The journey or the destination?

[Daphne]

This is another of our Oversimplification Polls. ™

If you have to pick one, which is more erotic for you: The journey (the induction, the establishment of control, etc.) or the destination (using the control, having a submissive, etc.)?

Comments below!

[hereno]

For what it's worth: I don't care about induction ("you are getting sleepy"), but I do love programming ("you will do what I say").

That said, I voted for "Destination," because that's where all the power is. My biggest peeve with the entire fetish is that most stories only get as far as "the controller's first fuck with his subject," and then just stop. I really want stories to keep going, and show what their lives are like afterwards. How is he using his control? What does she do for him, sexually and otherwise?

Also: when I re-read/re-watch stories I like, I usually concentrate towards the end/destination, and skip a lot of the beginning/journey.

[radouigi]

I pretty much agree with Hereno but expressed it by voting for "The Journey", I like the induction a LOT but the programming is my favorite part, and when re-reading I do focus on the end/destination, but what I really like is By-the-Book or Hidden Knowledge style set-ups where we get all the inductions and programming but keep trucking on to the full outrageous harem (which I appreciate in other stories on this site too, those were just the two that came to mind first).

So yes, "have to pick ONE" I choose Journey. But I appreciate getting to comment on why as well.

[hereno]

I pretty much agree with Hereno but expressed it by voting for "The Journey"

Democracy

[ozymandias]

I voted for "the journey", because that's where most of the heat is for me... but I like the destination too. The constant new induction/new commands series in Con'Fused is one reason why that series was so hot. See also: Cuckoo's Nest. I think the general LACK of new inductions or the lack requirement for re-inductions is why I'm pretty bored with Hidden Knowledge and SJI. Once everyone's a thrall, then it's just sex on command, which isn't that interesting to me. What's interesting to me is the Journey--and the first time the destination is really obviously reached.

[lifmcs]

Voted Journey. Or was going to. As others have said, it's hard to do unique and interesting at the Destination consistently. So baring those ideal qualities, there is always the thrill of the conquest to fall back on. But I have to wonder what something like The End of the Affair would count as. Or After the Show. So with hereno pointing out that Journeys are rather common, I decided on Destination in the hopes of, I don't even know exactly, but I'd like to find out.

[redsimonde]

I voted for destination, because like hereno I want to see what is life like after the protagonist has control over one or more loyal "walking, talking twats". I think we haven't seen enough of that and there is potential there. How does the protagonist go about all the choices he has? Perhaps he invents some games to keep things interesting for him, or he swaps some women for fresh ones just for variety, keeping his favorites. Does he binge them and has days off for other tasks? Or does he choose one or two per day for entertainment?
And what if someone finds out that there is something strange going on with him and the total control he has over his harem?

[HarryManBack]

I prefer the midnight train going an-eeeee-weeaaaaaarrr.

[Haight]

I really like Destination, because I like the series that show the day after the induction, and the day after that, and so on (others have mentioned it). But I really like the programming to, and then seeing it play out. See: SJI during the night of the watch... when the girls are programmed with respect to Adrian. Of course, it didn't hold, because I guess that wasn't the story that was to be told... but it was good while it lasted.

What I don't like is setup, skip the trance/programming scene, then move to first sex, then end story. And I don't like too much focus on negative emotions, cheating, or all the messy stuff that comes along with that... I know some people like that. I mean, NTR/cuck fetish is a thing. But it's a big turn off when the focus of a story is on that.

[Daphne]

What inspired this was my going back and rereading an old story on MCStories, a classic that has been around forever. Lots of people speaking admiringly of it, and I remember liking it, too. So imagine my surprise when, rereading it, I discovered that the actual mind control was pretty much... not there. Like the entire induction and programming was often dispensed with in an ellipsis. Now, this was back from an era that we were not quite so spoiled for choice as we are now in mind control fiction, but I was still a bit surprised that this was considered such a classic, given that there just wasn't that much MC in it.

[Haight]

I think the thing for me with transformation-based erotic fiction, whether it's mental or physical, is that you have to see the *before*, see the change, and then see the after for it to be as interesting as it can be. The more well-developed a character is, the more depth they have, the hotter it is to see them MCed or even subjected to something as "crass" as BE.

[Geo]

Sometimes the maguffin doesn't matter and the journey is all on the back end.

That said, Journey had much more long term success than The Destination.

Haight, you get the same thing in BE. But some folks are just in it for the ridiculously big boobs and don't give a smurf about anything but the after. It's a shame, but different stroke for different folk.

[lifmcs]

To Haight's point, that's one of the glorious things about MC. There isn't just before and after the transformation; triggers and the like allow someone to exist continually in a slavehood superposition. If the author so desires, ongoing and evolving before and afters ca be deployed, such that it muddies the waters between Journey and Destination.

I agree with the core argument though, contrast and meaning in the before and after make for the best stories. I just wanted to put a bow on the nature of MC allowing far more flexibility around when, in the course of events, a story with those qualities can reside. Which is why I voted Destination, because Journey is the easy, if typically effective way out.

[Haight]

To Haight's point, that's one of the glorious things about MC. There isn't just before and after the transformation; triggers and the like allow someone to exist continually in a slavehood superposition. If the author so desires, ongoing and evolving before and afters ca be deployed, such that it muddies the waters between Journey and Destination.

Yup! This part can be very fun...

[grimtidings]

It's all journey until it starts repeating itself (oh, what's this? another beautiful sex kitten at my beck and call? join the club, ladies, we've got jackets* )

Anything that moves a story forward is also journey. So here's to stories that stay interesting forever and only reach that deadly destination when all the fun avenues have been explored.