The 9 Benefits of Encouraging Spice Addiction

[James de Monet]

Some characters that I have played in this game have smoked a lot of spice.  Like, multiple bricks of it.  And out of all those times, I have only ever bothered to note the code effect of it once.  And I was kinda like, 'That's it?  Huh.'  I dunno, there may have been ameliorating factors.  At any rate, these characters may have been socially addicted, but they were not codedly/chemically addicted.

I'm not sure that info adds much to the discussion except to point out some PCs do smoke a lot of spice, and it doesn't necessarily require coded benefits to make them do it.  (But it does require both financial and logistical access.)

[solera]

Do you think having Apprentice/Journey think/feel sense while addicted and high on tho, wouldn't be fun or would harm the game?

I personally think it would harm the game.  

If this works for PCs, it would work for NPCs as well.  Enter the spice-addicted NPCs that are just posted about the Gaj, and they don't get their next dose from Noble/Merchant/Templar until they come back with some juicy tidbit that likely costs a character their status, plot, life.

Players, knowing that their thoughts are now open to interception, stop using thinks unless they want that think known to others.  The characters don't think anyless, the think-code just gets conveniently not used.

As a player, I would welcome anything that nerfed the Way a little bit, without removing its ooc benefits. Real secrets would more likely be passed through meetings or messengers.i

Addicts are icky, but not as icky as 'gickers.
 

[Clearsighted]

Some characters that I have played in this game have smoked a lot of spice.  Like, multiple bricks of it.  And out of all those times, I have only ever bothered to note the code effect of it once.  And I was kinda like, 'That's it?  Huh.'  I dunno, there may have been ameliorating factors.  At any rate, these characters may have been socially addicted, but they were not codedly/chemically addicted.

I'm not sure that info adds much to the discussion except to point out some PCs do smoke a lot of spice, and it doesn't necessarily require coded benefits to make them do it.  (But it does require both financial and logistical access.)

Right. In its current incarnation, enjoying spice is not unlike claiming to enjoy listening to jazz or watching soccer IRL. It's more of an elaborate affectation than anything else. People can, and a precious minority actually does, RP around it. But there's nothing about it to independently motivate or move plots, or create intrigue, conflict and interest.

Someone is either brilliant and creative, and works with it, such as yourself, uses it for twinking purposes without ever risking addiction, or ignores it.

There's noone making sids off a spice smuggling ring in Allanak, and no one is seriously concerned about people smoking spice in Allanak. Despite it being set up as a theme, and even culturally defining struggle. It could be a cockpit of RP, but right now, it's just a distraction.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Here's an example of a peculiar oddity in our world, given the way the IC culture is supposed to be.

Which will you pick up first? A brick of shiny red spice, or a humming, glowing skull-crested ring?

Yes, I'm aware that some magickal things have changed, but spice should be that attractive to us, OOCly AND ICly.

And THEN, make it illegal in Allanak with gate guards who will beat your ass and rob you and cart you to prison and not kill you.

[Synthesis]

Here's an example of a peculiar oddity in our world, given the way the IC culture is supposed to be.

Which will you pick up first? A brick of shiny red spice, or a humming, glowing skull-crested ring?

Yes, I'm aware that some magickal things have changed, but spice should be that attractive to us, OOCly AND ICly.

And THEN, make it illegal in Allanak with gate guards who will beat your ass and rob you and cart you to prison and not kill you.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Yes, you would, because you're a good role-player, and you resist the OOC urge to boost your strength/wisdom/speed/etc by x points so you can get that horrendous on that silt horror. But, did you want to do that OOCly? No, no you didn't.

Do you want to accidentally OOC forget you are carrying spice, and get killed at the gates of Allanak, ICly? No, no you don't. Is the temporary boost you get from spice enough to make you crave it anyway, despite knowing that a single mistake can result in an unforgiving squad of half-giants caving your 45 day old character's head in? Usually, no, it's not.

But hey. Go you.

The point is that spice should be as OOCly attractive to the player as x magick necklace OOCly is. That is how you assure an addiction to something you can't be OOCly addicted to. Make it attractive, in game terms, because this is, after all, a game, and the more IC facets that can be OOCly active in this game, the more fun it is.

[Clearsighted]

Yes, you would, because you're a good role-player, and you resist the OOC urge to boost your strength/wisdom/speed/etc by x points so you can get that horrendous on that silt horror. But, did you want to do that OOCly? No, no you didn't.

Do you want to accidentally OOC forget you are carrying spice, and get killed at the gates of Allanak, ICly? No, no you don't. Is the temporary boost you get from spice enough to make you crave it anyway, despite knowing that a single mistake can result in an unforgiving squad of half-giants caving your 45 day old character's head in? Usually, no, it's not.

But hey. Go you.

The point is that spice should be as OOCly attractive to the player as x magick necklace OOCly is. That is how you assure an addiction to something you can't be OOCly addicted to. Make it attractive, in game terms, because this is, after all, a game, and the more IC facets that can be OOCly active in this game, the more fun it is.

Yes. There's nothing even remotely dangerous or beneficial enough about spice, whether in coded effects or even in the game's history and lore itself, at this point, that justifies its possession being a death sentence.

[Delirium]

Who says the proscription against spice had anything to do with spice itself?

[Clearsighted]

Who says the proscription against spice had anything to do with spice itself?

I suppose it could be an elaborate scheme by Kurac to artificially inflate the prices of the spice that is sold to the virtual NPC population by the virtual smugglers (and it has to be virtual, because no PC would currently bother). But I don't know why Tek would cooperate. Unless he was getting a cut of the action. Hmm...

Oh well. I tend to fall on the side of making things cooler for the PC population at the expense of the VNPC, as opposed to vice versa.

[Delirium]

Not disagreeing with you, I just think that it's highly unlikely good ol' Tek actually gives a shit about the effects of spice on his populace.

It's way more likely that Kurac did something to piss off Allanak.

I'm just theorizing anyway.

[BadSkeelz]

Tektolnes secretly hates his own population so he banned spice to ensure that his soldiers wouldn't have a chance against twinked-out coked-up northie hunter PCs.

[LauraMars]

Spice being illegal is just another convenient excuse for authority figures to steal from and oppress the common rabble.

[Talia]

I just think that it's highly unlikely good ol' Tek actually gives a shit about the effects of spice on his populace.

Spice being illegal is just another convenient excuse for authority figures to steal from and oppress the common rabble.

[Saellyn]

Spice is illegal so everyone can cry when nobles smoke it in front of everybody.

[Suhuy]

Late comer to the discussion here who's bypassed lot of what's been said, but..

One of my biggest beefs with the game in general when making a change is the disregarding of game aspects which, IMO, should be viewed as canonical to the ArmageddonMUD script. If you're going to change or add something to the game world, respect what's been the way it always has been and find a more seamless method of incorporating your idea. Why would spice all of a sudden grant psionic powers? Out of the blue, just like that? Even it seems like a neat idea and it "makes sense" (which I might argue against), how do you explain that it all of a sudden works differently than it ever has before?

I'm not shooting down your idea or saying you suck. Ideas are good. Bring more of them, in fact! But nothing burns my britches more than seeing things in the game world all of a sudden change, forcing us to RP as though things have always been this (new) way, when in fact they haven't. It's disrespectful to those players who experienced the game in a certain way and devalues their experience when the world is willy nilly changed without bothering to offer some form of IC explanation. I'm not saying change in and of itself is a bad thing, I hope the MUD continues to evolve and change. It's how the game is changed that makes or breaks the experience.

[Saellyn]

Well, psionics is seen as the unlocking of higher levels within the human mind, so... in... theory, spice -could- temporarily grant access to those parts of the mind.

I just don't think it should because then every fucking human would be trying to unlock psionic powers.


Or, realistically, 95% of them would avoid it outright because it grants forbidden talents that get you EXECUTED.

[Suhuy]

We should be trying to make the game less like Dune, not more like it

[Rumor]

...But there's nothing about it to independently motivate or move plots, or create intrigue, conflict and interest.

There's noone making sids off a spice smuggling ring in Allanak, and no one is seriously concerned about people smoking spice in Allanak. Despite it being set up as a theme, and even culturally defining struggle. It could be a cockpit of RP, but right now, it's just a distraction.

I don't really post in the main GDB, but this thread caught my attention. What you're posting right here is false. As in, literally the opposite of what you're saying is not true, is actually true. Spice has a place in the game and is very much played around. It drives plots, solely on its own. Has support from players and staff. In its current form.

That being said, I understand you want more people to use spice and thus become addicted. However, addiction is intentionally a negative side effect and proposing ideas to add benefits to it is very strange to me. It is akin to saying something along the lines of, "people don't fight as often, so we should give a benefit to being at the "bleeding heavily state". This will improve use of the combat code." Rooftops were added to the game and maybe people don't climb and explore as much. We could add a benefit to falling, so people try to climb more. Do you see the parallel I'm attempting to create here? There are benefits to things and there are consequences(negatives) to things.

I'd be curious to see how many coins in a RL month are given to Vennant for booze. Not like ale, which kinda staves off a tiny bit of thirst if you drink it here and there, but the stuff people are roleplaying getting drunk on. Players drink like that for the roleplaying experience (primarily) just as players who play characters who smoke spice casually (as in, they're not "buffing up" with it) do so for the roleplaying experience. They may even role play being addicted, when they're not codedly addicted to it. Again, for the role playing experience eschewed by code and not for a benefit granted to their character.

There are characters all over the game world interacting with, addicted to and becoming addicted to spice that are logged in every day right now. I can't speak to which the trend you play your characters, so I don't know how often you're exposed to these other characters, but I can say it is prevalent in certain areas of the game.

Also, to address giving characters coded benefits to addiction: I think it is a bad idea. Addiction is a negative consequence of abuse (not casual use) leading to unspeakable loss and death. People recover from addiction, they don't seek it out.