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korgbelmont · 4 years

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Newsletter 22/01/21

In the midst of the difficulties and uncertainties happening around the world, we're pressing onward to produce books we hope you'll fall in love with. As we continue to support one another within our studio, we can truly say that your thoughtful feedback has encouraged us during these challenging times. While we can't predict what'll happen next, we hope our 2021 books will provide you an outlet to smile, laugh, and relax during these times...

Book Updates

Without further ado, we wanted to take the time to update you on the various books to expect in the coming year. Hopefully, these will answer your most pressing questions!

With Every Heartbeat

Aching for another heartfelt Choices story? We're releasing this VIP book to all players at the end of the month. (Eagle-eyed fans might notice we've even updated some of the main character hairstyles!) Be sure to follow our official social accounts for more previews...

So It looks like WEH MC will have some new hairstyles, I know for a fact that this book SOOOO good, can’t wait to see peoples reactions to it.

Open Heart, Book 3

This February, make the most of your third year at Edenbrook and reunite with your favorite medical crew in Open Heart, Book 3! Will the heart of Edenbrook remain the same in Leland Bloom's hands?

So it looks like they are setting up the plot to have Bloom as the villain and the gang finding a way to get rid of him whilst keeping Edenbrook open. I am still wary of this book, but will see it through as I do believe it is the final book of the series.

#ChoicesCookbook

Calling all food lovers! Our team is whipping up a new dish of choices in the kitchen. Get your pots and pans ready for this exclusive Choices VIP book! We'd love to see you all participate with recipes of your own... What delectable dish can you make with these ingredients? Let us know using #playchoices and #ChoicesCookbook.

So this is a part of their branching out into new genres, I have no clue what to expect, I will keep an eye on it. and see what it’s like

Laws of Attraction

Bring your A-game to beat out the competition in this brand new title set in one of New York’s premier law firms. With high-profile cases and a hard-driving, mysterious boss, you’ll be in for dramatic days… and steamy nights!

So it looks like we are getting another book that’s potentially gonna be on the more... mature side. I am curious to see how this will play out and what the premise is going to be.

Crimes of Passion

We’re hyped for this book, and although it won’t be out until later this year, we couldn’t resist sharing a little peek at what you can expect from this thrilling, unpredictable, and jaw dropping mystery book.

So I haven’t exactly been quiet about my excitement for this book, and this image gives off some SERIOUS culty vibes. Crimes of Passion is definitely my top book for this year to keep an eye on.

The Nanny Affair, Book 2

Book 2 of The Nanny Affair is in the works and will be releasing later this year. Can't wait to find out what's going to happen next? Here's the latest hint:

"We have a lot of exciting plans in the works for The Nanny Affair, Book 2 (and trust me, the art team is outdoing themselves). We don't want to give away too much, but let's just say, you may not be the only nanny in town this time around..." - Megan

As I said before, I enjoyed book 1 and am looking forward to book 2. I am curious as to how it will all play out, by the sounds of this, maybe Sam gets another Nanny in whilst they and MC work to sort out the fallout from the wedding??

Zombies

We know plenty of you have been dying for a zombie book. (Yes, we see those tweets and messages!) Until now, we were only able to share a zombie emoji… But we can make this official: zombies will be taking over Choices later this year, so stay tuned!

So I’ve been playing a lot of Resident Evil recently, and the creatures on the right give me serious RE vibes. I am now curious as to what the premise of this book will be and how it will all play out.

The Royal Finale

As mentioned in our last Choices Insiders email, the final book of The Royal Romance series will air later this year. Here's a quote from the Book Lead to tide you over until then:

"In The Royal Finale, you'll uncover new secrets, unravel old mysteries, and experience new heights of royalty with your family!" - Olivia

I hope the “unravel old mysteries” is in part, reference to what part Jackson played in Liam’s mother’s second child. And with the whole secret society thing, who knows what’s gonna happen.

Queen B, Book 2

You just can’t get enough of us, can you, newbie? Enjoy that high of being Queen B… Because what goes up, must always come down. - Kisses, the T.

Oooh, we're excited! Writers Chelsa and Maya have sent us this cryptic message:

🤫🙈✉️👑🐝🔥❌🎧🐍💋

What do you think it means?

Emojis and I have a terrible history so I ain’t gonna try and decrypt that (leave a reply if you do). As for the book itself, I am looking forward to it, aside from the forced Kingsley romance, I enjoyed book 1. I looking forward to the mystery element and hopefully seeing Zoey get her proper LI treatment, and hopefully see Veronica & Carter become LIs.

More New Books in the works!

We are continuing to work on more multi-gender books, including Blades of Light & Shadow 2 launching 2022.

More books. Yay (in theory (depends what they are))

News about Other Sequels

Many of you have asked when or if your favorite books would continue. We want to make sure we inform the community with confirmed and finalized details regarding sequels. To explain a little more in depth about how Choices sequels are decided, our Head of Content Max took some time to give us that insight:

After a great deal of consideration and discussion, we have decided that officially these series will not be getting additional books: Most Wanted, Hero, Nightbound, the It Lives series, The Elementalists, Distant Shores, and Ride-or-Die.I know this may be disappointing to hear, and the truth is, we’re always disappointed when we have to make this decision. I’d like to share a little bit of our process to help you understand why this happens.

Whilst it is a shame, it is nice to have clarification, especially with Most Wanted & Hero. I was surprised to see that Ride or Die won’t be getting a sequel, but sometimes these things happen. As for It Lives, Distant Shores, Elementalists, and Nightbound, I knew they wouldn’t get sequels, but it is a bit of a heart punch to see some personal faves get an official status of concluded.

About once a month, I, along with a small group of Pixelberry's senior staff, make the hard decisions about which books will be written next. Deciding whether or not we make a sequel is an evolving process that we've refined over the years. But even today, it remains ever-changing, and it's never simple.

So I don’t really know what to say here, it’s rather self explanatory. So, yeah.

Sometimes, we want to do a sequel but the Lead Writer is no longer available because they’ve moved onto another project or even left the company. We've tried changing Lead Writers in the past, only to watch sequels struggle, losing sight of what made the original great. This is what happened in the case of Ride or Die; we simply don’t have the team now with the passion and vision to give fans the sequel they crave.

I saw a post by @thefirstcourtesan that OH and ROD share a book lead and after what happened to OH2, it is understandable what happens, and sometimes these things will happen. As for ROD, it works as a standalone, and I am okay with there not being a sequel.

Sometimes a book is a critical darling, beloved by both fans and Pixelberry staff... yet the player numbers aren't there to justify doing another one. This is what happened, for example, with Nightbound, Most Wanted and Distant Shores; while these books were beloved by their players, simply not enough players were starting them to begin with. And these are the ones that hurt the most. We genuinely love these books, but if they haven’t found enough of an audience with our players, then it’s very hard to argue for making a sequel. Believe me, I can't think of a single writer on my team who isn't passionate about their book, but ultimately we are one company in an extremely competitive space, and we have to do whatever it takes to keep running well. If a Book costs significantly more to make than it brought in, it’s very difficult to justify a sequel.

Again, I don’t really know what to say here, again it’s rather self explanatory. Given how long it’s been since Most Wanted, it was safe to say BK2 weren’t happening.

Other times, everyone online seems to hate a book, but the numbers disagree. It's hard to believe, but your most loathed book -- the one that you feel no way deserved a sequel -- might actually be the one that's keeping the lights on for us. And without those books (and those players!), half a dozen other beloved titles may never have existed. We're thankful for sequels. They help us fund future books and projects to try new things. If it weren’t for the success of sequels to books like The Royal Romance and America’s Most Eligible, we would never have been able to try a risky experiment like Blades of Light and Shadow.

This comes across a tiny bit boasty, but it is kinda true, their more generally released romance books are why we get the big ones such as Blades, and I know people diamond mine the quicker released books for the big ones. So, yeah, I don’t really know how to say it, sorry.

We love our online fandom, and your passion, creativity, and art. At the same time, the most visible parts of the fandom sometimes represent a smaller percentage of our players, many of whom might have completely different taste. We have a vast varied player base, and our job is to try as hard as we can to create interesting stories for all of them.

Finally, saying no to one book almost always means saying yes to something new. And without new there is no Pixelberry. When we said no to Most Wanted, much of that team went on to write Endless Summer. When we decided to stop making sequels to Rules of Engagement, that team went on to create The Royal Romance.

With every new book we create, I hope against hope that it'll be our next hit, the start of a ten-volume series that fans will love and support! Some of them are. Some of them aren't. Either way, I hope you stick with us. Sequels are great. So are new things, and I hope most of all that your true favorite Choices book is still out there, waiting to be written.

The fandom is going to make up a small section of it and at the end of the day, they are a company, so the numbers are gonna be what counts. And in saying no to a sequel, it means they can go on to experiment with new story ideas.

Looking Forward

Internally we've been working on the representation promises that we made in June 2020. We've implemented some new Black hairstyles into With Every Heartbeat, and will continue to add more new hairstyles in our upcoming books. We plan on posting a representation blog in the coming months to share a full update of our progress.

So I am curious to see how VIP players would react to updates to With Every Heartbeat, but I am glad to see representation being shown and that they are working on it.

Last but not least... We appreciate you <3

We’ve seen a rise in constructive criticism in our social channels and want to personally thank you for all of your honest feedback. We read all of your concerns and continue to evolve our thinking and processes based on your feedback. At the same time we take our responsibility of crafting stories very seriously. Sometimes we disagree with suggestions or due to constraints can’t enable changes we agree with, but we do try to improve over time and learn from your feedback.

We also continue to ask that you communicate with each other respectfully. And keep in mind that just like with other parts of the internet, just because someone posts something doesn’t mean it’s always true. To everyone who helps keep our community a safe place to freely share your thoughts, opinions and love - thank you. Your respect and kindness goes a long way, and we are looking forward to spending more time with all of you in the coming year.

We’re looking forward to a great 2021 with you!

Finally, I’m glad that they’re reading what people are saying, it is understandable that there will be disagreements with suggestions, that’s just life, it’s human nature. I am curious to see what will be released in the coming year and how they will play out.

In summary

I had a feeling that books they said won’t get sequels weren’t, especially Hero and Most Wanted. It is sad to see that It Lives won’t be concluded, and I knew Nightbound & Distant Shores weren’t going to get sequels (unfortunately).

Glad to see them making more multi gender books, hopefully we will get more like Foreign Affairs with the different pro-noun options.

I am curious about Laws of Attraction and very much looking forward to seeing how Crimes of Passion will play out. I will post my thoughts and theories as we get new information

Stay safe everyone :)

#playchoices #thoughts and theories #very long post

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diarialiya · 4 years

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Kenapa Kita Gak Milih Wisuda Online?

Adanya pandemi membuat kampus pun memberlakukan protokol barunya, mulai dari partially lockdown sampai sekarang udah buka lagi pake aturan new normal, tapi tetep aja sepi manusia, penghuni-penghuni dunia lain mungkin makin leluasa berkeliaran di hutan kampus dan gedung-gedung tua hiyy~

Aku salah satu manusia terdampak COVID-19, karena harus menyelesaikan studi secara virtual, menjadi mahasiswa awalan yang melaksanakan sidang online, beberapa hari setelah protokol kampus ditetapkan. Wajar lah, aku ini udah mahasisa, masa mau makin telat lagi lulusnya :” gamau dapet tagihan UKT lagi hxhxhx. Long story short, drama perskripsianku sudah hampir selesai dengan revisi format berkali-kali pfft salute to mbak komdik departemen yang sangat detail mengoreksi juga diriku yang tidak sanggup memahami PPKI (Panduan Penulisan Karya Ilmiah) dan fitur auto di Ms. Word yang tidak berjalan seharusnya. Sebelum balik lagi ke topik aku mau mention big thanks to teman baik yang bersedia mencetakkan skripsi dan mendistribusikannya ke departemen, fakultas, dan LSI huwaa coba aja prakata di skripsi bisa ditambahin hehe.

Oke setelah skripsi jadi, ngurus SKL, foto buat wisuda mesti belajar senyum manis ga keliatan gigi tapi jadinya malah senyum sinis :”) datanglah hot issue di grup-grup mahasisa (sebenernya udah dibahas lama sih, tapi dibahas terus terusan), contoh percakapan grupnya kaya gini nih,

"Kalian milih wisuda apa gengs?" "Bayarnya sama aja ya?" "Kalau milih offline tahun depan udah pada nikah kali ya"

Gitu deh kira-kira ada juga bahas kebijakan kampus, ngasih kemungkinan-kemungkinan yang ga pasti. Tapi aku ga bakal ngomongin itusih, pas tau ada wacana wisuda online aku jadi keinget part di buku Leaders Eat Last nya Simon Sinek yang bahas hormon kebahagiaan yang bekerja di dalam tubuh kita. Eits, jauh banget ya? Ga juga sih karena Mr. Sinek ngasih contohnya relate banget sama mahasiswa, udah mah aku bacanya pas lagi tingkat akhir, jadi kan makin inget tuh.

Aku nyebutnya, selain buat ijazah, wisuda offline itu kita ngebeli euforia, juga rangkaian selebrasi yang menyertainya. Ngeliat respon temen-temen pas ada ketetapan dari rektor jadi ketauan sih tipe-tipenya. Ada yang pengeen banget wisuda offline dan ngasih masukan gimana biar tetep wisuda pake protokol COVID-19, ada yang udah weh wisuda online aja yang penting lulus, bahkan ada juga temen-temen yang udah wisuda dan nyemangatin dengan ngasih tau kalau wisuda tuh ga sebahagia yang dikira kok. Aku masuk yang mana? Sebenernya aku orang yang suka euforia sih, tapi kemarin udah ditahap "yaudahlah online juga gapapa, udah abis juga vibe lulusnya" eh tapi keluargaku pengen wisuda offline biar sekalian main di Bogor trus silaturahmi ke keluarga. Kaan, bakal makin banyak tuh yang dibayar buat euforianya hehe yauda aku manut aja.

Balik lagi lagi ke buku Leaders Eat Last, jadi Mr. Sinek nulisin tentang empat hormon yang berperan dalam menciptakan kebahagiaan. Singkatannya E.D.S.O ada endorfin, dopamin, serotonin, dan oksitosin. Jelasin satu-satu kali ya.

1. Endorphins, the Runner’s High

Istilah Runner’s High itu dipake buat ngegambarin euforia atlet pelari yang berhasil nyelesain lari marathonnya. Jadi abis dari kerja panjang dan berat baru lega tuh. Kerjanya endorfin cuma dari satu tujuan ke tujuan lain, dan endorfin ini yang ngebuat kita ngelupain rasa sakit fisik, karena sama endorfin disembunyiin, biar terus lari kejar tujuan. Hormon ini bisa keluar sebagai respon dari stres atau takut, they mask physical pain with pleasure.Ini bisa jadi dialamin sama orang-orang workaholic yang emang suka kerja dan baru puas kalau udah selesai.

Momen lain saat kita ngerelease endofin itu juga pas kita ketawa, Stephen Colbert seorang political satirist bilang “You can’t laugh and be afraid at the same time”. Nah bener nih karena pas ketawa kita bakal feeling good, like I should tanpa harus ngekhawatirin hal lain. Makanya ketauan kan orang yang ketawanya ga lepas, ga ikhlas, kepaksa mungkin lagi ada apa-apa tuh.

2.Dopamine, an Incentive for Progress

Dopamin ini yang ngasih perasaan baik, seneng, lega kalau kita nemuin sesuatu yang kita cari atau berhasil nyelesain sesuatu yang harus kita lakukan. Jadi dia ngasih rasa puas ketika kita berhasil nyoret to-do list di jurnal harian, atau rasa lega ketika nemuin kacamata yang suka tiba-tiba ilang padahal lupa naro :”)

Hormon ini yang ngebuat manusia jadi goal-oriented.Ibaratnya ada metrik yang ngukur dopamin ketika lagi berusaha mencapai tujuan, makin dekat kita dengan tujuan yang kita incar, dopamin bakal ngepush kita buat terus berprogres, keep going.Kalau udah dapet tuh sama incarannya, rasanya seluruh tubuh tuh neriakin “Gotcha!”. Makin gede tujuannya, usahanya yang dibutuhin juga makin gede, dan kita bakal dapet dopamin lebih banyak. Makanya kalau berhasil ngelakuin hal besar yang udah susah payah diperjuangin, bakal lupa tuh sama susah susahnya karena yang dirasain bahagianya~

Manusia tuh makhluk visual banget. Kita bakal percaya kalau emang ngeliat buktinya daripada cuma denger dari omongan orang, no pict = hoax kan ya. Nah ini yang jadi alasan kenapa kita sering nulis goals kita, biar keliatan nyata. Makin jelas visinya, makin kebayang tuh. We call it “vision” because we need to be able to “see” it. Tapi seperti yang kita tau, dopamin itu sifatnya adiktif, sangat adiktif. Dia ga cuma bantu kita survive dengan reaching the goals tapi bisa berefek kebalikannya karena kebiasaan kita sendiri yang membuatnya jadi membahayakan. Zat-zat memabukkan kaya kokain, nikotin, dan alkohol bakal ngebuat candu dengan dopamin porsi gede. Hal lain yang bisa “ngebajak” sistem dopamin kita adalah media sosial. Segala notifikasi yang bermunculan di dekat icon-icon itu ngebuat kita ngerasa “huwaaaaw there’s something for me” kalau pada inget awal-awal pake medsos pasti seneng kaan. Kalau sekarang sih mending dimatiin aja notif yang gapenting banget karena kalau kalau dibiarin aja bakal kerasa deh candunya, entar bisa tuh ngerasa ada notif padahal mah sebenarnya ga ada :”) duh candunya nyampe halu ya.

3. Serotonin, the Leadership Chemical

Nah hormon ini yang bikin aku inget pas lagi bahas-bahas wisuda online, jadi Mr. Sinek ngasih contoh kalau perasaan yang dirasain sama wisudawan pas namanya dipanggil trus maju ke depan dan tali di toganya dipindahin, trus salaman sama rektor dan jajaran dekan (eh iya gasih), difotoin sama mamang mamang tukang foto official (aku mah tidak official wkwk) sambil senyum degdegan haru, yak! itu adalah kerjanya serotonin yang ngebuat rasa bangga, senang karena dapet respect jadinya pede deh~

Hal lain tentang serotonin ini ga cuma dirasain sama wisudawannya, tapi juga orang tua yang duduk di kursi undangan, ngeliat anaknya dipanggil, fotonya terpampang ada nama ayahnya juga, hxhx dapet serotonin juga deh ortu kita. Serotonin ini yang menguatkan bonding antar ortu dan anak, guru dan murid, coach dan atlet, bos dan karyawannya ketika mereka sama sama bangga dengan hasil kerja satu sama lain.

Naaah pasti hal ini bakal beda banget kan kalau misalnya wisuda online di rumah, yang biasa hari hari buluk bare face ketemu orangnya juga itu itu lagi dengan kostum rumahannya. Bisa sih euforia itu diciptakan, ya inimah balik lagi gimana menikmati momen dan memaknai suasana (apa coba ini maksudnya).

Serotonin juga yang jadi alasan kenapa kalau ada orang yang dapet reward, yang mereka sebutin terima kasih pasti ke Allah, orang tua, teman-teman, ya pokonya yang ngedukung dia. Serotonin ngasih perasaan tanggung jawab ketika kita tau orang lain ngorbanin waktu dan energi buat dukung kita.

4. Oxytocin, Chemical Love

Oksitosin katanya jadi hormon favorit, karena ia ngasih perasaan buat sahabat, cinta, dan deep trust. Hormon ini yang ngasih perasaan hangat di hati, kaya lagunya HONNE - Warm on Cold Night~ Momen nyanyi bareng temen sambil ngerangkul atau pegangan tangan pasti heartwarming banget kan, atau momen abis muhasabah ESQ nanges nanges nginget dosa trus peluk-pelukan.

Tanpa oksitosin kita gabisa punya empati dan kita juga ngerasa gaperlu orang lain buat support kita. Oxytocin makes us social.

Ga kaya dopamin yang sifatnya ngasih kepuasan instan, oksitosin lebih long lasting. Makin lama kita ngehabisin waktu bareng seseorang, kita bakal ngebuat diri kita lebih “rentan”, bakal nunjukin lemah dan kurangnya kita, karena udah saling percaya satu sama lain bakal saling ngedukung utuk utuk~

My favorite definition of love is giving someone the power to destroy us and trusting they won’t use it. -Simon Sinek

Yap segitu dulu aja kali ya ngalor ngidulnya. Semoga selalu bisa menciptakan bahagia apapun kondisinya :) Oiya kelupaan, kalau mau dengerin curhatan sarjana online bisa denger podcast #TukarIsiKepala episode 9 hehe

#jurnaliya #simon sinek #leaders eat last #edso hormone

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