History Main / SanityMeter

"Sanity Meter in video games" is, by the way, [[http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?patentnumber=6935954 patented]] by {{Nintendo}}, the publishers of ''EternalDarkness''. [[hottip:* :Technically, it's for a sanity system that specifically targets the person playing the game via InterfaceScrew and BreakingTheFourthWall as the player's in-game avatar loses sanity.]]

* ''EternalDarkness'' brings the SanityMeter to video games. If it starts going low enough, you experience hallucinations; if it drains entirely, you take damage whenever a monster sees you. These hallucinations include BreakingTheFourthWall, reciting Hamlet, healing spells that backfire and cut you in half, and most interestingly, {{Interface Screw}}s such as game resets, cranking down the volume, switching to another video input, or deleting your savegames instead of saving.

** In another take on [[LovecraftRPG Lovecraft RPGs,]] TrailOfCthulhu, the SanityMeter is broken down into two parts: Stability and Sanity. The former represents short-term sanity and explains how you can have characters who are nuttier than a bag of fruitcakes and yet still interact with society on a relatively normal level. Stability can regenerate, but once a character loses Sanity points, they're generally not getting them back.

* ''EternalDarkness'' brings the SanityMeter to videogames. If it starts going low enough, you experience hallucinations; if it drains entirely, you take damage whenever a monster sees you. These hallucinations include BreakingTheFourthWall, reciting Hamlet, healing spells that backfire and cut you in half, and most interestingly, {{Interface Screw}}s such as game resets, cranking down the volume, switching to another video input, or deleting your savegames instead of saving.

* For an incredibly early (perhaps the earliest?) example, check out Domark's 1985 ''{{Friday the 13th}}'' on the Commodore 64, Amstrad and Spectrum (it's nothing like [[Game/{{[[Game/Friday the 13th}} the NES version]]). The game has a sanity/fear meter that raises as the game goes on. It's represented as a kid's head, with the hair starting to stand on end as you get more frightened. If the meter maxes out, you die of fright... this almost never happens in-game, but it does increase the chances of seeing hallucinations (a pile of skulls covered in blood, someone with a machete through their head, etc) accompanied by a blood-curdling scream. Surprisingly effective for 16-colour graphics!

* Essentially TruthInTelevision, although the human version averts CriticalExistenceFailure, with effects (and percent chance of death) worsening the lower the meter goes. In addition to PTSD, brain damage and other types of insanity, the brain also tracks emotional distress over time and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_approaches_to_depression takes steps]]. Up to and including deciding that the human is obviously maladapted and should be removed for the good of the community and gene pool.

* For an incredibly early (perhaps the earliest?) example, check out Domark's 1985 {{Friday the 13th}} on the Commodore 64, Amstrad and Spectrum (It's nothing like the NES version). The game has a sanity/fear meter that raises as the game goes on. It's represented as a kid's head, with the hair starting to stand on end as you get more frightened. If the meter maxes out, you die of fright... this almost never happens in-game, but it does increase the chances of seeing hallucinations (a pile of skulls covered in blood, someone with a machete through their head, etc) accompanied by a blood-curdling scream. Surprisingly effective for 16-colour graphics!

** Parodied in ''Toon The Cartoon Role Playing Game''. One of the settings in the ''Tooniversal Tour Guide'' supplement is "[[ParodyNames Crawl of Catchooloo]]", where exposure to the eldritch but otherwise strait-laced minions of the Elderly Gods drives the 'toon [=PCs=] ''sane'' (since they're already crazy to begin with). Sane [=PCs=] become boring, unremarkable characters with pointlessly dull interests.

** Parodied in ''Game/{{Toon}}: The Cartoon RPG''; one of the settings in the ''Tooniversal Tour Guide'' is "[[ParodyNames Crawl of Catchooloo]]", where exposure to the eldritch but otherwise strait-laced minions of the Elderly Gods drives the 'toon [=PCs=] ''sane'' (since they're already crazy to begin with). Sane [=PCs=] become boring, unremarkable characters with pointlessly dull interests.

* AmnesiaTheDarkDescent has one of these, in much the same vein as Call of Cthulu. Regarding the InterfaceScrew, it can range from a drunken haze to laying down and dragging yourself along while insects crawl along your field of vision, and paintings become grotesque.

Some games will try to measure [[KarmaMeter how bad or good you're being]], on the basis that the game is set in a moral universe. This ain't one of those games. ''[[CosmicHorror This]]'' is one of those games where [[RealityIsOutToLunch the very nature of reality is mutable]], [[EldritchAbomination there are]] ''[[EldritchAbomination things]]'' [[EldritchAbomination out there beyond human imagining that mean us ill]], and [[MindRape you've encountered several of them first hand]]. After a while, that's ''really'' going to wear on a person...

-->--'''[[ZeroPunctuation Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw]]''', [[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/2092-Amnesia-The-Dark-Descent Amnesia: Dark Desecent review.]]

-->''Like many games with a [[HPLovecraft Lovecraftian]] bent, [[AmnesiaTheDarkDescent Amnesia]] employs a SanityMeter, as if sanity is like diesel oil or something, and you can get a reading by sticking a dipstick in your ear.''
-->'''[[ZeroPunctuation - Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw.]]'''

* For an incredibly early (perhaps the earliest?) example, check out Domark's 1985 ''Friday the 13th'' on the Commodore 64, Amstrad and Spectrum (It's nothing like the NES version). The game has a sanity/fear meter that raises as the game goes on. It's represented as a kid's head, with the hair starting to stand on end as you get more frightened. If the meter maxes out, you die of fright... this almost never happens in-game, but it does increase the chances of seeing hallucinations (a pile of skulls covered in blood, someone with a machete through their head, etc) accompanied by a blood-curdling scream. Surprisingly effective for 16-colour graphics!

** ''DarkHeresy'' has a 0-100 score on insanities: You automatically start getting some minor derangements once you get over 30, with the number and severity increasing for every 10 over that. Once you reach 100, your character is unplayable. Unlike in ''WHFRP'' insanity can actually be a ''good'' thing as it makes you more resistant to fear: A character with more than 80 insanity points can stare down an EldritchAbomination without much trouble, but at that point the voices in his head will already be doing far worse to him on a daily basis. On average, a session of Dark Heresy is about six-eight insanity points for an unlucky roller, with about two-three more per session for being or standing too close to a psyker. Insanity points can be bought off during reconciliation time for about 100 XP a point.

--> [[ZeroPunctuation - Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw.]]

-->''Like many games with a [[HPLovecraft Lovecraftian]] bent, [[AmnesiaTheDarkDescent Amnesia]] employs a SanityMeter, as if it's something you can get a reading on by sticking a dipstick in your ear.''

** In another take on LovecraftRPGs, TrailOfCthulhu, the SanityMeter is broken down into two parts: Stability and Sanity. The former represents short-term sanity and explains how you can have characters who are nuttier than a bag of fruitcakes and yet still interact with society on a relatively normal level. Stability can regenerate, but once a character loses Sanity points, they're generally not getting them back.

** In another take on Lovecraft RPGs, TrailOfCthulhu, the SanityMeter is broken down into two parts: Stability and Sanity. The former represents short-term sanity and explains how you can have characters who are nuttier than a bag of fruitcakes and yet still interact with society on a relatively normal level. Stability can regenerate, but once a character loses Sanity points, they're generally not getting them back.

Ergo, the SanityMeter. Instead of measuring how good or bad you are, it measures how well you've managed to keep your mind together when facing the horrors from beyond reality's edge. Some games will actually merge the SanityMeter and the KarmaMeter, on the grounds that doing enough horrible things may either give you Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or disconnect you from the activity all together. Either way, you'd better keep all your marbles clutched tight, 'cause it looks like Cthulhu's coming around again.

Ergo, the SanityMeter. Instead of measuring how good or bad you are, it measures how well you've managed to keep your mind together when facing the horrors from beyond reality's edge. Some games will actually merge the SanityMeter and the KarmaMeter, on the grounds that doing enough horrible things may either give you Posttraumatic Stress Disorder or disconnect you from the activity all together. Either way, you'd better keep all your marbles clutched tight, 'cause it looks like Cthulhu's coming around again.

** In ''WarhammerFantasyRoleplay}'' you need to make a willpower roll for every Insanity Point you gain above 5; failure on this roll or reaching 12 insanity points resets your points to 0 and gives you a major derangement that will cripple or render your character unplayable right off the bat. On average, a bad roller will get two-three insanity points per session; double that estimate for a magic user. Unless you have a Gold Wizard, a very lucky brain surgeon or a Priest of Shalliya amongst your list of friends, insanities and insanity points are incurable.
** ''DarkHeresy'' has a 0-100 score on insanities: You automatically start getting some minor derangements once you get over 30, with the number and severity increasing for every 10 over that. Once you reach 100, your character is unplayable. Unlike in ''WHFRP'' insanity can actually be a ''good'' thing as it makes you more resistant to fear: A character with more than 50 insanity points can stare down an EldritchAbomination without much trouble, but at that point the voices in his head will already be doing far worse to him on a daily basis. On average, a session of Dark Heresy is about six-eight insanity points for an unlucky roller, with about two-three more per session for being or standing too close to a psyker. Insanity points can be bought off during reconciliation time for about 100 XP a point.

--> [[ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee.]]

** In ''{{WHFRP}}'' you need to make a willpower roll for every Insanity Point you gain above 5; failure on this roll or reaching 12 insanity points resets your points to 0 and gives you a major derangement that will cripple or render your character unplayable right off the bat. On average, a bad roller will get two-three insanity points per session; double that estimate for a magic user. Unless you have a Gold Wizard or a Priest of Shalliya amongst your list of friends, insanities are incurable.
** ''DarkHeresy'' has a 0-100 score on insanities: You automatically start getting some minor derangements once you get over 30, with the number and severity increasing for ever 10 over that. Once you reach 100, your character is unplayable. Unlike in ''WHFRP'' insanity can actually be a ''good'' thing as it makes you more resistant to fear: A character with more than 50 insanity points can stare down an EldritchAbomination without much trouble, but at that point the voices in his head will already be doing far worse to him on a daily basis. On average, a session of Dark Heresy is about six-eight insanity points for an unlucky roller, with about two-three more for being or standing too close to a psyker. Insanity points can be bought off during reconciliation time for about 100 XP a point.

* ''WarhammerFantasy Roleplaying'' and ''{{Warhammer 40K}}'' both have Insanity Points, which measure just how well the horrors of Chaos have bent your mind.

** ''ArkhamHorror'', being CthulhuMythos TheBoardGame, also makes use of sanity rules. Seeing monsters and casting spells are the primary cause of sanity loss but many encounters can also trigger it. Being reduced to zero sends you to Arkham Asylum [[BatmanArkhamAsylum (Not that one) ]] with some items lost.