site to prevent themselves from being distracted.

The rebellion takes time, no one else has posted a story for the Contest yet.

We are in the second month of the great rebellion !! 

It looks like SpecialOlympic is missing but he was never going to be the top Warden anyway. The rest of the heap of bones have provided little competition thus far. I think I am the winning warden at the moment ｼ

This is my threat to all Wardens, you will be replaced. Phase 2 of my plan will commence very soon. You have been warned. 

Currently you have 7 commendations. SindriV has 731 and hasn't really been active for several years. I would hate to be discouraging or anything but rebellion might not be the right term.

Ok I shall call this the Great Usurpation, I like it because it is more violent.

Well, at least you're enthusiastic :)

Actually, Special seems to have logged in yesterday. You can check user's last login time by viewing their profile and checking the time stamp under 'Last Activity'.

I have been thinking, you are a newish warden so you can maybe join us if you want ｼ

Ehh, I don't really hate the other wardens like y'all seem to. I do intend to get the top spot among the wardens this contest for what it's worth.

I will be watching you with caution. One story, however, cannot bring you to top warden.

I said "top spot among wardens this contest." I have no intention of claiming some abstract title.

I am mistaken, I thought your plan was to be most commended warden. Because my english is not the strongest that your goal may be unrealistic for me, but it's okay, I will have a higher rank than you with my abstract title.

Well, if my story game gets featured, that'll be a boost to my commendation count as well. But I have a feeling, there are going to be a lot of quality stories published this time around. I just hope my work can measure up.

How to get a featured story game? Does it give equal number of commendations as a commended story game?

Sorry, I meant to say commended story game. It gives commendations according to storygame length I believe.

A stortgame can get commended by a mod. When this happens, you get an amount of comms depending on how long it was, and usually it's a lot.

So, a featured storygame is a storygame that shows up on the front page of the site when you click on the storygames tab. The storygame categories page shows all 12 categories alongside newly created games and top-rated games at the bottom.

When a storygame is featured, it shows up on this page under the category it's listed under. Each of the 12 storygames will have 6-8 storygames that have been specially chosen by the moderators because they felt that these games best represent the categories, and that they are the best games for a visitor to the site to see.

Typically, since there's a limited number of spots, stories can get featured or unfeatured. Also, depending on bad things that the author may be guilty of, their stories could get unfettered for that reason as well.

Getting your story featured is a huge accomplishment, arguably much tougher than getting it commended, because you're essentially competing with stories already in the featured category.

This next part is my subjective opinion, so take it with a grain of salt.

If you're looking to get a new featured game, the best category to do it in would be "Family Friendly".

Usually, featured stories end up being commended as well, but it's kind of analogous to the logical syllogism of "all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares". It's not necessary that a featured storygame gets commended, but what ends up happening is that the game ends up being commended, then featured.

Featured storygames give you 200 points. And you also get a special trophy and a star appears next to your game's name, which is always fun.

For this prompt contest, I think if you place in the top 3 or 5 or something like that, you're in pretty good territory to angle for getting your game commanded. As for featuring, I think if you get first place, and your storygame is in high enough standing comparatively to the other games in the category(given the competition in this contest, it will be), then you'll get featured as well.

Sorry I did not see this. It is very helpful, thank you ! My story is in the "Family Friendly" category, if it places well maybe it will get featured? I hope it is commended at least to contribute to my warden goal.

Sure, why not.

ing your story commended or featured are the same thing, I think.

Having a featured story means it displays on the front page of the Storygames section for its category. You can have a commended story without it being featured; a featured story is considered a more impressive accomplishment. It's like the whole square-rectangle thing: not all commended stories are featured, but all featured stories are commended.

I would be fine with Clayfinger joining us, however the climb over SindriV's corpse would be daunting for any lesser Warden.

Congrats on finishing your first game by the way, now the rest will simply give up due to moral and genetic weakness, except perhaps for Clayfinger and enterpride. I haven't been posting about my progress since besides my not wanting to tip the others off, talking about unfinished games is an activity for children.

Thank you ! The contest will separate weak from strong.

The Great Usurpation is alive and well. Today marks the first victory for the new wardens ! I will not claim to be the best at writing but I am the first to cross the finish line ｼ

You finished? Oh I see the post now- cool! :D (I'm going to go read it now after another story I've been putting off)

Thanks !

👍