General comment about issues...

[The Zoogie People]

writers: please, please, please please! refrain from giving your issues a freaking bajillion options. I like issues that are interesting. I like issues that have some depth. I don't like issues that have something like 8 different 2-or-3 line options that are barely distinguishable at times. Do some paring down!

Ah, sorry. Don't know if this is has been discussed already. Just a newfound pet peeve of mine, and I've only noticed it recently with a few issues.

(I do enjoy the new issues, by the way, and am not trying to knock those of you who have the time and creativity to come up with all these interesting issues. I just feel inundated by the choices and feel that it would be much, much better to have a couple, 3 or 4, solid options, rather than 8 "hm, these are all the clever responses I could think of, so I'll just throw them all in."

Am I the only one who feels this way? Discuss.

[Kandarin]

Issue content isn't just getting tossed in unaltered by writers. I'm sure a lot gets submitted, but the issues that actually get in are vetted (and tend to get a fair amount of editing) for a set of specific and complex criteria. Every issue that's gotten in has an original idea, a specific structure, and a certain wry brand of humor. In other words, if it still has 8 options when it's put in the game, it's probably because it's supposed to. If the current issues are any example, this can have a lot to do with the issue's structure. A large number of responses might be inappropriate in a reactive issue (Group X demands Y. Ban them? Support them? Do some other weird thing?) but for some other issues it makes sense that a myriad of options would be available. (Office Z is vacant. Here's a list of potential appointees and their plans!)

[Todd McCloud]

Issue content isn't just getting tossed in unaltered by writers. I'm sure a lot gets submitted, but the issues that actually get in are vetted (and tend to get a fair amount of editing) for a set of specific and complex criteria. Every issue that's gotten in has an original idea, a specific structure, and a certain wry brand of humor. In other words, if it still has 8 options when it's put in the game, it's probably because it's supposed to. If the current issues are any example, this can have a lot to do with the issue's structure. A large number of responses might be inappropriate in a reactive issue (Group X demands Y. Ban them? Support them? Do some other weird thing?) but for some other issues it makes sense that a myriad of options would be available. (Office Z is vacant. Here's a list of potential appointees and their plans!)

I believe the maximum number of choices allowed per issue is seven.

[New South Hell]

I believe the maximum number of choices allowed per issue is seven.

Not so. There's an Easter egg with 12.

[Glen-Rhodes]

For what it's worth, from this first batch of issues I'm editing, every single issue has more options than it needs to. I've stripped the unnecessary options. But sometimes a lot of options are necessary. Not all sides of an issue can be addressed with only two or three options.