Is cannibalism a big deal?

[forumaccount]

The colonists get pretty extremely upset when they eat human meat.

I have played so many video games where characters are forced to resort to cannibalism, that I've kinda grown used to it as a theoretical concept. But what's the reality? Is it as traumatizing as the colonists say? Is it a health risk? I thought as long as you don't eat brains, you're safe. Season it well, cook it THOROUGHLY, and don't eat someone unless their death was unavoidable, no?

[StorymasterQ]

While this could be a great fodder for my list, I'm going to answer in a tone that doesn't become it.

Sure, if you can distance yourself from the source of your meat, anything can be a good source of protein. That's the caveat, though. Can you distance yourself? How much must (/should/could) you force yourself to consume once-sentient flesh? Notice that I didn't say once-living flesh, as most of us would not have had second thoughts about eating beef.

Maybe (maybe!) one of the signs of sentience is the aversion to eating the flesh of your own species? Are there other carnivores/omnivores out there besides us that's like that?

[Mikhail Reign]

I'd like to point out that the averion we have is more of an cultural one. For example, most people would take some kinda offence to digging up a grave and using the body for experiments, but it was only 150 years ago or so that it was a pretty standard thing for people to do. People might have not thought highly of the profession, but it was a one that people had. If people did the same thing today there would be outrage......

[forumaccount]

I'd like to point out that the averion we have is more of an cultural one. For example, most people would take some kinda offence to digging up a grave and using the body for experiments, but it was only 150 years ago or so that it was a pretty standard thing for people to do. People might have not thought highly of the profession, but it was a one that people had. If people did the same thing today there would be outrage......

Yeah, that's the sort of thing I'm talking about. If the corpse is a corpse, why not use it to improve the lives of the living? Murder is wrong, but simply making use of the corpse when it's a dead raider, crushed miner, or fatally wounded turtle hunter doesn't sound that weird for a Rim colony that's struggling for survival. I think you can't even harvest the organs of the freshly dead in vanilla RW, which seems arbitrary and backwards. Alive? Sure, steal her organs. Dead? Oh, that would be impolite!

[StorymasterQ]

Perhaps it's because these people didn't come to Rimworld to struggle. They may have been going to their holidays when the ship breaks apart. Maybe what the game needs is some sort of 'jaded' mood that reduces both the bonus and penalties of the other moods, including cannibalism.

[Mikhail Reign]

Maybe a new attribute called pragmatic or something? I gotta say that, despite not being a psychopath or cannibal, I would have little to no problem eating a person if the situation called for it. Once a person is dead, their body is just an empty meat sack, no different then a cow or pig. 

[Shurp]

The issue with cannibalism is the difference between eating some*thing* and eating some*one*.  It's not simply a matter of eating the dead body in front of you.  It's the recognition that this dead body was a person, and quite possibly someone you knew.

If colonists start eating dead colonists, it's going to mess with their heads one way or another.  "Hey, I got Ted's ear in my soup!" "I got his leg" "I got his tongue"...

[Mikhail Reign]

I ate my pet sheep. Was awesome. Would do it again. Loved that sheep. Both times.

[Argus Leadhead]

The thing I don't get, is how all the colonists know they're eating people?

Sure, the one doing the butchering would know but everyone knowing automatically?

Colonist 1: "I haven't seen Cleetus in a few days, anyone know what happened to him?"

Colonist 2: "I was wondering the same thing myself, he'd love these ribs!"

Colonist 1: "Mm mm. Delicious.  I didn't know we had pork lying around."

Butcher: "Pork...  Yes... That's what it is..."

[mumblemumble]

I like the idea of pragmatic,  but id instead give "moral issues"  less weight if things were dire. Huge colony war? People turn the other way on death.  Starvation? People eat human meat without question... But during good times,  appalled.

[jzero]

Finally, someone who agrees with my (non real life) opinions about cannibalism (In Rimworld)

(I'm not a cannibal in real life by the way..)

(seriously)

[StorymasterQ]

Two cannibals are eating someone.

One: "You start at from the legs, I'll start from the head."
Two: "Okay."
-Some time later-
One: "How're you doing?"
Two: "Oh, I'm having a ball."
One: "You're going too fast."

Anyway, jzero, I'm going to butcher your quote for the purposes of my list

Finally, someone who agrees with my opinions about cannibalism

[jzero]

Anyway, jzero, I'm going to butcher your quote for the purposes of my list

Finally, someone who agrees with my opinions about cannibalism

Oh my god. #lifeiscomplete 

[JesterHell]

I feel that its cultural in nature as I think its relative to the beliefs you were brought up with, I'll give a couple examples.

• Raised up on a glitterworld where everyone gets turned into soylant green at death then I doubt its an issue.
• Raised up on a glitter world where every one is frozen until they can "cure" death and revive them all? your a monster for even suggesting it.
• Raised in a tribe that believe the dead are sacred and can't be touch or defiled then its a no-no
• Raised in a tribe where eating the dead means they "live" on forever though you then not being a cannibal is wrong

Seems like this could all be tied into to oh I don't know... a possible belief system.   

Vegan / raw food eater. Gets mood buff from eating veggies and uncooked veggies, but debuff from anything that contains meat. Will make the correct choices accordingly without micromanagement.

And the opposite could be interesting too, a person who prefers meat (raw?) and gets a debuff from vegetables. I met such a person today, maybe that's why I got the idea.

A pretty good idea; could also feed into a possible "belief systems" future system.

I ate my pet sheep. Was awesome. Would do it again. Loved that sheep. Both times.

My aunt has done this with some regularity, she once had to hand raise a sheep after its mother abandoned it, she named it, bottle feed it and then once it was grown she slit its throat, butchered it and served it to everyone for Christmas lunch.

The thing I don't get, is how all the colonists know they're eating people?

I feel like most average people would be able to add two and two together and get four, was the raider buried? no, then was was he cremated? no, well then I can guess where this meat came from.

Butcher: "Pork...  Yes... That's what it is..."

This seems to imply that the butcher doesn't tell anyone and I don't see why he wouldn't, the average person need too share the burden or crack (social chat to offset debuff), the psychopath doesn't care if it upsets the other colonists with the truth and the cannibal tells people because now their like him... whether they like it or not.

I like the idea of pragmatic,  but id instead give "moral issues"  less weight if things were dire. Huge colony war? People turn the other way on death.  Starvation? People eat human meat without question... But during good times,  appalled.

I can see it decreasing the debuff but not removing it altogether, soldiers in war still suffer shock and horror and they often crack later in life and you can't tell me that the average person, by modern day standards, would just shrug off cannibalism.

Maybe a delay in the mood effects to represent that in the heat of the moment they can block it out but then once things calm down and they have time to think about it then it hits them all at once, colonists with PTSD anyone? give those glitterworld empaths a job as the colony's psychiatrist.