DERP
I feel dumb now.
Don't worry about it, mate. I'm an obsessive compulsive perfectionist businessman slash poet, singer, musician and writer, who touches EVERYTHING to see how it works. I LOVE taking things apart and used to take electronics apart and mix chemicals/liquids/etc in 'chemistry experiments' as a child. Needless to say, I ruined a lot of shit as a kid, set a few fires, had fun with explosives, and found out a lot of interesting things about electrical engineering through sheer curiosity.
Never did test out the ammonia+bleach thing though my 7th grade science teacher taught me the chemical formula for how to make whatever the damn poison gas is called, lol.
Fun times
I'd like to emulate that in Cataclysm/my own (possible, future) games by rewarding people who are a little too curious for their own good.
I think it'd be good to add many 'useless' items to clutter up homes and shops, and have interesting reactions from a few of them that yield random tools, weapons, etc. Hell, you can actually fabricate your own screwdriver or hammer, make a saw(not a very good one, but if you can use a butcher knife or machete to make a spear then I don't think it'll be an issue >_>), etc.
You can't exactly make your own radio from scratch, but I like how you can make a silencer from a muffler and rags, etc, and other such things.
Someone needs to get a few do-it-yourself articles and incorporate that stuff into the game, 'cause in the even of nuclear war/zombie apocalypse, it'll be HEAVILY relied upon, from rain water condensation & natural filtering systems to impromptu weaponry and sources of food, well, that'll be very very nice.
It'd be awesome if eventually we can make our own houses, build extra walls/barricades/windows/doors/etc, take them down for materials, etc. Perhaps farm, mine for stone, etc.
Make it less of a short-term game and more of a long-term, if you ever get that far.
I'd love the human settlement/outpost idea also, of having a number of people in certain buildings, ALTHOUGH the noise/scent/cooking/etc. will attract hordes of zombies from which you must defend yourselves, etc.
So many possibilities!