Going to the Bathroom

[Joelle Emmily]

I realize some things are just left out of games, and that this probably won't be a popular suggestion, but in the wilderness, one can't just poop wherever one wants. If you go to the washroom in your shelter, like being dumb enough to use a none working toilet, you risk contaminating yourself. And if you do it outside too close to your shelter, an abundance of animals may be attracted to you.

Another suggestion that's not going to be popular, but I'll put in here because I realize it's just as unlikely to be implemented, woman have periods. I'm not suggestion a mechanic to deal with them in game, but, when one is having one, one is more attractive to animals. Or is that why wolves attack me so much?

[Gaboris]

Heh, yeah it's always funny to see things like this suggested or "missed" in a game and I can't blame people for it, but I just have to say no way since I'm pretty sure that so far no SERIOUS direct character controlled game was able to implement something like this correctly.

[Joelle Emmily]

Sims?

[vancopower]

The hygiene part I support + 1

However making the survivor go "where pope goes alone" will make this game look silly and most of the players would just do that all the time and stream it and that is Bad rep. for the game. For me personally I would love the idea of full realism, heck there are a lot of toilets everywhere we might as well use them. 

Here is a suggestion: To use the toilet you need 1 lit water but it does not have to be boiled, you can use dirty water. Or maybe this could be implemented for the  hygiene of the survivor and we skip the silly part altogether  

[Gaboris]

2 hours ago, Joelle Emmily said:

Sims?

*Oh boy... I KNEW I should've made a note about NOT like the sims, but I just HAD to say NAaahhh... *

So ummm... no. Sims is:

#1 A "god game" where you manage a SET of people and don't control them directly. First-person, third-person and even top down view where you have ONE person under your control just doesn't work well with the concept of going to the toilet every few hours I'm afraid. No one figured it out how to make it work yet.

#2 A silly game that takes absolutely NOTHING seriously about itself and that's why taking care of stuff like hygiene is part of the fun.

[Kyopaxa]

I was thinking about this the other day and I wouldn't mind if this gets implemented. For me, a simple time passing bar--like when you chop wood--should be enough, no need to go further in details about implementing the action itself.

Urge to go should also be implemented, preventing you from doing some other actions when the urge is really high. Then, medical conditions like food poisoning would be more realistic, having a constant urge to go if you're not resting. Character voice overs when there is high urge to go can be hilarious.

I wouldn't mind about the period either. It's a reality for half of humanity so why not?

[deimos790]

5 hours ago, Joelle Emmily said:

I realize some things are just left out of games, and that this probably won't be a popular suggestion, but in the wilderness, one can't just poop wherever one wants. If you go to the washroom in your shelter, like being dumb enough to use a none working toilet, you risk contaminating yourself. And if you do it outside too close to your shelter, an abundance of animals may be attracted to you.

Another suggestion that's not going to be popular, but I'll put in here because I realize it's just as unlikely to be implemented, woman have periods. I'm not suggestion a mechanic to deal with them in game, but, when one is having one, one is more attractive to animals. Or is that why wolves attack me so much?

I guess I'll start the "No thanks" counter argument.

Of course you're right, from a realism perspective. From a gameplay perspective, I don't like it.

There are a few reasons:

- Unless there are benefits to these mechanics, they only serve to make the game more tedious than it already is. Hygiene for things like wounds is very important, but in a generalized sense? Not really. Maybe brushing your teeth, but ain't nobody dying of tooth decay or gingivitis in a survival situation.

- Grossness aspect. I don't really care about this one, but some people don't like it. I played ARK a lot, where everything (you included) poops. You could even do it on command. It was kind of a running joke, kind of gross (you could also eat it or force feed it to other people, but that's some what irrelevant here). However, it could be used as fertilizer for growing crops (see previous point).

- Introduces gender differences. I'm not talking "political correctness" type stuff here. I mean if you as a player you are presented with a choice of two ostensibly cosmetic decisions at the beginning of the game (that currently, as far as I know only affect voice over), but then you read: "Oh by the way, playing as a woman will make you bleed periodically, gives you a 'Cramps' debuff (pain pills removes) and makes wild animals more likely to attack you." Aside from your allegiance to your respective gender, why choose the latter? I don't know of any games that introduce Periods, as it seems to be one source of blood that grosses out many guys (which is another topic entirely). If you wanted to introduce other gender differences to make the choice more meaningful (men are stronger, but women have greater endurance or something with equivalent trade offs) your suggestion might not be as out of place.

- Burying your poo and trash. One thing that is very important when camping is what you do with your trash. Opened cans with uneaten food in them will attract animals. Typically, you hang your food in a tree (putting it in your tent invites trouble). Likewise, as you mention, you can't just poop wherever you want. You have to dig a hole in the ground. Good luck doing that when the ground is frozen. I'm not sure how you would - maybe build a shelter around a fire, try to thaw the ground some, and dig a big hole. It'd probably be a hell of a lot easier to just convert a previously existing building into a biffy.

TLDR: Basically, it would add another Need, a ticking bar that would probably go in the opposite direction, that would have no discernible purpose other than to make the game more tedious. You're trading off fidelity to reality with what makes a game good.

[Mikeyd0577]

WOW!  I have thought about this in the game; but hadn't thought enough about it to post it in here.  Bravo to you @Joelle Emmily for doing so.

 

Ark did the poop thing and you could do it anywhere and so could the dinos; it was used as fertilizer for crops.  In this game, I would have to say no.  I can barely keep my fingers warm in the wind; let alone other "extremities".

 

As for the period idea:

1) Playing a woman character would put you at a disadvantage because a portion of the cloth you would find would be used for containment of the situation 

2) You had asked if this situation is why wolves attack you so much.  If that is the case in game then my male character is having "situations" of his own... that might explain why I can't stay alive..  

 

[LucidFugue]

Subterrain does this also, and it adds very little. The most I'd ask for is the diuretic effects of coffee to be implemented by increasing dehydration for a time after consuming, to balance the energy gain. 

I don't really want to manage my survivor's bathroom schedule.