Inspiration Behind 'Game of Mass Destruction'

Introduction

Game of Mass Destruction is one of my most ambitious writing projects to date. It's set to being one of my longest pieces of fan fiction ever as well one of my most popular stories on AO3 and Wattpad. The story has been published and updated continuously since the start of summer. The concept, however, is ten years old.

Origin

The concept came to be when being assigned to write a sci-fi story as homework for my English class. It was only meant to be a short story. The story was originally called Paranoia Wars Community. The concept was the same, but the cast was different. I loved writing for it but I had a big cast, then lost interest in some of the fandoms I was writing about and got burned out from the project. I dropped it and deleted the story. the three chapters I did manage to finish can still be found in my deviant art scraps.

The point system is very different as well and a lot more complex in the old one. I simplified the new one simply to help makes the calculations easier when I did the scoreboard chapters.

Paranoia Wars Community is branded as a test and is supported by a military, like how Battle Royale's The Program was functioned. Game of Mass Destruction is a game show/reality TV show. And in the original, most of the contestants are teenagers, whereas in the rewrite, the characters are all adults within the age range of 18-50.

Premise

It's set in a dystopian modern day where The Joker is president and Harley Quinn in the first lady. Game of Mass Destruction is created for The Joker's amusement. Forty contestants have been nominated to take part in destroying 2,000 robots and the show does not finish until they are all wiped out. Afterwards, the pair with the most points wins two billion dollars.

Possible Rewrite

If the fic continues to get good feedback, then I will consider rewriting Game of Mass Destruction again, but using original characters and publishing it as a novel. The challenge will be to create 40+ original characters with strong personalities and interesting backstories. Though I think it's a challenge that will be worth doing.

Music has been a great motivation towards my writings, and if I could pick one song that has inspired Game of Mass Destruction it would be this one. It captures the essence of some of the characters' backstory and the lyrics are so intense and raw. It's a feeling I want to capture when writing this story.

Other Inspirations

Readers have been quick to notice the Hunger Games vibes in this with the reality TV show element mixed in with the violence and hormones kicking in. I enjoyed the Hunger Games series, but I would say that Battle Royale is the main source of inspiration towards this story for its bold creativity.

Reality TV shows have also been inspiration too. Some of it very interesting and fascinating and most of the time, its deep in the depths of insanity. I used to love watching Big Brother when I was younger and liked seeing the mix of characters in there. I've been asked if I've seen Love Island by a reader of this fic and the answer is no. It's not one on my list.

And of course, the fandoms that the characters are from are inspiration.

Game of Mass Destruction is available to read on Fanfiction.net, Wattpad, and Archive of Our Own.