Positive and Negative Effects of Panic

[spikeyhat09]

Hello Zomboiders! I haven't been around much since the new forums came about, but I got to thinking...

 

Isn't panic a behavior bred through millions of years of evolution to increase our chances of survival?

 

In Project Zomboid however, this does not seem to be the case. Panic only serves to decrease your vision and weapon accuracy. But in "fight or flight" situations in real life, panic seems to be the peak of the "flight" response. I think this could be easily reflected in project zomboid. Reduced accuracy and vision is good, because it discourages "fight", however I think the "flight" could be improved by temporarily increasing your max carrying capacity slightly, and temporarily increasing running speed slightly due to the rush of adrenaline.

[silents429]

Hello Zomboiders! I haven't been around much since the new forums came about, but I got to thinking...

 

Isn't panic a behavior bred through millions of years of evolution to increase our chances of survival?

 

In Project Zomboid however, this does not seem to be the case. Panic only serves to decrease your vision and weapon accuracy. But in "fight or flight" situations in real life, panic seems to be the peak of the "flight" response. I think this could be easily reflected in project zomboid. Reduced accuracy and vision is good, because it discourages "fight", however I think the "flight" could be improved by temporarily increasing your max carrying capacity slightly, and temporarily increasing running speed slightly due to the rush of adrenaline.

Personally during fight or flight responses I find my senses sharpen, not the opposite. But yeah I am all for this.

[Kajin]

Yeah, I kinda like this. The adrenaline surge should give you a bit of strength and speed to help you overcome the odds. Make it easier for you to get away. Should be counterbalanced by leaving the character very fatigued when the fight is over.

[uberevan]

Sounds good to me

But how long would the buffs last?  Eventually that panic will wear you down to giving up and you lose your will to live

[dra6o0n]

They should have Panic work in two functions:

 

Adrenaline Rush.

Stressed.

 

So when you engage zombies, you panick and you get an Adrenaline rush.

 

Within 10 seconds you gain increased strength and accuracy.

 

But after this duration ends, you end up being stressed, which reduces strength and accuracy, for a short duration.

 

But your body condition, and emotional state can adjust the length of time each of these function lasts.

 

A depressed, unhappy character will panick, get no adrenaline rush and instead becomes very stressed, and loses strength and accuracy for a long duration of up to 30 seconds.

 

A healthy and very well fed character will get panicked, but almost instantly go into Adrenaline rush for about 30 seconds, and suffers a few seconds or less of Stress, which recovers very fast. Sometimes a very healthy person gets a brave buff which makes them immune to panicking at all, and activates adrenaline rush for each encounter so long as they keep their mental and physical conditions at tip top shape.

 

+30 Sec to -30 sec

To both Adrenaline Rush or Distress states, they are opposites so one gain in one, leads to a loss in another.

[silents429]

You don't get stressed from an adrenaline rush.

The panic or "buff" would go as long as your in panic. But to balance this, you wouldn't get frightened from zombies as often anymore and for not as long, the longer you play that character.

 

After it does end though, you would be very exhausted, the longer it went on. 

[ApolloDiaspora]

I thinks it's more the adrenaline rush from the panic wearing off, causing the character to second-guess and worry about their current situation.

 

In the case of a survivor crushing skulls left and right, while under the effects of 'Panic', they'd probably go from "Yeah! Get some! Get some" to "Oh crap, what am I doing, what am I doing..." after a few kills, especially if they're slowly being backed into a corner.

[dra6o0n]

I thinks it's more the adrenaline rush from the panic wearing off, causing the character to second-guess and worry about their current situation.

 

In the case of a survivor crushing skulls left and right, while under the effects of 'Panic', they'd probably go from "Yeah! Get some! Get some" to "Oh crap, what am I doing, what am I doing..." after a few kills, especially if they're slowly being backed into a corner.

Umm, Panicking means the lack of thoughts, and acting in a frightened manner. And being riled up and whacking zombie skulls in isn't a form of panic.

 

Panicking is mostly a negative responsive behavior after being surprised, and seeing groups of zombies in broad daylight for a while doesn't make you panic instantly, it's suppose to raise anxiousness first, then you panick if it builds up too much... I think the behavior you are talking about is Selflessness.

Where one stops thinking for oneself and just acts on their feelings.

 

So:

 

You turn a corner and sees a zombie up close = +50 Anxious, Anxious being high, becomes +1 Panic for every 25 Anxious, which resets Anxious to 0.

 

You look out a window and realize there are lots of zombies out there = +1 Anxious per 10 minutes ingame. Hearing them also increases it by +1 per 10 minutes ingame. If the zombies realizes your location and your character notices that, it becomes +5 Anxiousness per 10 ingame minutes, and you go into Panic once it hits 25.

 

You are walking around in the dark outside. Or you haven't found any food for a while. Your anxiousness increases by +1 every 10 minutes by default.

 

This means that unless a zombie pops up on your vision due to slow awareness, very close to you; targetting zombies in sight from afar and coming close to kill them, can build up your 'Selflessness' gauge, which mitigates Anxiousness by -1 each time you hit and knock down a zombie, and -5 every time you kill a zombie.

 

As your 'selflessness' builds up, you start to ignore the 'what if this is a bad idea' thoughts, and stops being able to be panicked, and stops being able to gain anxiousness.

 

The only thing that counters high 'selflessness' is when the tables are turned and you can't 'kill' zombies anymore... Meaning the moment you 'stop' for a while, the selflessness drains really really fast like -10 units per second or something, and then you 'realize' the reality and become anxious, or even panic if there are a ton of zombies, now closing in on you.

[Kajin]

Anxiousness is not the same thing as panicking. Anxiousness is sitting in a chair on the second floor and listening to the horde passing by outside, hoping against hope that they don't notice you and break in the door. Panic is when they DO find you and break in through the door.

[Ewok]

I'd say fear makes you run away, panic makes you freeze.

[unsaved_progress]

I like the idea of panic increasing certain abilities or heightening senses, but I think it would have too large a knock on effect.

 

For instance, my character has the claustrophobic negative trait which means she instantly becomes extremely panicked indoors. Does that mean that she would be super strong inside houses but then become increasingly weak and fatigued as that wore off? Or an agoraphobic character who is panicked all the time when outside, same question/problem.

 

Not sure if its a deal breaker as I think panic should, yeah, increase your FOV not decrease, but I think with the way the game/traits are structured now, it might be hard to implement. 

[FawkesGaming]

I like the idea of panic increasing certain abilities or heightening senses, but I think it would have too large a knock on effect.

For instance, my character has the claustrophobic negative trait which means she instantly becomes extremely panicked indoors. Does that mean that she would be super strong inside houses but then become increasingly weak and fatigued as that wore off? Or an agoraphobic character who is panicked all the time when outside, same question/problem.

Not sure if its a deal breaker as I think panic should, yeah, increase your FOV not decrease, but I think with the way the game/traits are structured now, it might be hard to implement.

This could be solved by a redefinition of panic and what those traits to, so they're more in line with the previous suggestion.

[silents429]

The Adrenaline rush, isn't selflessness. If thats what you meant. Its your brain going "We fight or run!"

I really want this in the game, and if a zombie turns a corner most of us jump then attack bringing forth the rush seeing more would keep it going.

Seeing a horde from afar probably wouldn't cause the response considering your not in danger that second, your potentially in danger.

Also I wish hordes migrated! I miss sitting quietly in my home hoping they don't rip my home apart.

[Ontogenesis]

I usually make the distinction:

 

Anxiety - future orientated threat preparation.

Panic - present focused survival response

 

Being anxious means more likely to panic (as less emotional increase is required to reach panic threshold). Both involve threat evaluation, with often ability to cope appraisals mingled in.

 

Physical symptoms of both include activation of the sympathetic nervous system - increased heart rate, muscle tension, increased breathing, sweating etc. Although the degree of which is dependent on level of anxiety or panic, with panic being the most active.

 

Panic is a survival response - the 'fight or flight', giving boosts to either (due to 'symptoms' described above). Fighting would likely to be a lot less controlled and much more frantic, but physically you would be more prepared to do either, in the short term.

Chronic anxiety leads to fatigue, aches and pains, poor sleep and restlessness (due to constant increased muscle tension).

 

Attention is diverted to threat detection when in both states, which is often why people who are anxious have memory problems, as they find it difficult to concentrate or are distracted. So you would have heightened perception of threat, but less likely to notice other things. I would suggest anxiety has a detrimential effect on any tasks requiring concentration, and perhaps even spotting loot.

 

Depression and anxiety often occur together, for many reasons.