Addiction / Overdose Rework Proposal

[FalseIncarnate]

 

Foreword and Background

When we ported Goonchem, we returned the addiction and overdose system to play.

 

Simply put, using too much of certain chems can cause a number of adverse effects ranging from minor annoyances to full on death. While realistic in some regards, the way it is currently handled is definitely not. Further, the ways of handling them from both a mechanics and a role-play standpoint are less than exciting, and far from dynamic.

 

How It Currently Works

Currently, both addiction and overdose operate off of preset thresholds. Exceed these thresholds, and you will become addicted and/or suffer an overdose. However, it is fairly easy to game the system and toe the line without actually falling in, as it only cares about the amount currently in you.

 

For example, let's say the chemist makes a whole bunch of Bath Salts, and hands it out to the local greytide. Bath Salts carries an addiction threshold of 10, and an overdose threshold of 20.

 

As long as Baldie McBlackeye has no more than 10 units of Bath Salts in his system at any given point, he will not develop an addiction, no matter how frequently he actually takes it. This means if he takes 9 unit doses and tops himself off whenever he drops below 1 unit in his body, he can effectively remain on the drug indefinitely without ever getting addicted. As long as he remains below 20 units in his system, he will never OD on it. However, should he accidentally OD, he is now suffering the effects for the entire duration that even a fraction of a unit is left in his body.

 

My Proposal

The current system is clearly flawed in that you can take hundreds of units of a given drug and not become addicted, as long as you manage your dosing. Further, an overdose (which is entirely avoidable) will last the entire duration of metabolizing ALL of the chemical in your body, not just the time in which there is an excess over the safe dosage.

 

I have begun designing a new way of handling addictions, and have also been suggested to adjust how overdoses work. I am posting this proposal for review and feedback by the community before implementing such a system to ensure that the players are aware and in support of the changes. The rework of these systems will not only make the system more realistic, but also more dynamic, promote roleplay and meaningful choices, and offer grounds for new additions.

 

Part 1: Addiction Overhaul

The way an addiction truly works is not taking so much of something once, but rather the developed habit and dependence caused by repeated exposure. Ask any coffee drinker, energy drink fanatic, or smoker: the addiction didn't come from just a single cup/can/cig, but rather the continued consumption over time.

 

Currently, addictions are something like a soft-overdose in terms of mechanics. You take more than X amount, and you get bad effects. However, there is no change in severity between someone who takes 0.1 unit over that amount and someone who takes 100 units over (aside from effects of overdose and the chem itself, obviously). This means all addictions are equally easy to gain and lose, and punishes even the smallest miscalculation as harshly as what was clearly an intentional choice.

 

My suggestion is to track addiction "progress" in a manner similar to how chems are currently metabolized. Every time you ingest an addictive chem, it would be added to both your reagents list (for metabolizing) as well as the addiction tracker. If it is the first time the chem has been taken, it will generate a new entry on the list, otherwise it will be added to it's existing entry. The amount of the chem taken will be tracked, and will decay slowly over time. This means if you take 10 units, then sit patiently for a few minutes, the tracker will have decreased from 10 to a lower number based on how long has passed. Taking more of the chem will then increase the tracker by the amount taken, and halt the decay for that chem until all of the chem has been metabolized/purged from the body.

 

As the tracker rises, each chem will check it's addiction tracker against its defined addiction thresholds to determine if the user is addicted and the severity of their addiction. As the tracker decreases, the user will slowly overcome any current addictions until they are free of the effects. Every multiple of the addiction threshold indicates an increase of severity, up to a Stage 4 Addiction. Each stage can (and currently does) have different effects on the person suffering from it, but currently starts at Stage 1 before increasing up through Stage 4. This seems backwards, as the Stage 4 tends to be the harshest addiction, which would have the withdrawl effects felt most during the first portion of overcoming an addiction.

 

Using a chem you are addicted to would cancel the effects of the addiction/withdrawl for the duration that the chem is in your system. After the chem has been fully removed, however, the user would re-enter withdrawl at the appropriate stage based on their tracker. This means it is possible to offset the effects, but you run the risk of worsening the addiction by taking more.

 

Part 1 Example:

The same chemist as before makes Bath Salts again and hands it out to Baldie McBlackeye again (seriously, where's security during all this drug-dealing?). Baldie takes 9 units, and his addiction tracker for Bath Salts is now set to 9. He goes on his way and the drug wears off, and he spends the next few minutes punching the clown. Since he has gone some time without Bath Salts, his addiction tracker has slowly decayed, we'll say it's now at 5. Security is finally waking up since he assaulted the clown, so he pops another 9 units of Bath Salts and starts running. His tracker now reads 14, meaning he is now over the 10 unit threshold to enter addiction and is suffering a Stage 1 addiction. Before security can corner him, he pops another 9 units, this time not enough time has passed to decay his tracker, so it now reads 23, qualifying him for a Stage 2 Addiction since he has now doubled the threshold. A sec borg takes him down and they confiscate his drugs and dump him in perma (shitcurity!), leaving him to sweat out his withdrawls. He now suffers through his Stage 2 Addiction, then through a Stage 1 Addiction before finally managing to overcome his addiction (with whatever side-effects those stages carry). He's sat in the brig for quite a while, so his addiction tracker has finally hit 0, removing Bath Salts from itself. Parolled for good behavior, he is released a new man who has overcome his personal demons. However, during his time in the brig, he took up smoking, and now has an entry on the tracker for Nicotine (we'll say 2), meaning he is slowly on his way to being addicted to that. He then heads back to the chemists and asks for Meth. He's not that bright...

 

This example should hopefully illustrate how the system would work. Taking a drug increases the tracker entry for that drug, and going without long enough will decay it over time. Addiction stages work backwards, meaning a Stage 1 addiction is the last one you suffer through before kicking the habit, while a Stage 4 addiction would require suffering through Stage 4, then Stage 3, then Stage 2, then Stage 1 before kicking it completely. This would signify the addiction being easier to break if you catch it early on, as well as it becoming gradually easier to manage as time goes on.

 

Part 2: Overdose

Currently, overdose occurs when you surpass a threshold, then lasts until every last drop of the chem is out of your system. While somewhat realistic, it's rather suppressing to gameplay.

 

This portion of the proposal is significantly smaller and easier to implement: overdose only occurs while above the threshold. Bath salts carries an overdose threshold of 20 units, so an overdose on Bath Salts under this proposal would only affect you while there is at least 20 units in your system. As soon as you hit 19 units of Bath Salts left, the overdose effects cease as the body is capable of processing the remaining amount "safely".

 

In some regards, this would make overdosing less dangerous, but would not punish someone as harshly for being 0.1 units over the limit. Simply remove the excess and the body is able to function properly again.

 

Part 3: New Additions

With the proposed changes to addictions, there would be a prime opportunity for new chems, both of the medicinal and addictive varieties.

 

Specifically, however, I would like to offer two new medical chems for consideration with the changes.

 

The first is being called "Fixer" (yes, that is a Fallout reference), which would offer respite from withdrawl effects for the duration it is in the body. It would be an addiction-breaking aid, designed to help stave off the harsher effects without taking the addictive chem and undoing your progress.

 

The second is being called "Cold Turkey" (working title, may change), which would speed up the decay of addictions at the cost of unpleasant side-effects. This could be given to help break addictions faster, but comes with a list of possible side-effects including brain damage, stamina loss, toxins accumulation, vomitting, diarrhea, loss of vision, flatulence, loss of motor skills (confusion), and in rare cases death.

 

Both of these chems would be mixable via chemistry (recipes to be decided), and the Psychiatrist would also start with a pill bottle containing a couple doses of each in his locker. This would give the Psychiatrist a new roleplay opportunity as an addiction counselor, which should help them feel more useful in an actual mechanical sense.

 

Feedback and Comments are appreciated!

 

[Tauka Usanake]

 

So with the example of your bath salts, upon reaching Stage 2 addiction you would also overdose. I guess depending on the effects you might or might not continue taking the drug but you could still go into higher Stages after ODing. Just a little curious about that.

 

I guess this sounds good but maybe add in a tolerance tracker too that slowly increases if you take the drug without entering a stage or a little more increase if you manage back down a Stage or ODing. Might also be good to try applying this to alcohol if it works well, with certain traits following certain species *cough*skrell*cough*

 

[FalseIncarnate]

 

So with the example of your bath salts, upon reaching Stage 2 addiction you would also overdose.

 

Not necessarily. Overdosing is from having a lot of the reagent ACTIVE in your body at one time. An addiction is from having a lot of the reagent having been in your body over time.

 

With the bath salts example, an overdose of 20 units is a guaranteed Stage 2 addiction, however if you take 20+ pills of 1 unit each over the course of a couple minutes, you'd get a Stage 2 addiction without ever risking an overdose.

 

The addiction tracker is handled entirely separate from the active reagents list, and decreases at a lower rate than what the chem metabolizes at. Addiction stages are dependent on the addiction tracker list, while overdoses are on the reagents list.

 

You won't overdose on a chemical if you take frequent low dosages, but you will become addicted due to the habitual consumption. An overdose can prompt an addiction (assuming it surpasses addiction thresholds), but an addiction does not cause an overdose by itself. Overdosing is taking too much at once, not taking too much over an extended time frame.

 

A tolerance tracker would be a potential next step, however the intent is not to force people to risk overdoses nor to make the chems useless.

 

Alcohol addictions could definitely be a thing though, though tolerances would make the code very messy and a pain to maintain / make additions to.

 

[Regen]

Really like this, would be a lot better than our current system