Books and time ratio

[CaveDweller]

This is a wish for those of us who treat TLD as a second-life sim rather than a survival game

Two parts, a) having actual books to read and b) the real-life/in-game time ratio when reading these books.

With regard to a) I think use of out of copyright material would be a must. There are some great titles that fit the game,  such as Jack London's 'Call of the Wild' and 'White Fang'.

With regard to b) when reading these books the real-life/in-game time ratio would slow to 1:1. Could you imagine hunkering down in the woods, cave or your favourite structure...starting a crackling fire and with all the sounds of the world around you...and reading for hours with all that ambient atmosphere?

[odizzido]

I think this is a great idea.

[Pillock]

26 minutes ago, CaveDweller said:

With regard to b) when reading these books the real-life/in-game time ratio would slow to 1:1.

If hey ever do include readable books in the game, this would be a must, probably. In fact, I think they could do this already when it comes to writing in your journal. I never write in my journal really, because I never feel like I have enough time - the clock is ticking and you're getting hungrier, tireder, thirstier all the while. There's always something "useful" to do that takes priority, and if I spend 10 minutes scribbling some thoughts into my journal, that ends up being - what? - an hour, or something? And I rarely feel like I can afford that.

[Ice Hole]

35 minutes ago, CaveDweller said:

With regard to a) I think use of out of copyright material would be a must

This copyright material could be a DLC package.  

The time ratio adjustable in the option settings.

[Guest Jeffery Simpson]

Not a bad idea. I'll pass that onto the designers.

In terms of copyright books like Call of the Wild are now in the public domain. But that wouldn't be the only consideration to the team doing that.

[Ice Hole]

8 minutes ago, Hawk said:

what about folks that don't use Steam or bought TLD from another outlet

That is a good point.  The DRM laws are strict and I am no expert on this.  I remember twitch was muting audio in Fallout 4 because of copyright issues with the radio music.

This means in game e-books would need to be copyright free for all platforms and have DLC material only available to platforms where DRM can be enforced. 

There are expiring e-books similar to the type you download from a public library that might be the best choice.  These books might have pages torn and missing.  Giving us an incentive to purchase IRL the book.

[Darkestnight]

This would also give another great use of all the multitudes of books that have no other purpose other than being used to light a fire easily in the early/mid game.

[CaveDweller]

10 hours ago, Pillock said:

I think they could do this already when it comes to writing in your journal

I'd never considered this, but 100% agree. Sitting there writing in my journal before a roaring fire and under iridescent skies. In my mind I'm already gone.

10 hours ago, Ice Hole said:

This copyright material could be a DLC package.  

The time ratio adjustable in the option settings.

At some point in the future maybe this could be, I was thinking more in terms of a quick-win type implementation with minimal overhead for the devs. Your idea in lthe long term may indeed add to the possibility of develpign an in-game library

10 hours ago, Jeffery Simpson said:

Not a bad idea. I'll pass that onto the designers.

In terms of copyright books like Call of the Wild are now in the public domain. But that wouldn't be the only consideration to the team doing that.

Appreciated  A lot of Lovecraft's work is also now in the public domain - the story as referenced in the 'Willow's Peak' thread ('The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath') is a good example.

 

 

[MarrowStone]

Maybe some naturalist poetry!

A Torchbearer by Edith Wharton would work.

Anything by Jack London of course too.

[CaveDweller]

1 hour ago, MarrowStone said:

Anything by Jack London of course too.

Amen!

Actually, when you start to look a the titles that are in the public domain it is quite surprising...https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/public-domain

Don Quixote, Frankenstein, Moby Dick, Treasure Island, War of the Worlds, Alice in Wonderland, Heart of Darkness, the invisible Man...the list goes on and on.

[MarrowStone]

@CaveDweller, Id much prefer the media to stay in theme with the game world however, that way it is more curated and doesnt feel like a slapped together collection. 

Stuff from The naturalist literary movement fits this game best in my opinion. And almostall is public domain.

[Hotzn]

I recall that there is an interesting description of a wolf encounter in the book Robinson Crusoe. Crusoe is stranded on a tropical island and has to spend the greater portion of his life there. But sometimes it escapes our memory that his story continues beyond his salvation, and there is a point when he is travelling by land throught the Pyrenées in Winter. There, he and his companions are attacked and pursued by a huge pack of wolves which devour most of their horses, and the travellers barely make it out alive. When I was young and read the book, I found that part very gripping and would recommend it to any player of TLD.

I can see @MarrowStone's point that it would fit the TLD theme to only have books with related content in the game (Jack London etc.). But there are so many marvellous books to explore, and just taking a brief look at the link to public domain literature which @CaveDwellerprovided I have to remember how many brilliant works are out there for the taking (or reading). And it would make sense that people would leave behind books with different themes (and not only wilderness-related).

The idea of slowing down time to a ratio of 1:1 also appears ingenious to me. It would make TLD really, really special if it was that one game in which you could drift off and read such incredible classics. 

[Pillock]

People are aware that all of this is available, and has been for a long time, in DayZ?

I haven't played it for a long time, because the updates to their game engine have put it beyond the capabilities of my laptop to run acceptably, but in DayZ you can sit by a campfire in the woods as the sun goes down, cooking some meat that you've hunted, and reading War and Peace or Moby Dick or Teasure Island or any of a huge number of other out-of-copyright books that are possible to find in the game. I've done just that!

Putting the same thing into TLD would perhaps leave Hinterland open to the charge of stealing an idea from another game, but apart from that there shouldn't be many impediments to it - precisely because it's already in another game.

EDIT: Oh, and like The Long Dark, you can burn books in DayZ, too. This is off topic, so sorry, but I once went around the DayZ world, Chernarus, collecting all the copies of The Mayor of Casterbridge that I could find, specifically so that I could make a pyre out of them. I had to study that book at school and I've hated it ever since.

[CaveDweller]

4 hours ago, MarrowStone said:

prefer the media to stay in theme with the game world however, that way it is more curated

I can see your point, and I was partially of this thinking also. The idea occurred when I was reading a collection of Jack London's short stories that were on theme. I also take @Hotzn's point on board re., people leaving a range of books behind. I guess it's another of the real-life vs game-mechanic questions. Having the community propose titles with reasoning for their inclusion may be a neat way of slowly implementing the idea over time whilst also providing a certain level of community curation.

@Pillock didn't know that old chap! Must admit though that DayZ is also beyond my system's capabilities. It appears from accounts though that this feature is currently broken in that game. Here's a great tale of community https://imgur.com/a/xqujd

3 hours ago, Pillock said:

collecting all the copies of The Mayor of Casterbridge that I could find, specifically so that I could make a pyre out of them.

Oh ooh, I think we have gone to a dark place here  Perhaps the devs could implement this title just for your character. Burning a copy of said book buoys the spirits and wards off cabin fever by 24 hours  

[Hotzn]

3 hours ago, Pillock said:

People are aware that all of this is available, and has been for a long time, in DayZ?

I haven't played it for a long time, because the updates to their game engine have put it beyond the capabilities of my laptop to run acceptably, but in DayZ you can sit by a campfire in the woods as the sun goes down, cooking some meat that you've hunted, and reading War and Peace or Moby Dick or Teasure Island or any of a huge number of other out-of-copyright books that are possible to find in the game. I've done just that!

Ah, wow, didn't know that, never played DayZ. That's pretty cool, and I definitely wish Hinterland would copy that. Good books over there in DayZ as well.

[MarrowStone]

3 hours ago, Pillock said:

Putting the same thing into TLD would perhaps leave Hinterland open to the charge of stealing an idea from another game

Shooting is in other games, and hunting, skyrim has books, TLD can have books especially if it brings game time to 1:1 scale, quite useful paired with real time cooking too and you only have 10 minutes left!  Which gives me an idea for a topic post...

And sorry, yes other genres can be added but i'd prefer the main number of books to be themed. 

I wouldnt mind reading Moby dick while forging in the Riiken. Or a Christmas Carol while outside to stave off cabin fever

It would definitely be cool if this were a community curated list.

[cekivi]

Or To Build a Fire. Appropriate theming virtually anywhere in game  

[CaveDweller]

Even if this idea never makes it into the game there is no reason why we can't have a 'The Long Dark Community Library'. This may be as simple as a list of community recommended texts that we can all read and enjoy at our leisure.

Below is a Google Form for easy submission of suggested titles. The last questions allows you to enter a reason for the inclusion of that text or review (optional).

https://goo.gl/forms/OBMs3MnTmaHzni6I3

Below is a link to the responses Google Sheet which for the time being forms TLD Community Library.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Gve5fFIwUPtFs19TFyFTlMBfa4CEOVuGFUial40azTg/edit?usp=sharing

Let me know if you think the Form needs any more questions added.