[MUD-Dev] Spoken Languages & Food [was RP thesis...]

[Travis S Casey]

On Thu, 29 May 1997 clawrenc at cup.hp.com wrote:

> IRL even a 10% damage quotient would have you doubled over on the
> ground incapable of much more than mindless moans.  Movie and MUD
> characters are built of firmer stuff where even multiple .44 Magnum
> shells to the torso classify as "flesh wounds".

Well... how people will take damage can be very unpredictable, 
depending on the circumstances and the individual.  Some will act
as if they're dying when they get a relatively small cut (say,
two inches long by a half-inch deep) while others will keep going
when they've taken damage that you'd think would stop a rhino.

An example:  at the hospital where my wife works, a man came into
the emergency room one night -- walked in under his own power, holding
one arm across his belly as if he had a bad stomachache.  He calmly 
walked up to the desk and told the person there that he'd been stabbed.

As it turned out, his belly had been slashed open with a knife --
he'd simply held in his guts with his arm, gotten in his car, driven
to the hospital, and walked in.

My father once had a finger nearly ripped off while working on a 
tractor.  He wrapped a rag around his finger (which was still 
attached to this hand, but not by much), drove the tractor home,
and my mom and I took him to the hospital.

A friend of mine in high school, who was one of the people who
the local "jocks" hated.  One day a few of them caught him, held
him up against a wooden fence, and drove a nail through his
hand into the fence, then left him there.  He managed to pull the
nail back out and headed to the hospital.

On the other hand, I've seen people screaming in apparent agony
over bruised knees, small cuts, and broken fingernails.

Don't get me wrong -- I agree that characters should be penalized
for damage more than they are.  I just don't agree that most 
people would be rolling around screaming on the floor at 10%
damage.  :-)
--
       |\      _,,,---,,_        Travis S. Casey  <casey at cs.fsu.edu>
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