Smoking spice and reacting accordingly

[Anonymous Spicehead]

While the majority of people do a very good job at roleplaying out the effects spice has on them, I've noticed that there have been people who don't seem to pay attention to the coded echoes that smoking spice gives.

For example, smoking zharal is not going to make a person relaxed and giggly.  Spice is not marijuana, people!  Each type of spice has a different effect or effects, and those effects should be roleplayed out according to what the coded effects are.  It's not that difficult to figure out.

[Angela Christine]

Part of the problem may be that there is no persistant indication of what affect you are experiencing, and no indication of how strong it is.  A single puff off a smoke shouldn't give you the same intensity as snorting a whole knot, but for most spices there is no indication of how strong the effect is.  It isn't as big an issue with spices that have an obvious stat affect, but even there I could use more feedback.  Sometimes you can stay affected by spice for a really long time if you keep logging in and out.  Sometimes there is screen scroll that eats the transition message from the "good" effect to the "bad" effect.

Through all that, the only thing the code tells me is that I am affected by spice.  It doesn't tell me what spice, what effect, or how strong.  


AC

[mansa]

Well, yes, there's a problem with the code and telling you what you're experiencing.  

The code lets you have your 'high' - then you have your 'low' - and then you settle back up to your normal feeling, but all the time it will just say that you're affected by spice, and that's it.

The code is very, ambigious, in order to promote the largest creative sense possible.  When it gives you a message, 'You feel elated' and 'You feel aggressive', you can choose to be stoned out of your mind and sexually aroused, or tired and physically pushing people around and angry.

The original poster is making reference for when people get a coded message that spice gives you, and acting contrary to what it is, and how people -should- act like what they are told.

When you feel elated, you're relaxed, and almost stoned.  You're not aggressive.  When you feel aggressive, you're active and perhaps, sexually aroused, and you're not elated.

Learn more about your spices from your local Kuraci dealer, and dictionary.com!

[Bestatte]

SO, when you're feeling elated AND aggressive because you just smoked one of each...

Does it mean you're SO happy that you wanna go out and kill stuff? Or that you're so angry that you get giddy? Or do the two cancel each other out and you feel nothing unusual?

Or maybe - you're feeling really aggressive but are too stoned to do anything about it..

Or you're feeling really stoned but you twitch from the aggression..

Oh the possibilities.

[sjanimal]

Dear Spice smoker,

While I feel that drugs can have different effects on different people, I for one will certainly try to role-play spice effects more strictly with coded descriptions, if it will help your enjoyment of the game.

Yours,
sjanimal

[Marc]

SO, when you're feeling elated AND aggressive because you just smoked one of each...

This can be refered to as cocktailing.  Maybe a couple combo's would cancel each other out but chances are you just get really f*&^ed up.

[Anonymous Spicehead]

Dear Spice smoker,

While I feel that drugs can have different effects on different people, I for one will certainly try to role-play spice effects more strictly with coded descriptions, if it will help your enjoyment of the game.

Yours,
sjanimal

Armageddon is not the real world.  Pay attention to the echoes.

[Armaddict]

Hey.

Not everyone acts the same on drugs.  Not everyone will act the same on spice.  Don't be a druggy-role-play police.  Some characters will not act the same way as yours, nor the way you expect them to.

Deal with it, bucko.

[Anonymous]

Hey.

Not everyone acts the same on drugs.  Not everyone will act the same on spice.  Don't be a druggy-role-play police.  Some characters will not act the same way as yours, nor the way you expect them to.

Deal with it, bucko.

This isn't my argument and I'm not all that wound up about it at all, but the code is pretty specific as to how you feel under the influence of the different spices.  What makes you think your real world pot experiences apply?

[Marc]

Sorry CRW, but can't say I agree with you there.  The mud is NOT very specific on how you feel.  One generic feeling when you injest and one when you're coming down.  As someone mentioned earlier (Robo-Mansa) it gives you the player as much room as possible for your own interpretations.  If it says you feel elated react how YOUR CHARACTER would react and f&#% everyone else :-)

If you don't think that is how it should be handled (player interpretation) I'd suggest mailing the mud account with some new echo submissions for spice use.  Round out the messages and everyone will act more uniformly.

[mansa]

The real argument is people NOT playing elated and people NOT playing aggressive.  It's the people who smoke spice, where the echo is 'elated' and then you role-play feeling NOT elated, where you are aggressive and paranoid and angry.

At least, that's what I've gathered.  There are different intrepretations of 'elated' and 'aggressive', and we're definitely free to intrepret them in any way for our character, but don't play the contrary to what the code tells you what your character are feeling.

[Anonymous Spicehead]

What I am trying to say, as some people have understood and some people haven't, is that people should have their characters react according to the echo given by smoking the spice.  If the echo says your heart is racing and you feel extremely energetic, then you should act accordingly.  If the echo says that you feel elated, you should not sit around all depressed and mopy.  If it says you feel aggressive, you should not sit there and giggle at everything.  I am not trying to say that everyone who feels extremely energetic should run laps around the city, or when elated jump for joy, or when aggressive go and punch holes in the wall.  I am saying that you should use common sense.  The echoes give sufficient information for how you should be making your character act.  Acting the opposite of what the effects would make a person is just bad roleplay.

[Malifaxis]

Armageddon is not the real world. Pay attention to the echoes.

Yeah, terrific.  I seriously doubt that under any circumstance there is one thing that will affect everyone the same way.  That spiced kank antennae would give person X bad breath, and person Y bad gas.  Ale will quickly get person X drunk, while person Y needs twelve mugs to even feel tipsy.  The same stands for spice... CHEMICALS which activate and change the normal biorythm of the imbiber.

CRW:

What makes you think your real world pot experiences apply?

And what makes you think they wouldn't?  It's a more reliable source of information than "You feel elated."  "You feel elated" is pretty fucking vague.  There's a whole realm of different kinds of elation.  Some people are elated when they are happy and can't move... but another person could very easily feel elated, not be able to move effectively, and as a result get VERY pissed off about the fact that they can not act with coordination.

Just because the code says I feel agressive does not mean I'm going to leap across the table and begin gnawing on a barwench... just like when it says I kick someone's face in that it is MY choice whether I wanted my foot up there, or if I would rather deliver a quick headbutt.

I am my PC's keeper.  I remain the best judge of how they react to certain inebriants and occurances.  As do we all.  If you don't like how someone else plays a druggy, then go find someone else who immediately pulls an axe when they get a whiff of Zharal.  Enjoy.

[Malifaxis]

Just for the record, I do agree that someone who smokes a phat spliff of damn zharal SHOULD feel in some way aggro, and should react accordingly, but it may very easily not be in a way you would recognize.

Maybe the reason they are sitting there giggling is because they're running through different scenarios of how to kill everyone in the bar, and it's amusing them greatly.

[Anonymous]

What makes you think your real world pot experiences apply?

And what makes you think they wouldn't?  It's a more reliable source of information than "You feel elated."  "You feel elated" is pretty fucking vague.

Drugs in the real world and spice in Armageddon are not the same, so I don't see how you can consider them a more reliable source of information.  My spectator's understanding is that real world drugs can have pretty drastically different effects on people.  Not everyone gets lazy and happy on pot, not everyone gets a red nose and a cheerful smile from alcohol.  I've never read or seen that your reaction to spice is completely up to the player.

You feel elated might be somewhat vague, but it is clear enough to indicate that you shouldn't emote getting pissed off and easily agitated.  Within degrees, sure.  But you are still, ultimately, happy or aggressive or whatever the effect is.  Maybe one person will be jumping up the walls aggressive, and maybe someone else will be dirty-look aggressive, I don't know and I don't care.

To me the point is that if the code tells you 'You feel aggressive' that it's pretty presumptuous of you to just decide that instead of being aggressive, you are going to arbitrarily decide that this spice makes you feel relaxed and chilled out.

There's a whole realm of different kinds of elation.  Some people are elated when they are happy and can't move... but another person could very easily feel elated, not be able to move effectively, and as a result get VERY pissed off about the fact that they can not act with coordination.

That's weak.  There's nothing that says you lose coordination when you are elated.  The point is the code clearly indicates that if you smoke this certain type of stuff you become happy or whatever the indicator is.

Just because the code says I feel agressive does not mean I'm going to leap across the table and begin gnawing on a barwench... just like when it says I kick someone's face in that it is MY choice whether I wanted my foot up there, or if I would rather deliver a quick headbutt.

I am my PC's keeper.  I remain the best judge of how they react to certain inebriants and occurances.  As do we all.

No agrument here.  But you are talking apples and oranges.  Treating 'kick' as a general strike is completely different than treating a spice that makes you aggressive as one that makes you relax.

A better comparison would be to say that you are going to emote smiling happily and being healed when that mage casts a fireball at you.

If you don't like how someone else plays a druggy, then go find someone else who immediately pulls an axe when they get a whiff of Zharal.  Enjoy.

Oh god.  If I don't like the politics in America should I get out too?  Relax, smoke some Zharal, dude.

I'm just saying that acting in a way that is completely contrary to what the code is telling you is stupid.  Within degrees is fine, but the original poster's reference wasn't regarding people not acting aggressive enough or not acting relaxed enough, but, again, opposite of how they should.

But rather than have a civilized discussion, let's turn this into another episode of 'Oh My God, The Roleplay Police Are After Us!', since that's way more constructive.

[Angela Christine]

While I agree that the effect from the spice should be in-line with what the code says the effect is, there can also be other elements in play.

:arrow: As others have mentioned, your personal body chemistry will influence how "elated" "agressive" or "in tune with the elements" manifests.

:arrow: The doasage should also be a factor.  You won't get completely toasted on a single grain, that would take at least a pinch for most people, I think.  A grain might make you just a little elated, or a little agressive.  Snorting a whole knot at once ought to make you VERY elated or VERY agressive.

:arrow: Pre-spice mood.  If you were warm and sleepy before you snorted a little "agressive" spice, you might still be warm and sleepy enough that you just become a little grumbly.  If you were severly agitated and angry so you took some "mellow" spice to calm down, you might not get as mellow as a person who was calm before they took the spice.


So someone who was giggly before they took a single grain of non-giggly spice might wind up somewhere between giggly and agressive.  It could happen.  But someone who was nuetral before they took agressive spice shouldn't become giggly and mellow, that would be weird.


AC

[Armaddict]

Spice and drugs are completely different.  Ooookay.  But hell, at least people use them the same way.  At least we made pipes to smoke them.  At least we snort them.  Shit, they're in no way similar.  Not as if a lot of people use them for -entertainment- or -anesthesia- or anything.  I don't know where -I-  was coming from.

Point is...'dopy and depressed' is how you described the people who were role-playing 'elated' wrong?  I could be wrong?  I would take it that's the way you see 'stoned' people acting.  Sometimes.  Not all the time.  Yes, well...-I- would call that 'dopy and depressed' feeling...'elated'.  That's right.  I feel -elated- when I smoke pot.

Everyone will interpret their own personal meanings of the spice messages.  If you want everyone who feels 'elated' to be all hop-skippy, bunny-loving smiling asses, then you're going to be disappointed.

The same with the other messages.  An 'aggressive' person doesn't necessarily wish bodily harm to anyone else.  One might smoke 'aggressive spice' right before playing some Kruth.  They might do it before going into political negotiations.  You're thinking of all these spice messages in an incredibly narrow-minded way.

[Cenghiz]

I'm sorry... I'm too tired to read all... But; sniff self may give you an idea about what you smoked, what the 'spiced' word in your stats mean. I hope I didn't just repeat someone.

[Anonymous]

Point is...'dopy and depressed' is how you described the people who were role-playing 'elated' wrong?  I could be wrong?  I would take it that's the way you see 'stoned' people acting.  Sometimes.  Not all the time.  Yes, well...-I- would call that 'dopy and depressed' feeling...'elated'.  That's right.  I feel -elated- when I smoke pot.

If you are responding to me I don't know where you are getting this from.

There are a range of responses that I consider appropriate to a spice that makes you feel elated or aggressive.  Just not the opposite reaction.  Puffing on Zharal and acting all chilled out is just plain silly and is obviously the result of someone wanting to treat every roll of spice like a big fat joint.

As for looking at it in a narrow-minded way, hows about you reread my posts.  It just comes down to acting completely opposite of how the spice is supposed to make you feel is cheesy.  Spice that winds you up shouldn't result in you acting like you joke toked a big fat bowl.

[Agent_137]

Elated has a pretty narrow definition, actually.

Everyone know's that there's an online dictionary, right?

www.dictionary.com


e·late
tr.v. e·lat·ed, e·lat·ing, e·lates
To make proud or joyful: Her success elated the family.


adj.
Elated.

[Delirium]

Okay, I see a few main points being made here..

-> Different spices have different base effects on people. Agitation, relaxation, alertness, and so on.

-> The strength of the effect on the person depends on how much they smoke and their mood beforehand.

-> The messages are fairly broad, but should be adhered to in some fashion to keep your character's reaction within the realm of believability.

Okay, so what's the problem?

A very angry person might smoke some spice to feel "euphoric" and still be somewhat on edge, but much calmer. An already easygoing person in a good mood might smoke some spice to feel "euphoric" and walk around with a big, stupid grin plastered on their face and try to hug strangers. Not everyone is going to react the same, but I don't think anyone in this thread is arguing the fact that the messages should be taken into account and used when deciding how to roleplay the effects. Just that the effects WILL vary within their set range, since our characters are unique, not cookie-cutter representations.

As for me, I like to assume that everyone around me is the best RPer I've ever met, and just roll with things as they happen. You'd be suprised how little I end up running into things I can't smooth over.

Now everybody go smoke up a fat one and chill already.

[Armaddict]

You didn't read mine very well either.  There is no spice that makes you feel -angry-.

Aggressive and angry are two different things.  Read the kruth example.  He can be -very- aggressive, but still be a damn likeable person.  Just very aggressive in his actions.  Never does it say he wants to kill everyone around him.

As to the elation definition one, you left out something.  "Exaltation."  I won't copy and paste, but the second definition is this:  a state or feeling of intense, often excessive exhilaration or well-being.

Thus, that -is- the way I feel when I am high.  That doesn't mean I'm gasping and orgasming in my pants.  That means I feel good about where I am, what I'm doing.  I'm not likely to move.  I'm feeling good, I'm feeling 'well-off'.

You can play it however you want, but playing it like a stoner isn't out of the question.  I simply go back to my previous statements...the messages are very -broad- and allow a large amount of different rp, which will vary from player to player, and the only problem is that you are viewing their roleplay with spice with a narrow interpretation of what spice roleplay can be.

[Ayashah]

Just to toss my 2 sids in on spice. I know most think that Zharal, making a woman aggressive, means she's instantly sexually turned on. Though that MIGHT be the case, depending on pre-mood or what goes on after smoking said spice, that is no always how I, personally, play it.

Someone pointed out aggressive can be many different things. Someone that might not take chances could all of a sudden try to get this job the wanted on that spice, etc. I have played a pc in the mood from that spice and a lot wilder than she had been with her bf then she got instantly furious when this other guy strolled into the scene and try to get a grope in. If I remember right, she tried to bite his hand off. (This was a LONG LONG time ago, so I figure it's safe to speak about in reference)

I think, as others have said, that the coded messages give you a 'feel' as to how to rp reaction to the spice. I also think that the longer one 'does' the spice, even though they get the same message, that they should start building up a tolerance and need MORE of the drug to have the same effect. Everyone and every situation is not the same.

[Scarborough]

You -feel- elated.  You -feel- aggressive.

All this debate over a feeling?  It's a FEELING, it's internal, it's in a characters head.  Whether or not a character ACTS on that feeling is another story.   For those of you who feel that a character should always act out the FEELING, consider whether you've ever exercised RESTRAINT in real life.  There was a comment about not comparing RL pot/drug reactions to game drugs... good point.   But I can easily compare real life feelings vs. action or restraint to game feelings/action/restraint and act however I want and my RP would be perfectly ICly logical.   Unless of course the "high" message is "you feel a lack of restraint."  *chuckles*

[Anonymous]

All this debate over a feeling?  It's a FEELING, it's internal, it's in a characters head.  Whether or not a character ACTS on that feeling is another story.   For those of you who feel that a character should always act out the FEELING, consider whether you've ever exercised RESTRAINT in real life.  There was a comment about not comparing RL pot/drug reactions to game drugs... good point.   But I can easily compare real life feelings vs. action or restraint to game feelings/action/restraint and act however I want and my RP would be perfectly ICly logical.   Unless of course the "high" message is "you feel a lack of restraint."  *chuckles*

So what you are saying is that people who smoke aggros and then act like they are high on pot are doing it becuase they are tremendous actors who, through the might of subtlety, have ulterior motives and, at the crucial moment, will spring from their seat, take hold of their blade and shout, triumphantly -

"HAHA!  I was not smoking Thodeliv but aggros, the advantage is mine, have at you!"

Because, honestly, I think people who treat all spice like marijuana aren't acting that way because they have a compelling IC reason to hide how it makes them feel.  It's just cooler to smoke a big fat bowl.