Immersion drop in messy buildings

[Epleskront]

Hi there!

I just wanted to post about something that has been bothering me quite a bit.
After some past update quite some time ago, the interiors of many houses and huts were made much messier, with litter all over the place.

To me, this feels immersion-breaking. Thing is, this game is about scavenging to survive, and having lots of items lying around that could have helped the player, but are considered just scenery, breaks that immersion for me.

Need to light a fire? There's lots of sheets of paper lying about the house, but they can't be picked up, because they are considered scenery. Somehow the protagonist can't utilize those sheets for some unknown reason. This is the case with other types of clutter that could have been useful, but is uninteractable. They also prevent the player from tidying up the place to make it more cosy, should one want to do so. (This irritated me so much in Fallout: New Vegas, that I actually made a mod that cleaned up the military bases. Seriously, have you been to an active military base? Clutter on the floor and broken furniture would never be tolerated. Alas, I digress.)

I'd ask the devs to remove a lot of this clutter, or even better, make it possible to pick it up and craft it into supplies that make sense.

[Foxen]

Well if even doing anything with it, remove it!
If they start to mess with all those things to get them to be usable...we'll have a broken game...again!

[IvantheFormidable]

Most of the time you can use a lot of the clutter, like stacks of paper and whatnot. I enjoy the somewhat messy nature of the buildings' interiors, as it adds to the "everyone left in a hurry" idea.

[markwars]

I like that clutter and broken items are there when I arrive. BUT, I want to be able to clean up and repair things. If I can restore the condition of hammer (LOL) then why can't I fix a broken drawer?

[Liduska77]

Your mind set has to kinda be like the characters that you are playing.

While busy surviving, things like messy interiors wouldn't even register; in fact, it allows you to see at a glance what is there for scavenging. Its a time bonus for you ;)

Going in and wanting to clean up is more of a holiday attitude, not really what the protagonist is meant to be experiencing. As far as I'm aware, neither Will or Astrid suffer from OCD.

The mess adds nicely to the feeling that people were compelled to leave suddenly.

And soldiers are humans too; I'm not sure anyone of them would delay their life saving evacuation because their base was in a bit of a mess.

[Liduska77]

Originally posted by markwars:

I like that clutter and broken items are there when I arrive. BUT, I want to be able to clean up and repair things. If I can restore the condition of hammer (LOL) then why can't I fix a broken drawer?

You've been wanting to clean and fix up Bear Island for years now :))))

Hehehe

[Foxen]

^^^ :D

[listless]

Originally posted by Liduska77:

Your mind set has to kinda be like the characters that you are playing.

While busy surviving, things like messy interiors wouldn't even register; in fact, it allows you to see at a glance what is there for scavenging. Its a time bonus for you ;)

Going in and wanting to clean up is more of a holiday attitude, not really what the protagonist is meant to be experiencing...

I think that's a great explanation.

I confess to being a little irritated at times 'cause I can't clean up some of the clutter, but I appreciate even more being forced to play as someone I'm not - to walk that mile in someone else's shoes.

[JiffyPopKids]

I was actually just thinking about this. It sort of bugs me that there's papers thrown everywhere, cabinet doors pulled off, drawers pulled out, and I cannot put them back in. For example I often base up at the Pleasant Valley Farmstead. I often live there for 100+ days at a time and it would be great to at least pick up some of the papers on the floor and replace the broken cabinet doors, etc. Personally, if I were in this dude's situation, I'd love to make the house look pretty.

Originally posted by Liduska77:

Your mind set has to kinda be like the characters that you are playing.

While busy surviving, things like messy interiors wouldn't even register; in fact, it allows you to see at a glance what is there for scavenging. Its a time bonus for you ;)

Going in and wanting to clean up is more of a holiday attitude, not really what the protagonist is meant to be experiencing. As far as I'm aware, neither Will or Astrid suffer from OCD.

The mess adds nicely to the feeling that people were compelled to leave suddenly.

And soldiers are humans too; I'm not sure anyone of them would delay their life saving evacuation because their base was in a bit of a mess.

This is a good point, but after a while I think our feeling of "emergency" might go away. after I get myself a good food and water source, as well as a nice warm house, I personally would feel a little bit better about the situation and try to tidy up my home. Sure some people are different, I just don't like seeing pieces of paper on the ground I can't pick up. and even some stuff has a functional use. Like the cabinet doors that are pulled off. I could easily put the cabinet door back on and use it as intended. It'd surely be a lot more immersing if I could pick up the pillows underneath the bed and put it up onto the bed. Instead my only option is rip it up with a knife! LOL. :)

[markwars]

Speaking of tidy...am I the only person that also would like to have some sort of game mechanic that involves cleaning the survivor? After 100+ days without a bath I would be beyond nuts. The compulsion to clean my surroundings would pale in comparison to the need for a hot bath. While I realize that this would be a big undertaking with LOTS of resources used to make it happen it would be a great way to realistically fight off cabin fever and other mental tolls you might incur.

If we are going to talk about cleaning up, I say we start with ourselves.

[JiffyPopKids]

Originally posted by markwars:

Speaking of tidy...am I the only person that also would like to have some sort of game mechanic that involves cleaning the survivor? After 100+ days without a bath I would be beyond nuts. The compulsion to clean my surroundings would pale in comparison to the need for a hot bath. While I realize that this would be a big undertaking with LOTS of resources used to make it happen it would be a great way to realistically fight off cabin fever and other mental tolls you might incur.

If we are going to talk about cleaning up, I say we start with ourselves.

That's a good suggestion. I could also suggest we use ice instead of snow. I read a book once that was based in mid 1800's. It was a story of a bunch of farmers in New York state. During the winter they would cut a size of ice out of the river just smaller than their tub and fit it inside of their bath tub. they would then build a fire under the tub outside and when it was melted and getting warm they carried it inside the house near the fireplace. They would then use hot stones to warm the bath water up even more. the process took about 4 hours. I figure we could use this method in The Long Dark, if it was added. and I doubt it will be. Though, I really do think our survivor should use ice instead of snow to make water. ice is way more compact than snow and will produce a lot more water upon melting, making water much faster.

[Liduska77]

Originally posted by markwars:

The compulsion to clean my surroundings would pale in comparison to the need for a hot bath.

If we are going to talk about cleaning up, I say we start with ourselves.

+1

For the longest time, I've been wanting to boil lots of water and run a hot bath and just have my character soak in it. A warmth bonus, reduces fatigue, maybe even helps the pain of a sprain. Would pass a whole evening, and you could research books while in there. Perhaps even drink some of the water too :D

I'd love this option!

[lkandrb]

OP has obviously never been in an inactive military base. They get scavenged to death, wire cut out, everything is a mess. TLD isn't geared towards the OCD crowd. Too many objects you can interact with causes performance problems ultimately.

TBH, the second I see "immersion breaking" in a post, I totally tune out. It's almost as overused as the term under rated is in sports.

[IvantheFormidable]

Originally posted by lkandrb:

TBH, the second I see "immersion breaking" in a post, I totally tune out. It's almost as overused as the term under rated is in sports.

I have to agree since what constitutes "immersion" is so personal to a player that it's hard get a handle on a reasonable definition of what is and isn't "immersive".

Originally posted by lkandrb:

OP has obviously never been in an inactive military base. They get scavenged to death, wire cut out, everything is a mess.

I mean, if the military isn't using that copper wire anymore, no reason to leave it in the walls!

[Liduska77]

Originally posted by JiffyPopKids:

..but after a while I think our feeling of "emergency" might go away. after I get myself a good food and water source, as well as a nice warm house, I personally would feel a little bit better about the situation and try to tidy up my home. Sure some people are different

Yep, this could well happen and it's a good point.

I certainly agree that if a 'mental well being ' bar/background bar' that feeds into the main bars affecting how quick they go down (and up) then the option to make your living environment a bit more homely would play into that nicely. So would having a hot bath xD

Bit of work for Hinterland mind you ;)

[lkandrb]

Looters are scum - unless it is a game and that is the whole premise ;)