Nanako Posted May 5, 2016 Posted May 5, 2016 The name of spaceacillin is quite clearly based on penicillin, a real life antibiotic. Antibiotics are designed to fight bacterial infections, which are represented ingame in our infection mechanic, whereby wounds can become infected and eventually kill people. However, oddly, the ingame lore and descriptions describe spaceacillin as a broad spectrum antiviral. Antivirals are designed to fight viruses. The descriptions make no mention that it's an antibiotic. In gameplay terms however, spaceacillin actually works as both an antiviral AND an antibiotic. I feel there are a number of problems with this: 1. Both viruses and infections are pretty major mechanics, that are coded in a fairly detailed and realistic way. A lot of effort has gone into making them deep and meaningful, ant that is somewhat negated by having a single solution be the counter for both. 2. A drug that is a broad spectrum antiviral AND an antibiotic doesn't make much sense, medically. The whole concept of broad spectrum drugs is doing a specialised job in a generalised way, and they are hard to make. To combine both of those properties into one medicine would pose a lot of risk to the patient, because unless they have both conditions simultaneously, you're always unnecessarily medicating for one or the other. In fact the concept of a broad spectrum antiviral is much harder to do, and still somewhat experimental in modern medicine. Having one successfully made in the future is advanced enough as far as medical tech goes. I contend that spaceacillin is both overpowered in gameplay terms, and nonsensical in lore/RP terms. It doesn't make sense. To remedy this, i propose the following: 1. Remove all antiviral capabilities from spaceacillin, make it only an antibiotic, to fight infections and not viruses. Update the descriptions appropriately 2. Introduce a new drug which works as a broad spectrum antiviral, that fights viral pathogens and not infections. I recommend naming it Arbidol, which is a real-world broad spectrum antiviral This would be available in ingame Nanomed vendors 3. (optional/minor) update all references in the virus code to 'antibiotic', to say 'antiviral' instead. What would we gain from this? 1. More gameplay depth. Having to choose the correct drug for these situations slightly raises the skill ceiling. This is the reason we have tens of different drugs in the first place, instead of one magical cure-all. IT adds interesting RP depth and things to learn, to medical jobs 2. More realism. The game would make more logical sense, and be more believable in terms of mechanics. 3. More chance to screw up. We're an RP server, winning isn't everything, and a memorable death can be more fun than an uneventful life. I still remember the first time i lost a patient to sepsis, it was terrifying, not knowing what to do or how to treat it properly. Watching him rapidly die from multiple organ failure as the situation slipped from my control, it made me realise i don't know everything, and still have a lot to learn.
Quarantinetimer Posted July 22, 2016 Posted July 22, 2016 I used to discuss this on OOC in bay, and the opinions I received were mainly about the appropriate level of complexity. Aurora is, after all, not a simulation for medical students. Is it too complex that it becomes inaccesible? Is it too simple that it ruins (insert your points)? Personally, I do agree with distinguishing between an antibiotic and an antiviral. The true extremist will suggest that we implement multiple types of both drug classes. Just to give an insight to the lengths some may go to, here is the average medical role-player's worst nightmare:http://irc.liber-mundi.org/trauma.php?lng=us
Zundy Posted July 22, 2016 Posted July 22, 2016 It's not unreasonable at all to say that spess a cillin is just a superdrug that can do both. Realism is irrelevant as there's no super awesome antibiotic that cures all infections in seconds, nor is there an anti viral that does the same with virus's. That being said this is a fukken game so I'm all for more stuff. Split them I say!
Carver Posted July 22, 2016 Posted July 22, 2016 I expected unnecessary depth here, but I'm surprised. Seems reasonable as long as the chemistry recipe for the antiviral doesn't require anything horrific or unusual like Plasma (As a non-catalyst) or such. Although I will say the infections aren't realistic at all considering you get necrosis within an hour or less.
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