[Abandoned] For the Hoard!

[Verdant Haven]

While we do have a couple issues on the subject of spreading disease and how to respond (issues #231 "Jungle Fever" and #950 "Borderline Pandemic"), I don't believe we have anything that deals with how civilians themselves respond to such a thing. Specifically, if we look around at the absurdity going on in the world today, things like panic-buying, hoarding, and price-gouging. This is definitely ripe for an issue on the subject of government regulation, free-market vs rationing, etc.

[TITLE] For the Hoard!

[DESCRIPTION] Despite the government's best efforts, it seems that a mysterious disease that recently ravaged a bordering nation has somehow crossed in to @@NAME@@. Only a few cases have been reported so far, but panic is spreading like wildfire and supplies are being hoarded by those lucky enough to find them.


[OPTION 1] "Get out of my way!" screams @@RANDOMMALENAME@@, punching an elderly woman and seizing the last pack of toilet paper from the shelf of the shop where you've stopped in. "I need to stock up on emergency supplies! Hand sanitizer, canned goods, milk, all before the disease reaches me! Go, give a speech to the people! Tell them to gather what they can, while they can. We must be prepared — if we wait, it will be too late!

[EFFECT 1] government bulletins declare "panic is the best policy"


[OPTION 2] "Mind your manners!" snaps the woman, @@RANDOMFEMALENAME@@, pummeling the previous speaker with her handbag and recovering the item for herself. "You see how people are acting, @@LEADER@@? When sickness starts spreading, the government needs to implement strict quotas on vital goods, so that everybody can get what they need. Hoarding must be disallowed! Now then, do you really need both those cans of beans?"

[EFFECT 2] the annual flu season is now known as "ration season"


[OPTION 3] [Validity: Moderate or Low Primitiveness] "We need to flatten this infection curve" demands Q. Warren Tyne, Ph.D., your recently installed Secretary to Oversee Pandemics, holding up a graph. "So long as people are out and about, it's going to spread. We must quarantine everybody in their homes, and establish government delivery of goods to affected regions. Only screened and approved government officials will be allowed out. We can use taxes to pay for it, and workers can probably telecommute or something. You can't be too careful!"

[EFFECT 3] severe cases of Cabin Fever are being diagnosed across the nation


[OPTION 4] [Validity: High Primitiveness] "Modern life has unhealthy amounts of contact, leading to an imbalance of the humors" declares Q. Warren Tyne, Pl.D, your Plague Doctor in Chief, from behind @@HIS@@ intricately-styled bird mask. "We must quarantine the afflicted in their homes, and dispatch doctors with the appropriate traditional knowledge to care for and supply them. We must keep the healthy at a safe distance, even if it means separating family members, so they do not breathe in the bile that is exuded from the sick. You can't be too careful!"

[EFFECT 4] the government finds diseases to be entirely too humorous

2nd draft (Option 3 (prev 3/4) only:

[OPTION 3] "Listen, this disease doesn't care who has what supplies — so long as people are out and about it's going to spread," declares @@RANDOMNAME@@, your recently installed Plague Doctor in Chief. "We need to just quarantine everybody in their homes, and establish government delivery of goods to affected regions. We can use taxes to pay for it, only screened and approved government officials will be allowed out. Hopefully, workers can telecommute… or something. You can't be too careful!"

[EFFECT 3] severe cases of Cabin Fever are being diagnosed across the nation[/box]

1st draft:

[TITLE] For the Hoard!

[DESCRIPTION] Despite the government's best efforts, it seems that a mysterious disease that recently ravaged a bordering nation has somehow crossed in to @@NAME@@. Only a few cases have been reported so far, but panic has struck the populace like lightning and supplies are being hoarded by those lucky enough to find them.

[VALIDITY] Follow-up to #950 (Thoughts? It could work as a stand-alone as well.)



[OPTION 1] "Get out of my way!" screams @@RANDOMMALEFIRSTNAME_1@@ @@RANSOMLASTNAME@@, punching an elderly woman and seizing the last pack of toilet paper from the shelf of the shop where you've stopped in. "I need to stock up on emergency supplies! Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, canned goods, all before the disease reaches me! Tell the people they need to gather what they can now – if we wait, it will be too late! I'll pay any price!

[EFFECT 1] government bulletins declare "panic is the best policy"



[OPTION 2] "Mind your manners!" snaps the woman, @@RANDOMFEMALENAME@@, striking @@RANDOMMALEFIRSTNAME_1@@ with her handbag and taking the toilet paper for herself. "You see how people are acting, @@LEADER@@? When sickness starts spreading, the government needs to implement strict quotas on vital goods! That way everybody can get what they need!" Pausing to eyeball a price tag, she adds "And how about limiting this price-gouging? Can you imagine paying that for a can of beans?"

[EFFECT 2] bargain-hunters look forward to the annual flu-season price controls



[OPTION 3] "Listen, this disease doesn't care who has what supplies – so long as people are out and about it's going to spread" declares @@RANDOMNAME@@, your recently installed Plague Doctor in Chief. "We need to just quarantine everybody in their homes, and establish government delivery of goods to affected regions. We can charge a delivery tax to fund it, and nobody will be allowed out but screened and approved government officials!"

[EFFECT 3] severe cases of Cabin Fever are being diagnosed across the nation

[Kinectia]

What a timely issue! I think it's exactly the right follow-up to Issue #950 - Borderline Pandemic.

[Australian rePublic]

Option 3- what about those who can't afford delivery tax?

[Candlewhisper Archive]

As always, solid drafting, and a GREAT title. Some thoughts, though:

[TITLE] For the Hoard!

[DESCRIPTION] Despite the government's best efforts, it seems that a mysterious disease that recently ravaged a bordering nation has somehow crossed in to @@NAME@@. Only a few cases have been reported so far, but panic has struck the populace like lightning and supplies are being hoarded by those lucky enough to find them.

The underlined bit sounds colloquially wrong. "Panic is spreading like wildfire" could work, or "Panic is flooding the nation" would work better.

[VALIDITY] Follow-up to #950 (Thoughts? It could work as a stand-alone as well.)

Standalone, I think.

[OPTION 1] "Get out of my way!" screams @@RANDOMMALEFIRSTNAME_1@@ @@RANSOMLASTNAME@@, punching an elderly woman and seizing the last pack of toilet paper from the shelf of the shop where you've stopped in. "I need to stock up on emergency supplies! Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, canned goods, all before the disease reaches me! Tell the people they need to gather what they can now – if we wait, it will be too late! I'll pay any price!

I think it'd be more elegant to avoid repetition, and call toilet paper "tissue" the second time round.

More of a problem though is that this option is not doing anything. There needs to be some government action, even if its just making a speech to advise people to stock up on emergency goods.

[OPTION 2] "Mind your manners!" snaps the woman, @@RANDOMFEMALENAME@@, striking @@RANDOMMALEFIRSTNAME_1@@ with her handbag and taking the toilet paper for herself.

Again, avoid over-repeating the same words. Maybe she is "striking the previous speaker with her handbag, and prising her shopping from resisting arms,"

"You see how people are acting, @@LEADER@@? When sickness starts spreading, the government needs to implement strict quotas on vital goods! That way everybody can get what they need!" Pausing to eyeball a price tag, she adds "And how about limiting this price-gouging? Can you imagine paying that for a can of beans?"

Don't multiply interrupt speech unless you have to, which you don't here. And leave off the price-gouging, that's already well-covered in another issue.

[OPTION 3] "Listen, this disease doesn't care who has what supplies – so long as people are out and about it's going to spread"

Em-dash, not dash, and a comma is needed before the terminal quote mark.

declares @@RANDOMNAME@@, your recently installed Plague Doctor in Chief. "We need to just quarantine everybody in their homes, and establish government delivery of goods to affected regions. We can charge a delivery tax to fund it, and nobody will be allowed out but screened and approved government officials!"

[EFFECT 3] severe cases of Cabin Fever are being diagnosed across the nation

Cool.

[Uan aa Boa]

[OPTION 3] "Listen, this disease doesn't care who has what supplies – so long as people are out and about it's going to spread" declares @@RANDOMNAME@@, your recently installed Plague Doctor in Chief. "We need to just quarantine everybody in their homes, and establish government delivery of goods to affected regions. We can charge a delivery tax to fund it, and nobody will be allowed out but screened and approved government officials!"

[EFFECT 3] severe cases of Cabin Fever are being diagnosed across the nation[/box]

Option 3- what about those who can't afford delivery tax?

It isn't totally clear whether deliveries would be paid for by the recipients or whether it would come from general taxation. How about "... and establish government delivery of goods to affected regions. Only screened and approved government officials will be allowed out. You'd have to raise taxes to fund it, and forcing everyone to stay home from work might have a few economic consequences, but you can't be too careful."

Also, if you've got a plague doctor it would be cool to give them one of those beaked Venetian masks.

[Verdant Haven]

Thank you all for the feedback! Second draft is up.

I did my best to incorporate all feedback provided up to this point, including:

- Clarifying the payment/tax situation in Option 3
- Modifying the colloquialism in the description
- Setting to standalone
- Nuking all repetition on the subject of toilet paper and peoples' names
- Rephrasing Option 1 to make it clear that "tell the people" did in fact mean "go give a speech"
- Eliminating price gouging references
- Replacing Effect 2 so it isn't related to prices
- Swapping in em-dashes
- Additional rewording in Option 3

Also, I totally agree Uan aa Boa! I definitely am picturing a person in a business suit and beaked mask. Not sure I can fit in that description without running too long (Option 3 already has a word count in the 70s, which is what I like to limit myself too), but I 100% share that vision with you.

[Verdant Haven]

So, I'm having a thought on this one. It could be fun to split the third option in to one for less-advanced societies (high primitiveness stat), which uses the plague doctor and language based more in traditional or indigenous understandings of medical care, and one for more-advanced societies that speaks more from the perspective of a health minister using statistics and scientific research to get to the same conclusions.

Any thoughts on that? I love the plague doctor, but they feel a bit out of place in some contexts. My main concern would be to keep the "primitive" option respectful and at least equally effective - just worded differently.

[Uan aa Boa]

Perhaps the primitive option could say that the excesses of modern life have led to an imbalance of the humours, life energy, aura or whatever you want to use. The solution would be withdrawal into the home for rest, meditation and rebalancing.

[Verdant Haven]

I've updated with a revised Option 3 and new Option 4, to split the final choice in to a "modern" response and a "primitive" response, with some of UaB's suggestion from above. I turned the modern response in to a more recognizable figure who uses the appropriate buzzwords, and had some fun with the Plague Doctor as a primitive option that gets similar results.

Let me know what y'all think.

[Verdant Haven]

Made a couple minor tweaks - didn't update the draft number since they're so minor and the previous content is visible in earlier drafts.

Updates were:
- Replacing Effect 2
- Dropping the random name in Option 3 and Option 4 to replace it with Q. Warren Tyne, Ph.D and Pl.D respectively.

Any further thoughts on this one?

Hope everybody is doing alright, all things considered.

[Baggieland]

that recently ravaged a bordering nation has somehow crossed in to @@NAME@@

I would drop 'somehow'.

panic is spreading like wildfire and supplies are being hoarded by those lucky enough to find them

I would change 'supplies' to 'basic necessities'.

the shop where you've stopped in

It's always best to avoid saying directly that LEADER has decided to do something. "One of your aides advised you to stop by a local store to see for yourself". Something like that.

Options 1 and 2 are about hoarding. Whereas options 3 and 4 are about quarantine. Feels like two different issues to me. In option 3 you wrote about the government delivering goods to those in quarantine, which keeps with the general theme of citizens having enough supplies, I feel this should be the focus of the last two options.