Story and pacing
Do players just follow the first person who votes when votes are visible?
Showing who voted for what saves time, but it may also turn a group decision into one person's decision. This entry shows how to compare groups that saw the first vote with groups that did not, so you can tell real agreement from simply following.
Players always pick the same answer: is it a choice at all?
A choice that nine out of ten players make the same way is a choice in name only, and one that nobody ever picks wastes writing. This entry shows how to rate every decision in your story from the numbers and when you cannot yet tell.
How many story scenes does the whole regular group see together?
Each friend may see most scenes, and still hardly any scene is seen by all of them together. This entry shows how to count scenes with the full regular group present, how that differs from each person's own attendance, and why guests must not change the count.
Do groups come back sooner after a cliffhanger than after a calm ending?
Comparing how often groups returned after different kinds of chapter endings sounds simple, but groups that finished a chapter yesterday have had no time to come back yet. This entry shows how to leave them out fairly so recent chapters do not look like failures.
What chapter is a group really in when its members are in different ones?
Members of one team can sit at very different places in the story, so "the group's chapter" depends on who you ask. This entry shows one clear rule to give a group a single place in the story that survives a fast player and a straggler, and why the average is a poor choice.
Count a group's story vote when some players never voted or changed their mind
When a team votes on a story choice, the raw list of clicks lies. Some people vote twice, some never vote, and a tie is not the same as a win. This entry shows how to turn the clicks into a result you can trust, and how to report how many people took part.
How much of my story does a typical player actually see?
Branching stories can hide a lot of writing in corners most players never visit. Counting how much of the story each playthrough touches shows whether the branching pays off or just spreads thin.
The host is at chapter eight, but how much of the story have the guests seen?
In many co-op games only one person owns the save, so the story counter says the whole group is far along. Friends who came and went have seen only fragments. This entry shows how to measure each person's real share of the story and which moments they missed.
How many groups leave before the ending scene, and do they leave on purpose?
After a hard final fight, many players leave before the ending plays. A raw count of leavers mixes people who decided to go with people whose connection failed. This entry shows how to separate them and how to spot a screen that players click away without looking.
Do friend groups stop playing together once their progress drifts apart?
Friends who play at different speeds end up in different parts of the story, and some groups quietly fall apart. This entry shows how to put groups into fair bands by how far apart their members are, and how often each band was still playing together the next week.
A friend joins halfway through the story, so which earlier moments need a recap?
Showing a newcomer everything they missed is boring, and showing nothing leaves them lost. The right recap is neither. This entry shows how to pick only the missed moments that the next scenes really depend on, using the story's own links between moments.
When a group replays a chapter, do they really choose differently?
Replays are the strongest sign that a story offers different paths, but some groups only play again for another reason and change nothing. This entry shows how to count which replays changed something and which decisions are the ones people change.