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III. Roomies
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1. What is "Roomies?"
Originally started in May 2001, and my first fanfic to premiere on
Fanfiction.net, "Roomies" is a reality show fanfic starring anime
characters. "Roomies" was inspired by similarly themed works already
at FF.net at the time. But, I didn't want to go with a straight port
of one reality show, so instead, I went for a combination of them.
Think of "Roomies" as a cross between MTV's "Real World" with "Road
Rules" challenges... without any of the endless bickering from their
crossover shows.
Well, okay... it wouldn't be a reality show without some bickering.
2. What's with two separate houses in the first season?
Just like the "Adventures Series," there was originally supposed to be
one house. Featuring just the girls. Because, for some odd
reason, writing about female characters was a whole lot easier than
writing about male characters.
Still, my better judgment got the better of me, and I decided to do a
boys' version, which runs simultaneously with the girls'... and
lead to several interactions down the road.
3. What's with the weird system used to determine how much each
character could win at the end?
The system was installed to do something out of the ordinary... to
push the players to work harder so that if they won, they'd be
carrying away more money in the end.
In Season One, we had the normal challenges, in which the players
would split up into two teams, and every member on the winning team
would add $100,000 to their personal pots. Plays could also enter the
confessional room once per day and add $5,000 to their pots, up to
$200,000 max.
In the second season, roommate challenges were added to the mix.
Grouped into pairs, players earned money based on where their team
placed in a roommate challenge. First place added $50,000, and each
successive team received $10,000 less, all the way down to last place,
which got nothing. The confession allotment was also reduced to
$100,000 total, in order to keep the maximum prize $1,000,000.
The third season was pretty much the same, but because of a slightly
larger cast compared to Season 2, teams in the roommate challenges who
finished sixth or worse didn't get to add to their personal pots.
4. Why did only four shows make up the first season's large cast,
with more than half of them characters from "Pokémon" and "Digimon?"
Back then, those were the only four shows I knew extensively enough to
write about. The fact that I decided to make Sasami and Tenchi the
only ones eligible to live in the houses, for safety reasons, actually
played into the abundance of "Pokémon" and "Digimon" characters.
This not only led to the 'one character per anime' rule for future
seasons, but also reduced the chances a "Pokémon" or a "Digimon"
character could get in because of their smaller pool. That didn't
stop Jessie, Jeri, Whitney, or Takuya, though, did it?
5. How was each season's winners decided?
By popular vote. Probably not the best decision in hindsight...
but Season Three's winner was a popular choice to begin with.
6. Will there be a "Roomies 4?" Please, oh please say yes!
Even though there were plans in the work at the end of "Roomies 3"...
a location, theme, and several preliminary cast lists had already
been finished... I decided not to do a fourth season. It was getting
harder and harder to write the series and enjoy doing so at the same
time. Plus, I wanted readers to pay more attention to my other
non-reality show fanfics.
The thought of someday doing a fourth season has been popping in and
out of my mind over the last few years. But, I still can't bring
myself to starting it because I don't have the confidence and
will-power needed to guide me on such a large endeavor.
So, the answer is pretty much no.
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