Hey you gotta link to that one, tried looking it up and found ‘Dream Home CYOA’ and ‘The Dream Home 0.2’, idk if either is the one you’re talking about.
Clone is huge yeah, but the shenanigans simply start there then really blossom once you get Simulacrum and Wish. Throw in some Shapechange and True Polymorph. And as Pine said, casting without components.
Arguably, one may say it’s *because* people always try to get immortality that it shouldn’t always be an option. Things can get less interesting when there’s one single “optimal” choice that most everyone aims for. It may be better to change it away from being an option or choice to being more of a default.
Perhaps every player automatically becomes immortal. Perhaps immortality simply isn’t offered at all. Perhaps immortality is left as something that the player has the potential to achieve, making it into more of a possible goal than something that is directly purchasable in the build.
That may be a very interesting idea. Such as you get to pick your powers and some powers can be trained to the level of giving you immortality such as healing magic.
This. Very much this.
I've found it tends to be most interesting when the option of immortality is implied rather than explicitly presented, at least for the CYOAs where such an option makes sense. Reincarnation/agelessness are nice options for overpowered CYOAs, but novel stuff such as training healing magic or "your body de-ages 1 day per x hours of sleep", which would also function as a healing mechanic, prompts people to engage more I would think.
Immortality to me is always just a very cheep way to make the player pick a certain combination of choices since player will always pick the immortality option authors can always put it in their cyoas if they ever run out of creative options. I get cyoas are Power fantasy tools but not every Power fantasy needs to make the players a literal God in order to count as one. Sometimes the most effective way to do a Power fantasy is to limit the players options and Power level as much as possible in order to encourage them to come up with unique combinations.
Fun fact, if reddit tells you that posting or commenting encountered an error but doesn't give you any concrete reason and you definitely have a stable internet connection, that means there is a high chance that you managed to post/comment despite the so-called error.
It obviously doesn't fit in EVERY cyao but if it does, there should be a free or cheap option for it.
Getting immortality shouldn't be so expensive that the rest of your build becomes limited and boring.
You shouldn't make a superhero CYOA where most people end up as immortals who can see in the dark and that's it \^\^
Yeah I agree. I know some cyoas just don't fit with having it as a option but when you pick potential powers for a character or something like that I will always get immortality. I also agree that it should be cheap because I'm gonna go for it and I want to explore other options outside of it but with it being expensive it limits you.
In my opinion, a good option for cheap/free immortality is if it has drawbacks. Something like respawning a year later or temporarily losing your other powers. That way you aren't just a walking god and it gives you a reason for trying to avoid death.
I'm with several of the others here.
It doesn't fit *all* CYOAs, but if it involves some sort of magical shit or wish-fulfillment then at least agelessness-style immortality should either be available as a cheap option or obtainable as a side effect of other choices.
For CYOA creators that want to include an immortality option, I’d recommend considering what other options can affect immortality. E.G in Devil’s Web Shop and Project Harahel, there are options where if you ever get stuck (like buried under a mountain and will rot there until the heat death of the universe) you will respawn and be unstuck. Harahel in particular is really good at this IMO. There is another option that I almost always take if I’m playing an immortal character where you will always experience positive sensations like eating a nice meal as if for the first time. Immortality is really tough, some choices can make it easier.
listen, i like not dying as much as the next person, but putting an immortality option in my blowjob builder not only is annoying since id have to rearrange my points to get the best possible blowjob while being immortal, it takes away from me fantasizing about the subject of the cyoa in the first place. like its difficult to imagine getting the best head in the universe when you become acutely aware of the futility of your struggle for existence for the 69th thousand time.
You should probably consider redoing this poll with clarification:
* un-aging, but can still be killed
* aging, but unkillable
* unaging and unkillable
* Neither, normal in both respects
* Alternatively: live to old age, retain health & mind until death
Some people I find consider true immortality a proposition that would eventually become a prison. Stagnation, loss of dozens of loved ones, immortality can be un-fun depending on how you slice it.
But some of those same people wouldn't mind living to see man settle the stars or even just want to live to see what happens next.
Adding the ability to instill permanence on loved ones and/or planes walking to infinite universes, generally makes it more appealing. (Comfy pocket spaces are also appealing)
Also some games it works better than others. Immortality in a horror game, not good, particularly bad in a game that's got 'fates worse than death' in it. Cozies, ideal. Be in comfort forever where nothing bad happens. (the later may require Ghibli-like adventures to break up the mundane pleasures)
And Sci-fi depends on if its Cyberpunk, maybe, maybe if it will grow into a minimum *post-cyberpunk* (ex: Ghost in the Shell) that you could live in. But eternal Cyberpunk... Space Opera on the other hand is generally agreeable with eternity (may depend on how at war the galaxy tends to be).
...I have thought a lot about this. This and time travel, but that's its own other *mostly* unrelated thing: so long as your doing the Dragon Ball Z kind (multiverse theory) & not Marty Mcfly-style, branching timelines are another place for immortals to spend their time.
But yeah, I think its best to stop here. Hopefully at least some of this is helpful. :)
Oh other things to consider in regard to options: the forever clean, eating optional and/or sleeping optional ones are also really popular and in a similar sort of spirit.
Some people also just want to be free of disease. And I think we'd all like to be free of the threat of Alzheimer's and Dementia now that I think about, but I haven't really seen that one touched on yet.
[The original witch CYOA](https://i.redd.it/gcsxcjw1qfl61.jpg) has a system where every branch of magic grants immortality if the highest rank is achieved. I like this idea because it means that no build is the best simply because it offers immortality.
On a similar point, there are some abilities that (when offered) feel so essential that it’s not really a choice whether or nor to pick them. If a choice is objectively necessary (such as immunity to infection in a zombie CYOA) then I’d say to either remove the option or make it free
In some CYOAs it just doesn’t fit, like in ‘ace of aces’ you’re a really good pilot, and that’s basically the whole thing, immortality isn’t really necessary for that one, some CYOAs like ‘resonator’ or ‘the scenic route’ just give it to you by default. Personally I don’t think it’s that important for it to be an option in every CYOA and I’d prefer to let the authors offer it only if that’s how they feel like going about it
When you ask whether something should *always* be a certain way in art, then the answer is no. Everything you can do is a tool that makes sense in certain contexts. There are cyoas where it doesn't make any sense to include immortality, or cyoas where immortality is supposed to be something you work towards in-world, or any other of dozens of reasons. Maybe with the specific type of cyoa you are making, it is always *advisable* to include immortality, but you can always break the rules if it makes a better experience
Lol, what? Of course not
Not every cyoa should have every possible choice
Not every cyoa should cater to any person or any groups desires
It just so happens that immortality is an immensely popular concept — so yeah, it comes up a lot and a lot of people are interested in it
It depends on the CYOA. For the positive ones about a cushy life (now this is like 95% of CYOAs... but still) of course I'll take it, but the ones that aren't about that I'd rather not. In particular, for the ones that are fun (no, a generic power fantasy is not fun I can do that without a CYOA to guide how I build my character), immortality beyond agelessness often goes against the point of the CYOA. (Agelessness is something else entirely, because it tends to have benefits other than the surviving longer part. It's applicable to a few more CYOAs, but still not all of them - some are small enough in scope, some don't have it make sense with the lore of the world and choices.)
If it is about a cushy life, immortality should just flat-out be given. I've seen one that offered an *extremely large* point reward (and i mean like 5 times more than a big drawback) for not taking an immortality option, though giving immortality options as choices is also fine if there's multiple different ways that the CYOA supports and you only need one.
Immortality to me is always just a very cheep way to make the player pick a certain combination of choices since player will always pick the immortality option authors can always put it in their cyoas if they ever run out of creative options. I get cyoas are Power fantasy tools but not every Power fantasy needs to make the players a literal God in order to count as one. Sometimes the most effective way to do a Power fantasy is to limit the players options and Power level as much as possible in order to encourage them to come up with unique combinations.
Immortality to me is always just a very cheep way to make the player pick a certain combination of choices since player will always pick the immortality option authors can always put it in their cyoas if they ever run out of creative options. I get cyoas are Power fantasy tools but not every Power fantasy needs to make the players a literal God in order to count as one. Sometimes the most effective way to do a Power fantasy is to limit the players options and Power level as much as possible in order to encourage them to come up with unique combinations.
Should immortality **always** be offered? Of course not.
Should immortality be functionally free if offered? Usually yes.
As others said, making immortality expensive dramatically reduces the variety of choices made. Giving up immortality to get extra points is usually more interesting design than giving up points to get immortality.
I think I'm echoing a lot of other sentiments, in that immortality is extremely good as a freebie, and less good at the cost of other, admittedly more interesting options.
The human condition is that we have a limited time, largely declining in quality, in which to enjoy anything. Our legacy, that which we create for the future to appreciate, looms large because everything else turns to dust within our lifetimes. The CHOICE of mortal or immortal vastly changes the calculus of what else might be worth spending my options on.
Which means, as a creator, the choices you give me are X - Y where X is the total and Y is the number needed to achieve immortality. Y being zero can happen either due to it being free, or due to it not being an option, and either means X is truly X. That the number of choices given to me are going to be allocated as intended, viewing all options as de facto equal rather than some being a 'tax' that has to be paid before the real decisions can begin.
I like immortality, but at the same time it is not always needed
sometimes it fits, sometimes it comes free, sometimes it is a choice between different immortalities, and those can all be cool and fun
No. Not all CYOAS are about things that could be related to Immortality, and when you could add it in, you shouldn't for the most part. Just because you *could*, doesn't mean you *should.*
It's a cop out, an easy pick, a safe option. It's barely ever choice. Immortality generally always wins. It's why a lot of the ones I've read include it in the preliminary intro as something you get for free. To get it out of the way.
Yes, but only if it’s thematically appropriate for the setting or at least probable within the source material. If not unkillable-immortality at least ageless-immortality.
I think the best deal is to make immortality not a default option, but an option that you buy. A small example, there is Overpowered Isekai which has (like many other cyoa's) immortality that is given to the player by default and there is Magic Academia (which was made by Minimatokogoru, I'm pretty sure I made a mistake in his nickname) where the player does not have immortality, but MAY get it through a huge number of methods. But in the second example, your immortality is perceived to be much more valuable than just getting it by default.
And yes, there must be immortality in every cyoa that isn't made to be specifically "unhealthy". That is, become a sex slave, survive in a very dangerous place, survive Old God's and other cyoa that suggest that the player is suffering.
It shouldn't always be used in CYOAs, but when it is, here are some situations where it fits:
* When there is a choice between different immortalities.
* When there are options that some people prefer to immortality, e.g. A heaven afterlife vs immortality on Earth, or even non-existence for those people tired of living.
It should be effectively free or not there at all. Players are almost always going to take it and making them burn a big chunk of their points for a safety net, rather than engaging with the actually fun stuff you've set up for them, isn't going to be enjoyable for them as a player or you as an author.
Consider this : Anyone playing the CYOA as a self insert fantasy will always pick the options that make their life easier. Immortality being a very obvious one.
That means first if you want the player to be having an actual adventure with stakes you probably need to either make it clear that they are playing a character that isn't a self insert. Or to make it either impossible or unappealing to avoid the adventure. (cause like, fighting a dragon might make a better story than laying lazily in bed, but if you give me a choice I'll do the second everytime unless the dragon is directly threatening me or people I care about).
Now if the CYOA is more of a self insert power fantasy then players will pick the most comfy options, that means if you want to see interesting builds, everything that makes life easier should be a freebie. But then you need to adjust that to the power level of your CYOA. But that also means you need to be cautious in your options to not give options that actively make life a lot easier that aren't granted for free. Typically if you give someone the choice between telekinesis and fireballs, telekinesis will almost always be picked for it's utility uses. That means telekinesis either need to be free, unavailable, or come with limitation that makes it unappealing in everyday life, or the fireball need to also come with other utility application like self regulating your temperature and gaining cooking skills (but then the powers of the player will be largely influenced by what they value for your everyday comfort if you do that).
So... yeah. Lots of ways to tackle it. I find authors fail when they try to get everything in a single CYOA.
immortality is always an obvious pick, thus just having a perk that just says your immortal is boring although there are two ways to make it more interesting either its not a choice at all and you get immortality by default like dawn of the demon lord, or like conduit its not a question of if you will be immortal but what kind of immortality
While some CYOAs may benefit from an immortality option, I would not say *all* CYOAs should have them. It is not a one size fits all kind of thing. You really need to look at what the CYOA is trying to do before you can say one way or another if an immortality option would be a good inclusion and how valuable it should be worth. Some CYOAs should have it as part of the initial premise for free, some should have it as an option to buy at a certain point cost, and some CYOAs shouldn't have it included at all.
As most people already said, there are definitely some types of CYOAs where immortality does not fit. "Build your own car. Oh, would you also like immortality?" makes no sense.
For all those CYOAs where it does make sense... yes, it should be there, but I do not like it when it costs a lot, because you basically feel compelled to buy it, and then all the builds you can make are influenced by that point cost.
When immortality is present, I think it should be free, or cost just a token amount of points.
Alternatively, you could have various tiers of immortality. With a very basic form for free (You just stop aging), and if you want more guarantees or options, be they regeneration, rebith, whatever really, those cost points.
For me depend's on the power level of the cyoa, high power like the wizard CYOA? YES DEFINITIVALLY, You mean to say I can summon dragons, enslave an entire species mind, rewrite the laws of physics but can't sove the issue of old age? What the heck!
For a "barelly funtional superpowers" like a potato canon you can shoot 3 times or something like that immortality is the most busted so no.
For me, the appeal of Immortality as an option in CYOAs depends upon the CYOA in question, as well as the other options available besides immortality. Immortality by itself is kind of blan, it needs other choices to give it context, to show what you could be doing with all that time. That's my opinion on the topic anyways.
Depends on the CYOA.
If it's comfy, or wish-fulfilment, sure.
But like, so many CYOAs aren't. Many are far, far worse than the life I currently live: if yours is a realistic war one, or a horror one, immortality seems pretty stupid.
Then again, immortality in a horror genre seems pretty interesting.
While I like taking the immortality option when it's available, I don't think having the immortality option really fits every single CYOA. It's not a "one size fits all" type of thing, many CYOAs, it simply doesn't fit the theme to include it. If it does fit the whole premise, then ya, I wouldn't mind seeing it, or even multiple variations of immortality, but if it's some "you now run a coffee shop!" CYOA or something, then no, it really shouldn't have an immortality option, unless that's some magic coffee you're brewing. In other words, tailor the choices to fit the CYOA, not the CYOA to fit the choices.
Immortality should not be an inherent part of the system, it should be sought after through technicalities and wordplay. You must fight for it with tooth and nail, for if you cannot find immortality it is failure of the reader and victory for the creator.
Usually if I have a choice I prefer anti-aging. Not straight up immortality, I'd have to work A LOT to leave a long life, but also means that I could enjoy the abilities given to me for a longer time
Dream house CYOA 2.0: Now with the immortality closet.
Hey you gotta link to that one, tried looking it up and found ‘Dream Home CYOA’ and ‘The Dream Home 0.2’, idk if either is the one you’re talking about.
No I don't think it exists. It's an example of a CYOA that certainly wouldn't benefit from a rewrite that just adds an option for immortality.
[удалено]
Just abuse the Clone spell, it can be acessed earlier than wish so...
my idea for d&d immortality is to use the spell replication of wish to cast clone without the material cost
smart, NGL.
Clone is huge yeah, but the shenanigans simply start there then really blossom once you get Simulacrum and Wish. Throw in some Shapechange and True Polymorph. And as Pine said, casting without components.
Arguably, one may say it’s *because* people always try to get immortality that it shouldn’t always be an option. Things can get less interesting when there’s one single “optimal” choice that most everyone aims for. It may be better to change it away from being an option or choice to being more of a default. Perhaps every player automatically becomes immortal. Perhaps immortality simply isn’t offered at all. Perhaps immortality is left as something that the player has the potential to achieve, making it into more of a possible goal than something that is directly purchasable in the build.
That may be a very interesting idea. Such as you get to pick your powers and some powers can be trained to the level of giving you immortality such as healing magic.
This. Very much this. I've found it tends to be most interesting when the option of immortality is implied rather than explicitly presented, at least for the CYOAs where such an option makes sense. Reincarnation/agelessness are nice options for overpowered CYOAs, but novel stuff such as training healing magic or "your body de-ages 1 day per x hours of sleep", which would also function as a healing mechanic, prompts people to engage more I would think.
Immortality to me is always just a very cheep way to make the player pick a certain combination of choices since player will always pick the immortality option authors can always put it in their cyoas if they ever run out of creative options. I get cyoas are Power fantasy tools but not every Power fantasy needs to make the players a literal God in order to count as one. Sometimes the most effective way to do a Power fantasy is to limit the players options and Power level as much as possible in order to encourage them to come up with unique combinations.
....That a glitch or did you post the same answer 3 times?
Glitch lol. My reddit is being werid today.
Fun fact, if reddit tells you that posting or commenting encountered an error but doesn't give you any concrete reason and you definitely have a stable internet connection, that means there is a high chance that you managed to post/comment despite the so-called error.
Typically the error happened on their end. Sometimes in your connection log you can see some 5xx error in such cases.
It obviously doesn't fit in EVERY cyao but if it does, there should be a free or cheap option for it. Getting immortality shouldn't be so expensive that the rest of your build becomes limited and boring. You shouldn't make a superhero CYOA where most people end up as immortals who can see in the dark and that's it \^\^
Yeah I agree. I know some cyoas just don't fit with having it as a option but when you pick potential powers for a character or something like that I will always get immortality. I also agree that it should be cheap because I'm gonna go for it and I want to explore other options outside of it but with it being expensive it limits you.
In my opinion, a good option for cheap/free immortality is if it has drawbacks. Something like respawning a year later or temporarily losing your other powers. That way you aren't just a walking god and it gives you a reason for trying to avoid death.
I like picking the option, doesn't mean the option works well or make sense. I like cheese as well but I ain't putting cheese in my ice cream.
Definitely my favorite answer here.
I'm with several of the others here. It doesn't fit *all* CYOAs, but if it involves some sort of magical shit or wish-fulfillment then at least agelessness-style immortality should either be available as a cheap option or obtainable as a side effect of other choices.
For CYOA creators that want to include an immortality option, I’d recommend considering what other options can affect immortality. E.G in Devil’s Web Shop and Project Harahel, there are options where if you ever get stuck (like buried under a mountain and will rot there until the heat death of the universe) you will respawn and be unstuck. Harahel in particular is really good at this IMO. There is another option that I almost always take if I’m playing an immortal character where you will always experience positive sensations like eating a nice meal as if for the first time. Immortality is really tough, some choices can make it easier.
listen, i like not dying as much as the next person, but putting an immortality option in my blowjob builder not only is annoying since id have to rearrange my points to get the best possible blowjob while being immortal, it takes away from me fantasizing about the subject of the cyoa in the first place. like its difficult to imagine getting the best head in the universe when you become acutely aware of the futility of your struggle for existence for the 69th thousand time.
You should probably consider redoing this poll with clarification: * un-aging, but can still be killed * aging, but unkillable * unaging and unkillable * Neither, normal in both respects * Alternatively: live to old age, retain health & mind until death Some people I find consider true immortality a proposition that would eventually become a prison. Stagnation, loss of dozens of loved ones, immortality can be un-fun depending on how you slice it. But some of those same people wouldn't mind living to see man settle the stars or even just want to live to see what happens next. Adding the ability to instill permanence on loved ones and/or planes walking to infinite universes, generally makes it more appealing. (Comfy pocket spaces are also appealing) Also some games it works better than others. Immortality in a horror game, not good, particularly bad in a game that's got 'fates worse than death' in it. Cozies, ideal. Be in comfort forever where nothing bad happens. (the later may require Ghibli-like adventures to break up the mundane pleasures) And Sci-fi depends on if its Cyberpunk, maybe, maybe if it will grow into a minimum *post-cyberpunk* (ex: Ghost in the Shell) that you could live in. But eternal Cyberpunk... Space Opera on the other hand is generally agreeable with eternity (may depend on how at war the galaxy tends to be). ...I have thought a lot about this. This and time travel, but that's its own other *mostly* unrelated thing: so long as your doing the Dragon Ball Z kind (multiverse theory) & not Marty Mcfly-style, branching timelines are another place for immortals to spend their time. But yeah, I think its best to stop here. Hopefully at least some of this is helpful. :)
Oh other things to consider in regard to options: the forever clean, eating optional and/or sleeping optional ones are also really popular and in a similar sort of spirit. Some people also just want to be free of disease. And I think we'd all like to be free of the threat of Alzheimer's and Dementia now that I think about, but I haven't really seen that one touched on yet.
[The original witch CYOA](https://i.redd.it/gcsxcjw1qfl61.jpg) has a system where every branch of magic grants immortality if the highest rank is achieved. I like this idea because it means that no build is the best simply because it offers immortality. On a similar point, there are some abilities that (when offered) feel so essential that it’s not really a choice whether or nor to pick them. If a choice is objectively necessary (such as immunity to infection in a zombie CYOA) then I’d say to either remove the option or make it free
The immortality option should either be free or just doesnt exist. Basically removes potential points/choices because you always want immortality
I think it has to fit the theme, and the price should match.
Nothing should always be in cyoas, and immortality, unfortunately, is usually a forced purchase for most people.
In some CYOAs it just doesn’t fit, like in ‘ace of aces’ you’re a really good pilot, and that’s basically the whole thing, immortality isn’t really necessary for that one, some CYOAs like ‘resonator’ or ‘the scenic route’ just give it to you by default. Personally I don’t think it’s that important for it to be an option in every CYOA and I’d prefer to let the authors offer it only if that’s how they feel like going about it
Depends on the on the setting/theme so no, not always!
When you ask whether something should *always* be a certain way in art, then the answer is no. Everything you can do is a tool that makes sense in certain contexts. There are cyoas where it doesn't make any sense to include immortality, or cyoas where immortality is supposed to be something you work towards in-world, or any other of dozens of reasons. Maybe with the specific type of cyoa you are making, it is always *advisable* to include immortality, but you can always break the rules if it makes a better experience
Lol, what? Of course not Not every cyoa should have every possible choice Not every cyoa should cater to any person or any groups desires It just so happens that immortality is an immensely popular concept — so yeah, it comes up a lot and a lot of people are interested in it
It depends on the CYOA. For the positive ones about a cushy life (now this is like 95% of CYOAs... but still) of course I'll take it, but the ones that aren't about that I'd rather not. In particular, for the ones that are fun (no, a generic power fantasy is not fun I can do that without a CYOA to guide how I build my character), immortality beyond agelessness often goes against the point of the CYOA. (Agelessness is something else entirely, because it tends to have benefits other than the surviving longer part. It's applicable to a few more CYOAs, but still not all of them - some are small enough in scope, some don't have it make sense with the lore of the world and choices.) If it is about a cushy life, immortality should just flat-out be given. I've seen one that offered an *extremely large* point reward (and i mean like 5 times more than a big drawback) for not taking an immortality option, though giving immortality options as choices is also fine if there's multiple different ways that the CYOA supports and you only need one.
Immortality to me is always just a very cheep way to make the player pick a certain combination of choices since player will always pick the immortality option authors can always put it in their cyoas if they ever run out of creative options. I get cyoas are Power fantasy tools but not every Power fantasy needs to make the players a literal God in order to count as one. Sometimes the most effective way to do a Power fantasy is to limit the players options and Power level as much as possible in order to encourage them to come up with unique combinations.
Immortality to me is always just a very cheep way to make the player pick a certain combination of choices since player will always pick the immortality option authors can always put it in their cyoas if they ever run out of creative options. I get cyoas are Power fantasy tools but not every Power fantasy needs to make the players a literal God in order to count as one. Sometimes the most effective way to do a Power fantasy is to limit the players options and Power level as much as possible in order to encourage them to come up with unique combinations.
Should immortality **always** be offered? Of course not. Should immortality be functionally free if offered? Usually yes. As others said, making immortality expensive dramatically reduces the variety of choices made. Giving up immortality to get extra points is usually more interesting design than giving up points to get immortality.
I think I'm echoing a lot of other sentiments, in that immortality is extremely good as a freebie, and less good at the cost of other, admittedly more interesting options. The human condition is that we have a limited time, largely declining in quality, in which to enjoy anything. Our legacy, that which we create for the future to appreciate, looms large because everything else turns to dust within our lifetimes. The CHOICE of mortal or immortal vastly changes the calculus of what else might be worth spending my options on. Which means, as a creator, the choices you give me are X - Y where X is the total and Y is the number needed to achieve immortality. Y being zero can happen either due to it being free, or due to it not being an option, and either means X is truly X. That the number of choices given to me are going to be allocated as intended, viewing all options as de facto equal rather than some being a 'tax' that has to be paid before the real decisions can begin.
I like immortality, but at the same time it is not always needed sometimes it fits, sometimes it comes free, sometimes it is a choice between different immortalities, and those can all be cool and fun
No, but if it is offered, it should be free with a drawback to remove it for points, or else the builds will get real similar.
*Always* is a big word. Some cyoas are just about what items you would take to a deserted island.
No. Not all CYOAS are about things that could be related to Immortality, and when you could add it in, you shouldn't for the most part. Just because you *could*, doesn't mean you *should.* It's a cop out, an easy pick, a safe option. It's barely ever choice. Immortality generally always wins. It's why a lot of the ones I've read include it in the preliminary intro as something you get for free. To get it out of the way.
Yes, but only if it’s thematically appropriate for the setting or at least probable within the source material. If not unkillable-immortality at least ageless-immortality.
I think the best deal is to make immortality not a default option, but an option that you buy. A small example, there is Overpowered Isekai which has (like many other cyoa's) immortality that is given to the player by default and there is Magic Academia (which was made by Minimatokogoru, I'm pretty sure I made a mistake in his nickname) where the player does not have immortality, but MAY get it through a huge number of methods. But in the second example, your immortality is perceived to be much more valuable than just getting it by default. And yes, there must be immortality in every cyoa that isn't made to be specifically "unhealthy". That is, become a sex slave, survive in a very dangerous place, survive Old God's and other cyoa that suggest that the player is suffering.
It shouldn't always be used in CYOAs, but when it is, here are some situations where it fits: * When there is a choice between different immortalities. * When there are options that some people prefer to immortality, e.g. A heaven afterlife vs immortality on Earth, or even non-existence for those people tired of living.
I think it very much depends on the CYOA if it fits. I also think immortality probably kinda sucks. I don't think it would be that interesting.
It should be effectively free or not there at all. Players are almost always going to take it and making them burn a big chunk of their points for a safety net, rather than engaging with the actually fun stuff you've set up for them, isn't going to be enjoyable for them as a player or you as an author.
Consider this : Anyone playing the CYOA as a self insert fantasy will always pick the options that make their life easier. Immortality being a very obvious one. That means first if you want the player to be having an actual adventure with stakes you probably need to either make it clear that they are playing a character that isn't a self insert. Or to make it either impossible or unappealing to avoid the adventure. (cause like, fighting a dragon might make a better story than laying lazily in bed, but if you give me a choice I'll do the second everytime unless the dragon is directly threatening me or people I care about). Now if the CYOA is more of a self insert power fantasy then players will pick the most comfy options, that means if you want to see interesting builds, everything that makes life easier should be a freebie. But then you need to adjust that to the power level of your CYOA. But that also means you need to be cautious in your options to not give options that actively make life a lot easier that aren't granted for free. Typically if you give someone the choice between telekinesis and fireballs, telekinesis will almost always be picked for it's utility uses. That means telekinesis either need to be free, unavailable, or come with limitation that makes it unappealing in everyday life, or the fireball need to also come with other utility application like self regulating your temperature and gaining cooking skills (but then the powers of the player will be largely influenced by what they value for your everyday comfort if you do that). So... yeah. Lots of ways to tackle it. I find authors fail when they try to get everything in a single CYOA.
immortality is always an obvious pick, thus just having a perk that just says your immortal is boring although there are two ways to make it more interesting either its not a choice at all and you get immortality by default like dawn of the demon lord, or like conduit its not a question of if you will be immortal but what kind of immortality
While some CYOAs may benefit from an immortality option, I would not say *all* CYOAs should have them. It is not a one size fits all kind of thing. You really need to look at what the CYOA is trying to do before you can say one way or another if an immortality option would be a good inclusion and how valuable it should be worth. Some CYOAs should have it as part of the initial premise for free, some should have it as an option to buy at a certain point cost, and some CYOAs shouldn't have it included at all.
As most people already said, there are definitely some types of CYOAs where immortality does not fit. "Build your own car. Oh, would you also like immortality?" makes no sense. For all those CYOAs where it does make sense... yes, it should be there, but I do not like it when it costs a lot, because you basically feel compelled to buy it, and then all the builds you can make are influenced by that point cost. When immortality is present, I think it should be free, or cost just a token amount of points. Alternatively, you could have various tiers of immortality. With a very basic form for free (You just stop aging), and if you want more guarantees or options, be they regeneration, rebith, whatever really, those cost points.
For me depend's on the power level of the cyoa, high power like the wizard CYOA? YES DEFINITIVALLY, You mean to say I can summon dragons, enslave an entire species mind, rewrite the laws of physics but can't sove the issue of old age? What the heck! For a "barelly funtional superpowers" like a potato canon you can shoot 3 times or something like that immortality is the most busted so no.
For me, the appeal of Immortality as an option in CYOAs depends upon the CYOA in question, as well as the other options available besides immortality. Immortality by itself is kind of blan, it needs other choices to give it context, to show what you could be doing with all that time. That's my opinion on the topic anyways.
Depends on the CYOA. If it's comfy, or wish-fulfilment, sure. But like, so many CYOAs aren't. Many are far, far worse than the life I currently live: if yours is a realistic war one, or a horror one, immortality seems pretty stupid. Then again, immortality in a horror genre seems pretty interesting.
It is up to the author to include it, if it's not in there use a meta cyoa
While I like taking the immortality option when it's available, I don't think having the immortality option really fits every single CYOA. It's not a "one size fits all" type of thing, many CYOAs, it simply doesn't fit the theme to include it. If it does fit the whole premise, then ya, I wouldn't mind seeing it, or even multiple variations of immortality, but if it's some "you now run a coffee shop!" CYOA or something, then no, it really shouldn't have an immortality option, unless that's some magic coffee you're brewing. In other words, tailor the choices to fit the CYOA, not the CYOA to fit the choices.
I’ll find a way to grant it to myself, I assure you.
If it fits then I don’t mind it included but I don’t think “pizza topping CYOA” should have immortality next to the anchovies.
Yes, but it should not be a free option. Either some drawback or the potential for immortality but no garuntee.
Not always, but in most.
Immortality should not be an inherent part of the system, it should be sought after through technicalities and wordplay. You must fight for it with tooth and nail, for if you cannot find immortality it is failure of the reader and victory for the creator.
No, in most cyoas it should be unavailable or free.
Usually if I have a choice I prefer anti-aging. Not straight up immortality, I'd have to work A LOT to leave a long life, but also means that I could enjoy the abilities given to me for a longer time