Should (PC) Bodies only decay outdoors?

[BadSkeelz]

Spinning this off from the "Locked Apartment" thread, where one of my points is that I think it's ridiculous you can kill someone in a closed room and not have to worry about body disposal.

I wouldn't be opposed to bodies only decaying in certain rooms, just so players would actually have to drag them out and maybe answer awkward questions.

I like the idea of having bodies not auto-decompose in many kinds of rooms, including apartments. 

I'd be fine if they transformed, however.  Like from "the body of the lean, irritating man" into "the humanoid-shaped festering pile of bones and meat-mush," for example.  And have that pile create a disease-miasma in area.

So what if a (PC) body could only decay in an outdoor room? It would mean that if you kill someone in an apartment, you either have to get their body out or ditch the apartment. Seeker's idea is a good counterbalance to simply leaving the body in your apartment; not only would it be harmful to someone stashing bodies in their place, it would also draw attention to someone who has been murdered in their own room. Either way you would be confronted with consequences of your action and would need to deal. You couldn't t just make someone vanish in to a locked room.

I would also support an ability to Mastercraft a PC body in to a stuffed version of that person, to keep around as a memento in your estate.

[nauta]

Love the idea.

It'd have to be an 'apartment' room -- since if it is indoors, the rinth would get stockpiled up pretty fast.

Perhaps if you wish up / file that PK report, staff could just pop a 'rotted humanoid body' there.

[RogueGunslinger]

Bodies shouldn't decay at all, unless on the corpse pile or outside the gates, IMO.

[BadSkeelz]

My first thought was of "designated corpse disposal rooms" as well, except I worried it would be burdensome for Rinthis, Tribals, and others outside the urban center of Nak. I don't know how the rinth is coded or if the streets there are outdoors. I wouldn't want to make rinthis have to drag a body completely out of the rinth to get rid of it.

[nauta]

My first thought was of "designated corpse disposal rooms" as well, except I worried it would be burdensome for Rinthis, Tribals, and others outside the urban center of Nak. I don't know how the rinth is coded or if the streets there are outdoors. I wouldn't want to make rinthis have to drag a body completely out of the rinth to get rid of it.

Don't worry, the rinth has its own method of disposal already in game.  That said, the NPCs produce a lot of bodies per RL week, and, since dragging a body clear across the rinth is annoying, they tend to pile up.

ETA: And a lot of the rinth is outdoors room (at least the 'weather' command works), so the point is moot vis-a-vis rinth.

[Raptor_Dan]

Bodies should decay realistically. Out in the desert and salt flats, they should become withered mummy-esque things that might possibly come back to life to curse you.

In cities, they should become partially eaten, and start rotting, becoming festering pile of maggots and disease, if the room is shade. Otherwise, see corpse pile.

Indoors, they should become seriously nasty, vile things that spread all kinds of nasty smells, diseases, vermin about the area. Hoards of cockroaches should be fleeing other apartments to come die in yours, causing a Templar to follow the trail of plague rats right up to your door.

In the 'rinth, bodies should disappear frequently, replaced with graffiti of dicks and boobs.

In Tuluk, everything disappears.

+1 to mastercrafting corpses into trophies, but I'd throw in the idea that certain gickers can make shrunken heads, too, plz. Please??

[Lizzie]

I've seen half-giant corpses outside the city, staying put for several RL days (several game-weeks). I don't find that believable. And then I see a human on the corpse pile disintegrate within a day - less than a game week.

I'd rather see more of a gradual decay. It doesn't necessarily need to take longer, but I'd really prefer to see it in stages.

The recently deceased is laying here in a heap.
The grey-skinned corpse of the tall dark-skinned man is here.
The rotting, bloated corpse of a tall humanoid figure is here, attracting flies.
The gelid remains of a corpse pool up around a skeleton here, lively with maggots.

[Raptor_Dan]

The lightly spoiled corpse of the tall dark-skinned man is here.
The spoiled corpse of the tall... so on and so forth.

[RogueGunslinger]

eat corpse

[BrokenRomance]

eat corpse

#BringHalflingsBack

[Majikal]

I like the idea of bodies not decaying and needing to be disposed of, it adds to storytelling and is only a kickass benefit to roleplay.

I also think Half-giants should have the tent code when the die so I can sleep inside them like a Tauntaun and wait out sandstorms. 

[Hauwke]

I would love to see this, with the addition of butchering humanoids it would be excellent.

[SuchDragonWow]

I butchered a body once in an apartment, mafia style.  Cut up the limbs, and stuffed the thing in a couple of large bags.  I want to be able to do that with code.

[Yam]

I butchered a body once in an apartment, mafia style.  Cut up the limbs, and stuffed the thing in a couple of large bags.  I want to be able to do that with code.

It's actually already coded up. Halflings used to be able to do it. Some other... things... could as well.

[Dar]

do you guys know how psychologically traumatic it is to dissect a human body for the first time? I mean yeah, Zalanthas people are all mainly on a bit of a side of sociopaths, but taking apart a corpse can really really really fuck you up. I would prefer not making a one shot command that anyone could do quickly, and easily. At least put some huge delays and graphic emotes into it. Make it so it creates a pool of blood. And covers the person in blood completely.

[RogueGunslinger]

do you guys know how psychologically traumatic it is to dissect a human body for the first time?...but taking apart a corpse can really really really fuck you up. I.

Story time!

[Hauwke]

I do agree that it should fuck you up mentally, maybe have it give you echos for a few days played time later. And not something that spams. Maybe just like 1 every hour. -just- enough to make you know you are a little broken but not enough to be annoying.

[RogueGunslinger]

Yeah, no. Let the people who want to roleplay being fucked up roleplay it. Forcing it on people would be silly.

[Reiloth]

Hmmm. This is an interesting proposition.

I think we all could agree on corpse decay taking longer, at the very least, and perhaps going through several stages of decay.

As to whether or not they shouldn't decay indoors...This seems like another work around, just as the apartment is the work around for the crime code. What's really the issue here?

The issue as I see it is, that corpses are obviously contentious objects. If found in possession of certain corpses, it clearly labels you as the murderer. If found in your place of residence, it clearly labels you as the murderer. They're difficult to move around (as stated, it's more difficult to move a corpse than to subdue someone who is alive). You can't really 'roll it up in a blanket', though you can put it in a closed trunk.

I don't think corpses shouldn't decay indoors, I think they very much should. But I think outdoors, they should leave a sun-bleached skeleton. Indoors, they should leave a putrid, goopy skeleton (not the best use of adjectives, but you get my drift). So in essence, a corpse doesn't just disappear after a reboot or crash, or outside of a save room.

This seems tricky with our code. I don't think it's avoidable if it's outside of a save room. But I wonder if it would be possible to make bodies semi-permanent objects, or transitioning objects, without making the Ginka database explode. So, in essence, it is a unique modifier in the first few stages of decay (It belongs to 'the tall, dark-braided man'), but later stages of decay are generic objects (A putrified skeleton is here).

We currently don't have a 'decay' code for bodies, though we have it for food. I wonder how applicable it is to a corpse object. Without turning it into food (because then everyone would become a cannibal and eat their murder victims, nom), something analogous might be pretty awesome.

And then people might actually be hiding skeletons in their closet.

[Desertman]

I like the idea of bodies taking an extremely long time if indoors to fully decay. I mean IG years.

I could play a very creepy/interesting murderer with this.

[Reiloth]

I like the idea of bodies taking an extremely long time if indoors to fully decay. I mean IG years.

I could play a very creepy/interesting murderer with this.

I guess i'm not smart enough science wise to know -- Would bodies take longer to fully decay indoors than outdoors in a desert environment?

It seems like a body outdoors might become a desiccated husk and not become 'skeleton' unless the skin were ripped off in a sandstorm. While indoors at a high temperature and not exposed to the elements, I feel like a body would just goopify.

[Raptor_Dan]

I like the idea of bodies taking an extremely long time if indoors to fully decay. I mean IG years.

I could play a very creepy/interesting murderer with this.

I guess i'm not smart enough science wise to know -- Would bodies take longer to fully decay indoors than outdoors in a desert environment?

It seems like a body outdoors might become a desiccated husk and not become 'skeleton' unless the skin were ripped off in a sandstorm. While indoors at a high temperature and not exposed to the elements, I feel like a body would just goopify.

This depends so much on a number of factors, Temp, humidity (I guess we can estimate these pretty well indoors on zalanthas.) whether or not you prepared the body, like for mummification or modern day embalming, what kind of insects are around, just, soo much. Considering all the variables, staff are better off considering what's best for rp and what's feasible for the code, rather than aiming for anything remotely realistic.

Although I will make this suggestion, if you: use kohl corpse, it should last much much longer.

[solera]

A smell message to the room would be desirable. Otherwise you can forget or  ignore the body on your bed. At least the present weight code prevents you on overlooking the one you are carrying.

[Riev]

A smell message to the room would be desirable. Otherwise you can forget or  ignore the body on your bed. At least the present weight code prevents you on overlooking the one you are carrying.

.... COULD bodies be given the incense code, to produce a plume of smoke every so often for <x> ticks?

[Reiloth]

A smell message to the room would be desirable. Otherwise you can forget or  ignore the body on your bed. At least the present weight code prevents you on overlooking the one you are carrying.

.... COULD bodies be given the incense code, to produce a plume of smoke every so often for <x> ticks?

God I love that idea, haha!

The biggest hurdle I foresee is bodies seem to be temporary objects. Like, they aren't written into the database, and they disintegrate. It seems to be the problem with 'heads' for instance, they pop when you log off or the game crashes, and they disintegrate pretty quickly.