User blog:SeibergInstituteOfficial/Retirement

So, yeah. The rumors are true. I'm done with the Institute, the Peaker community, and, yes, even Danganronpa. Especially Danganronpa.

I've been feeling less and less enthusiastic about this fandom over the past few months. Maybe it's just normal burnout. Maybe it's time for me to expand into more generally accepted realms of fiction writing. Maybe I'm just maturing.

Maybe.

I've debated over whether or not I should disclose the main reason for my departure, but in fairness to the many friends and readers I've gathered over the past few years, I've decided transparency is the only way to go.

In 2018, I received an email from a reader that I found incredibly disturbing. This individual is apparently an obsessive consumer of my work, and they discussed their desire to create a "Danganronpa"-style situation at their high school. They spoke entirely in hypotheticals, and obviously they never went through with that plan, but I still found it disturbing. A few months later, I received a similar message in a Twitter DM from someone claiming to have "connections."

Last week, I was sent a lengthy email that outlined in great detail how the sender planned to capture players, create a closed environment, and broadcast a Danganronpa killing game. The level of effort and planning that clearly went into this went beyond the ramblings of an obsessed fan. This person seemed fully prepared and capable of pulling it off. I've given all relevant information to the authorities, but the experience has finally gotten it into my head that the media I create has the potential to cause real-world harm.

I'm sorry to everyone who will be disappointed by this announcement. I've disabled comments for this post to save me some grief. To Tonix, gother, GorillaGolf, Jack, and Esme, thank you for all your support during this difficult time. I'm sorry to everyone who's reached out to me who I didn't mention.

Here's to you all.

-lw