Goonhub
08-07-2024, 07:22 AM
(This post was last modified: 08-07-2024, 07:30 AM by Egregorious. Edited 2 times in total.)
The motive system allows the mechanic to remain non-binary. Instead of just 'touch thing -> be stinky', it can be 'touch thing -> wash hands', 'fall over in thing -> need to shower' and 'fall unconscious in thing -> be stinky', or any sort of balance otherwise.
I'd argue that a big reason many people ignore hygiene right now is that it's such a ubiquitous chore that you can do nothing to avoid. The current expectation is that even if you deal with it now, you're just going to have to deal with it again later. If it was a result of a situation instead of something you just have to deal with consistently it would be more interesting to manage, because it converts the expectation into 'dealing with it now means you may not need to deal with it again in the future'.
Hunger and thirst share the same issue, but their benefit is the motivation for player-interaction. Whereas hygiene fails in regards to player interaction, it could instead be a motive to avoid dirty situations, making janitors more useful and possibly giving goofy antags a reason to get people mucky. Currently it doesn't motivate people to avoid dirty situations because they're just going to get dirty passively anyway.
I'd argue that a big reason many people ignore hygiene right now is that it's such a ubiquitous chore that you can do nothing to avoid. The current expectation is that even if you deal with it now, you're just going to have to deal with it again later. If it was a result of a situation instead of something you just have to deal with consistently it would be more interesting to manage, because it converts the expectation into 'dealing with it now means you may not need to deal with it again in the future'.
Hunger and thirst share the same issue, but their benefit is the motivation for player-interaction. Whereas hygiene fails in regards to player interaction, it could instead be a motive to avoid dirty situations, making janitors more useful and possibly giving goofy antags a reason to get people mucky. Currently it doesn't motivate people to avoid dirty situations because they're just going to get dirty passively anyway.