SCP-2973 / Discussion

This is the discussion related to the wiki page SCP-2973.

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Agent MacLeod 29 Oct 2016 06:27

As someone who, fortunately, never had an opportunity to neglect a tamagotchi and then feel bad for it, this still freaks me out in all the right ways. It's fucking zombie tamagotchis, and it punishes you by 1) eating all your important files, and 2) making your devices smell like fricking animal dung. Where this piece loses me is where it violently dismembers and eats a researcher. I'm following the fact that it's meant to be implied that a lot more is going on than what's said at the surface, but the fact that it eats a researcher seems to come out of left field.

I wanna like it, for WTF-ness alone, but it's not jiving right now, and I don't know why, and that's bugging me.

Rigen 29 Oct 2016 08:13

The second test log made no sense. Why give it security feed? And why give it security feed of a RESEARCHER?! I see that it was to give a sense that it could manipulate anything displayed on screen but that part was just, overboard, overly gory. A bowl of cherry, an apple or a basket of oranges could bring the same conclusion without sacrificing a researcher. And the first time it injures a researcher it should've been shut down and locked out.

Edit: Much better. Upvoting.

Last edited on 06 Nov 2016 08:00 by Rigen Show more

taintedvisage 29 Oct 2016 08:27

I like the idea, but it's just not really "doing it" for me. It just doesn't draw me in. The last log suffers a bit from Wall Of Text, too. No Vote.

SpectralDragon 29 Oct 2016 12:39

No-vote. There was no reason to give the zombigotchi a security feed when a video of a fruit basket or something would have worked just as well. It's a very good skip right up until you needlessly murder a researcher, you had me for the rest of it.

I do want to upvote. This is a clever idea, all said and done. But that last part just comes straight out of left field and for no reason, and I can't upvote that.

(account deleted) 29 Oct 2016 12:54

I'm going to be asking my partner if it'd be clear to remove the last part, honestly. I'm not terribly much of a fan.

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Just one little Spooky Bee

SpectralDragon 29 Oct 2016 19:07

No-vote changed to upvote. Good work!

Shaggydredlocks 29 Oct 2016 17:02

Couple areas that could be touched up a bit:

+ show block

In the event that security around SCP-2973 is compromised, on-site personnel are authorized to destroy SCP-2973-1 either by destroying the device it is contained in or by powering down the device. It is necessary to destroy the device in the case that SCP-2973 has rendered this impossible to do digitally.

Try:

In the event that security around SCP-2973 is compromised, on-site personnel must power down the affected devices. In the event that SCP-2973 has rendered this impossible, physical destruction is permitted.

require the approval

requires

The toy itself displays no anomalous properties at the present although it may be capable of producing unique instances of SCP-2973-1.

I don't understand the purpose of this line. Is there only one -1 (excluding the test)? We don't really see 'unique instances' appearing outside the original. You never mention what happens if -1 is outside the 2973 screen and the device is power-cycled. How many can exist at once (if any)?

A better way to do this would be to simply say: 'The toy itself displays no anomalous properties aside from the generation of SCP-2973-1 instances.' Instead of implying multiple unique instances that you never mention again. Also, you never say what happens to the devices that are powered down. Do they stop smelling? Is -1 eradicated from the device?

SCP-2973-1 can exit the boundaries of SCP-2973's screen to appear on other electronic display.

I know you say 10m in the containment procedures, but you never actually state how far away a screen needs to be for this to activate.

While SCP-2973-1 is inside of a display screen outside of SCP-2973

I think 'While SCP-2973-1 is inside device aside from SCP-2973' would flow better.

While inside of a display screen SCP-2973-1 is capable of interacting with file thumbnails and utilizing them in the typical manner that their thumbnails would in a physical reality

This is clunky as hell. 'interacting with file thumbnails as if they were physical objects' shouold get the idea across.

SCP-2973-1 can then be picked up and manipulated in this manner and can be flung by the user into another display screen using this momentum.

I kinda don't get the point of this line, either.

I'm nthing the opinion that the final test log is ridiculously incompetent. I could definitely see something with a D-class, but even then I think the death would be cheap. What you could try instead is to have the feed show the mauling/murder….and the dude is totally fine IRL.

Taking that even further, you'd get bonus points with me if they let the video run for a few more minutes, and the victim reanimates (displaying characteristics similar to subjects infected with SCP-008) and wanders out of the room. Never to be seen IRL or any display.

Triple bonus points if this is titled 'Zombigotchi'.

I'm currently undecided…leaning towards a downvote. Depending on how you fix this up, I could see myself swinging towards a +1.

ratking666 29 Oct 2016 17:03

^ This is pretty good advice, especially the D-Class one.

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pastarasta1 is quick-talking and often scheming

(account deleted) 29 Oct 2016 17:25

I have read all the feedback and I am going to do an adjustment based on it. I will mainly focus on changing the tone to something less obvious and remove my tryharding in the second addendum. When I'm done I'll make an announcement post, since it hasn't been done yet. Thanks for the feedback.

Last edited on 29 Oct 2016 17:51 by (account deleted) Show more

Wils 29 Oct 2016 17:32

Woah woah woah. Rewrite? Make it "more lighthearted"?

Be careful. From what I can tell, most people are just saying "lose the daft addendum or at least make it less lolFoundation.". I don't think it needs a re-write. It certainly doesn't need to be more lighthearted.

Neutral vote, but lose the daft addendum or at least make it less lolFoundation, and I'll vote accordingly.

ratking666 29 Oct 2016 17:42

I read the title to this SCP and that has got to be the best use of Zalgo text I have ever seen on this website. It's tiny, mysterious, and you can make out the words if you look hard enough.

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pastarasta1 is quick-talking and often scheming

(account deleted) 29 Oct 2016 17:52

Thanks, this works well I think with a tongue-in-cheek sort of tone.

Wils 29 Oct 2016 18:28

Neutral to up, following revisions.

Genshed 29 Oct 2016 21:20

I also support the revisions. Now I'm trying to imagine the smell of copper. The double layers of 'reality' are what make it for me.

ratking666 29 Oct 2016 21:34

Just rub some pennies on your hands and smell it. That's the smell of copper I believe.

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pastarasta1 is quick-talking and often scheming

Zyn 29 Oct 2016 22:03

Google tells me that pennies these days are made of zinc. You'd need an older penny.

newer pennies are made mostly of zinc. Here's the history, according to the U.S. Mint: From 1837 to 1857, the cent was made of bronze (95 percent copper, and five percent tin and zinc). From 1857, the cent was 88 percent copper and 12 percent nickel, giving the coin a whitish appearance. […] The alloy remained 95 percent copper and 5 percent zinc until 1982, when the composition was changed to 97.5 percent zinc and 2.5 percent copper (copper-plated zinc). Cents of both compositions appeared in that year.

Although if you rubbed an old penny on your hands it'd probably just smell like gross.

ratking666 30 Oct 2016 00:42

Huh, I didn't know that.

Yeah it smells gross.

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pastarasta1 is quick-talking and often scheming

Communism will win 30 Oct 2016 02:53

Modern pennies still have a thin coating of copper on them. That's why they're not, y'know, gray. They should still have that coppery smell when you rub them.

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if your reading this your gay

ratking666 30 Oct 2016 02:58

Oh alright.

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pastarasta1 is quick-talking and often scheming

Jack Manganese 30 Oct 2016 21:36

Since we are on the subject of pennies and chemistry, I have to tell this story. A few years after the introduction of zinc pennies, one of my chemistry professors came to class early and filled a 2L beaker with water. He started throwing pennies into the water, one after another, and each one would naturally sink to the bottom. Once a crowd of curious students had gathered to see what was going on, he threw a penny that floated, and everybody freaked out.

He had earlier taken a zinc penny, scratched off a tiny bit of the copper coating, and used hydrochloric acid to dissolve away the zinc. This left a paper thin shell of copper than looked exactly like a normal penny. It's a super cool party trick if you ever find yourself with a surplus of hydrochloric acid.

Jack Manganese 29 Oct 2016 23:37

Ooh, actually copper doesn't have a smell, as such. What happens when you rub coins on your skin is that the copper or iron in the coins catalyzes chemical reactions that change the oils on your hands into ketones and/or aldehydes. So you're not smelling the coins, you're smelling altered body odor.
Source: uh… I've misplaced it. Will update w/source later.

Edit: This Wikipedia page describes one of the more common "metal smell" compounds. Notice from the chemical formula that it does not contain Cu.

Last edited on 29 Oct 2016 23:41 by Jack Manganese Show more

(account deleted) 30 Oct 2016 02:39

Copper or Iron I think is a smell reminiscent of blood, which is why I used it. I don't want the smell to be blood exactly because that's a bit too much for this, I didn't want to push the tone back into something extreme.

Last edited on 30 Oct 2016 02:40 by (account deleted) Show more

Scorpion451 30 Oct 2016 13:46

I'm with faminepulse on this one. Metals themselves don't have a smell, but they catalyze reactions that produce specific chemicals with a distinctive smell/taste. It's slightly idiomatic, but it's a standard descriptor.

Jack Manganese 30 Oct 2016 15:26

Oh, I'm not against the phrase "smell of copper", I'm just pointing out that the smell is only produced by skin contact with the metal. If you found a chunk of copper out in the desert, it would have no smell until you picked it up.

Chemistry inside

(lipid peroxide from skin) + (free H+) + (metal ion) —> (smellable ketone) + water + (metal ion with one fewer electron)
CH₃CH=CHC(=OOH)(CH₂)_nCH₃ + H⁺ + Fe²⁺ —> CH₂=CHC(=O)(CH₂)_nCH₃ + H₂O + Fe³⁺

…but since we don't really know what the Tamagotchi is doing to the robot, there's any number of ways that a similar reaction could occur, so I'm fine with it, especially since Faminepulse has explained the artistic why.

Scorpion451 30 Oct 2016 15:52

Patina and rust also develop this smell naturally from reactions with atmospheric particles (dust, aromatic/volatile compounds, etc.). Direct contact with them just makes it stronger.

I'm very fond of the smell myself thanks to working summers at a salvage yard while I was in high school. Lots of rusty metal reacting with petroleum residue and decaying polymers… aspiring mad scientist heaven. Comes back to me every time I watch Mad Max movies, play a Fallout game, or paint something dieselpunk.

Jack Manganese 30 Oct 2016 16:05

That might be the "other" smell of metal. I don't know the chemistry for that one, but it happens when metal is exposed to acid. Here's a paper which discusses briefly both smells.

Scorpion451 30 Oct 2016 17:08

Its basically catalytic cracking via redox reactions. That article actually describes it pretty well: The "sharp" part are the peroxide reactions. (Those are why you taste metal when you get badly shocked- does the same thing via electrolysis.)

The component from rust or patina (my salvage yard smell) is basically the smell of organmetallic chemistry. Mix metal, carbon compounds, and pretty much anything from sunlight to acid salts and you get all sorts of cool cyclic reactions and metallic ion-bearing carbon compounds like hemoglobin, metallocenes, and quasi-stable Cu-R ligands. And apparently organophosphines. (Hooray for favorite smells classified as chemical weapons! X3)

Last edited on 30 Oct 2016 17:10 by Scorpion451 Show more

Genshed 30 Oct 2016 20:22

This was a wonderful series of comments. Thank you all.

Jack Manganese 30 Oct 2016 21:52

I love the smell of nerve gas in the morning. It smells like… scrapyards! : )

Anyway, thanks for the detailed reply. I am always happy to learn more chemistry.

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