Subject: Question about the Psychiatrist proposal -- suggested limits

From: "Feyd " <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2000 21:30:36 -0000

As proposed, the psychiatrist decide at random who he chooses to heal 
or not heal. Can he heal those who do not wish to be healed (perhaps 
in order to remove one of his own phychosis)? Can he charge pills or 
fees for his services? Can he heal several people in one week? If 
so, then that seems a bit overbalancing....the phychiatrist can 
remove all Phychosis from all players except himself, and as long as 
another player has that disease, the phychiatrist can heal himself 
too. This basically allows one player to completely remove an entire 
class of disease from the gamestate.

I would like to see stronger limits on this proposal. I would 
support two different approaches:
ONE WAY:
Limited number of times per week the Phychiatrist can do his stuff.
There is a random change of success (say 50%).
There is a random change of self-healing in the phychiatrist (say 
25%).
Since he is doing a good deed he also gets 2 soul points just for the 
attempt.
The player being treated must pay the bank 100 cash for the visit.

ANOTHER TACK:
Being around a sick person like that means the phyciatrist has a 50% 
chance of CONTRACTING the disease he is healing. This would make it 
more likely that fees will be charged, but then the psyche is taking 
a risk, so that's ok. If he has any cronic diseases the Doc must 
immediately name another player Phychiatrist. This player may not 
have any cronic diseases.

Should this have been raised as a point of order?
Feyd

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 19 Dec 2000 17:01:18 -0500

> Should this have been raised as a point of order?

Nope, it's just comments. And valid ones, I might add.

-- 
- Doc

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 19 Dec 2000 22:11:06 -0500

Guess I should wait and see if Ottis accepts the gift before recording
it, though.

-- 
- Doc

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From: Ottis Airhart <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2000 21:15:55 -0600

I accept, thank you.

At 10:11 PM 12/19/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>[email-masked]
>
>

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2000 10:44:49 -0000

> Can he heal those who do not wish to be healed (perhaps 
> in order to remove one of his own phychosis)?

No, he can only honour requests for healing. If nobody asks, he can't 
do anything.

> Can he charge pills or fees for his services?

He could if there were any way for Players to exchange pills and 
cash, I suppose (in the same way the Epidemiologist could request 
payment for cures, or threaten to infect people who don't pay him 
protection money). Might be interesting for something like that to be 
unregulated.

> Can he heal several people in one week?

Nothing to say he can't, so - yes.

> If so, then that seems a bit overbalancing....the phychiatrist can 
> too.

It relies on Players asking the Psychiatrist to cure them, though. If 
people don't want the Psychiatrist to be able to cure his own 
Claustrophobia, then Players with that Disease shouldn't consult with 
him. And I don't see anything *that* powerful in being able to cure 
people who want to be cured.

> This basically allows one player to completely remove an entire 

Provided that all of its sufferers asked to be cured. And provided 
it's a Psychosis (most of which creep back quite easily anyway). Why 
is this a "powerful" thing?

> Limited number of times per week the Phychiatrist can do his stuff.

I can't see his ability being used *that* much, really, with any cure 
relying on both a Player asking for it and the Psychiatrist granting 
it.

> There is a random change of self-healing in the phychiatrist (say 

Maybe, although I don't really like the idea of individual Players 
making random decisions, since it's hard to regulate the results. (We 
could use an automated dice-rolling email thing, but I'd rather it 
didn't come to that.)

> Since he is doing a good deed he also gets 2 soul points just for 
the 

Hm, maybe a good incentive to use his powers.

> The player being treated must pay the bank 100 cash for the visit.

Perhaps. Feel free to propose it. (Assuming Psychiatry passes at all.)

> a risk, so that's ok.

Mm, on a personal note I'd rather have simple game elements that 
could interact in interesting ways, rather than large and complicated 
ones. A generic "anyone treating a patient has a 10% chance of 
contracting a contagious disease from them" rule might be 
interesting, but bolting stuff directly onto individual offices seems 
a bit unwieldy.

Incidentally, it's a good job there's no punishment for spelling 
"Psychiatrist" wrongly, isn't it?

Kevan

--
http://uncertain.org/~kevan
"Mind you, that's just a pat diagnosis made without first obtaining 
your full medical history."

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From: "Feyd " <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2000 14:27:51 -0000

> protection money). Might be interesting for something like that to 
be 

I agree with this. I think mandating payment to another player is 
unnecessary. Market forces should work just fine in this context to 
regulate prices (or protection money, for that matter).

> "Psychiatrist" wrongly, isn't it?

I'm glad you caught that. Was wondering if anyone would ROTFL. 

Feyd