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Staff Topic

An Experiment: Posting an Internal Design Proposal

I've always been curious about posting a detailed description of some change we are merely considering in order to get advanced feedback on it (and, to ward of some of the "Why didn't you tell us!?!?!" in the case that we actually do implement it).

So, with that in mind, here's an internal design proposal document titled Food Freshness & Quality which I made over the weekend. It's unexpurgated (excepting removal of links to other documents or images that you wouldn't be able to get to) and it was written for an internal audience so some of the terminology might be weird.

To be totally clear: this is just a something we are considering. We may do it and we may not do it. Your feedback is welcome (but we still may do it even if lots of people say they hate it and we still might not do it even if lots of people say they love it). It is one of dozens of specs, some of which are for things that we are in the middle of implementing and some of which we might never do. Like I said, just an experiment!

Posted 17 months ago by stoot barfield Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • another thing that could effect quality could be how many cooking skills one has(there are 15,after all.the more you learn,the better quality your food gets?) and also maybe the quality of the base ingredients from crops can vary depending on how many skills you have relating to that.
     for example, you could have all 9 rating ingredients,but that doesn't matter unless you have the corresponding cooking skills to make 9 rating dishes,and visa-versa. doesn't matter how high a skill you have in cooking, use crappy ingredients,and your dish will turn out crappy,too.another way to go about this route would be how many dishes you made with that skill(tracked through badges)
    Posted 17 months ago by Eudevie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I am reminding myself that Stoot put this out here as an experiment.  Presumably to gain feedback on the idea, but also to see how we reacted to the 'experiment'!  That's cool.  However, what I do hope is, that if it seems like a good idea to do this in future, it doesn't become "get the feeback/test the reaction and then just go with it (or not) anyway"!

    I am trusting that if this is done in future, it will form the basis of the voting system, once due diligence  (as in this type of thread) has been undertaken, together with the consideration for the feedback from those who won't be in a position to vote. :-)
    Posted 17 months ago by ♥joby♥ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I have commented to hubby (Papabear) that I'm glad the tons of food I keep harvesting and cooking doesn't rot on our floor.  We discovered that donating cooked foods to the shrines gives huge favor points so it is well worth our while to cook up what we've gathered.  I love the idea of a refrigerator unit, however, neither of us are in favor of having the food continue to rot whilst offline.  It is already troubling enough that our pigs and chickens die if we are not able to log in within a certain time frame, which for Papabear, is not always possible.  

    1. I currently carry large bags, one which is designated for cooked foods, one for drinks, some for random food items, one for mining, etc.  Perhaps we could purchase a beer cooler to carry drinks, and either insulated or refrigerated bags to carry perishables.  Items placed in these bags could be protected and decompose at a slower rate than items in regular bags.  

    2. A refrigerator unit and a freezer unit to purchase to be placed in your home.  If you are like me and cook tons of food and then drop it in piles on the floor, a refrigerator would help to clean this up. Things in the fridge rot quicker than things in the freezer, and things in the freezer rot very, very slowly. Things you carry in your bags rot a little quicker than things in the fridge.  

    3. A compost bin to purchase for your home.  You place food stuffs in the bin to rot, or if you accidentally leave something on the floor or in your bags and it rots you can place it in the bin for compost.  If you are carrying stuffs that are going rotten and you do not wish to revive them with said "power berries" you can place them in the compost bin.  

    4. We would love to suggest that our animals would be protected when offline.  Sometimes it is not possible to log in for a few days and it's kind of disappointing to log in and they are gone. 

    To recap:
    - Food you carry in regular bags rots quickly 
    - Food in insulated bags or drinks in coolers last longer
    - Food stored in a refrigerator lasts longer than food in insulated bags
    - Food in freezer lasts very, very long.
    - Food does not decompose when offline.  
    - If you decide that food will continue to rot while offline it would be necessary to place food in either the fridge or freezer prior to logging off, but this would not be our preference. 

    Thanks so much for allowing us to voice opinions and share thoughts and suggestions. 
    Posted 17 months ago by Lurell Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +1 to a freezer... and if they want composting why not just composting if you leave your stacks of food on the ground? I personally don't want to spend so much time worrying about my bags of food spoiling. I am afraid it would take too much fun out of the game for me.
    Posted 17 months ago by Miss Muffett Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +1 Jobynana... Tasters Test...then voting....sounds great!!
    Posted 17 months ago by Miss Muffett Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +100 to +1 to Aero
    lol
    Posted 17 months ago by Aero Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Stoot, I want to start off by saying THANK YOU for posting this. I'm a grad student studying videogame preservation, with a particular emphasis on the materials created by developers during development--I recently spent a week at The Strong Museum going through their collections of physical papers, and getting a small taste of digital manuscript materials is delicious delicious candy to me. I would really love to talk to some of the staff about interim materials like this, storyboards, concept art, etc. I started a blog to share these sorts of materials at the end of last semester, but it's been languishing since--a cooperative post with a shiny new developer would be a great way to breathe new life into it! And, yanno. Have a dissertation to write. But that's less interesting to people who are not me.

    And now on to the actual design doc!

    Like others, I have major concerns that this will turn food management into a major chore that would ruin the fun and drive me away from the game. But I also have some faith that you'd test and tweak it based on feedback, just like you did with the gardening changes. As written, I think that rather than drive up the value of cooking skills or create opportunities for trading between specializations, it would just lead to more people mining and buying food from vendors or eating raw resources rather than gardening and cooking. I know it would make the game significantly less fun for me, because the original changes to gardening left me feeling very ho-hum and much less compelled to play. I also think it would make it very hard on newbies, especially casual newbies. I have a few suggestions that might make it less painful:

    I occasionally get a message that I'm "starting to feel full." This has never actually prevented me from eating, but if it did, I think it would go a long way toward making cooking worthwhile. Eating 200 cherries would be a lot more filling than eating a single Awesome Stew, but they'd have the same energy gain. This would drive higher leveled players to cook (buy, or trade) more advanced food, while allowing lower level players to rely on basic resources (because you need fewer raw resources to keep a small energy tank full). Perhaps, to avoid the current tendency to eat nothing but Awesome Stew once you have a resource for it, there could be a metric for players to get bored with food--eat the same thing too many times in a row, and you get a message "You are SO sick of Awesome Stew" and get -50 mood and only half the energy.

    As others have suggested, allow for a pause or "vacation mode." During this time, food doesn't rot, but crops don't grow and collectors don't collect. I think pausing skill learning entirely would be too harsh a punishment for attending to real life, but perhaps they could progress at half-speed. Maybe as an additional incentive to log in, introduce an inbox limit so players have to log in once in a while to empty the mailbox.

    Enable players to designate a house-sitter. This is different from a group hall, because you wouldn't have to live with others and it would be a temporary setting. The designated player would then be able to tend crops and animals, and access unlocked storage (which would mean having a lock option). Sure, it comes with the risk that they'll party and trash your house--but it encourages interaction!

    Portable cold storage (e.g. cooler bag) as suggested by others. It will be a while before new players can afford a house and fridge, and some people just don't like to be tied down. They should have a way to carry some amount of food without risk of spoilage.

    You mentioned composting. If completely rotted food has the same effect as guano, that goes a long way toward making food rot less irritating -- just replant what you've lost.

    Greater granularity in variation than implied by spice vs fruit and veg. Root vegetables do better when stored in a cool dark place (i.e. cabinet) that isn't a fridge. A potato in a cabinet lasts much longer than a tomato in the fridge.

    Skill to make booze from fermented food items.

    As suggested by Pomegrandy, other means of preservation. Perhaps in addition to debuffs and lowered energy, they could also have smaller stack sizes.

    I love Anilover's idea of food spoiling in Rooked areas.

    I agree with everyone that "powerberry" is a terrible name for something that adds freshness. I'd expect it to be made into Gummi Berry Juice or something.

    Unrelated to the main topic, I, too, was very excited to see mentions of SA VII and other new skills! Also unrelated to the main topic, I'm very sad that my ordered list doesn't show up as such. :P
    Posted 17 months ago by Sheepy Subscriber! | Permalink
  • -1 losing mood and decreased energy fill on eating a food repeatedly. +1 everything else
    Posted 17 months ago by bored no more Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +1 for portable cold storage. Good idea for those who don't have houses with fridges.
    Posted 17 months ago by Miss Muffett Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Oh, I almost forgot! I really like leaving out color-coordinated meals for my neighbors. It would be sad to have it spoil on their doorsteps. 
    Posted 17 months ago by Sheepy Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Guess I would be in the 'nay' team for this, at least for now. The idea - and thanks for the wonderful opportunity to provide feedback in such an early stage - triggers many questions and thoughts. My main question would be: what are you trying to achieve with this? In my experience food never stays unused very long when online everything that we do costs energy and energy needs to be replenished to get better xp. 

    Other questions and thoughts would be:
    I don't like the idea of the rotting process continuing while offline. One of the main attractions of Glitch for me is the fact that I can play in sandbox mode all the time.
    Would rotting also have an effect on the value of items? 
    Would rotting continue during auctions?
    Would rotting continue when sent to friends but not picked up immediately?
    Would it have an effect when donating rotten food to street projects?
    I agree that cherries and beans as basic resources should be exempted.
    If you do continue to work out this idea, I would say that the times indicated for the rotting process, especially when outside a fridge, seems awfully short.
    Why not make rotting optional, just like ageing cheese? That way you can choose what to use when making compost.
    Posted 17 months ago by Tricky Woo Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Please don't do this, even it is very nice and complex idea. But not for this game.
    There are thousands of games which force you to spend all your free time in front of your computer by checking if you have enough food/energy/whatever for your army/animals/ships/whatever.
    I love this game because I can play whenever I want and how much I want and all that without any consequences. Keep the good spirit of the game and don't slave us.
    Posted 17 months ago by skera Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Firstly, many many thanks stoot for sharing this with us. I love the idea of getting a glimpse into possible new stuff before it happens and maybe (or maybe not) having the opportunity to steer developments a little.

    This is a pretty cool and elaborate idea... I like the idea of managing your food with a fridge and I know that, at the moment, once a player gets fairly well established there's a tendency to just grow 40+ of each vegetable at a time and keep a bag or two full of ingredients, ready for any eventuality.

    I agree that some things would need to be fleshed out... what happens to items for auction (if they don't rot then that's a great way to store excess food) or in the mail. Nobody wants to find rotting bananas in their mailbox. I like the idea of players with better cooking skills being able to add freshness to their meals.

    I like the idea of having a coolbag to carry food around in... would work similarly to the toolbox... specialized bag that only certain types of item can be stored in. And the idea of composting/recycling is interesting too. Plus the idea of different grades of fridge - a low power one run on ice, a more expensive one run off fuel cells.

    But I'm afraid I also think there's a lot of downsides to the idea.

    In general, I think it's a bit too much like real life. Game playing, for me, is about escapism - this reminds me of how depressed my stepson got after a month or two of playing Sims 2... after struggling to get his Sim rested enough to get up for work, fed, out the house on time, them home, fed, entertained and never having enough time to juggle seeing its Sim friends before bed in order to maintain their friendships, he said to me "is this what REAL LIFE is like?" and got terribly upset. Tanga has a point about aging/spoilage being a general bummer.

    Glitch is about CASUAL gaming isn't it? Players can drop in whenever they feel like it and play for a little bit or play for a lot longer. The ticking timebomb of rotting food makes that harder to do.

    I think it reduces the incentive to garden. If I want a couple of burgers/stews right now, I'll reach into my bags for vegetables, grind up the necessary spices, mix up the necessary sauces and cook it there & then. I'll also cook half a dozen to make efficient use of my real world time. If food spoilage was an issue then I wouldn't be carrying those vegetables around... maybe I'd have to go home to cook them (not a bad idea, just inconvenient) and get fresh ingredients from the fridge or maybe have to stop by a grocery vendor on the way home and pick up the exact number of ingredients that I need. Then I'll make up just one or two batches and put them in the fridge. It all seems so much more complicated, so much more to worry about. I think I'd rather just mine for money and spend that on finished meals from the auctions. That or just eat raw meat.

    Zeeberk is right that I suspect we spend more time in-game at present than we will once the game is open 24/7. This change would penalize players for spending time away. There was another online game I remember playing a couple of years ago that did Bad Things to stuff over time... I forget what it was. I remember it actually making me NOT want to play because I knew if I logged back in that I'd have to deal with Bad Stuff from being away for a week - so eventually I left it completely. It acts as a disincentive for casual players to return. This would need a couple of weeks of 24/7 gameplay to judge its effect on player behaviour.

    I like Ximenez' point... Glitch is supposed to be about fun isn't it? It's good to add an extra dimension but I'd like to think that every change to Glitch is about making it MORE fun. The idea of "Glitchifying" food aging is interesting... something like the way cheese works - but the downside of that is that I can see that adding value to food over time would just increase resource hoarding and give long-term players an advantage.

    TL;DR - I really appreciate the sharing of possible new additions with us, and this has some cute potential upsides, but also requires too much micro-management and I think would be a generally depressing change, especially for the more casual player.
    Posted 17 months ago by Snazzlefrazz Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Intriguing idea!

    I am not liking the offline-rotting part. I will probably only be able to play during weekends (real life work, and well, real life..) and knowing that I'm going to come back to a Glitch world filled with my rotten food will not make me want to go there at all.

    I do love the composting ideas that Glitchers shared in the comments. Rotting food should be used to grow things or indeed donated to a particular shrine that appreciates these sort of donations.
    Posted 17 months ago by Codex Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +1 Snazzlefrazz. I don't like it, but I thank you stoot for asking for our feedback about this (even if as you say it may not make a difference one way or the other on your final decision).
    Posted 17 months ago by marycontrary Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I say yes to the fridge! I'd love one!

    To the idea of food freshness... I'm kinda iffy about it. I don't like the idea of food in my bad rotting. Food rots in the Sims very quickly, and I hate it because it gives my whole room a mood decrease. Also, when it rots in my inventory it gives an awful moodlet too. I'm not sure I'd like to go back to my fridge so often to get fresh food. I think it would be hard for new players because they don't have skills or currants to make tons of batches of food to keep in their fridge (and they may not even have a fridge/house yet either.)

    - decrease the amount of "bad food" levels. There are 5 while there are only 3 good ones (plus one normal.)
    - I like the composting idea of when the food is completely rotten. In my head it's like guano? But easier to get large quantities of.

    I don't have the skills/currants to keep large quantities of food so I consume them quite quickly after making them. Perhaps it won't be such a big deal.
    Posted 17 months ago by Lung Subscriber! | Permalink
  • ooo another thought... It's fun to walk up & down a street and drop off some sweets & drinks at folks doors or, maybe, make breakfast for the neighbors. Someone left a bunch of brunch food on my street last test - waffles, eggs, coffee, etc. it was very sweet & creative. With this change we could leave them some stinky rotting food, but that's a totally different message ;)

    Also, great post Sheepy! I love the suggestion about getting bored with food & adding a fullness metric. Both add some interesting & fun mechanics for both new & old players. 
    Posted 17 months ago by Vera Strange Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I agree with Codex....
    Posted 17 months ago by Miss Muffett Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @ Stoot I would go put the kettle on now or even open that bottle. It's gona be a long night reading all this :P
    Posted 17 months ago by Misha Subscriber! | Permalink
  • LMAO @ Misha!  He knew he was unleashing a beast! ;-)
    Posted 17 months ago by ♥joby♥ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I took me an hour and a half to read this all :p

    The idea seems interesting although I can't access the document. I'm worried about how micro-managey it may become if this is implemented. 
    - If rotted food can be made more interesting/valuable than normal edible food, perhaps it will work out. I don't want to feel that taking a break from the game will be a punishment.
    - I agree that food shouldn't start rotting until a certain culinary achievement, lessening the possible burden on new players. 
    - Tiiberries sound like a good name.
    - The composting ideas sound great!
    - Thank you very much stoot, for posting this. Lots of things to think about :)

    **PS If anyone can't access the document, it's because you're not signed into gmail/ gdocs/ gwhatever.**
    Posted 17 months ago by Millie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I see that "food on the ground" spoils at a super-accelerated rate. That kinda puts a dampener on leaving gifts for people on their doorstep or hiding food for other people to discover by accident.

    (Someone left milk on the doorsteps of all the houses in my block last week: http://mlist.ca/img/Selection_055.png - super cute!)

    Both of these are activities that add to the general in-game feeling of love & community and I'd sorely miss them.
    Posted 17 months ago by Snazzlefrazz Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I congratulate you devs for reading all the comments!  I couldn't, so I don't really know what-all's been suggested/commented.

    My first reaction was a *nose-squinch-shake-head*, but then I sorta ran some numbers.  If it takes ~10 days (base) RT for food to pass out of "normal" range in a fridge, I'm cool with that.  Nobody really needs two weeks' worth of food hanging around - that helps increase commerce :)   I also really like the fact that different foods may spoil at different rates, depending on source, processing, mood, etc.  That's just neat.

    HOWEVER, I think that base products (seeds, cherries, allspice, mayyyybe also meat and milk) should never go bad.  People who want to be prepped to make food at a moment's notice should be able to, i.e., for projects - and cherries, spice, meat, and milk cannot be purchased from vendors.

    I also think you need to make sure the fridge can take bags.  If you can't carry a lot of food around with you, people are going to want to maintain their food stores in a hyper-organized manner.

    Also - I hope that rotted food eventually disappears if it isn't placed into a composting heap, or whatevs.

    +111111 for composting ideas.  Yaaaay recycling!
    Posted 17 months ago by Leimailu Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Not to be mean, but there are way too many posts here to read.  Maybe I will come back and read them later.

    I will probably be reposting what others have said, so good for you all for thinking this before me!

    I like the idea, but I really wish there was more we could do with the rotting food.  While scanning, I saw "If food quality is decreased over time let it not be a punishment but an opportunity to have even more fun!".  I bolded this idea because it is a great idea, I love the idea of having options of purposely letting food spoiled.  I've heard rumors that potionmaking would be added to the game, perhaps part of the recipe could be spoiled food?

    If food is going to rot while we are offline, I will be annoyed!  I know that having a fridge slows it down, but that's still every 3 days (unless I misread) that a player needs to log on to keep food.  If food is going to rot while a player is offline, I think it should at least last several weeks if not a month, because lets face it RL > game, ALWAYS.  We should not be punished for having a life outside this life or being busy or attending to day to day things.  Most of us don't have the luxury to log in all the time, and as it is I already have a hard enough time balancing just the tests much less everything when the game goes live.  

    EDIT: +10000000000000000 for basic items that can be collected to have a MUCH slower rotting time than other foods.  For ex: cherries, spice, beans, pig meat, butterfly milk, etc (things you can directly collect as you  move through zones) should have the potential to last longer so people can save them up for a time when they are needed.
    Posted 17 months ago by Laurali Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I want to add that I agree with whoever above mentioned there being other things that need to be fixed as well, I'm not sure if this is coming up as a priority because the devs want all the features TESTED before the game goes live, so bugs and smaller issues are put off til a later date, but we can't even change stack size or sift through bags while they are in the cabinet.  There are many other small issues too, are those being put off til a later date?
    Posted 17 months ago by Laurali Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Having played Glitch since March, I would enjoy the added dimension to game play however, I do vaguely remember being overwhelmed at first with all the game offered (and that was back in March before all the new areas and skills.)  I think it was your Avatar when I first entered the game that suggested I just tour, click on trees and click on a pig or two.   I survived by reading the forums, watching other players and watching the chat channels.  So, again, I'd enjoy it now at my experience level but can you imagine a "newbie" trying to understand rotting food when you are just trying to survive, find a place to set yourself down & figure things out.  Possibly introducing this with a new skill set or a quest assigned when you reach level ??.  Just a thought and memories of starting out.  I do love the idea tho it's the implementation of it I'm a bit concerned about.
    Posted 17 months ago by AlmostSilver Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I don't wanna be a banana.........
    Posted 17 months ago by Aero Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm not liking how things are going with this game. I paid for a subscription and now it's turning out to be like Zynga games. I stopped playing them because I felt "forced" to play. I want a game to be relaxing. I don't want to have to think about if my food is going bad or my garden is going to wilt. 
    Why can't a game be simple enough to enjoy and satisfying to want to keep coming back to it. Right now I'm kicking myself for paying.
    Posted 17 months ago by Sunny Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Oh, just wanted to add that I did read your disclaimer...I know this idea has a 50/50 chance, just wanted you to know my overall feeling.
    Posted 17 months ago by Sunny Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Sweet spriggan and her watering can....is there a such a thing as wordilidust?
    Posted 17 months ago by Nanookie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Re: the mentions of hoarding/stockpiling things being bad: Why? Who cares? It's not real life. No one's going to drown in their stuff here. Just my two cents on that bit.

    After reading every post in this thread, I too hope the devs have a lot of time to read:) And I don't get the feeling this is some "implement quick now" thing. I think it's an idea they're kicking around...possibly even the experiment of our giving feedback more than the actual food and rotting experiment. 

    And one other comment to someone who thought that having the rotting food get more interesting/Glitchy would be a bad idea because of hoarding: Well, again, so re: hoarding? But more thoughtfully, if the rotten food wasn't edible but was useful in other fun ways as I suggested, then you'd still need fresh food around a lot for your energy, so I don't think everyone would be just waiting for all their food to rot....

    Dang, I love this thread.
    Posted 17 months ago by RM Subscriber! | Permalink
  • good point made by imbri and others....I love leaving snacks in trees in Groddle for others to find. Others enjoy leaving items on doorsteps. Rotting food on the ground would ruin a fun part of our community socialization.  If it was limited to only rotten food on the floor of you home, then it would make me less sad.
    Posted 17 months ago by Dagnabbit Rabbit Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Rotten food party? Yay!
    Posted 17 months ago by Lilla My Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Just to chime in, this does NOT sound fun.  I am not a fan.  It's interesting, but I don't want to micromanage, I don't want pressure to log in and check on my rotting food, and I don't want to add some silly stress to my game playing.
    Posted 17 months ago by larky lion Subscriber! | Permalink
  • After reading thru these posts, again - here's somethings I've been thinking about:

    Instead of food rotting over time while in the frig (unless of course we get a freezer, too), maybe we could have a dehydrator (+1000 to the person who's idea that was) that would allow things to not spoil in the bags, on the floor and/or on auction. (Also with the exception of the basic ingredients, which should not have an expiration added to them [also +1000 to the person who thought of that] ) - I can totally see using the water can (or cups of water) to re-hydrate things when we're ready to eat or use them. 
    The things we decide not to dehydrate, refrigerate or freeze can then be subjected to decomposition.  To which we could then decide what to do with (ie: feed to pigs, put in compost bin, eat for lower mood/energy for trips to Hell, etc. [+1000 to whomever thought of those ideas coz this thread is getting to long to scroll thru to find these lol ] )

    Also...concerning the compost bins...will they mean that I won't have to use bat poo as fertilizer? I would much rather have to use 4x's the amount of compost made from food product than 1 bat poo (unless, of course, I'd get to catch those damned bats and use THEM as compost - now that I might enjoy!!)

    And I'd much rather have BOTS, whose duty I could set to go around and collect my food resources for me, than having them taking over my gardening for me...unless of course the gardening was what I wanted to have automated - then I could choose to set their priorities to that task.

    I just feel like my little piece of Glitch Heaven was attacked so badly last test because it seemed too mundane for some. But I WAS having fun (up until the blindside) and I'm hoping that some of these things (with a few tweaks) can bring my fun back.
    Posted 17 months ago by sgjo Subscriber! | Permalink
  • My reaction to this proposal is biased towards my RL attitude towards food (Eat to live, not live to eat). It is also biased towards my memories as a new player struggling to keep up energy/mood levels, learning how to cook (crap, I need more honey), the joy of running into a food vendor, and being motivated to cook by the quests and earning badges. So, I my gut reaction to this proposal is cool to lukewarm. I will defer to players that love to garden and cook as it will effect them the most.

    Regarding the list of "Expected Effects & Rationale", it seems that most of them could be met by introducing more recipes and tweaking the uses of food we already can make. For instance, I have tons of butterfly milk, but limited uses for cheese products. At my current level, it doesn't matter to me if milk, butter or cheese degrades or not. I can give the milk away, use it to make cheese for projects, sell it or donate it. It wouldn't bother me to let it rot.  The introduction of a new "fundamental resource" seems redundant, imho. Why not use a powder or a herb or a basic food like a cheese taco?

    The proposal seems to be a major change.  Being a level 39, it is hard for me to fully comprehend the effects of the change. I also wonder if the devs will get enough data to really analyze the effects/outcomes due to the wide range of  levels currrently in play. Maybe we need to have a reset sooner than later *pokes self in eye* so that the full effects of such a major change can be fully vetted.

    Lastly, having to play on a mathematical jungle gym (BC = x freshness points/hours on (or off) = E (full vs child stack) is not my idea of fun. But buying a purple snowcone for future favor points and putting in my house until ready to use, only to have it "melt" and become unusable, was funny!
    Posted 17 months ago by GreyGoose Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @ laurali
    Ohh, that would be interesting if it was incorporated into potion making. Except the term spoiled food seems unsavory. Perhaps some foods can be "aged" instead of spoiled, like the cheese. I'd rather add aged oranges to my potion rather than spoiled oranges.

    I also agree that basic items to make food like cherries and all spice should not spoil.
    Posted 17 months ago by Lung Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Reading the comments after my first one, I will add that I would LOVE to test any new idea the devs have. I think for a while there will still be bumps in the road even when we go live (24/7).  Some fun new thing to make/do with food (rotten or not) would be great as I am never sure what  to do with my excess besides sell it in auction which is beginning not to appeal to me much. There are still things I haven't tried yet (purple flower, some powders) because I haven't played that much these last few tests. However, I do think more things need to be added every now and then to keep the interest of the players who have done it all. Fokian Fool and Lurell have some great thoughts as do others. Sheepy, how in the world do you get to study video gaming? 
    Posted 17 months ago by Holly Waterfall Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Holly Waterfall:

    I lucked into it, honestly (well, ok, it helps that I had an interest in digital preservation more generally). One of my professors (now awesome advisor) was looking for a graduate assistant for the first phase of the Preserving Virtual Worlds project, and I fit the bill! (We're in a second phase, now, but lack a website.)
    Posted 17 months ago by Sheepy Subscriber! | Permalink
  • The whole idea in Glitch is to have fun making things i like. Sorry if i provoked someone into negative reaction...

    Me as everyone else i suppose is making piles of stuff he likes to make. I have a bag of every powder. Anyway it is a game, if i do not play for week or more it is pretty reasonable my stuff to go bad and to be recycled. Well i will feel a little grumpy, but it is game after all. No big deal. A butt scratch from my glitchen will make me smile again.

    You have currants which do not get bad, so it is a way to start over. Do not be so negative. It is just an idea and i bet it gave TC alot ideas to think for.
    Posted 17 months ago by Lilla My Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Lilla My - lol the butt scratches make me happy too!!
    Posted 17 months ago by Stormy Weather Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Hmmmm can we have itchy powder??? :D

    I will love to see whole street of glitches scratch...
    Posted 17 months ago by Lilla My Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Lilla My: Providing well-thought-out criticism isn't being negative. They wanted feedback, and just saying, oh yeah, yeah, good idea doesn't really give them much food for thought. Just saying.
    Posted 17 months ago by RM Subscriber! | Permalink
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    Posted 17 months ago by Aero Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Read the first few replies, then scrolled down here to chine in so apologies if I'm repeating here.
    Personally I'm not keen on the idea of all my hoarded food rotting in my bags but the game does need some mechanisms to bring an element of 'risk' into it for higher level players.
    My main point however, is thank you Stoot a thousand times, for including us in your idea design process. This is a fascinating glimpse into the game development process, and although I'm not going to add anything to the food development discussion, I am grateful for the opportunity to do so.
    Posted 17 months ago by Momo McGlitch Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I didn't have time to read all these, but I noticed one thing: 

    I think the ideas people have brought up before about "gifts" could be used at this point for a good purpose.

    Make it so we can wrap presents up and leave them for people without anything spoiling inside....maybe poke a few air holes for the piggies? ;)  (Maybe so only the intended recipient could pick it up!) 
    Posted 17 months ago by NutMeg Botwin Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Good idea too - another use of paper. Package a present, attach a note...

    Present can not go bad, because it is supposed to be nice one. :)

    Element of surprise is nice too.
    Posted 17 months ago by Lilla My Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Nutmeg: I thought about that, or one-time use styrofoam coolers. But I put a fair amount of thought into how things look when I leave them out, and wrapping them up would kill that tiny creative expression. :(
    Posted 17 months ago by Sheepy Subscriber! | Permalink
  • While the idea of new things to do and new items is very appealing, I do not care for being tied to the clock watching what I have to eat first, second, etc.
    Posted 17 months ago by MzMunchken Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I dislike this idea very much. It would take a lot of the whimsy out of Glitch.

    As others have said before me, it creates a situation where I would be punished for a play style of popping in for an hour or so every couple of days, as all of my food rots away. It completely removes gardening and cooking as a viable path for casual players, and it gives you a lot of numbers to keep track of all of a sudden, whether you like that sort of thing or not. (I do not.)

    During the beta I've played Glitch for hours and hours at a stretch; this won't be something I can sustain once the game is live. I quit playing MMOs because they punish me for not being able to put enough time in to level as quickly as other players.

    One of the reasons I like Glitch is because it *doesn't* punish me for having a life outside the game. This is realism at the expense of fun. Please don't do it.

    If you have to do it, please make the timeline for decay much, much longer than it is, so the casual player can still make a go of it.
    Posted 17 months ago by Yubi Subscriber! | Permalink