vivarium | ambidex voting #10

A M B I D E X V O T I N G

Chop chop, everyone downstairs to the first floor! You're all done the puzzle rooms, so you know what to do. Well, most of you, but it's pretty basic, just enter any Ambidex Room you like (they're not elevators, you ignorant test subjects) then vote! How does voting work? Very simple! Pick Ally or Betray, and that's it! But with every round, there's always some prizes, depending on what you vote, so here's this rounds:

For anyone who chooses Ally, well, if your opponent chooses Ally as well, then 2BP for each of you. You get all that friendship, blah blah, whatever.

For anyone who chooses Betray, and gets a Betray in return, your BP doesn't change at all, but you might get some coins for your trouble, let's saaaay, 20? Generous, I know.

Now, the best part: for anyone who chooses Betray and their opponent chooses Ally, Calhoun will be very generous with his prizes, again! You'll get 15 coins and a memory! Also, as usual, those who pick Betray get 3BP instead of just 2.

But if you're the poor sap that chose Ally and got stabbed in the back, well, sorry, you lose 2 BP. At least you got stabbed for the greater good, right? And plus, you might get a little something. He'll talk to you later about it.

But anyway, happy voting! Calhoun will see all of you later with the results.

BASIC INFO ✖ VOTES + FORMS ✖ RESULTS + REACTIONS

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"He's eccentric, difficult to engage in conversation, but passionate about a few specialized areas," said Heiji. "In a normal office setting, someone like that is kept around for only one reason -- because their area of expertise is valuable enough to overlook their oddities.

"If he's employed, I think it's likely he's the guy they only bring in to tackle tough problems. Maybe a consultant or something. He seems especially interested in process efficiencies, but I can't tell if that's a~~n obsession~~ hobby, or his actual area of employment. I guess we'll have to see, huh?"

"I guess so." For being the person who originally asked, Heiji sure did just unload a ton of information Sasuke hadn't even really considered. He learned way more from Heiji than Heiji likely did from his admittedly short observation.

"How do you think they're likely to vote in the AB matches?"

That was... actually how a lot of conversations went with Heiji, so.

"Most people vote Ally, at least in the first few rounds until they get to 9 BP. But as for Alfendi..." Heiji paused for a moment, thinking it over. "I don't know. He seems too comfortable, too sure of himself. I mean, when I woke up here, I didn't panic. But I wasn't anywhere near as cool as he was, either. I mean, it was like he cared more about pizza than he did about what was goin' on."

Sasuke nods at that first point. "You don't want to risk gaining a reputation before you can access food. Plus, you're probably safe from being betrayed because the others don't want to look bad by betraying someone who can't even eat yet."

It had been more or less his reasoning for constantly hitting Ally even though he hardly knew the people around him at the time.

"...Do you think Alfendi would be interested enough in the other rewards to betray?"

Heiji thought about it for a second. "The rewards that Calhoun usually offers are the most tempting to someone who hasn't been here long. But I don't think he'd be too interested in the rewards that they've been offering so far. I wouldn't be. So I think it'd be more likely for him to do it for some other reason."

"Another reason?" If not for any of the rewards, what other reasons could he have? It was far too early for him to have made any enemies already... right?

"Like not trusting the other people here, or figurin' he can get away with it under the right circumstances. Y'know, stuff like that. Another reason might be to test whether it's really true that he can regain memories that way. No matter how you slice it, someone bein' able to give or take away memories like that sounds way too science fiction, right?"

"I'm sure you could think of a few extra, too." Clearly there were many reasons why someone would betray someone else, which was why the world was filled with murder...

"You think he might be the type to do that?" Alfendi seemed pretty laid back from what Sasuke could tell, but you never could know for sure...

"Well, all the examples I mentioned would be characteristic of a different kind of thinking, actually." Heiji began counting off on his fingers.

"A suspicious person afraid of betrayal might act for the first reason. A conniving person would act for the second reason. The third reason... that'd be the thinking of an independent, methodical person. Someone who considered it more important to verify the situation than to avoid the distrust of their fellow captives. As for Alfendi's type, the third would probably fit him best. Don't think he cares too much what other people think of him. That can be good or bad."

"Especially in a situation like this. If you aren't careful, you'll never get anywhere because no one feels like they can trust you." For all that the "game" tried to foster betrayal, the only way to "win" was to be able to trust in each other.

"It could end badly for him."

"Well, that ain't entirely true," said Heiji. "I don't think too many people trusted Zelos, for instance. But he had the highest number of points in the game before he disappeared. It's because this ain't a straight Prisoner's Dilemma. Even if someone doesn't trust Alfendi in particular, they might trust the person he's with."

Heiji had been in that situation himself, really. "And even if they don't trust him, it's hard to believe someone'd vote to off him."

"Maybe not to kill him. But if he can't get enough points to get a medical kit when he needs it, that could be just as bad. It might be difficult to get others to donate too, if he makes any enemies." There's a difference between being an active participant in what is effectively murder as opposed to passively watching it occur, and he's not so sure certain people here could be coaxed into giving up their precious BP if something like that were to happen.

"...Hopefully it won't get that bad to begin with, though." C'mon Alfendi, he believes in you, go forth and make friends not hate.

"Yeah, maybe. So far, seems like the only way to get real medical supplies is to give up 15 BP or betray someone. And the first one gets you better supplies. But I don't think he's dumb. I'm sure he knows the odds, too."

Of course, whether or not Alfendi chose to act on them was kind of up to Alfendi...

"You probably talked more with him than I did, so... I think you'd have a better idea than I would." He should... probably chat with people more. You learn a lot more that way.

"-Was Alfendi the only one who came off strange to you?"

"Oh, you askin' about Akane? She ain't say that much; Alfendi was way more talkative. She seems like a nice person, but she ain't seem too concerned about gettin' kidnapped, either. Well, maybe part of that was me, since I try not to scare people when they first show up."

Of course, for whatever reason, most of the women who came in didn't last for very long...

"She actually looked pretty... cheerful." Especially for having just escaped a water trap like that.

Hopefully that doesn't mean explosions are in her future.

ambidex voting #10

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