suggestion Making Food Poisoning More Realistic

[WendyMorgan3791]

Hello, all! This is my first forum post, so excuse me if this seems a tad off beat. I recently contracted a kind of food poisoning because I drank about two liters of water from a brook at the bottom of a ravine. I'd had some before, but I think the reason I have problems is because I drank so much. Usually I drink about five gulps. This inspired me to talk about changing the way food poisoning is done, so I wanted to make a few points on how I think it should work instead. 

1. Food poisoning doesn't occur instantly: I drank those two liters of water on Saturday and today it is Tuesday, and I feel miserable. I started having problems Monday evening. So I think that if you eat, say, a half-kilogram of raw venison, you'll start suffering in two to three days, with no warning. This would make it a lot scarier, being so unprecedented, and make it a more crippling affliction. It would also change the game for people like me, whom are often living safely and can just take two and call in the morning. 
2. Vomiting: Anyone who's ever had food poisoning knows that one of the worst parts is the vomiting. While I think it would be difficult to implement into the game, with animations and whatnot, it would add an extra challenge: dehydration. When one vomits, they expel lots of their water store, so they have to keep drinking in order to manage an equilibrium. I think when the character vomits, they should lose a fourth or a fifth of their hydration meter. Adding such a disgusting element to the game could add to a darker outlook on survival. Being lost and having to fend for yourself in the wilderness is a traumatizing experience, and I never get that message when playing the game. There could also be certain actions that warrant a vomit chance. Repulsive events such a gutting animals, finding corpses, contracting stomach parasites, and so on should give the character a vomiting chance. This could also include eating, to a certain extent, and you would lose every single calorie you would have gained from eating what you just had eaten.
3. Degree of severity: The degree of food poisoning often depends on how much bad stuff you eat or drink. If this mechanic were added into the game, there should be levels of severity depending on how much was consumed. Perhaps five or something. They would vary in the time you are afflicted, how weak you become, and how often you vomit.

Those are all the notes I have. If you wish to add to this list, request elaboration, or present an argument, feel free! Thanks for reading!

[Skelegutplays]

Very good suggestion especially the part about it not coming instantly!

[Hotzn]

Yeah, +1.

The thing is, many players would not understand the connection between having consumed unclean water/food and then getting food poisoning a day later. So there would have to be some kind of ingame explanation, or at least a hint where the poisoning could have come from. The affliction system is generally a little too simple for my taste, and I absolutely concur that it would be much more scary if the avatar would get sick without immediately knowing what exactly it is and how it can possibly get cured. Concerning the vomiting, I'm a little on the edge - I personally like the idea, but I'm not sure the majority of players would do so as well. 

[JAFO]

Interesting ideas here, for sure.. I hope the devs notice it.

[ThePancakeLady]

I really like this. Food poisoning, at least on Pilgrim, Voyageur and Stalker, does feel a little too easy to deal with, an almost non-issue. Eat bad food before bed, get food poisoning, eat more bad food because it does not stack, clear out your bad food stocks, build a huge calorie reserve, take a cuppa reishi tea or 2 antibiotics, sleep for 10.  Wake up like nothing ever happened.

Yeah, I have had food poisoning in real life, more than once. (Never eat potato salad at a cook-out, that has mayo and eggs, and has been sitting out in 90°F weather, in sun, on a table in someone's backyard, for hours. Even if it is sitting in a tub of ice water. Just don't...) And it hit about 12 hours later, the first little signs. After 24 hours, the bigger signs, vomiting, explosive attempts by my body to expel everything, from either end, feeling completely exhausted, unable to eat more or drink much more, because it was difficult to get and keep anything down for 2 days. 

I do think they cannot make it as "reality" harsh as real life can have it be. It would make for unappealing gameplay, and the mention of vomiting and diarrhea would need to be gently handled, let alone any sounds or voiced lines (some people react physically IRL, just to the sound of someone vomiting... don't make your players puke IRL...). But I think a balance can be found to make the affliction a more serious survival threat, like it should be, while still providing fun and engaging gameplay. The idea of having your thirst, hunger and fatigue meters affected more, for a longer duration, even if it is only 10% loss, or a cap to fatigue, hunger and/or thirst (similar to how starving for 3 days affects fatigue levels already) would make many of us think twice about scarfing down rancid meat before bed. 

[MarrowStone]

I like the idea of delayed reactions, especially due to the fact most of us eat when we're in a safer place and not out trekking. If the affliction would hit us out of nowhere the next day during a hike kilometers away from the nearest haven, wed really be in trouble.

Just so you're aware, when you get dysentery and food poisoning in-game you actually do lose hydration much faster. So no need for vomiting and messy bowel movements to be in the game, it's implied.

I also think severity should be applied to many afflictions. For example, some sprains aren't all that bad while others could take days to fully heal.

[ajb1978]

+1

I really like the delayed reaction aspect, because that's pretty realistic, provided we don't take the realism any further and require an extended antibiotic regimen to recover.  Let that remain a one-and-done.  Although the part about being exposed to something disgusting like harvesting an animal, should be dependent on your carcass harvesting level.  At level 1, sure, it's probably pretty gross to you because you're new to it.  At level 5, it's just a normal part of your day.

[gnomegnine]

On 10/9/2018 at 9:07 PM, WendyMorgan3791 said:

This could also include eating, to a certain extent

CONDENSED MILK! I remember one time my dad told me he tried condensed milk, he took a few sips, and though "how much more of this is there?" and felt full. especially with a contracted stomach from starving so long, you would definitely not be able to eat a full can of condensed milk. 

[gnomegnine]

This is unrelated, but humans should be able to just expel their entire stomach contents, I mean EVERYTHING, and then remake stomach acid with bile. IRL of course. have a nice day 

[BareSkin]

I think it could be also fair to have food poisoning build as a risk like parasites, but with much more important risk (like 5% for every 100 calories giving food poisoning). Good risk/reward balance if the affliction is on several days.

Today that's not something you have to think about, you either don't get it, or get it on purpose and maximize the move. That's a yes/no question (do I spend 10h and antibiotics to get all these calories?), instead of a more subtle problem (what risk am I ready to take in order to eat?)

[palbi]

On 2018. 10. 10. at 3:07 AM, WendyMorgan3791 said:

1. Food poisoning doesn't occur instantly: I drank those two liters of water on Saturday and today it is Tuesday, and I feel miserable. I started having problems Monday evening. So I think that if you eat, say, a half-kilogram of raw venison, you'll start suffering in two to three days, with no warning. This would make it a lot scarier, being so unprecedented, and make it a more crippling affliction. It would also change the game for people like me, whom are often living safely and can just take two and call in the morning.

 

Well, basicly I agree, but, on the other hand, it depends on one's body. When I ate something bad e.g. for breakfast I felt it within 1-2 hours and was completely through it by the evening of the next day. (Happily enough, it didn't happen to me often.) Yes, it was painful and I felt weak, with all the "usual process". And I never took antibiotics, only probiotics for the intestinal flora.