Rotting Food

[Pantoufle]

Wouldn't it be neat if undried foods were coded to eventually rot?

[WarriorPoet]

Once, when I was very new to the game, a character pulled a, codedly perfect, hunk of meat from 'the bottom' of his pack. The meat had been in there awhile, apparently, and the player took the idea and ran with it.

It was the one and only time I've ever seen something like this roleplayed out, and I was very impressed. He emoted gagging at the stench of the rotten meat, and then poking at it to look for a few pieces to maybe 'trim off a bite'. The rancid stench of the meat and the dry fuzz of the mold really came through in the RP. Whoever did that, if you read this, I still think about that scene.

So sure, it would be nice to have food go to rot if left for months, and maybe poison you if you ate it anyway.

-WP

[Agent_137]

Yes, but not with normal earth rot times, please. I'd like some food I purchased to last AT LEAST two logins before rotting.

[Forest Junkie]

Wouldn't it be neat if undried foods were coded to eventually rot?

I've roleplayed this in the past, and would love to support the idea, but right now I can't.

Currently we have an influx of cheap twinks and powergamers who kill hordes of animals yet leave behind the crap that only gets them 3-6 sid, or shit only crafters can use.

There is not enough food to go around for everyone due to these people. Most hunters have to live on roots, berries, and other earthly products because someone decided to clear out "Area C" of X type of animal because their hides sell for 109 sid when tanned.

If this code were implemented, the hunters currently starting would starve even more, due to the fact that their already waning supply of meat is rotting.

Yeah yeah, provides more conflict. I view it as an OOC nuisance though.

I'll keep on roleplaying my meat or piles of entrails going rotten, but until others shape up, I'll have to say 'no'.

[Ghost]

Yes, but not with normal earth rot times, please. I'd like some food I purchased to last AT LEAST two logins before rotting.

Ditto.

[Savak]

We generally agree, and it comes up again in staff discussion from time to time that this is overall "a good idea."  However, to date, one or another roadblocks in implementation have poked up their ugly little heads or a more pressing project has intervened.

Suffice it to say that as "simple" as it may sound to do, there are underlying complications which we hope may one day be resolved.

-Savak

[JollyGreenGiant]

Would things even "rot" in the way we think of it in a desert like Zalathans?  I know that dry conditions slow decay because the microbes responsible favor moisture.  Cold slows decay, but Zalanthan temperatures are hotter than hot, which seems like it would again inhibit the bacteria that cause rot.  Unprotected, things are going to lose moisture fast, which will tend to naturally dry them.

So, now that I think of it, maybe stuff should naturally dry, instead of rotting?

[Angela Christine]

It would depend how it was stored.  Raw meat in a sealed ceramic canister or, Tek help us, a closed leather sack, I think you could get some really impressive rotting.  You might even rot the leather sack, if things got sufficiently squishy and active.  (Not to mention what it would do to the herbs, tablets, tools, and other things you also have stored in the same container as the meat).  If there has been enough time for humans to genetically adapt to the environment (which I personally doubt) then there has been ample time for bacteria to adapt, because thier generations go by much more quickly.  So, yeah, I think damp food would rot very well, so long as it was stored in a way that retained moisture.  

Exposed to air would be a different story, I believe that if exposed to the extremely arid climate many foods would dehydrate before rot rendered them poisonous or inedible.  However, dehydration would not kill encysted parasites, fungal spores and other nasties, it would merely render them inactive.  So you could probably still get tapeworms from eating air-dried meat.    Bleh.  Cooking would be a good idea, and you might need to add water to cook and digest the dehydrated food.  Then you have the secondary problem that food exposed to air is going to attract scavengers and opportunists, so even if it doesn't rot away it may be nibbled away by rats, roaches, ants, etc.


I'm against rotting, simply because I don't think that the code could be sophisticated enough to handle all the variables.  Variables like how the food is stored, what it is stored with, what kind of food it was to begin with, and what it turns into.  Raw meat would rot or dehydrate faster than, say, raw nuts, but even nuts don't last forever.  Raw grain might not rot or mildew too quickly in an arid environment, but if you store it with raw meat and juicy fruit it may rot fairly quickly.  Leave a dozen ripe fruit in a sealed jar and they may rot without becoming poisonous, instead becoming really nasty alchoholic fruit (and possibly causing the jar to explode when the carbon dioxide from the fermentation builds up too much pressure).  Heck, a little rot may even improve some foods.  Without rot you don't get cheese.  And most comercial meats are "aged" by letting them rot just a little, because it makes them more tender.

Besides, having every food item in the game doing a rot check every tick (or however often) could cause serious lag for very little gain.


Angela Christine

[fearwig]

Yes, but not with normal earth rot times, please. I'd like some food I purchased to last AT LEAST two logins before rotting.

Zalanthas is a natural dessicant. That should be taken into account with any foods, even non-preserved.

The idea itself, however, is great. Especially when that is taken into account, it's even practical.