R: Aliens create a soap opera/gladiator arena like the Hunger Games with "lesser beings" and make them fight, survive, and multiply for the entertainment of the masses.
J: Like Survivor, only better.
And more violent.
Sometimes.
R: *nods*
J: "And if you're entertaining enough, then we won't destroy your planet."
"You won't?"
"Correct. We'll keep you alive for entertainment."
R: Should entertainment be the sole determining value of your species' survival? Does winning matter, if you're boring?
J: If you're boring, I don't think you'd win. Challenges must be completed in order to gin points. Audience input (American Idol style voting) can sway the game and influence challenges to a certain degree.
R: Actually...maybe that's what the "Queen" of each team can service. Long-term players can continually advance their 'tribe' by gradually creating hybrid super-species. If a player is 'captured' and re-born one season, in the next they'll be playing for another team...
J: Once a Player, always a Player?
R: More or less.
J: Maybe if you survive 3 consecutive games you can retire.
R: I like that idea. :) It's both a motivation factor, and a balancing mechanic! If a player gets too strong, they'll start winning, and then they'll be made to get out!
This isn't the end of the conversation, to be sure, but if you guys are interested in this sort of story (dubbed the "Rebirth Arena") I might share more of it as it develops. :)
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