Dwarf trait

[Mantwerp]

This idea has already been brought up once before, but in a forum post about two possible choosable traits. In which the other option was a lot more controversial and thus most discussed, which is why I'm now creating this post which is solely dedicated to being discussing being able to choose the dwarfism mutation as a trait (it is not a mutantrace).


My main reason for creating this a year after I initially PR'd is to actually gauge whether or not this would be approved in the first place (my opinion has not changed in the last year, infact I may feel more positively over this idea now)

I cannot tell you how many different gimmicks I just Have Not been able to do because I had to spend 40 minutes of a 60 minute shift in genetics looking for one single gene of the massive possible pool of genes (and sometimes I just do not get it at all even after 70 minutes). It also just is not fun to spend 50 minutes not moving just do change one cosmetic thing.

Now, is this taking work away from geneticists??? I dont know, is having robotic arms, which is almost exclusively cosmetic much like dwarfism, taking work away from roboticists?

Sometimes geneticists literally had to dedicate their entire shift just to find one single gene for me, so this would allow geneticists to do more work that they themselves want to do instead of having to look for my one specific gene for an hour. And besides, ever since the random chance was removed from miners (why?), genetics is the ONLY source of dwarfism.

In the original forum post there was also talk of some people doing kid roleplay, which is what we have ahelps for. People have done far worse things with far less, and besides, you'd already have to be somewhat of a creep to even think of doing such a gimmick (I would not say these people are specifically the people we want playing our multiplayer game).

Dwarfism also isn't a mutantrace, I don't know where this idea came from. You can be a dwarf roach, dwarf shelterfrog, dwarf chicken probably, dwarfism is just a trait.


Now, let's actually talk about how it should be implemented. 

Seeing as dwarfism has a 10% natural thermal resistance (and also maybe sorta kinda the hitbox being like 2 pixels smaller) I would incline towards making it cost one point (and even perfectly fine with 2 although I dont see it fully justified to be so), which would be a balanced amount (seeing as traits like infravision and carpenter cost one point and I feel they are of an equal amount positive for the trait-holder)

The amount of people who have been excited by the concept/dissapointed by the lack of a choosable dwarf trait should also not be left out of this.



I'll also have the barfer make an icon for the trait selection menu

[pali6]

> Dwarfism also isn't a mutantrace, I don't know where this idea came from. You can be a dwarf roach, dwarf shelterfrog, dwarf chicken probably, dwarfism is just a trait.

Dwarfism is not a trait (it is a mutation). The idea came from the fact that it used to be a mutantrace before I reworked it.

> hitbox being like 2 pixels smaller

It is not smaller when it comes to clickability, just visually. Byond doesn't have a great way of making the hitbox actually smaller with this method.


I personally don't have strong feelings one way or another. Just clarifying stuff. But when this was brought up before there were concerns about people playing children characters using this and that leading to all sorts of issues.

[JOELED]

I understand where the concerns come from with people playing children characters, but there's people who try to do that even without this available and they get ahelped and dealt with. If that could be worked past, I would personally really love the ability to play as a character with dwarfism as a trait! I like this idea.

[babayetu83]

> Dwarfism also isn't a mutantrace, I don't know where this idea came from. You can be a dwarf roach, dwarf shelterfrog, dwarf chicken probably, dwarfism is just a trait.

Dwarfism is not a trait (it is a mutation). The idea came from the fact that it used to be a mutantrace before I reworked it.

> hitbox being like 2 pixels smaller

It is not smaller when it comes to clickability, just visually. Byond doesn't have a great way of making the hitbox actually smaller with this method.


I personally don't have strong feelings one way or another. Just clarifying stuff. But when this was brought up before there were concerns about people playing children characters using this and that leading to all sorts of issues.

just get rid of people doing weird shit then instead. were there even any people doing that or was it more of a "what if doe"?

[Glamurio]

I personally don't have strong feelings one way or another. Just clarifying stuff. But when this was brought up before there were concerns about people playing children characters using this and that leading to all sorts of issues.

I agree with the rest. I always think it's never a good idea to not add a feature just because a few people will misuse it. Just deal with it when it happens. Can always testmerge it and remove it based on activity.

[Kotlol]

I personally don't have strong feelings one way or another. Just clarifying stuff. But when this was brought up before there were concerns about people playing children characters using this and that leading to all sorts of issues.

I agree with the rest. I always think it's never a good idea to not add a feature just because a few people will misuse it. Just deal with it when it happens. Can always testmerge it and remove it based on activity.

I agree with this.

We did recieved removed features due to a minority of people abusing it. (aka Ghostdrone tools)
But this is so inaquatious....it will only get annoying if it becomes "every shift"

[UrsulaMejor]

I generally don't like the idea, but I don't have any specific reasoning. There's a subtle difference to me between having dwarfism be a thing that can happen to you vs the idea of having dwarfism be a "character trait" that puts me off the latter slightly in a way I can't describe.

[babayetu83]

I generally don't like the idea, but I don't have any specific reasoning. There's a subtle difference to me between having dwarfism be a thing that can happen to you vs the idea of having dwarfism be a "character trait" that puts me off the latter slightly in a way I can't describe.

is it any worse than deafness or blindness being a character trait?

[jan.antilles]

Personally I think we can let geneticists have nice things that people want to get.

And yeah, I've had to deal *multiple* times with people playing uncomfortably child-like characters. That's not my main opposition to it being a roundstart trait, but it does happen.

[Dhaidburt]

Personally I think we can let geneticists have nice things that people want to get.

I think that something like dwarfism is really riding the line here. On the one hand, haha funny small bean! ROCK AND STONE!  Of course you wanna get that dwarfism gene, look at the monkey who has it!

On the other hand, from an RP perspective it would be great to just.. BE a dwarf instead of hoping you can actually be your correct height if genetics is active or lucky enough. Speaking as someone who played a stumped character for a bit, it was fun to have the option without needing to run down to medbay every round to have your legs hacked off cause they don't work.

I'm not sure if it's a good middle ground, but maybe the trait dwarfism applies no benefits but just makes you shorter, whereas the gene dwarfism works as it does now with mechanical benefits. Maybe make it so those with the dwarfism gene makes you belt out dwarven songs when you get too drunk? Some other thing that would make someone with the dwarfism trait go "Ooh, extra dwarf..." and get the gene.

[KikiMofo]

I personally miss miners randomly starting with dwarfism at round start.
ROCK AND STONE(well actually it was probably either a dorf fort or LotR reference instead of DRG back then)

[Mantwerp]

Personally I think we can let geneticists have nice things that people want to get.

I originally thought so too, but as I've said in the post above, it can be a major character trait for some gimmick characters, and having it be an incredibly unlikely chance to get just kinda sucks. Lord knows how many rounds I've wasted spending my entire time in genetics, not being involved in any part of the round, just sitting still in a gene pod, just because I wanted one of my gimmick characters to look the way they're supposed to. 
So sure, it encourages some more people to go to genetics, but this is not out of their own volition (there is no alternative method of getting dwarfism except maybeeee radiation but that's even more up to chance and far more dangerous), which is very much not a fun thing to have to do every time you have an idea for a character which would not look very good if it was of a normal height.

[Lord_earthfire]

Personally I think we can let geneticists have nice things that people want to get.

This.

Dwarfism is a nice thing to have. It is not really necessary and its purely cosmetic. I think that some gimmick things that are desireable should be hidden behind people doing their job. So i don't mind dwarfism or aquatic genetics being locked behing geneticist.

I cannot tell you how many different gimmicks I just Have Not been able to do because I had to spend 40 minutes of a 60 minute shift in genetics looking for one single gene of the massive possible pool of genes (and sometimes I just do not get it at all even after 70 minutes). It also just is not fun to spend 50 minutes not moving just do change one cosmetic thing

"Enabling gimmicks" is a rather mood point (needed to learn that in a PR of mine). Everything can be utilized in gimmicks.

Then again, 50 minutes is a lot and something hunting a rather common gene should not take. I don't want to throw "skill issue" around here, though. So that made me think.

Dwarfism is a rather mainstay of gemetics and desirable. Why not add 1-2 gene combinations that result in dwarfism?

I throw two in the ring:

Alcohol resistance + muscular enhancement
Constricted larynx + night vision

[Retrino]

personally ive seen a lot more “look how small and cute i am” than actual gimmicks with the trait so im … eugh in regards to making it roundstart. it takes some of the novelty out of the gene and should probably have some actual sprite fixes if it is to be a roundstart thing

[Cal]

no