Pawn Personality (reworked traits system)

[JesterHell]

So, I was cleaning up my computer when I found this text document from last year and in it was a suggestion I was working on for Rimworld about giving pawn more "personality" by reworking the traits system into a "personality" array, I'll be honest this suggestion should really be reformatted and cleaned up.... but here it is anyway.

________________________________________________________________


I think that the current trait system is a bit lack luster as it can be quite limiting at times and I don't think anybody likes the way sexuality take up one of the three possible traits, so I got to thinking about how to fix it and then remembered that I'd had a half formed idea back when pawn relationship was first being considered.

I think that all traits should be grouped into arrays and that every array should focus on one aspect of a pawns personality or character being decided into inherent/subconscious, habitual/conscious and beliefs/values.

Inherent and subconscious traits are nigh unchangeable aspects of a pawn with change only occurring with heavy effort or though events, such trait would be things like appearance, sexuality, psychic sensitivity ect.

• Sexuality

Homosexual - Bisexual - Heterosexual - Asexual - Zoosexual

I chose zoosexual over transexual because transexual is not actually connected with a persons sexuality, by which I mean a transexual whom feels like a woman in a mans body might be sexually attarcted to women but with a zoosexual it is about sexuality in that it directly relates to sexual preference, also I think that zoosexual could be used to discribe people with a preferance to "furry" partners like the "trananimals" that exist in the rimworld primer's lore rather then just beastiality.

• Appearance

Beautiful - Pretty - Normal - Ugly - Staggeringly Ugly

• Voice

Soothing Voice - Normal - Annoying Voice

• Natural Body Temperature

Cold Lover - Cold Tolerant - Normal - Heat Tolerant - Heat Lover

• Nerves/Willpower

Iron Will - Stead Fast - Average - Timid - Spineless

• Intellect

Too Smart - Smart - Average - Slow - Very Slow

• 

Masochist - Average - Sadist/"bloodlust"

• Psychic Sensitivity

Psychically hypersensitive - Psychically Sensitive - normal - Psychically Dull - Psychically Deaf




Habitual and conscious traits are things learnt over the course of a pawns life and while easier to change then inherent or subconscious traits it would still be difficult and would require a concentrated effort.

• Work-Ethic

Industrious - Hard Worker - Average - Lazy - Slothful

• Activity Level

Jogger - Fast Walker - Average - Slowpoke - Dawdler

• Merriment

Party Animal - jovial - Average - Grouch - Killjoy

• Living Decorum

Extravagant -Lavish - Average - Sparse - Austere

• Etiquette

Gracious - Affable - Average - Abrasive - Antagonistic

• Natural Mood

Sanguine - Optimist - Average - Depressive - Pessimist

• Love Propensity

Hopeless Romantic - Romantic - Average - Cool - Cold-Hearted

This trait would impact how probable a pawn is to starting or accepting of relationships.

• Lust Propensity

Promiscuous - Amorous - Average - Cold - Frigid

This trairt would impact how probable a pawn is to accept a one-night stands or to cheat on a SO if they have one.

• Combat Style

Careful Shooter - Trigger happy - Average - Brawler - Gladiator

• Hate Propensity

Zealot - Bigot - Average - Tolerant - Magnanimous

This trait would impact a pawns acceptance of differing values in other traits, some people dont judge while others do and this affect social interactions and the easiest method I think as a non-coder that having opposing sides of the same trait "group" act like the abrasive trait to each other while "average" gives neither a bonus or negative, an example being Work-Ethic.

• Work-Ethic

Industrious - Hard Worker - Average - Lazy - Slothful

Lazy vs Hard Worker = - 0.1 to all social interactions
Lazy vs Industrious = - 0.2  to social interactions
Hard Worker vs Slothful = - 0.2 to social interactions
Slothful vs Industrious = - 0.3 to social interactions

After all have you ever worked with someone who you feel is not pulling their weight? how did that make you feel about them? but there are also positives for when they "align"

Lazy vs Slothful = + 0.2 to social interactions
Slothful vs Slothful + 0.3 to social interactions
Hard Worker vs Industrious = + 0.2 to social interactions
Industrious vs Industrious = + 0.3 to social interactions

Under this system bigots would suffer an extra -1 to social interactions when traits conflict while the tolerant would get a bonus +1 to a max of 0 (no negative).



Finally Beliefs and values represent the things a pawn believes like monotheists, polytheists and atheist while values represent things like vegetarian and vegan.

• Theism

Polytheist - Monotheist - Agnostic - Atheist - Anti-Theist

• Dietary Ethics

Vegan - Vegetarian - Omnivore - Meatatrian - Carnist

• Marriage

Polyandry - Polygyny - Monogamy - Open Monogamy - Polyamory

• Clothing Tradition

Exhibitionist - Nudist -Average - Prissy - Prude

• Drug Ethics

Chemical Fascination - Chemical Interest - Average - Teetotaler - Prohibitionist

• Cooperation/Competition

Collaborative - Communal - Average - Striving - Champion

• Nature/Industry

Naturalist - Green Thumb - Average - Gear Head - Industrialist

• Artwork

Artist - Creative - Average - Uncreative - Critique

• Gender

Hates Men - Dislikes Men - Average - Dislikes Women - Hates Women

This is separate from sexuality in that its a pawns general feeling to a gender not their "attraction" to them.

• Augmentation

Prosthophile - Average - Prosthophobe


So thoughts? please feel free to expand upon any of these ideas or tell me why I'm wrong if you disagree.

_____________________________________________________


So that was it, I just copy pasted it from the text document without refining it but I think its enough to understand the general idea.

[ReZpawner]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/11/02/rimworld-code-analysis/

This is the reason why you will probably never see almost any of this. It's too easy to misconstrue, and make into a hitpiece by talentless hacks.
It would be like trying to fuck a hornets nest.

[mumblemumble]

Not an entirley terrible idea, but I'm afraid this would stir up more controversy than it would help

Besides, bigger than this, I think an organic, fluid personality system, where people change over time would be MUCH better.

[AngleWyrm]

The system proposed is already present and is called spectrum traits. The rules for spectrum traits specify that any given pawn can have only one out of a set of spectrum traits; I'm not sure if that's enforced by the interface, but I've heard that only one applies.

Each trait on a spectrum takes on a five-point rank of -2 to +2, and the trait author can make a set of up to five that belong to such a category.

Suggestion for Prepare Carefully mod: group, highlight and enforce mutually exclusive sets of spectrum traits.

[JesterHell]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/11/02/rimworld-code-analysis/

This is the reason why you will probably never see almost any of this. It's too easy to misconstrue, and make into a hitpiece by talentless hacks.
It would be like trying to fuck a hornets nest.

I didn't and still don't consider this an issue, its free publicly, nothing more.

Not an entirley terrible idea, but I'm afraid this would stir up more controversy than it would help

Not something that I personally consider to be an issue, the previous "controversy" didn't do any actual harm to Rimworld and was basically nothing more then free publicly.

Besides, bigger than this, I think an organic, fluid personality system, where people change over time would be MUCH better.

Then I don't think you really read what I posted, not that I blame you it is mess and unorganized but here the part where I addressed change.

Inherent and subconscious traits are nigh unchangeable aspects of a pawn with change only occurring with heavy effort or though events, such trait would be things like appearance, sexuality, psychic sensitivity ect.

Habitual and conscious traits are things learnt over the course of a pawns life and while easier to change then inherent or subconscious traits it would still be difficult and would require a concentrated effort.

So yeah I think traits should be changeable but that the difficulty of changing them is relative, for instance the willpower trait spectrum,

• Nerves/Willpower

Iron Will - Stead Fast - Average - Timid - Spineless

Would make it so that someone with an Iron will would be more resistance to changing themselves while someone who's spineless quickly caves to peer pressure to change.

Also the scale of change would make it harder, trying to make a Bigot become tolerant would be harder then making an "average" person become tolerant.

Note average in this case means:AvenueQ - Everyone's A Little Bit Racist

The system proposed is already present and is called spectrum traits. The rules for spectrum traits specify that any given pawn can have only one out of a set of spectrum traits; I'm not sure if that's enforced by the interface, but I've heard that only one applies.

Yes I know that it exists what I meant is that every trait should have an opposite and that every pawn should have every trait "spectrum" but fall some where differently along that line, that why every "spectrum" example has an "average" which represent no strong leaning one way or the other.

If it helps to understand what I was going for this suggestion was Inspired by the Dwarf Fortress personality system where every single dwarf falls somewhere along the line in every personality trait.[/quote]

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Personality_trait

Basically that, but simplified because if Tynan went full DF a lot of people would get upset over "needless" complexity...

[AngleWyrm]

Yes I know that [spectrum traits] exist what I meant is that every trait should have an opposite and that every pawn should have every trait "spectrum" but fall some where differently along that line, that why every "spectrum" example has an "average" which represent no strong leaning one way or the other.

Spectrum traits amount to a sub-type identifier for any given trait. That is to say, it's not enough to just give the defName for a trait, one also has to specify the sub-type in order to narrow it down to a single trait. Technically that's called a composite key for you nerds out there

Traits can have one to five traits identified as sub-types of the general trait type, indexed on the range [-2, -1, 0, +1, +2]. 'Normal' traits are the same container format but just have a single sub-type record.

So go wild: Create any type of range your heart desires, with up to five entries in each one.

[Circledline]

This is most certainly interesting and a very large sum of ideas for traits all boiled down to simple ranging personalities. I do wonder though, if everything is a spectrum then I'm somewhat confused on sexuality and Combat style.

From average you go left and become increasingly more attracted to the same sex, but as you go right you go from not being interested in sex at all to being into humans who are modified to be more like animals. So you're sort of going backwards in a sense that now you have an interest again, just not so much with human features than animal features. Wouldn't it make more sense to flip the two?

And what about combat style?

I see you're going from ranged to melee, but what exactly constitutes a more proficient shooter in this game. A person who can shoot 100% of their bullets, or a person who can hit more bullets?

On one hand the careful shooter deals plenty of damage over a long range due to their practical inability to miss, but in short distances around corners and flanks, a pawn who is trigger-happy will deal loads of burst damage potentially downing an enemy before they can even shoot back, but at the cost of being exposed with only nearby walls and the armor on their chest to protect them.

In a sense the careful shooter is at sniper range while the trigger-happy is at near touch range, but the range in itself doesn't really constitute a style, does it? Perhaps having this shiny new gladiator perk give a speed boost to melee pawns while fighting would constitute a new play style of run and distract while brawlers stay back and defend shooters from enemy gladiators. Just some food for thought.

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/11/02/rimworld-code-analysis/

This is the reason why you will probably never see almost any of this. It's too easy to misconstrue, and make into a hitpiece by talentless hacks.

Now there are some reasons why not to complexify (I know, not a real word) the traits system and this is a good one, but I could see that this traits system could entirely get rid of the need for the controversy and essentially make every pawns romance entirely dependent on their traits. It would still allow for some interesting interactions between more feisty and prudish pawns without the whole controversy of men and women in the game being inherently different. If the game is going for realism, then disregard what I say, but if the game is going for interesting story and meaningful interactions, then this most definitely would be the way to go.

[JesterHell]

Spectrum traits amount to a sub-type identifier for any given trait. That is to say, it's not enough to just give the defName for a trait, one also has to specify the sub-type in order to narrow it down to a single trait. Technically that's called a composite key for you nerds out there

Traits can have one to five traits identified as sub-types of the general trait type, indexed on the range [-2, -1, 0, +1, +2]. 'Normal' traits are the same container format but just have a single sub-type record.

So go wild: Create any type of range your heart desires, with up to five entries in each one.

You still don't understand what I'm suggesting, yes I could make those trait arrays but pawns would still be limited to 3 traits each, I want pawns to posses one of the indexed range in every trait as an example, I copied the list of potential trait from my OP and bolded the traits that one pawn could posses.

• Sexuality

Homosexual - Bisexual - Heterosexual - Asexual - Zoosexual

• Appearance

Beautiful - Pretty - Normal - Ugly - Staggeringly Ugly

• Voice

Soothing Voice - Normal - Annoying Voice

• Natural Body Temperature

Cold Lover - Cold Tolerant - Normal - Heat Tolerant - Heat Lover

• Nerves/Willpower

Iron Will - Stead Fast - Average - Timid - Spineless

• Intellect

Too Smart - Smart - Average - Slow - Very Slow

• 

Masochist - Average - Sadist/"bloodlust"

• Psychic Sensitivity

Psychically hypersensitive - Psychically Sensitive - normal - Psychically Dull - Psychically Deaf

• Work-Ethic

Industrious - Hard Worker - Average - Lazy - Slothful

• Activity Level

Jogger - Fast Walker - Average - Slowpoke - Dawdler

• Merriment

Party Animal - jovial - Average - Grouch - Killjoy

• Living Decorum

Extravagant -Lavish - Average - Sparse - Austere

• Etiquette

Gracious - Affable - Average - Abrasive - Antagonistic

• Natural Mood

Sanguine - Optimist - Average - Depressive - Pessimist

• Love Propensity

Hopeless Romantic - Romantic - Average - Cool - Cold-Hearted

• Lust Propensity

Promiscuous - Amorous - Average - Cold - Frigid

• Combat Style

Careful Shooter - Trigger happy - Average - Brawler - Gladiator

• Hate Propensity

Zealot - Bigot - Average - Tolerant - Magnanimous

• Work-Ethic

Industrious - Hard Worker - Average - Lazy - Slothful

• Theism

Polytheist - Monotheist - Agnostic - Atheist - Anti-Theist

• Dietary Ethics

Vegan - Vegetarian - Omnivore - Meatatrian - Carnist

• Marriage

Polyandry - Polygyny - Monogamy - Open Monogamy - Polyamory

• Clothing Tradition

Exhibitionist - Nudist -Average - Prissy - Prude

• Drug Ethics

Chemical Fascination - Chemical Interest - Average - Teetotaler - Prohibitionist

• Cooperation/Competition

Collaborative - Communal - Average - Striving - Champion

• Nature/Industry

Naturalist - Green Thumb - Average - Gear Head - Industrialist

• Artwork

Artist - Creative - Average - Uncreative - Critique

• Gender

Hates Men - Dislikes Men - Average - Dislikes Women - Hates Women

• Augmentation

Prosthophile - Average - Prosthophobe

Basically a pawn would posses one trait in each and every array, most trait would be average or normal but many would not and it would create more unique pawns that have the appearance of personality, in the example above the pawn would be both jovial (funny:makes others laugh) and depressive (low mood: generally depressed) you know, kind of like how many comedian IRL suffer from depression and while you could have  those 2 traits and one more for a total of 3 in vanilla under the system proposed this pawn is also,

• Creative
• Striving
• Nudist
• Monotheist
• Trigger happy
• Psychically hypersensitive
• Stead Fast
• Cold Lover
• Bisexual

He has every other trait array as well (the one not listed), its just that hes average in them so they have no effect but because I also included pawn changing during play the fact that the pawn has the trait array is important as that trait could move during play from average to something else that does have an effect.

These two points (more then 3 traits per pawn and traits changing though play) require development from the developer and can not be modded as easily as just adding more traits, I could do that myself but that's not the main purpose behind this suggestion.

[tyriaelsoban]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/11/02/rimworld-code-analysis/

This is the reason why you will probably never see almost any of this. It's too easy to misconstrue, and make into a hitpiece by talentless hacks.
It would be like trying to fuck a hornets nest.

I did wonder if that link was -the- link i thought it was ...
Tabloid journalism hasnt stayed on paper, sadly.

[O Negative]

I appreciate the thought you've put into this JesterHell.
I would actually enjoy this quite a bit.
I think, though, in some ways it is assumed that a lack of a trait in one regard implicitly suggests the "neutral" or "average" trait.
For instance, a person that does not have the "hard worker" or "lazy" trait is assumed to be "average" with respect to work ethic.
Likewise, a person who lacks any specific sexuality trait is assumed "heterosexual".

For the sake of simplicity and the already hard-to-learn UI, I don't see the devs making room for all of these traits on a screen.
But, I could always be wrong

[Circledline]

For the sake of simplicity and the already hard-to-learn UI, I don't see the devs making room for all of these traits on a screen.
But, I could always be wrong

This is a point I forgot the bring up in my last post. People who know about these systems will be affected positively as they receive new content of which they are already familiar with. They already understand the concept and any veterans coming from other titles such as the aforementioned Dwarf Fortress, they will surely know and be quite knowledgeable on the mechanic as well, however, newer players to the genre and the medium as a whole won't be so easily thrilled with a complex and detailed traits screen. We all know what these spectrum mean because to us the players we have already to some extent already played with a trigger-happy pawn, or we've already had a cannibal in our colonies. For outsiders they would just be confused trying to rationalize the traits screen for any one given colonist when there are other mechanics to be made sense of such as long term survival, disaster prevention and mitigation, so on and so forth.

From a business perspective, adding on to a game like this could hurt the amount of sales. Mechanics like these should be saved for a sequel if one were ever to be developed. That way newcomers can buy and play the first one to catch up and veterans can appreciate all the new features added to make the sequel better. It makes sense you want this game to be the best as it possibly can be and the devs likely share that vision with you, but to keep updating the game for the fans would eventually lead to money better spent on a new title.

[AngleWyrm]

...yes I could make those trait arrays but pawns would still be limited to 3 traits each, I want pawns to posses one of the indexed range in every trait

The problem to resolve is the set of traits is not stable; it grows/shrinks from one mod-set to the next. What happens when a mod adds, removes or replaces traits?

[cultist]

The biggest problem I see here is the potential range of effects - you could have a pawn who was a literal god, constant maxed out mood, all the best combat-related traits, super fast movement etc. and you could get a totally useless pawn whose mood would just keep plummeting and keep breaking because he's super slow, super ugly, lazy, depressive, super neurotic etc. The 3 trait cap at least puts a bit of a leash on RnGesus.

[Fregrant]

Psychology mod have some interesting features.
https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=24648.0

[attachment deleted by admin due to age]

[Thirite]

Whether or not the system overhaul is necessary, you've got some good ideas for spectrum traits here. I particularly like the Romantic, Lust, and Hate propensities.