Vices / Creature Comforts / Not-quite-addictions

[Cheimon]

So a while back when eating from the chef was made much more important, it really made that job role flourish. It's not been a total transformation but it seems by and large to have improved the game.

With that in mind, I propose that we give all players a vice. They'll need to consume this, ideally, every 20-30 minutes, or suffer a small penalty, be that mildly annoying messages ("You could really go for a cigarette.") or something more meaningful (a slight slowdown is the obvious candidate, or a slight speed boost for being satisfied).

Players would pick their vice from alcohol, caffeine, sugary snacks, smoking, or a random one of those each time (probably as part of having a random body). These are all either accessible through vending machines or from the bar, and they can all be carried with you if you need.

Ideally, this would encourage people to leave their workplace more often, or get others to fetch them certain items. It would lend added emphasis to the fact that you're playing a character, and not yourself. It could allow for sabotage situations in which various vices were denied to the crew (say, if all vendors were destroyed), forcing them to get help from botany or cargo or whatever. And finally, many of the items are mechanically interesting too: alcohol makes you stumble if you drink too much, and you become less able to communicate: cigarettes light fires and make it slower to put on internals, caffeine makes you jitter and keeps you a good temperature, and so on. Even snacks can be overdosed on (though you'd need to try pretty hard). So this would be mostly to encourage roleplay, more moving around the station, and to increase the desire to interact with certain items (the cumbersome cigarettes, or the unfriendly bartender). Fun? Not fun? Good idea? Bad idea?

[TechnoAlchemist]

We lifeweb now.

This doesn't really have its place on a light RP server like this sadly.

[EndgamerAzari]

While I agree with what you're trying to accomplish--making service jobs more important, ensuring that players need to leave their department, etc.--I don't know if this is the answer. Not that I have any ideas, though.

[DaemonBomb]

We lifeweb now.

This doesn't really have its place on a light RP server like this sadly.

Why not? We have hunger, I don't see how a randomized vice will mess with the meta too bad. At worst, it'd be ignored. At best, it'll help push people away from being a mute validhunter with no personality.

[TechnoAlchemist]

We lifeweb now.

This doesn't really have its place on a light RP server like this sadly.

Why not? We have hunger, I don't see how a randomized vice will mess with the meta too bad. At worst, it'd be ignored. At best, it'll help push people away from being a mute validhunter with no personality.

Randomized would be an even worse decision that detracts from individual characters. The fact of the matter is that the mindset of tgstation is not RP oriented, so this won't be some roleplaying experience for players, it will simply be another hassle with no RP repercussions.

[PKPenguin321]

nah, this would be like adding a thirst meter, it's not fun

[Cheimon]

nah, this would be like adding a thirst meter, it's not fun

I'm definitely not suggesting you die if you don't do it, just get a minor buff (or avoid a minor debuff). Obviously there will be situations in which getting your vice isn't possible, and that's meant to be mildly challenging, not deadly.

[Konork]

I'm definitely not suggesting you die if you don't do it, just get a minor buff (or avoid a minor debuff). Obviously there will be situations in which getting your vice isn't possible, and that's meant to be mildly challenging, not deadly.

So many people misuse the word challenging when they're really describing something that's difficult. So before you go on further about this idea, tell me, are the penalties something you overcome, or something to get in the way?

[Scones]

This would be ass in SS13.

This functions with the mood system in Lifeweb because most actions are a sort of difficultly check: Taking into account skills + stats, with your mood adversely affecting stats. This is not the case for SS13, and these sound like meaningless tedium. Lifeweb's are also more complex, and contribute towards the development of a character - Things like alcoholism, a compulsive need to write in a journal periodically, or even being physically less resilient to hardship - While these are just meaningless, surface annoyances centered around underdeveloped portions of the game. Similarly, these would not build or develop a character in any way if they were randomized.

It is much more interesting to say "I will extort Gennette for this thing she would not normally give me, because I have taken the means by which she sates her addiction" in contrast to "This guy needs sugar or he'll be a bit slower".

Vices function in an environment that actually values roleplay. Here, they would be mindless drudgery.