Hypothetical situation: You're going to be alone in a room for ten years but have points for perks.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

You are being forced into isolation for ten years (for what reason–I don’t know–make one up yourself if you want. Suffice to say, it’s that or death of you and your loved ones).

Your room will already have a bed and a little room on the side that has a toilet. And that is ALL. It will be 20 feet by 20 feet. The bathroom will be 6 feet by 6 feet.

What else it will have and how you will spend your days depends on your choice.
You can buy certain perks with points you have. Once you run out of points, you don’t get any more and can’t buy anything else. You cannot go over your number of points.

You have 100 points.
So…what things do you buy from your list below to make your stay in the room more tolerable?
How do you break up your precious points?

ENTERTAINMENT

For 5 points…you will get a deck of cards.

For 10 points…you will have access to any board or card game in existence.

For 10 points…you will have access to every single BOOK, IN EXISTENCE, EVER WRITTEN that you wish to read (at any time).

For 10 points…you will have a HD Big Screen TV that only gets 5 local channels.
For another 10 points…your TV can get any channel you want (must have TV first)
For another 10 points…you will have access to every video game console that exists along with every game on those consoles that exists, to play (at any time) (must have TV first).

For 10 points…you will have access to a radio that will always work and have about 20 stations.

For 20 points…you will have access to any CD or album that has ever existed, to listen to (at any time).

For 40 points…you will have access to a computer that has high speed internet (that never breaks and is always on) and any website you want to go to via it.
FOOD

For 10 points…you will live, every day, on nothing but things (your choice) bought from fast food places. These will come pre-made (of course). Drinks will include (your choice), water, soda, or sports drinks.

For 20 points…you will have the option of eating healthy foods/meals (your choice) with fresh vegetables, fruits, and/or any other foods you can think of. These will also come pre-made, though. Drinks will include (your choice) any drink in existence…WITH THE EXCEPTION OF ANYTHING WITH ALCOHOL IN IT.

For 30 points…you will have ANY FOOD (in the world, your choice) at your disposal to make yourself (along with any tools you need to make things, I.E. Blender, Food Processor, Mixing Cups, etc).

For 40 points…you will be able to have a master cook (same gender as yourself) prepare ANY FOOD (in the world, your choice) stay with you the entire 10 years.

COMPANIONSHIP

For 10 points…you may have a dog or cat.

For 30 points… a random Doper (different one each day) will appear every day to spend an hour with you.

For 50 points…you may take one family member in with you for the entire 10 years (spouse included)

For 50 points…you will have a fairly attractive (in your opinion) mate to stay with you the entire 10 years.
OTHER PERKS

For 5 points…you will have a mirror.

For 5 points…you will have access to any writing or drawing utensil you wish and all the paper you want.

For 10 points…you will have a workout room filled with work out machines you want.

For 10 points…you will have a shower/bath/sink.

For 10 points…you will have a medical kit that has access to any over the counter medicines you want and any medical things you may need (gauze, band aids, etc)

For 20 points…you will have access to any hygiene product you want (soaps, shampoo, toothpaste).

BONUS

For 10 points…all the alcohol you want (of any kind, at any time).

For 10 points…any tobacco products that you want (of any kind, at any time)

For 20 points…all of the other things you can smoke (of any kind, at any time).

For 40 points…you will not gain any weight during the entire 10 years. However your weight will not remain frozen, you COULD still lose weight.

For 60 points…you will not age at all during the entire 10 years. Your age will remain frozen at whatever age you go in at.

For 60 points…you can leave after only being in there for five years.
If you can think of anything you’d really want or need that I have forgotten or that is not found on here, you can have it for 50 points…
…just as long as it doesn’t grant you access to leave before the 10 years is up.
Just say what it is in your reply.

2

40 points…you will have access to a computer that has high speed internet (that never breaks and is always on) and any website you want to go to via it.

40 points…you will be able to have a master cook (same gender as yourself) prepare ANY FOOD (in the world, your choice) stay with you the entire 10 years.

10 points…you may have a dog or cat.

10 points…all the alcohol you want (of any kind, at any time).

3

Wow, interesting premise and kind of tough too. Though if you can have people with you, how is that considered isolation?

Entertainment
10 points - books
20 points - TV with any channel I wish

Food
20 points - any food, pre-made

Companionship
10 points - dog or cat

Other perks
10 points - shower/bath/sink
10 points - medical kit
20 points - hygiene product

100 points

4

40 points for the computer/internet. That gets me the TV, movies, music, and all that. I’m assuming that it comes with a decent sized monitor and decent speakers, of course. Also Skype. Question: do I have access to money while I am locked up?

10 points for a bath/shower/sink. Gotta maintain some small amount of hygiene. Again, I’m assuming towels and TP.

30 points for the food & equipment. That means I get a kitchen, sink, stove, microwave, and a ton of utensils. Since I am the one who will be doing the cooking, I am the one who gets to choose what I need.

10 points for alcohol. I’m going to run this one into the ground, because I want first-growth wine with my cheeseburgers.

10 points for the workout room, outfitted the way I want. Might as well stay (or get into) shape.

5

Well… how much am I paying for this, again? Can I get more than ten years at that rate? Please? q;}

Seriously. I’d love this.

40 points: computer w/internet
10 points: unlimited free junkfood
20 points: hygiene products (No-rinse shampoo, etc)
10 points: tobacco
20 points: not-tobacco.

Not having to deal with people in meat-space AT ALL? Priceless.

When can I move in? Do you take checks? Answer the second question first. :smiley:

6

60 points- 5 years. This seems like a no-brainer. Missing five years of life sucks, but it’s something you can get over and move on from. Missing out on a decade is a much bigger deal.

30- Random doper. Solitary confinement makes people crazy. A random doper a day would break up the day, keep me connected to the outside world, and give me hope. Even better, they get to go home afterwards. I can’t imagine subjecting my spouse or any other human being to this kind of torture.

10- This depends. If we have to choose a food option or starve to death, I’ll choose the fast food with my final ten points. But if we get some kind of livable slop for free, I’d use these 10 points for access to books.

7

No.

Everything else you assumed is okay.

8

I guess I should also make clear the difference between spending 20 points to have pre-made any food you want and spending 40 points between having a personal cook.

With the pre-made, you can only ask for the food–no specifics with how to cook it, what types of ingredients to include, or any other special orders.

With a cook, you get all the benefits of the other stuff (as you do with the cooking it all yourself opinion…but in that case, you’re limited to only what you know how to make).

9

Too hard. I give up: rage quit.

10

All the ingredients I want, plus the equipment, remember? The internet is full of cookbooks.

My wife is a little steamed I didn’t choose to take her with me, but I couldn’t do that to her.

So it looks like I’m locked up in a huge, 4 room apartment, with unlimited food, beverages, access to all the world’s media, and I don’t have to pay a cent for it? Sign me up! In fact, I could probably make a fortune off the experience, what with a book deal likely, sposored blogging, interviews, people putting up prime content for me just for giggles, etc.

11

By the way, my workout room has an Olympic-sized lap pool, diving pool, and a 440 meter track in it. :smiley:

12

The computer with internet access makes the other entertainment options obsolete. I can, for example, get access to most of the books that I want through Project Gutenberg.

13

I’m an introvert, so I can deal with not having people around me for awhile, though it might drive me a bit batty after a time, thus the animal companionship and books and TV. I wouldn’t want to subject a spouse or partner to what must be a punishment of some kind. I would think any punishment would include the basics, like a shower and toiletries

14

Exactly; if you have access to every website, you have access (not particularly legal, but access) to virtually every other form of entertainment… books, radio, television, movies, and of course (vital in this type of situation) pornography. Also, Skype.

Teh Intrawebz also provides you with the menus of virtually every fast food place, which means that you can create a balanced and healthy meal; it doesn’t have to be hamburgers every day, most places offer some kind of salad for example. And creative mining of various menu items can provide the raw materials for a variety of other dishes, if needed.

And, as others have mentioned, it would be downright cruel to have anyone, even one of those reality television chefs, locked in a small room with me for… well, any amount of time, really.

Especially since I chose not to include a shower. :eek:

15

True, but it only lasts as long as you don’t get viruses or the like. It is a computer that will never break/stop working beyond you being able to turn it on and off and look at the pretty glow it gives, but you can still get viruses or malware on it like any given computer…not to mention using the same computer for ten years might render things on it obsolete eventually, whereas real life books won’t fail you.

These are the hard choices you must make. :wink:

16

I think I want to change my answer and shave off 5 years for 60 points, but I can’t quite figure out what I’d give up to make up for the 60 points.

17

60 points not to age. Free extra 10 years of life, no matter how shitty it’s still a free extra 10 years.

If I don’t spend 10 points on the fast food do I starve to death? If so, 20 points on the healthy food option. If not I would spend the 20 points I would have spent on food on the TV with video games option.

10 points on a shower sink and bath.

5 points on the writing utensils and paper.

I still have 5 points left but cards aren’t interesting to me as I can make my own, and a mirror is unnecessary as I won’t be aging. Can I have half a dog?

18

Damn. You could spend half your points just getting the stuff they have to give you in prison.

19

Computer, 40 points. I don’t see how anyone could not choose that, since then you can contact the outside world and otherwise you’d probably go nuts. Plus all the other entertainment options, of course.

Shower and sink, 10 points. Can’t imagine living without that.

Fast food, 10 points. I could live on Subway Veggie Delights and Chipotle veggie burritos.

Alcohol, 10 points, because sometimes I would need to escape.

Hygiene products, 20 points. Among other things, I don’t really want my teeth going rotten, and I can’t even get a cavity filled or anything.

And then I guess I’ll have a cat, 10 points. I’m assuming it comes with the necessary cat supplies.

But hey, what about clothes? And toilet cleaner and stuff? Do I get laundry detergent and other cleaning supplies with my hygiene package? Otherwise I guess I’d have to just use all-purpose soap.

I hope this room doesn’t have plain white walls and plain floor because that would seriously make it more miserable for me. Also, does that light at least have a dimmer? I’d go crazy with just a fluorescent light too. These are just things I’m weird about. And is there a window? If not I’ll just put my computer on a live webcam feed of somewhere outside and pretend that’s a window.

This really doesn’t sound too bad, only because I could still video chat and read and stuff. I was really torn between a cat and a workout room, because I hate working out, but I would probably get in the habit of it then which would be good, plus just having an extra room would seem so much less claustrophobic. But with a cat at least I’ll have some company, and I can exercise to workout videos that are online.

I wouldn’t bring someone with me even if I could for 0 points. There’s nobody in the world I could stand to be stuck in a room for 10 years with. Plus then they’ll just want to be using my computer, and that’s the only entertainment I have so I’m not sharing.

20

You know, I don’t think we’ll really want to visit you locked in one room when you haven’t had any way of cleaning yourself for a few years.

Solitary confinement does make people crazy, but they don’t generally get to video chat and post on message boards and stuff all they want.

I’d rather 10 years of comfortable cabin fever than 5 years of torture.