Physical impact of Depression

[emilko62]

While at this point in time if your character is depressed he won't just wander off and kill himself but why not give some actual purpose to the moodle? Depression has a physical impact as well, not only a psychological one.

Physical Symptoms of depression are:

• Headaches. These are fairly common with people with depression. If you already had migraine headaches, they may seem worse if you're depressed. (Headache moodle? Generally it would have the effect of the pain moodle)
• Back pain. If you already suffer with back pain, it may be worse if you become depressed. (Less carry weight maybe?)
• Muscle aches and joint pain. Depression can make any kind of chronic pain worse. (I heard the Devs will add joint pain due to running too much or something of the sort, so this is a good idea!)
• Digestive problems. You might feel queasy or nauseated. (Speaks for itself.)
• Exhaustion and fatigue. No matter how much you sleep, you may still feel tired or worn out. Getting out of the bed in the morning may seem very hard, even impossible. (Faster fatigue and slower recovery rate)
• Sleeping problems. Many people with depression can't sleep well anymore. They wake up too early or can't fall asleep when they go to bed. Others sleep much more than normal. (Waking up in the middle of the night or not sleeping enough thus waking up tired.)
• Change in appetite or weight. Some people with depression lose their appetite and lose weight. Others find they crave certain foods -- like carbohydrates -- and weigh more. (Woohoo! Long live the nutrition system!)
• Dizziness or lightheadedness. (Disorientation and nausea?)

Quote

 I think it would be best represented by progressively but randomly adding symptoms from some large list. As the moodle increases in value, you get tacked with more symptoms. You never get them all, but just 2 or 3 at max moodle could be quite crippling.

-bobchaos

Credits:

Credit to bobchaos

for the idea of how the symptoms should be properly distributed.

 

Sources:

http://www.webmd.com/depression/physical-symptoms

Edited March 24, 2016 by emilko62

[theweef]

I thought being Unhappy+ decreased action time.

[bpdlr]

How about just not being able to move for a while after sleeping, to simulate not being able to get out of bed?

 

Or just everything being slower to do.

 

Actually, just turn the player into a zombie, that just about covers depression :/

[emilko62]

13 hours ago, bpdlr said:

How about just not being able to move for a while after sleeping, to simulate not being able to get out of bed?

 

Or just everything being slower to do.

 

Actually, just turn the player into a zombie, that just about covers depression :/

Sadly enough that's not exactly how depression works, the idea is to penalize the player for not caring for the happiness of the character in a realistic manner.

[emilko62]

14 hours ago, theweef said:

I thought being Unhappy+ decreased action time.

Too minimalistic in my opinion.

[bpdlr]

54 minutes ago, emilko62 said:

Sadly enough that's not exactly how depression works,

Do you mean in the game or real life? Because IRL that how it feels for me...

[emilko62]

9 minutes ago, bpdlr said:

Do you mean in the game or real life? Because IRL that how it feels for me...

I've researched this topic and have personally dealt with depression and i can confirm that it's not just that, then again there's different types of depressions and people who suffer from it have different symptoms and there's also different stages. This post is for clinical depression though which is one of the most common types of depression and the symptoms which are listed are the most commonly experienced but as i said in the post, they vary so maybe the devs would make it so you experience different combinations of symptoms every time your character has to deal with depression. I guess if the symptoms are too unforgiving they should only be given when you're severely depressed for a long time, at least that's what would seem logical to me.

P.S.

The things i post about should apply for real life and ingame.

Edited March 14, 2016 by emilko62

[King Kitteh]

Back when they had the early NPC, your interactions with them were limited depending on your mood. So if you were happy, you could respond positively, neutral, or negatively. If you were angry you could only respond negatively.

 

Perhaps when they add NPCs then depression might limit how you can interact with them or make them less likely team up with your or something.

 

Besides that,

On 3/13/2016 at 8:50 AM, theweef said:

I thought being Unhappy+ decreased action time.

Sounds like a good idea, to simulate lack of willpower/not wanting to bother.

 

How about a decrease in effective skill level too. Say, you are a level 10 carpenter, but you are very depressed and not motivated to build, so you can only make level 8 walls.

This could effect everything really, effectiveness with weapons, farming, aiming, even how much you can carry.

 

Besides that, I think traits that effect depression would add some emphasis, I'm sure you guys can think of some better ideas, but how about "comfort eater"?

Basically person becomes hungry when depressed and needs to eat more to cope.

 

 

Also

On 3/12/2016 at 8:30 AM, emilko62 said:

While at this point in time if your character is depressed he won't just wander off and kill himself

Not sure if joke, but the devs have said they will never take control out of the hands of the player. So there will never be a point in time where you character might just kill them-self from depression (or anything really).

[emilko62]

9 hours ago, King Kitteh said:

Back when they had the early NPC, your interactions with them were limited depending on your mood. So if you were happy, you could respond positively, neutral, or negatively. If you were angry you could only respond negatively.

 

Perhaps when they add NPCs then depression might limit how you can interact with them or make them less likely team up with your or something.

 

Besides that,

Sounds like a good idea, to simulate lack of willpower/not wanting to bother.

 

How about a decrease in effective skill level too. Say, you are a level 10 carpenter, but you are very depressed and not motivated to build, so you can only make level 8 walls.

This could effect everything really, effectiveness with weapons, farming, aiming, even how much you can carry.

 

Besides that, I think traits that effect depression would add some emphasis, I'm sure you guys can think of some better ideas, but how about "comfort eater"?

Basically person becomes hungry when depressed and needs to eat more to cope.

 

 

Also

Not sure if joke, but the devs have said they will never take control out of the hands of the player. So there will never be a point in time where you character might just kill them-self from depression (or anything really).

It's a joke, I'm sorry if you misunderstood me. Also I like your idea.

Edited March 15, 2016 by emilko62

[bobchaos]

Depression gets very interesting as a game mechanic when you consider the wide range of potential symptoms and co-morbidity. Doubled with the fact that it's all happening in a truly hopeless, zombie-crowded world, the devs could really go nuts and have fun with this (at our expense of course! ). I think it would be best represented by progressively but randomly adding symptoms from some large list. As the moodle increases in value, you get tacked with more symptoms. You never get them all, but just 2 or 3 at max moodle could be quite crippling.

[ZombiesLoveBrainiacs]

does unhappyness have any effect right now? i never really noticed any...

[emilko62]

9 hours ago, ZombiesLoveBrainiacs said:

does unhappyness have any effect right now? i never really noticed any...

As of now, it does not.

[emilko62]

On 3/18/2016 at 1:30 AM, bobchaos said:

Depression gets very interesting as a game mechanic when you consider the wide range of potential symptoms and co-morbidity. Doubled with the fact that it's all happening in a truly hopeless, zombie-crowded world, the devs could really go nuts and have fun with this (at our expense of course! ). I think it would be best represented by progressively but randomly adding symptoms from some large list. As the moodle increases in value, you get tacked with more symptoms. You never get them all, but just 2 or 3 at max moodle could be quite crippling.

 

Thank you for the idea for how the symptoms should be distributed, i'll be adding that to my main post (while giving you credit, of course.)

Edited March 24, 2016 by emilko62

[Slice985]

I like that Depression currently has an effect, but not what it is. Depression doesn't slow down all your actions, that's like some weird form of Cognitive Impairment/Motor Disorder. Really Depression is just really low energy, so just make it so you get sleepy and fatigued 50% faster, which is about true. When depressed you just want to get in bed and stay there. You will definitely want to cure that moodle fast. 

 

As for other effects, All Carpentry work should be at the "shoddy" level, even if you are a master carpenter. Any item you make or fix only has half durability. because... you don't care. 

 

Since suicide is off the table, these seem like a good balance. 

Edited March 24, 2016 by Slice985