Results of our fate-locked stories survey (January 2020 edition)
Here are the results for our survey on fate-locked stories for January 2020. Thank you to everyone who participated! And many, many thanks to Failbetter for linking the survey both on Discord and on Twitter. We've got well over 200 votes this time, about twice as many as a year ago.
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"), 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
- Cricket, Anyone? (average vote: 0.9)
- HOJOTOHO! (average vote: 0.75)
- The Gift (average vote: 0.74)
- My Kingdom for a Pig (average vote: 0.72)
- Lost in Reflections (average vote: 0.69)
To everyone who has played "Cricket, Anyone?" this probably won't come as a surprise. But it was just bizarre to see that this one story got so ridiculously many exceptional votes that Google needed to apply a completely different scale to correctly display the results. "Cricket" isn't just the winner, it's entirely in a league of its own. This is a far better score than any other story ever got. And with more excellent stories at #4, #6, and #16, Chandler Grover currently seems to be the community's favourite author by far.
In other news, 12 stories ended up with no dislikes at all. Based on this, the stories that can be most safely recommended seem to be "The Gift", "For All the Saints", and the investigations with the Knotted Sock during Christmas. Well, and "Cricket, Anyone?", obviously.
The most controversal story this time around was "Fine Dining" (with a variance of 0.48 which I believe is also the highest we've ever seen!) followed by "Secrets Framed in Gold" (var=0.39) and "The Marriage of Feducci" (var=0.38), two stories that the community's opinion has always been divided on. For comparison, the least controversal stories are "Cricket" (var=0.08) and "The Gift" (var=0.13), followed by other stories up there at the top - not really a surprise with so many exceptional votes.
##Least Popular Stories
- The Rubbery Murders (average vote: -0.4)
- Factory of Favours (average vote: -0.33)
- The Price of Loss (average vote: -0.25)
- The Clay Man's Arm (average vote: -0.24)
- The Last Dog Society (average vote: -0.23)
While "Rubbery Murders" and "Factory of Favours" remain the two least liked stories among players, it's interesting to note that these are also two of three stories that could improve their score the most (The third one is Cash DeCuir's "Five Minutes to Midday" which went from a very average rating up to a reasonably good one.) Other than that there are not many surprises here. "Price of Loss" wasn't well liked last time and dropped a fair bit yet again. Talking about drops: The stories whose rating dropped the most in comparison to last time are "The Pursuit of Moths" (-0.18), "Where You and I Must Go" (-0.17) as well as "12:15" and "Cut With Moonlight" (both -0.16), which makes me fairly sad as I count some these among my favourite stories ever.
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. For more details I've also put everything in a Google spreadsheet again. (Note that the spreadsheet has four tabs, they are easy to overlook.) So if you like you can fiddle around with the number on your own.
##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 here.
| # | Title | Total votes | Avg vote | Diff. to prev. survey |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cricket, Anyone? | 129 | 0.9 | - |
| 2 | HOJOTOHO! | 109 | 0.75 | -0.01 |
| 3 | The Gift | 127 | 0.74 | 0.06 |
| 4 | My Kingdom for a Pig | 134 | 0.72 | - |
| 5 | Lost in Reflections | 109 | 0.69 | -0.08 |
| 6 | Por Una Cabeza | 129 | 0.67 | - |
| 7 | Flint | 104 | 0.67 | 0 |
| 8 | The Ceremony | 99 | 0.65 | -0.09 |
| 9 | For All The Saints | 107 | 0.64 | -0.13 |
| 10 | The Shallows | 124 | 0.6 | - |
| 11 | The Brass Grail | 88 | 0.53 | - |
| 12 | The Twelve-Fifteen from Moloch Street | 89 | 0.52 | -0.16 |
| 13 | The Empress' Shadow | 117 | 0.5 | -0.06 |
| 14 | Where You and I Must Go | 88 | 0.49 | -0.17 |
| 15 | The Calendar Code | 68 | 0.49 | 0 |
| 16 | The Rat-Catcher | 84 | 0.45 | -0.06 |
| 17 | All Things Must End | 80 | 0.42 | -0.12 |
| 18 | Theological Husbandry | 151 | 0.41 | -0.06 |
| 19 | The Jack-of-Smiles Case | 116 | 0.41 | 0.07 |
| 20 | The Waltz That Moved the World | 78 | 0.41 | -0.05 |
| 21 | Flute Street | 149 | 0.35 | -0.04 |
| 22 | The Persona Engine | 72 | 0.33 | -0.05 |
| 23 | A Little Pandemonium | 88 | 0.32 | -0.13 |
| 24 | Tauroktonos | 109 | 0.31 | - |
| 25 | The Blemmigan Affair | 79 | 0.3 | 0.01 |
| 26 | Secrets Framed in Gold | 132 | 0.29 | 0.04 |
| 27 | The Chimney Pot Wars | 66 | 0.28 | 0.05 |
| 28 | Steeped In Honey | 73 | 0.26 | -0.13 |
| 29 | A Functionary's Confidant | 57 | 0.26 | 0.1 |
| 30 | The Pursuit of Moths | 83 | 0.24 | -0.18 |
| 31 | Say it With Flowers | 124 | 0.21 | - |
| 32 | Cut with Moonlight | 77 | 0.2 | -0.16 |
| 33 | The Heretic of Hollow Street | 110 | 0.19 | - |
| 34 | The Attendants | 75 | 0.19 | 0.04 |
| 35 | Five Minutes to Midday | 56 | 0.18 | 0.2 |
| 36 | Written in the Glim | 79 | 0.16 | -0.14 |
| 37 | The Sinking Synod | 73 | 0.15 | 0.02 |
| 38 | Noises from Upstairs | 113 | 0.13 | - |
| 39 | The Magician's Dream | 85 | 0.13 | -0.1 |
| 40 | The Century Exhibition | 72 | 0.12 | -0.1 |
| 41 | The Web of the Motherlings | 70 | 0.12 | 0 |
| 42 | The Final Curtain | 64 | 0.12 | -0.02 |
| 43 | The Frequently Deceased | 58 | 0.12 | -0.02 |
| 44 | Mysteries of the Foreign Office | 80 | 0.11 | -0.02 |
| 45 | The Bones of London | 80 | 0.1 | 0.01 |
| 46 | A Trade in Souls | 158 | 0.07 | 0.01 |
| 47 | A Trade in Faces | 81 | 0.07 | -0.05 |
| 48 | The Marriage of Feducci | 70 | 0.05 | -0.04 |
| 49 | The Murgatroyd Formula | 76 | 0.05 | 0 |
| 50 | Lamentation Lock | 74 | 0.05 | -0.11 |
| 51 | Inconvenienced by Your Aunt | 130 | 0.04 | 0.08 |
| 52 | The Garden Embassy | 118 | 0.03 | - |
| 53 | The Committee | 117 | 0.03 | - |
| 54 | Required Repairs | 79 | -0.02 | -0.03 |
| 55 | The Stone Guest | 62 | -0.02 | 0.03 |
| 56 | Our Lady of Pyres | 67 | -0.02 | 0.08 |
| 57 | The Seven-Day Reign | 52 | -0.03 | 0 |
| 58 | Fine Dining | 120 | -0.04 | - |
| 59 | The Art of Murder | 65 | -0.05 | -0.04 |
| 60 | The Stag and the Shark | 114 | -0.07 | - |
| 61 | A Long Lost Daughter | 68 | -0.08 | 0.11 |
| 62 | The Heart, the Devil and the Zee | 62 | -0.12 | -0.08 |
| 63 | A Court of Cats | 52 | -0.13 | 0.11 |
| 64 | The Pentecost Predicament | 50 | -0.13 | -0.15 |
| 65 | The Haunting of the Marsh House | 61 | -0.16 | 0.1 |
| 66 | Daylight | 100 | -0.17 | -0.02 |
| 67 | Trial and Error | 62 | -0.17 | 0.07 |
| 68 | Discernment | 48 | -0.17 | 0.03 |
| 69 | The Spinning of the Wheels | 89 | -0.2 | 0.13 |
| 70 | The Last Dog Society | 45 | -0.23 | 0.12 |
| 71 | The Clay Man's Arm | 70 | -0.24 | -0.01 |
| 72 | The Price of Loss | 97 | -0.25 | -0.14 |
| 73 | Factory of Favours | 74 | -0.33 | 0.17 |
| 74 | The Rubbery Murders | 36 | -0.4 | 0.28 |
##Seasonal Conclusions
The seasonal bonus stories are unlocked when you have played all three stories of a season. Some of them are revealing some previously unknown lore and that shows fairly well in the ratings below (i.e. the ones that do tend to have a higher rating).
| # | Story name | Total votes | Average vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Season of Sceptres | 66 | 0.56 |
| 2 | The Season of Revolutions | 49 | 0.55 |
| 3 | The Season of Skies | 61 | 0.54 |
| 4 | The Season of Ruins | 69 | 0.54 |
| 5 | The Season of Family Ties | 48 | 0.52 |
| 6 | The Season of Stones | 58 | 0.51 |
| 7 | The Season of Embers | 71 | 0.5 |
| 8 | The Season of Wrecks | 63 | 0.43 |
| 9 | The Season of Adorations | 68 | 0.41 |
| 10 | The Season of Hobbies | 84 | 0.38 |
| 11 | The Season of Celebrations | 78 | 0.22 |
| 12 | The Season of Bargains | 105 | 0.2 |
| 13 | The Season of Explorations | 96 | 0.15 |
| 14 | The Season of Silver | 61 | 0.02 |
| 15 | The Season of Heart's Blood | 50 | -0.07 |
Spreadsheet for more details.
##Fate-locked Christmas Stories
Again, most of these stories got pretty good results, although with some notable changes to last year. Note that the total number of votes varies considerably, so that every additional vote might result in large changes to the average.
| # | Story name | Total votes | Average vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A foolish Rubbery Man | 64 | 0.66 |
| 2 | Urchins of the Knotted Sock | 31 | 0.44 |
| 3 | February of the Calendar Council | 26 | 0.35 |
| 4 | The scholars at Benthic | 29 | 0.34 |
| 5 | A gang of rats | 85 | 0.32 |
| 6 | The Gracious Widow | 28 | 0.25 |
| 7 | The Duchess | 70 | 0.24 |
| 8 | Some inebriated Zailors | 29 | 0.22 |
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 | 152 | 88.82% | 11.18% |
| Flute Street | 154 | 79.87% | 20.13% |
| Soul Trade | 155 | 77.42% | 22.58% |
| The Empress' Shadow | 121 | 72.73% | 27.27% |
| Inconvenienced by Your Aunt | 132 | 71.97% | 28.03% |
| The Ceremony | 98 | 71.43% | 28.57% |
| The Spinning of the Wheels | 99 | 67.68% | 32.32% |
| HOJOTOHO! | 96 | 59.38% | 40.63% |
| The Blemmigan Affair | 76 | 59.21% | 40.79% |
| Cricket, Anyone? | 121 | 56.20% | 43.80% |
| The Shallows | 119 | 52.10% | 47.90% |
| Flint | 103 | 51.46% | 48.54% |
| All Things Must End | 80 | 37.50% | 62.50% |
| The Gift | 114 | 34.21% | 65.79% |
| Brass Grail | 87 | 32.18% | 67.82% |
| Cut with Moonlight | 72 | 31.94% | 68.06% |
| Foreign Office | 81 | 28.40% | 71.60% |
| Haunting of the Marsh-House | 57 | 28.07% | 71.93% |
| The Bones of London | 68 | 25.00% | 75.00% |
| A Trade in Faces | 78 | 24.36% | 75.64% |
| Long-Lost Daughter | 74 | 18.92% | 81.08% |
| The Frequently Deceased | 53 | 13.21% | 86.79% |
| The Marriage of Feducci | 69 | 13.04% | 86.96% |
Spreadsheet for more details.
For reference, here are the links to our previous surveys in
- January 2019
- April 2018
- September 2017 and
- February 2017
- as well as phryne's original poll in September 2016.
Posted Jan 31, 2020, 2:24 PM UTC · edited