05.50 - week five, saturday

[afflictionmods]

W5 SATURDAY

True to her word, Lorelei makes an announcement to request that everyone reports to the courtyard at 9am. The announcement is made at 8am, and when characters arrive to the scene, there are walls that have been put up in the courtyard. The walls make cube-shaped rooms in a 6 x 6 formation, and Florence reads off the group assignments before they escort people into their respective rooms.

Lorelei appears on everyone's tablets again to explain the activity.

"Today's assignment will not be involved with the orbs. As I said yesterday, due to the survey results, we have decided to run a team building activity with a trust based exercised built in. Each of you are inside of a room with a panel. They are safe to step on, but I would not suggest tampering with them.

There are six panels ahead of you, and the goal is to make it to the end before time runs out. The way you make it out is by negotiating with another team and deciding whether to cooperate with them, or betray them in your group's best interests. It's structured similarly to the Prisoner's Dilemma."

She will then explain the rules, which consist of the following (all times are IC):

• You will have up to 15 minutes of discussion time with another group paired with yours. You can discuss a strategy, as you decide to either advance one or two spaces up.
  
  • If it's one space, the panels beneath you will activate traps that both groups will have to endure, but the pain will not be as severe.
    
  • If it's two spaces, both groups will have to roll a single number between 1-20 to determine if they can advance pain-free, or take the full extent of the traps' damage while only moving up one space. Unfortunately, the numbers are skewed: Numbers 1-7 will allow groups to advance without injury; 8-20 will result in the latter.
  
  
• After the first round of discussion, there will be an additional 10 minutes in which communication with other groups is cut off. You will have to decide what to do within your own group, though there's a catch.
  
• There is an option to betray the other group and advance yourself two spaces, pain-free and guaranteed, while leaving the other group in place to take their own trap's damage. If both groups choose to betray each other, however, nobody will advance and both parties will be hurt.
  
• After the round is over, groups will rotate and be up against another group.

And...that's that. Lorelei instructs Florence to get ready to begin the activity in five minutes.

OOC NOTE

Hey everyone, welcome to Week 5 Saturday's event. A quick note: We have set up "private conversations" for each group on the mod journal that we have linked to you in your respective chats. These private conversations are meant to be where discussions within your own groups are to be had; this is to allow people to hit the betray button more effectively, should anyone choose to do so. We are going by an honor system here re: peeking at other group convos, so try not to look at other groups' posts.

For every round, everyone will OOCly get 30 minutes for joint discussion, 30 minutes for discussion within your own groups, and 15 minutes to react to the results.

We will have between 4-6 rounds. We will gauge how many rounds are needed based on timing.

FULL NAV

(CODE)

Comments

JOINT DISCUSSION

[afflictionmods]

[escardos]

I think that, no matter whether we cooperate or betray, we should be honest with our intentions and explain why.

[imitationsoul]

[ .... Flat. ]

That sounds like a very quick way to lock ourselves into a stalemate.

But on the other hand, the efficient way of doing the Prisoner's Dilemma is indeed cooperation.

[escardos]

That's right!

[ flat lights up when she mentions efficiency, as if it were his favorite concept. it kind of is, actually. ]

And I'm not trying to cause a stalemate, I just think that it's an easier way to let your intentions be known. Being nervous about whether or not the other team will betray us or feeling guilty because we might cause someone more pain for our success will hinder our progress, so it's best to explain yourself. It's simple!

[imitationsoul]

Out-ruling the idea of betrayal as being counter-productive, we thus have two choices: play with risk and possibly be rewarded with exiting the game faster, or a consistent stream of pain as we slowly but surely escape the traps.

[totaltrashfire]

I'll vote for the not consistent one.

If we choose two every time we get out of this in three rounds... But it could hurt the most.

[totalcatastrophe]

Think it'll hurt more than glass?

[escardos]

Oh, how come you want that one?

[herlocksholmes]

A conclusion is that our odds of exiting the game without suffering any pain are very low!

[Unless they get really lucky with the rolls, that is]

In the end our own pain tolerance will determine what choice to follow. What do you all say? Consistent and milder, or risky and stronger?

[imitationsoul]

Personally, I will choose the risky avenue. The odds are stacked against us but not too badly.

[escardos]

The human body is strong. Much stronger than some realize. And yet more frail than others realize.

[ he puts a hand to his chin, thinking. ]

In a casino, my idea would be to take the risky bet, as long as I know that I can win it. But that's not the case here, is it? I think that the former is better, but if the game is this rigged, then I think that the latter is the way to go.

[imitationsoul]

Between you, me and Mae that makes three out of Team F, voting for risk.

[undertakings]

We ought to be clear about our goals as well. Does anyone here actually care about winning?

[sicklysweet]

No.

[undertakings]

Do you care about pain?

[goodfaiths]

Owen-san...doesn't seem to really care about it, actually.

[sicklysweet]

Not really. I doubt this place can hurt me in new, exciting ways.

[imitationsoul]

Not particularly? But I'm also a rather frail girl so I'd prefer to get out of this quickly and minimize the amount of physical damage I sustain.

Suffering on my own terms is one thing, but a punishment game is just bothersome.

[undertakings]

I don't think it would be permanently debilitating since they still have a use for us.

[But noted...]

Actually, did anyone bring any of the bandages?

[herlocksholmes]

I always keep gauze with me. Of course, it's not enough for twelve people, but it will provide some relief.

[Thank goodness for Sholmes buying some really good stuff during the first couple weeks]

[escardos]

Depends. If the winner gets no pain, then I would prefer that.

[ he shrugs. ]

But if we can find a way to find a stalemate while minimizing the amount of pain, then I'm fine with that, too. Usually when I play videogames, it's to win, but this one's cheap and badly made, so I wouldn't mind throwing the match.

[undertakings]

If we were interested in keeping this game as short as possible, one group could agree to capitulate for three rounds and it would all be over. But that would require that group to tolerate three of the traps without complaining.

[totaltrashfire]

We just want to avoid as many traps as possible, right? Winning doesn't matter.

[imitationsoul]

[ Nodding. ]

It's not a competition, it's an exercise in self-preservation. And it just so happens to reinforce the idea that trusting one another is how to achieve that goal.

So, you know, the thing Lorelei has been trying to drill into our heads the entire time. It's so predictable, it's almost sad.

[herlocksholmes]

It seems we have an agreement.

[Nice, Sholmes agrees with everyone above him]