More Affects - Things to spend money on?

[Empheba]

I have a suggestion for increasing monetary flow in the game - introducing more personal affects.

I'm primarily talking requirements of food, sleep, clothwashing and so on. However, I really dislike spamming "You are hungry" messages. I don't suggest you could ever die from hunger, for example (this is is one of the main reasons for requiring hungry messaging in the first place). Instead they are "affects" you can find on your score sheet. Same way you are "dirty", you can be "hungry" and "thirsty", "in ragged clothes" and so on.

On a RP game like this, I think this indicator should be enough to urge players into spending money. Good thing is also that it need not interrupt a current scene. But one might consider minor drawbacks on attributes too. It also gives inspiration for roleplay.

Suggestions for affects:

• "You are hungry" - % drawback on strength - need to eat
• "You are thirsty" - % drawback on ? - need to drink
• "Your clothes are dirty" - App drawback - need to wash clothes?
• "Your clothes are ragged" - Need new clothes (how to determine?)
• "You have a headache" - need some healing herbs?
• "You have a cold" - need some healing herbs/pay a doctor?
• "You are dirty" (already exists)
• "You are cold and miserable" - need to spend time in a "Comfortable" room.

I'd be reluctant to include certain affects like "sleepy" in this, since sleeping is really not an RP-helping activity. :)
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Empheba

[Geras]

As it stands I spend quite a bit on food, so I think the hunger issue is already handled pretty well.

I'd personally be wary of creating gold sinks in a way that just annoys players rather than one that improves player enjoyment (ie having neat things to spend money on).

[Empheba]

As it stands I spend quite a bit on food, so I think the hunger issue is already handled pretty well.

I'd personally be wary of creating gold sinks in a way that just annoys players rather than one that improves player enjoyment (ie having neat things to spend money on).

It's really quite simple - without basic human needs, there is no basic economy. It's clear TI doesn't make an attempt to emulate any economy per se, but money has little value as it is, and any incentives to spend are good ones I think.

I don't see why a marker in the score sheet should annoy players either, you could safely ignore the affect for as long as you liked (as said, no messages are echoed until you yourself checked your status. Possibly the prompt would be updated though), yet be reminded that you should really do something about that flag eventually. If there is no actual game effect (skip disadvantages suggested above), one could consider it just an RP suggestion. Either way it's an incentive to spend.

As there is, there is no gain whatsoever for e.g. buying food (it's actually quite annoying in RP since finishing a dish is very spammy). I do buy food occationally on my own accord, but I know for *sure* that I wouldn't go bathing with any regularity without the "dirty" affect appearing from time to time (the loss of App doesn't even bother my character concept in the least, but having the flag there does urge me to take action nevertheless. Just the small triumph of having that flag go away is a "win" to the gamer's psyche).
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Empheba

[Geras]

Well skipping those suggestions would be better, but the reality is we all (or at least I) play this game to get away from the monotony of day-to-day life :(.

I think too that an issue with increasing the scope of "basic subsistence" activities is that it impacts the entire pbase equally. Freemen are already poor enough IMHO - the people who aren't spending a high enough % of income are the gentry and the nobles. I'd rather see ways of capturing that income - and ideally in ways that encourage RP and possible redirect those funds to the freemen in the pbase.

Just my 2 cents...

[Empheba]

Fair enough, agree to disagree. Again, I don't see why this would enforce anything on you, but that's just me. If you anyway spend money on food regularly because of good IC discipline, what's the problem with getting some coded feedback that you do it?

Freemen are already poor enough IMHO - the people who aren't spending a high enough % of income are the gentry and the nobles.

Well, if you say so ... This might vary depending on the role one plays then. I personally don't see much "real" need for money at all in the game, certainly not for Freemen. I'm poor because I actively choose to be for IC reasons, not because money is pouring out of my pockets faster than it can enter.
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Empheba

[Geras]

You may be right about character type. My freeman is Edwynn and I find him constantly shelling out for food and drink for mvs, but I suspect part of that is because the Merchants' guildhall is so fricken far from everything though. Hmm.