Player Sanity Meter

[Fenixx 0]

Skeffington had an idea for a Sexual anxiety meter, when i read it, i though about modifying it as a sanity meter and people seemed to like it in the other thread. That thread is about the hotfix, so i thought id give the idea its own thread.

Hears what i originally said:

I dont know about sexual anxiety meter, but perhaps some kind of loneliness meter that effects your sanity?

The more time you spend alone, the lower the meter gets and you could start hearing random zombie noises when there are none, Zombie agro noises when they are still all calm, possible hallucinations ect.

Could help promote co-operation since to keep the level up, youd have to spend some time close to living players. The higher a players humanity that you are near, the quicker the level would go up. Meter doesnt go up when around players with low humanity.

I also thought your player could randomly scream and make maniacal laughter, wich if at the wrong time would attract players and Zombies to their location.

Others have suggested hearing random gunshots aswell.

Others have said they dont like it and like being alone from time to time.

I agree there as well, but it wouldnt have to be a fast thing, im talking weeks of alone makes you go crazy, not just a few hours traversing the land alone.

What do you all think?

[Senrain 148]

I think this is a terrible idea.

[Zeromentor 169]

This has been asked for many times, or discussed to death (not quite I guess).

Any form of sanity meter (either by being alone, or by killing people) doesn't work, either as a way to gauge normal people in a game, or by trying to simulate people in an apocalyse.

For example: Introverted People dislike huge crowds, and like being alone or near only a few close friends/family. Extroverts are pretty much opposite, they like crowds. Being alone drives them crazy.

Another example: Normal people don't do well under pressure, especially when the pressure comes from killing another human being. I'm a sociopath. I care nothing for my fellow man, and could put a bullet in him in a heartbeat, but fear and respect of laws, as well as the dislike of being cramped up with many people in a small space does wonders to keep me in line.

(I'm an introverted Sociopath, and an Ex-Correctional Officer, an oddity to be sure)

Just saying.

[Winterborn 27]

the ingame aspect:

Well to be honest, the concept sounds very cool. I would love some insanity and chaos in this kind of game.

But indeed the fact remains that in this way players might feel limited in how they should play, they will at some point be "forced" to meet up with other players to keep their sanity in check.

As a "friendly" player myself, I totally would support this, because players will have to team up more often. But as a gamer I wouldn't wanna see other players (even bandits) "forced" to play a certain style. Because after all that's what makes this game so awesome, there are no set rules. Players get to chose and nothing -how awesome a certain feature might be- can come between a player and his/her ingame freedom.

On to the realisme:

If we would compare this feature to real life, I wouldn't be to sure about it either because no social interaction doesn't necessarily mean insanity. Issolation (as IE a issolation cell) will trigger synthomes of insanity and eventually insanity. But no social interaction in the context of living alone in the woods for a long long time doesn't make you insane. It makes you less capable of dealing with certain social situations. It makes you a bit "strange" and "awkward" from an other person's perspective that does participates in social interaction. Infact you become a person that other people don't want to be around because of the fact that you will not be used to human contact anymore as a direct consequence of being alone for a long time.

My conclusion: I like the concept but I would rather opt for a (slight) decrease in humanity when you haven't interacted with other survivors for a while, In this way other players might see you as a threat due to the fact that you have a lower humanity.

But this option would only work if we would have the possibility to create a party/group ingame, because there isn't a set definition for what is or isn't social interaction ingame.

Sorry for my english i'm used to speaking dutch. AND this is just my opinion so, nothing bad intended^^