Jump to content

There really shouldn't be cannibals when non-perishable food is so abundant.


Ridick

Recommended Posts

Recently a new transmission has been added to the radio that is internally titled 'Kanibals', it hints at the existence of a group of heavily armed cannibals that lure other survivors into a military base in order to kill and eat them. Look, I loved the basement scene in The Road just as much as anyone else, but it is very hard to justify a group of people resorting to predatory cannibalism literally days after the apocalypse. I mean, there are actual tonnes of non-perishable food everywhere that can be easily looted, there is just no good rationale for hunting and eating fellow survivors instead. Maybe a single survivor could engage in such a behavior because he is a crazy and twisted psychopath, but having an entire group of people becoming cannibals that early on in the zombie apocalypse just isn't coherent with the level of realism that the game currently has going for it.

 

I do think that cannibalism can be implemented into the game in an interesting way, such as the player being able to engage in it if he has the right traits or if a small group of people do it a few months after the Knox Event, but not right away like this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 9/11/2022 at 12:21 AM, JeasuCriss said:

It already happens IRL and we're not in a Zombie Apocalypse as far as i know right now. It is very reasonable to think that people that were already deranged, now have regrouped and decided to just do what they always wanted to do.

Where did you get that idea from? As far as I know cannibalism is extremely rare and generally only practiced by serial killers with severe mental illnesses (like Jeffrey Dahmer) or as part of bizarre and very unusual rituals (The funeral ceremonies of the Fore tribes of Papua New Guinea being the only recent example that comes to mind). I have never heard of a single historical case of human cannibalism motivated by hunger where people didn't ran out of food weeks beforehand.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's plenty of people that have these urges in existence. There was a craigslist ad a good while back with someone asking for a volunteer who was arrested. There's certainly fucked up people in every corner of the world.

 

What JC is trying to convey is that, these people may not be doing it right now like constantly, but when the world breaks down and there's no consequences for their actions, the more dormant types may very quickly turn to satisfy their desires.

 

And in 1993 Kentucky I'm sure there would be a good few bad people down the line. Of course not common, but there'd certainly be one small group I'd wager.

 

Also, bear in mind the game isn't completed and with all the new items added, there may be loot rebalancing, and when NPCs come in, possibly even more. And then they'll be taking supplies also so not everything will be ours for the taking.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, MadDan2013 said:

There's plenty of people that have these urges in existence. There was a craigslist ad a good while back with someone asking for a volunteer who was arrested. There's certainly fucked up people in every corner of the world.

 

What JC is trying to convey is that, these people may not be doing it right now like constantly, but when the world breaks down and there's no consequences for their actions, the more dormant types may very quickly turn to satisfy their desires.

 

And in 1993 Kentucky I'm sure there would be a good few bad people down the line. Of course not common, but there'd certainly be one small group I'd wager.

 

Also, bear in mind the game isn't completed and with all the new items added, there may be loot rebalancing, and when NPCs come in, possibly even more. And then they'll be taking supplies also so not everything will be ours for the taking.

 

The loot is not the issue. If 99.99% of the population of a real-world town were to suddenly die, then there actually would be extremely abundant supplies of preserved food available everywhere, specially on the initial weeks of the event. What isn't realistic is people resorting straight to cannibalism when historically humans would only do it as the last option. Reducing the loot to justify the cannibals would make the game less realistic, not more.

 

You don't need to take my word for it, I beg you that go through any article or book detailing the history of human cannibalism; you will notice that generally it only happens during prolonged periods of mass starvation such as sieges and famines. Often times, even during notable great famines, there are still no reports of cannibalism. Current day Yemen, for example, has been under siege by Saudi Arabia for years on end and is currently experiencing a famine so bad that tens of thousands of children are dying every year, yet despite this dire situation I still can't find a single news report of cannibalism happening in the country as I search for it. Even in regard to primitive tribes that practice cannibalism as part of their rituals, anthropologists agree that it is a very rare practice and in the few cases where it happens it is done for symbolic reasons, not nutritional.

 

In my humble opinion, cannibalism just shouldn't happen until at least some months or years into the infection. It just doesn't fit the overall level of realism that the game currently enjoys (which is one of the best aspects of the game, and something I deeply believe should be built upon). There just isn't any realistic reason for people to do it, If there were significant amounts people in the general population that have a deep craving for human flesh to the point where they would immediately do it on the first opportunity, then cannibalism wouldn't be a rare oddity, but something that happens constantly and that you would see reports of in the TV every other week just like other more mundane violent crimes, such as rape, torture and murder.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Ridick said:

 

The loot is not the issue. If 99.99% of the population of a real-world town were to suddenly die, then there actually would be extremely abundant supplies of preserved food available everywhere, specially on the initial weeks of the event. What isn't realistic is people resorting straight to cannibalism when historically humans would only do it as the last option. Reducing the loot to justify the cannibals would make the game less realistic, not more.

 

You don't need to take my word for it, I beg you that go through any article or book detailing the history of human cannibalism; you will notice that generally it only happens during prolonged periods of mass starvation such as sieges and famines. Often times, even during notable great famines, there are still no reports of cannibalism. Current day Yemen, for example, has been under siege by Saudi Arabia for years on end and is currently experiencing a famine so bad that tens of thousands of children are dying every year, yet despite this dire situation I still can't find a single news report of cannibalism happening in the country as I search for it. Even in regard to primitive tribes that practice cannibalism as part of their rituals, anthropologists agree that it is a very rare practice and in the few cases where it happens it is done for symbolic reasons, not nutritional.

 

In my humble opinion, cannibalism just shouldn't happen until at least some months or years into the infection. It just doesn't fit the overall level of realism that the game currently enjoys (which is one of the best aspects of the game, and something I deeply believe should be built upon). There just isn't any realistic reason for people to do it, If there were significant amounts people in the general population that have a deep craving for human flesh to the point where they would immediately do it on the first opportunity, then cannibalism wouldn't be a rare oddity, but something that happens constantly and that you would see reports of in the TV every other week just like other more mundane violent crimes, such as rape, torture and murder.

The loot changing wouldn't be for cannibalism, or to make it more common. It's just due to the amount of current loot there will be rebalancing likely in the future. I was using that as an example that at some point, there will be people who resort to it. The latter into years or at least a year being the more 'realistic' of course. We're not talking weeks here or common things.

I'm certainly not arguing that it should happen a few weeks or days in as that'd certainly be ridiculous and take out any immersion. The further the apocalypse goes, the further people will go to get what they want. I'm not up on the current radio lore, so I would also be in disagreement about it occurring so early.

 

There's so many things to game is going to still evolve through, so if everyone's game ends up having cannibals three days into the apocalypse I would safely assume there'd be nothing to worry about in terms of changing that to make it more realistic and much further out. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  

All it would take is a charismatic leader and a some vulnerable, desperate people to follow/be manipulated and there are numerous examples of those throughout history.

 

After watching loved ones die, reanimate then start trying to eat everyone, a higher number of people would be unhinged and susceptible to weird ideologies. Also, you can guarantee there'd be some preacher/fruit loop who’d claim it was all God’s plan and he wants us to eat each other and people would believe them. There are plenty of hardcore religious fanatics in America, especially in the area and timeframe the game is set. If Jim Jones managed to get hundreds of people to kill themselves and their families then I have no doubt that convincing others to resort to cannibalism during a zombie apocalypse "in the name of the Lord" is really not that far fetched.

 

I agree it wouldn't be from day one but as others have mentioned, I suspect parts of PZ lore, including radio station timings, will be subject to change as the game develops towards 1.0.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Since it is a game about what an apocalyptic situation could look like, cannibalism would really have to be at least an option for game play. 

 

Riddick has a good point about it coming in later in game play, but you'd also have players who want it as part of immediate gameplay. 

 

And since it's a game, why not let the person who paid money for the game decide in the set up if they want it from day one, day 600 or never.

 

I'd hate to be the employee who has to research cannibal food recipes for introduction into the game.  Make sure that person gets a raise.

 

Does anyone remember The IT Crowd episode on cannibalism?  Funny.

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

We have no plans but I am anti-cannibalism, except at the highest levels of hunger in winter. If we have a cannibal, it will be someone who escaped from the prison and was already a "wrong un". We won't be turning PZ into some weird Far Cry cartoon-y game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So there is a theory I forget what its called something like 10 meals to chaos. And this submits that  after you or loved one you are responsible for miss just 10 meals your about ready to do anything to get them the food needed. It stands to reason that if you were surrounded by an outside that was deadly as all get out when it comes to the undead, then it may be safer to lure folks in and just kill them to eat rather than go hunting for food. 

 

I have to agree with the OP in saying this should prob not kick in till sometime after the first few weeks. If you have ever truly went a week without eating then you would know that its not unheard of to be ready to do just about anything for food. If we wanna talk realism...Add to that, the complete abject fear of having an outside full of the walking dead and it may not seem so crazy to eat the dead guy in the building rather than risk looking for food all over the block. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...