Suggestion:20080825 Searching In A Dark Building

20080825 Searching In A Dark Building

Jon Pyre 16:27, 25 August 2008 (BST)

Suggestion type
Flavor mostly

Suggestion scope
Survivors

Suggestion description
It'd be a fun bit of flavor to allow searching a dark building to reveal glimpses of what the darkness hides.

I suggest that on searches that don't return an item a person looking in an unpowered dark building receive one of the following:

1. A glimpse of one present decorative item (if any): "You see the dim form of a Grecian urn in a corner, but find nothing useful"
2. Whatever is spraypainted there (if anything): "You bump into a wall. In the shadows you can barely make out "Everyone is dead" spraypainted on it"
3. An estimation of how many dead bodies are present: "You spot several dark shapes on the floor. As you try to figure out what they are one stirs slightly." This one has the practical use of informing survivors if dead bodies are in the building, but it doesn't let them dump them. I suppose being able to tell if dead bodies are in a dark building could be useful but having to search three or four times for a rough figure doesn't seem overpowered. To balance this out I suggest just letting zombies with Scent Death automatically know how many dead bodies are in a dark building, not that I think it'd help them much either.

So a minor flavor addition to the search function, with maybe some slight use for someone who wants to hide in a dark building. Nothing crucial to the game, just think it'd be a nice detail.

Voting Section

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Votes must be numbered, justified, signed, and timestamped. # justification ~~~~ Votes that do not conform to the above may be struck by any user.

The only valid votes are Keep, Kill, Spam or Dupe. If you wish to abstain from voting, do not vote.

Keep Votes

1. Keep, I like the general idea. There will probably be protests at letting survivors know that there are corpses in the building though. - User:Whitehouse 16:32, 25 August 2008 (BST)
2. Keep - I like it.--Truezombieboy 17:38, 25 August 2008 (BST)

Kill Votes

1. Kill - This isn't just a flavor change. The whole dead bodies bit is definitely a crucial detail in the game. And that's just spam abuse, WanYao, come on and vote properly. --Aeon17x 16:40, 25 August 2008 (BST)
2. Kill - Has the essence of a great idea. If somebody spends the AP to search a dark building they can find things to pick up (in theory). So all of the above seem to be fair, useful information the player "finds" by spending AP.
   However, giving some piece of info on EVERY missed search makes searching a 100% certain-to-benefit activity, which it is not meant to be. Instead, a % "find rate" should be assigned to each of the possible informative outcomes- otherwise its very nearly free info. Also, I would ditch the free scent death bit; using scent death actively already gives that info if the user knows how to read it, and giving it for free would encourage scouting dark buildings by life cultists.  Swiers 18:25, 25 August 2008 (BST)
3. KillFor the following reasons. 1 shouldn't be all failed searches. 2. The dead bodies bit. 3. The complete misunderstanding of talk suggestions. Its for sounding people out, bouncing ideas, NOT suggestions by committee. --Rosslessness^{Want a Location Image?} 18:46, 25 August 2008 (BST)
4. Kill - Above. --  AHLGTG THE END IS NIGH! 21:39, 25 August 2008 (BST)
5. Kill/Change - As Swiers. Really, Jon. You're getting potentially good ideas killed because you're not taking them to Talk:Suggestions. --Midianian^{|T|T:S|C:RCS|} 21:57, 25 August 2008 (BST)
6. Chill - as above. --Bob Fortune ^RR

Spam/Dupe Votes

1. Spam - You get spammed not because this idea is without merit: in fact, I think it has a lot of merit, suprisingly... unlike most of your other mass-produced crap suggestions. No, you get this spam vote as a FUCK YOU! because you don't have the decency and the courtesy to take your suggestions to Talk:Suggestions first. Where this idea, particularly point #3, could have been properly fleshed out developed. But... no... you're too good for that, or something... Spam off, John Pyre. --WanYao 16:35, 25 August 2008 (BST)
   • Re Yes. I am too good for that. I'm a busy man and I don't want to spend eight days developing an idea in committee. I'll do it for something freaking complex. For something simple like this I don't see the point. Searching in dark buildings. Seeing a random thing hidden. It's fucking simple. I'm not designing a NASA shuttle. Like it vote keep. Hate it vote kill. I don't really care if that makes me sound like an asshole or not. If you want to vote spam for all my suggestions go ahead. I don't really care if these make it in the game or not. I'm suggesting what I think are good ideas out of the fucking goodness of my fucking heart because I fucking enjoy this fucking game. If you don't like them, or Kevan doesn't like them, or anyone else doesn't like them I don't really give a damn. Don't put them in the game. Boo fucking hoo. This isn't some storied institution so fuck your protocol, I'll do whatever the hell I want. --Jon Pyre 17:00, 25 August 2008 (BST)
     • "Boo fucking hoo [...] I'll do whatever the hell I want" ... Exactly, thanks for proving my point about your lack of respect for the community. But since that seems to be the prevelant attitude and ethos here, I might as well join in the fun... And if that includes calling you names and criticising you for not respecting the community by consulting them before you spam us with yet another half-baked suggestion... which requires users to spend their valuable time voting and commenting on it... Well then... fuck, yeah... I mean, if none of this really matters to you, as you claim, why not just print these up and have your mommy hang them on the fridge and say, "Oooh, what a pretty suggestion, John!"? Yeah... exactly... Spam off. --WanYao 18:38, 25 August 2008 (BST)
2. Spam - I am violently opposed to letting people have access to the obscured information in dark buildings. The fun bit about it is that you just dont know if there are zombies taking a nap on the ground, which is cool. --The Grimch ^{U! E!} 16:46, 25 August 2008 (BST)
   • Re Fair 'nuff. I only included it because I think the flavor gained outweighs the suspense lost but I see your point. --Jon Pyre 17:02, 25 August 2008 (BST)
     • Its a small balance alteration you are trying to sneak in under the guise of a flavour change. --The Grimch ^{U! E!} 17:21, 25 August 2008 (BST)

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VOTING EXAMPLES Keep Votes Keep - I am the author and I am allowed to vote once on my own suggestions. --MrSuggester 05:01, 11 Nov 2005 (GMT) Keep - Best. Suggestion. Evar. --Bob_Zombie 04:01, 11 Nov 2005 (GMT) Keep - Good sugestion. no signature --FakeSuggester 07:39, 15 Nov 2005 (GMT) Kill Votes Kill - This is a terrible idea, but you can totally fix it up. --NegativeGal 06:01, 12 Nov 2005 (GMT) Re - Please be more specific about how to fix it on the discussion page. --MrSuggester 14:01, 12 Nov 2005 (GMT) Re - Sure, I have detailed my proposed fixes here. --NegativeGal 23:38, 12 Nov 2005 (GMT) Kill - You will eat my poopie and love it! --PooEater 11:12, 13 Nov 2005 (GMT) Note - Inane vote removed. Defend in discussion. --DaModerator 11:13, 13 Nov 2005 (GMT) Spam/Dupe Votes Spam - Kung Fu CB Mama on Wheels is an inappropriate Survivor Class. --NoFunAtAll 09:01, 12 Nov 2005 (GMT) Dupe - Duplicate Suggestion --AnotherSuggester 05:01, 14 Nov 2005 (GMT)