Death in Childbirth

[Kinaed]

For or against? If for, the historical amounts were 25% of the population died. Could be something for the physicians if we have them caring for a woman to reduce the chance to 0%? Do we want to get this involved? If a woman "would die", do we offer her a way out with QP? Best to avoid it all?


Questions raised due to us going in to fix up some problems with pregnancy code, not because we intend a shift.

-Kinaed

[Zeita]

I personally wouldn't be keen on seeing something such as this come down to the vagaries of code, at least not as an absolute.

'Sorry, you're going to die in childbirth.' No doctor online? Too bad for you.

However, I wouldn't mind code generating some results to give an idea (based on stats like con & str) as to how easy or difficult childbirth was. Perhaps even giving the mother the option to die if they had a difficult birthing, but most def. as a choice, rather than code enforced.

While I appreciate realism, we can't really model it well without it seeming a touch arbitrary or overly random.

Given the nature of medical care at the time, we could as easily have people logging on to 'sorry, you caught an incurable and deadly disease and have 24 hours to live. In agony. Enjoy!'

Also, I personally wouldn't want female characters to be singled out for the one place code can mandate a death like this without the hand of other players involved. The recent was was non-lethal for players, for example, with warfare being one of those things that worked at keeping the 'historic gender mortality balance' a touch more even.

-Charmaine,
(Now dismounting her high-horse)

[Estelle]

I agree completely with Charm. We recently had a war where none of the generals would die even leading their army into battle. And there are miracle orderlies to drag every single bleeding person to the hospital, etc. Don't think a 100% non-lethal childbirth rate is very much unrealistic compared to the above.

[Zeita]

And there are miracle orderlies to drag every single bleeding person to the hospital, etc.

(Going to go off on a tangent here, on the quote above.)

Really? Not sure I like that...

On one hand, while I don't think people should bleed to death, I also don't think it is appropriate for there be a mechanism to take all people bleeding to death off to hospital. Are there any limitations on this? If not, I think there should be.

Bleeding on a public street? Sure!

In a creepy mage's basement? Not so much. Same with in the depths of a forest, a jail cell, etc, etc.

I'd be in favor of people taking a permanent/long-term injury/stat cut if they don't get the proper medical attention, and then stopping the bleeding. (In case it happens in an out of the way place, so they're not caught in a death loop or something.)

Tangent over.
Charm.

[Kinaed]

It was seen as a bug and removed. It used to be before, if you bled to death, you woke up in hospital. But instead of bleeding to death in the forest, people were bleeding to death in RP after someone smacked them with a sword.

Now, you do not bleed to death and get taken to the hospital. Instead, you sit at 1 HP until you stop the bleeding.

[Estelle]

My bad on that one! Glad it's fixed.

[Jei]

I am not a woman, so.. sure.

Just kidding. I kind of think that death by disease, natural causes and complications are really something that should be considered to be something that happens to NPCs. Lame? Maybe. But in my mind, PCs are the 'exceptional' members of the population of the Urth and I think in these cases they should generally auto be considered part of the 75% that survived.

That being said, if someone wanted child birth to be a way out for their character and they thought it would be epic or something to use the die command that way, I would be fine with that. But I think such mundane deaths are really.. just not something I'd like to start see effecting the pbase, and I think having death by child birth is just the top of a potentially slippery slope into disease, randomly being run down by horses in the street, etc.

[registerednuisance]

I'd veto it. Having had multiple spawn on several incarnations, it always happens that you either go into labor when no docs are available/online or you log in to a baby object and the message saying 'You popped, here ya go!'

[Lei]

I'll weigh in. :)

I don't think death in childbirth should be coded in, mostly for the same reasons raised in the previous posts. I do think it should be an RP option, however, to be paid for with QPs for minor/major RP assistance from the imms or whatever.