Results of our fate-locked stories survey (January 2019 edition)
Here are the results for our survey on fate-locked stories for January 2019. Thanks to everyone who participated!
As in our previous surveys, story quality has been calculated based on the average voted value. Possible values ranged from 1 ("Exceptional") to -1 ("Didn't like it"), so stories with an average above zero were liked by the majority of players, while stories with an average below zero were not.
##Most Popular Stories
- For All the Saints Who from Their Labours Rest (average vote 0.77)
- Lost in Reflections (average vote 0.77)
- HOJOTOHO! (average vote 0.76)
- The Ceremony (average vote 0.74)
- The Gift (average vote 0.68)
Surprise! Two stories released in the past six months are among the most popular stories of all time. It was an awfully close call at the top, one or two different votes could have switched the first two places. Also, "Flint" dropping from the top down to #7 (with a significantly lower average vote) was certainly unexpected. Overall, there's only one story that got a noticably higher vote than before: "Discernment" is still not well liked, but still made a fairly large jump up the ladder. We have also included Seasonal Conclusions in the survey for the first time. As expected, they are almost generally well-liked, with two exceptions that won't come as a surprise to anyone who played them. Christmas Stories got significantly more votes time time around (who would've guessed with this survey so cunningly published in January) and confirm the universal law of the Fallen London universe: Put Urchins or Rubberies in a story and everybody will love it!
The most controversal stories time time around were "The Marriage of Feducci" (variance=0.37), "A Funtionary's Confident", "The Price of Loss" (both var=0.35), "Secrets Framed in Gold", "The Stone Guest" and "Daylight" (all var=0.34). While SFiG has always been among these, the rest have been unexpected.
##Least Popular Stories
- The Rubbery Murders (average vote -0.68)
- Factory of Favours (average vote -0.5)
- The Last Dog Society (average vote -0.35)
- Spinning of the Wheels (average vote -0.33)
- The Haunting of the Marsh House (average vote -0.26)
It seems that participants have been far more critical judging the quality of these stories than they were before. Only 8 out of 60 stories got a higher vote than last time while the rest (ignoring the new stories) got a lower average vote than before ... sometimes significantly so. Especially "Factory of Favours" keeps being hated to an extent that I think is unfair (Is it really so much worse than "Spinning of the Wheels" or "Long Lost Daughter"?) And with two of the new stories in the top 5, it's also worth mentioning that two of the new stories are among the least popular ones (namely "Daylight" and "The Price of Loss").
Below you will find the ranking for all stories as well as a list of stories that voters thought are worth buying based on rewards alone. I skipped story recommendations this time around because a few very popular stories played by many players would dominate the whole analysis (namely, "Lost in Reflections", "HOJOTOHO!" and "The gift", with other stories rarely being recommendend).
For more details I've also put everything in a Google spreadsheet again. As an additional tidbit, I've added story-recommendations based on the time you've been playing the game. (Note that the spreadsheet has four tabs, they are easy to overlook.)
##Ranking of Fate-Locked Stories
Below you will find the ranking of the stories from most popular to least popular, incl. the total number of votes and the average vote. For a detailed breakdown on how exactly players voted for each story, please take a look at the Google Spreadsheet.
| # | Title | Total votes | Avg vote | Diff. to prev. survey |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | For All The Saints | 71 | 0.77 | - |
| 2 | Lost in Reflections | 74 | 0.77 | 0.01 |
| 3 | HOJOTOHO! | 73 | 0.76 | -0.02 |
| 4 | The Ceremony | 69 | 0.74 | - |
| 5 | The Twelve-Fifteen from Moloch Street | 57 | 0.68 | 0.07 |
| 6 | The Gift | 87 | 0.68 | 0 |
| 7 | Flint | 65 | 0.67 | -0.11 |
| 8 | Where You and I Must Go | 43 | 0.66 | 0.1 |
| 9 | The Empress' Shadow | 69 | 0.56 | -0.07 |
| 10 | All Things Must End | 53 | 0.54 | -0.08 |
| 11 | The Rat-Catcher | 68 | 0.51 | - |
| 12 | The Calendar Code | 41 | 0.49 | -0.06 |
| 13 | Theological Husbandry | 91 | 0.47 | -0.08 |
| 14 | The Waltz That Moved the World | 47 | 0.46 | 0 |
| 15 | A Little Pandemonium | 77 | 0.45 | - |
| 16 | The Pursuit of Moths | 69 | 0.42 | -0.03 |
| 17 | Steeped In Honey | 55 | 0.39 | -0.05 |
| 18 | Flute Street | 85 | 0.39 | 0 |
| 19 | The Persona Engine | 45 | 0.38 | -0.06 |
| 20 | Cut with Moonlight | 38 | 0.36 | -0.13 |
| 21 | The Jack-of-Smiles Case | 76 | 0.34 | -0.07 |
| 22 | Written in the Glim | 64 | 0.3 | - |
| 23 | The Blemmigan Affair | 42 | 0.29 | -0.04 |
| 24 | Secrets Framed in Gold | 78 | 0.25 | -0.13 |
| 25 | The Chimney Pot Wars | 33 | 0.23 | -0.14 |
| 25 | The Magician's Dream | 77 | 0.23 | - |
| 27 | The Century Exhibition | 46 | 0.22 | 0.03 |
| 28 | Lamentation Lock | 57 | 0.16 | -0.07 |
| 29 | A Functionary's Confidant | 32 | 0.16 | -0.07 |
| 30 | The Attendants | 48 | 0.15 | -0.01 |
| 31 | The Final Curtain | 35 | 0.14 | -0.19 |
| 31 | The Frequently Deceased | 35 | 0.14 | -0.02 |
| 33 | The Sinking Synod | 56 | 0.13 | -0.12 |
| 34 | Mysteries of the Foreign Office | 43 | 0.13 | -0.13 |
| 35 | The Web of the Motherlings | 46 | 0.12 | 0.04 |
| 36 | A Trade in Faces | 39 | 0.12 | -0.08 |
| 37 | The Bones of London | 65 | 0.09 | - |
| 38 | The Marriage of Feducci | 46 | 0.09 | -0.04 |
| 39 | A Trade in Souls | 89 | 0.06 | -0.05 |
| 40 | The Murgatroyd Formula | 66 | 0.05 | -0.06 |
| 41 | The Pentecost Predicament | 31 | 0.02 | 0.06 |
| 42 | Required Repairs | 67 | 0.01 | - |
| 43 | The Art of Murder | 39 | -0.01 | -0.12 |
| 44 | Five Minutes to Midday | 32 | -0.02 | -0.14 |
| 45 | The Seven-Day Reign | 30 | -0.03 | 0.04 |
| 46 | The Heart the Devil and the Zee | 42 | -0.04 | -0.09 |
| 47 | Inconvenienced by Your Aunt | 80 | -0.04 | -0.07 |
| 48 | The Stone Guest | 49 | -0.05 | -0.16 |
| 49 | Our Lady of Pyres | 34 | -0.1 | -0.13 |
| 50 | The Price of Loss | 78 | -0.11 | - |
| 51 | Daylight | 86 | -0.15 | - |
| 52 | A Long-Lost Daughter | 39 | -0.19 | -0.16 |
| 53 | Discernment | 27 | -0.2 | 0.11 |
| 54 | The Clay Man's Arm | 41 | -0.23 | -0.15 |
| 55 | A Court of Cats | 25 | -0.24 | 0 |
| 56 | Trial and Error | 48 | -0.24 | -0.19 |
| 57 | The Haunting of the Marsh House | 29 | -0.26 | -0.21 |
| 58 | The Spinning of the Wheels | 55 | -0.33 | -0.07 |
| 59 | The Last Dog Society | 23 | -0.35 | -0.2 |
| 60 | Factory of Favours | 61 | -0.5 | -0.25 |
| 61 | The Rubbery Murders | 22 | -0.68 | -0.16 |
##Seasonal Conclusions
The seasonal bonus stories unlocked when you have played all three stories of a season are often something really special, divulging some previously unknown lore. So it's no surprise that these are generally well-liked. Exceptions to this are the bonus for the "Season of Heart's Blood" was the first bonus story ever, when Failbetter hadn't yet realised the potential for those stories. Also, the conclusion for the "Season of Silver", which was surprisingly unremarkable and that is reflected here.
| # | Story name | Total votes | Average vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Season of Sceptres | 47 | 0.71 |
| 2 | The Season of Revolutions | 27 | 0.63 |
| 3 | The Season of Wrecks | 33 | 0.62 |
| 4 | The Season of Embers | 61 | 0.61 |
| 5 | The Season of Skies | 41 | 0.57 |
| 6 | The Season of Stones | 36 | 0.57 |
| 7 | The Season of Family Ties | 25 | 0.56 |
| 8 | The Season of Ruins | 43 | 0.53 |
| 9 | The Season of Adorations | 60 | 0.51 |
| 10 | The Season of Silver | 50 | 0.03 |
| 11 | The Season of Heart's Blood | 30 | -0.15 |
Spreadsheet for more details.
##Fate-locked Christmas Stories
Again, most of these stories got pretty good results. Note that the total number of votes varies considerably and be aware that for stories with less than 20 votes, every additional vote might result in large changes to the average (e.g. one "Exceptional" vote for Benthic would've raised its average to that of the Zailors).
| # | Story name | Total votes | Average vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A foolish Rubbery Man | 45 | 0.68 |
| 2 | Urchins of the Knotted Sock | 18 | 0.42 |
| 3 | The Duchess | 43 | 0.41 |
| 4 | The Gracious Widow | 19 | 0.18 |
| 5 | February of the Calendar Council | 12 | 0.13 |
| 6 | Some inebriated Zailors | 17 | 0.12 |
| 7 | The scholars at Benthic | 8 | 0 |
Spreadsheet for more details.
##Buying stories based on rewards
You could also vote if you thought it was worth buying certain stories just for the rewards. This is especially interesting for stories that are not all that popular, namely "The Spinning of the Wheels" or "Inconvenienced by your Aunt".
| Story | Total votes | Worth buying | Not worth it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Theological Husbandry | 95 | 90.53% | 9.47% |
| Flute Street | 90 | 86.67% | 13.33% |
| The Spinning of the Wheels | 64 | 84.37% | 15.63% |
| A Trade in Souls | 94 | 80.85% | 19.15% |
| The Ceremony | 76 | 80.26% | 19.74% |
| The Empress' Shadow | 72 | 77.78% | 22.22% |
| Inconvenienced by Your Aunt | 80 | 67.50% | 32.50% |
| HOJOTOHO! | 72 | 61.11% | 38.89% |
| The Blemmigan Affair | 44 | 56.82% | 43.18% |
| Flint | 62 | 50% | 50% |
| Cut with Moonlight | 36 | 47.22% | 52.78% |
| All Things Must End | 51 | 47.06% | 52.94% |
| The Gift | 81 | 44.44% | 55.56% |
| Mysteries of the Foreign Office | 45 | 31.11% | 68.89% |
| A Trade in Faces | 45 | 31.11% | 68.89% |
| A Long-Lost Daughter | 43 | 30.23% | 69.77% |
| The Bones of London | 53 | 30.19% | 69.81% |
| Haunting of the Marsh-House | 32 | 28.13% | 71.87% |
| The Frequently Deceased | 32 | 25% | 75% |
| The Marriage of Feducci | 46 | 19.57% | 80.43% |
Spreadsheet for more details.
For reference, here are the links to our previous surveys in April 2018, September 2017 and February 2017 as well as phryne's original poll in September 2016.
Posted Feb 19, 2019, 4:09 PM UTC · edited