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Read literature persists after use


Art Falmingaid

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This idea has been loosely explored in other topics, but not as the primary focus.

When the player reads books (skill books and leisure books), newspapers, journals, and magazines, it should be that the item cannot be read a second time but it does not disappear from the inventory.  Instead, it gains an adjective in its name like "finished" or "read" and remains usuable as fuel for fires.

 

Below are links to the other threads this has been discussed as well as some relevent quotes:

 

books not wasted and panicked when gun aimed at

First one is when somebody reads a skill book, the skill book shouldn't disappear. It should stay, so someone else can read it. It's realistic.

I'm personally torn between current reading material disappearing after reading it. Especially since we can use them as fuel for fire. In case of MP it's good that it won't be shared and teaching/learning will kick in eventually, but in case of SP it would be good to leave them and use as burning material, since you are more likely to burn stuff you already read.

I always found it odd that your character discards (or forcibly ingests?) the book when they're finished. Just because you've finished a book doesn't mean you have to throw it to the ground and never look at it again (or cram it down your throat in hopes the knowledge will reach your brain.)

 

PZ Suggestion Compiliation

Bookshelves and Reading Material Revisions - Books and Magazines are converted into "Used Books" and "Old Magazines" after they've been read, and offer no additional happiness or boredom value on their own but can be added to a bookshelf (either built by the player or found previously). The room the bookshelf is in can then be designated as a library to become a source of idle entertainment for the characters living in the safehouse it is located in. Characters that idle in the designated library are assumed to be perusing the contents bookshelves in order to keep happiness up and boredom levels from rising. Every "Used Book' and "Old Magazine" that is added to a bookshelf inside the designated library contributes to the "Variety Rating" of the library. The greater the variety, the more boredom and unhappiness is alleviated over time.

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Makes sense. I don't see why this couldn't be implemented some time in the future.

That's nearly a yes. From Mash. Good goodness, this may well happen.

 

Also, I really like the idea of having a 'library' room, as my safehouse in West Point has a study with bookshelves just waiting to be filled.

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I would suggest that books are able to be read again, at a lower benefit each time. Much as in real life, people will read books they like again and again, though likely never really capturing the original effect the book had.

 

They could even add a time based system that the longer you go without reading the book again, the more the books stats regenerate. Again, much like in real life.

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You should also modify the code so the books and magazines are read like skill books over time. Maybe even conferring the benefit over the course of that time, with a half finished book conferring only half of the benefits.

 

I enjoy the library idea better, though. That way you don't have to keep track of the stats of individual books. Just convert a finished book (or other reading material) into a Used Book and add it to a bookshelf to increase the quality of that bookshelf. The more Used Books (and other old literature) added onto the shelves, the greater the quality of the bookshelf. The higher quality the bookshelves, the better the benefit a survivor gets from idling in the library room. The code for it should be easier to implement since there aren't as many factors to keep track of.

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You should also modify the code so the books and magazines are read like skill books over time. Maybe even conferring the benefit over the course of that time, with a half finished book conferring only half of the benefits.

 

That would be quite nice.  It would be easy enough for the player to keep track of each individual book's progress as long as the icon in your inventory or the container had the green progress bar like the skillbooks.

Also, the number of pages in each piece of literature could be randomized between a maximum and minimum.  The page count could be displayed in the description similar to the skillbooks.

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Heh. Maybe we could have some kind of random book title generator, or have a suggestion thread where members put forth ideas for book titles in the game? That way it feels like there's variety because not every single book is just called "Book"

 

Maybe some books could have downer endings and make characters sad as well. That would be funny, if unnecessary.

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^ I'd considered that as well. It shouldn't be hard for the entire community to suggest a huge cache of fictional book names to plug in randomly for looted books. 

 

I Still Pee in the Shower: A Memoir

by Art Falmingaid

I would really like read literature to be persistent, mostly because I want to hoard the last publications of humanity (and other artifacts) during the zombie apocalypse like Ariel's treasure trove. 

 

I steal wallets from re-dead zombies.

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