Accessory Items for Sanity


Willy Pete

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When/if a sanity mechanic is added to the game, I think a nice feature would be accessory items, basic toiletries and whatnot that give some sort of boost to your sanity, but degrade when being carried. Some examples might be: toilet paper, toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, etc.

All of these would passively assist your sanity, weighing very little, but degrade over time and not be harvestable. In a real life scenario, having basic items like this can greatly help you keep sharp when times are tough. A mundane task such as brushing your teeth can do wonders for a lonely mind in a cruddy situation. 

What basic necessity items would you want in the apocalypse?

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It's been an idea that's been discussed now and then.  I mentioned this in another thread a couple of times before, but here are my thoughts on Mental Health/Sanity type mechanics:

On ‎6‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 3:00 AM, ManicManiac said:

I'm not sure how well this kind of thing would fit into this game.  I mean for a Lovecraftian / cosmic horror type game, a sanity meter works fine as a core gameplay mechanic... but I'm not sure how well I would like something like that in this game.

I know for a while there was an idea about having something like a photograph or some kind of personal belonging that was meant to give kind of a "will to live" buff or something to that effect.  That the more you used it the quicker it would get worn out... but I think that idea went to the wayside a few years ago.

We do have the cabin fever affliction, but that is an arbitrary condition dependent solely on time spend inside vs. outside (the specifics are not important so I'm skipping them here).  Even with that, there are no mitigating factors at all... it's a firm metric.  Something like a "mental health" or "morale" mechanic would take a lot of nuance to keep it from feeling like a negative consequence instead of just part of the human condition that it truly is...

 

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Hot sauce.

Hot sauce is life.  Ideally some custom cultivar like the pepper X used in The Last Dab, as featured on Hot Ones.  But in a pinch, anything will work.  Even if it's something weak like Tapatio or Tabasco, just anything to give food a little kick.

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Sanity can reduce your scent and save condition of your clothes. Also if you add new afflictions, like scabies, which reduce your stamina (not very much health, but it can add permanent - 5 % of health).

Items you need:

1. Soap (in game already), degrades after use, but very slowly

2. Bucket (in game already) or bathtub

3. Collect 3 liters of water

Then if you have all three conditions, new tab with bath question will appear and if you approve it, then you skip some time, like reading book and boom you clean.

For me, implement it. Sanity is the key for a long life 😄

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@Willy Pete / @Moll

As I re-read your posts... it just occurred to me, did you really mean sanitary instead of sanity?
Some of the things you both talk about seem to be more geared towards a hygiene mechanic more than sanity/morale type of mechanic.

In either case... the subject of hygiene mechanics have been discussed as well:

On ‎6‎/‎24‎/‎2019 at 10:52 PM, ManicManiac said:

I'm perfectly fine with there being no hygiene mechanic in the game.  :D 
I get it...
 it would make natural sense - I just don't think I would enjoy it as a gameplay mechanic.

 

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Personally, think hygiene and sanity are linked. In reality, if I've been doing dirty jobs around the house, or been hiking for a couple of days, the first thing I do is take a shower or bath. 

Equally, if I'm struggling with life on a mental health level, I have a bath and the warm water helps bring me back to an even keel.

If this were implemented, I would be for it. Also, I like the idea of a second purpose to the buckets laying around.

In the meantime, let's just assume our character uses the soap and water when they see it laying in a bathroom or on counter. 😉

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Guest jeffpeng
On 10/5/2019 at 5:43 AM, ajb1978 said:

Hot sauce is life.

Seconded. Food without a decent kick technically isn't really food. The frequent findings of hot sauce bottles at stone age dig sites prove that the human digestive system is not meant to function without it.

On 10/5/2019 at 11:22 PM, ManicManiac said:

As I re-read your posts... it just occurred to me, did you really mean sanitary instead of sanity?

:D

15 hours ago, MrsHoneypot said:

Personally, think hygiene and sanity are linked.

I think while there might be some truth to this, especially for someone that grew up in a modern day civilization .... you guys overrate this a bit. I've been to rock festivals that lasted the better part of a week. The lack of hygiene was not among the things that were a danger for my sanity. Also including a feature complete sanitation simulation with The Long Dark is something I find not very appealing for rather obvious reasons. 

I guess if "Sanity" were implemented (which it will not) I would vote for simple things to keep your mind busy. If you don't keep your mind at work it will start making things up. So for me that would be books and maybe music instruments, like a guitar (very personal preference 😉 ). But most essentially books. I guess most of us grew up communicating a lot with other people and media, and being suddenly deprived of all of this would have among the hardest impact. At least being able the consume some form of information would greatly help reduce this. But there are also other forms of human interaction that, when being deprived of, create a serious hazard for one's psyche.

Which is why ..... you cannot really sensibly implement this without either leaving a lot of very, very important variables on the side ... or open a very hard to tastefully implement can of worms.

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In all truth, humans need other humans to remain sane. After years of isolation, people are basically bug out nutso, it's just unavoidable. That guy that's got a guy for 10000 days on interloper... I guarantee you that if you met that survivor in real life you'd instantly recognize that he/she lost their marbles a long long time ago... just not in a way that impaired their ability to continue.

In the real world, total isolation can make people psychotic in months, not years.

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1 hour ago, stratvox said:

In all truth, humans need other humans to remain sane. After years of isolation, people are basically bug out nutso, it's just unavoidable.

It really all depends on an individual's thresholds... there are some people (albeit few) who do just fine in long term isolation.  So I'm not sure it's entirely accurate to call your statement truth (I'd say you were making a sweeping generalization).

Also it's best to remember that "may" and "can" are not definite terms...  so while total isolation "can" make people psychotic, does not mean that it will in all cases.  Some people live hermit lifestyles, isolated for many years and don't go psychotic.  It all depends on the individual.

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On 10/5/2019 at 2:22 PM, ManicManiac said:

Some of the things you both talk about seem to be more geared towards a hygiene mechanic more than sanity/morale type of mechanic.

 

No, sanity as in morale. Though as mentioned above the two are not mutually exclusive. 

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@Willy Pete
Fair enough, I just wasn't sure... either way, I stand by my thoughts on both ideas.
I'm not entirely convinced that the two are intrinsically linked however... there are some perfectly sane/rational people out there who are just hygienically nasty.  Vice versa... there are also some off balance folks out there who are also cripplingly germaphobic (Howard Hughes as one example).   :D 

:coffee::fire:

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  • 3 weeks later...
Guest kristaok
On 10/4/2019 at 10:16 PM, Willy Pete said:

When/if a sanity mechanic is added to the game, I think a nice feature would be accessory items, basic toiletries and whatnot that give some sort of boost to your sanity, but degrade when being carried. Some examples might be: toilet paper, toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, etc.

All of these would passively assist your sanity, weighing very little, but degrade over time and not be harvestable. In a real life scenario, having basic items like this can greatly help you keep sharp when times are tough. A mundane task such as brushing your teeth can do wonders for a lonely mind in a cruddy situation. 

What basic necessity items would you want in the apocalypse?

Do you mean sanitary or sanity? if you mean sanity... it would have to be a HUGE NO from me, sorry. As for sanitary that would depend... it would be neat to be able to use the toilet / toiletries / shower, but at the same time for some people it may complicate things... I don't know.

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On 10/4/2019 at 10:16 PM, Willy Pete said:

What basic necessity items would you want in the apocalypse?

A towel. Accompanied by a new survival mode starting quote:

"Any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with." Douglas Adams

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