So I got to thinking earlier today about good concepts for accidental triggers and I think I hit on something that could be fun:
Etiquette. A lot of etiquette simply boils down to showing others that they are worth consideration. It's rude to show up late to an appointment because it tells the other person that they're not worth your time. It's rude to forget someone's name because it shows they weren't worth thinking about. It's rude to not acknowledge someone's sneezing fit with a "bless you" or a "gezundheit" or an offer of a tissue because it shows that you don't care that the other person is in discomfort (and likewise it's rude to not go somewhere private when you're having a sneezing fit because you're spewing all sorts of unpleasantness during it).
The idea here is to use breaches of etiquette as triggers. The bulk of the files would be about making sure the listener is either degraded accidentally by others or degrades themselves intentionally to spare others any possible slight or discomfort.
Here's some example trigger structures that occurred to me:
Sneezes and brains.
You now know it is absolutely true that whenever someone sneezes, a little bit of their IQ falls out and doesn't come back until the next time the sneezer sleeps or someone gives up some of their own smarts by saying "bless you" or otherwise acknowledging the sneeze. So whenever you sneeze and nobody acknowledges it, you get dumber. Whenever someone else sneezes, you'll know that they'll get a little bit dumber unless someone says something, and that somebody should be you since you're the best person to take the hit to the brains. In fact, as far as you're concerned it would be rude to let someone else take the hit instead of you, so when someone else acknowledges the sneeze first, you follow it up with your own way of acknowledging it... but whenever you're the runner-up to taking the hit to your intelligence, that IQ drain is permanent. This file should encourage people to always be diligent about being the first person to say "gezundheit" when someone else sneezes and also contain suggestions to insist that people not acknowledge the listener's sneezes (and of course never say that the reason why is "if anyone's going to get dumber from a sneeze it should be me").
Names and the First Person
You now know that your ability to remember your sense of self is linked to other people remembering you as well as your ability to remember others. Whenever you're talking to someone and they don't remember your name, you're clearly completely unimportant to that person. Until the next time you sleep, you will not be able to refer to yourself in the first person. You'll be able to tell people your name if you're asked (and be able to sign things with your signature), but it will be as though you are signing on behalf of someone else or relaying the name of a friend. Speaking in the first person and thinking of one's self are privileges for people worth remembering! And speaking of which, whenever you're talking to someone else and you cannot remember their name, you'll know you've committed a grave error because they ARE worth remembering and it is your personal failing that you forgot their name. Until the next time you sleep, you are at the service of the offended party, doing whatever they want - either asked for or implied.
Being late and your bladder.
The idea here is that when someone is late to an appointment, they are demonstrating that the person kept waiting is unimportant. It's the listener's role to make sure that no matter what, they're less important than the other party. Therefore, whenever someone else keeps the listener waiting, the listener will need to demonstrate that it's not worth caring that they were kept waiting by wetting themselves. This way, the person that shows up late knows that the person they kept waiting hasn't even mastered the ability to get to a toilet, and they immediately feel less bad for being late. Likewise, whenever the listener is late to an appointment, they should demonstrate that they cut every possible corner to keep others waiting as little as possible... by wetting themselves. If the listener cannot wet themselves for some reason (perhaps because they wet themselves for being late to their last appointment), they simply become totally incontinent until they next wake up. The point here is visible wetting and the listener making the conscious choice to display their wetting, so there should be suggestions AGAINST wearing diapers. In fact, penalty for being unable to wet aside, this file shouldn't even be considered an incontinence file. The listener should be aware that they have made the choice to smooth things over by showing how little they are worth.
Missed Calls and Numeracy.
The idea behind this one is to make sure that the listener answers every call promptly and doesn't neglect their responsibility to return calls, and at the same time doesn't get pushy about getting in touch with people. Whenever the listener either doesn't answer their phone before it goes to voicemail or whenever they see that there is a missed call, they become totally innumerate until they return the call or until they next sleep, retaining only enough knowledge to operate their phone's redial/reply feature. The listener therefore cannot screen calls (there is nobody more unimportant than the listener, therefore the listener must earn the privilege of not answering by effectively choosing to be innumerate until they sleep). Likewise, when calling someone else, it is important not to pester one's betters. So whenever the listener calls someone and the call goes to voicemail, they become innumerate until either the person calls back or until the listener next sleeps. For really, really, really important things it might be worth calling someone again in the same day before they call the listener back, but there should still be penalties for pestering - if the listener calls someone while innumerate and the phone goes to voicemail, the listener stays innumerate even after the person calls back, and if the person doesn't call back before the listener next sleeps, the listener will be permanently find math a little bit harder and that it takes a little bit longer. Listeners will know that they need to be really, really careful about what's worth calling someone more than once!
Obviously, these are all extreme examples. Even though they're all "accidentally triggerable" suggestions, these files as described would have to be listed as curses. Still, I feel that there's plenty of room for the concept, both in terms of new breaches of etiquette that could be used as well as new consequences for breaching etiquette.
There's even potential for etiqette-based files for doms, who might be interested in files that change their behavior towards others who are impolite (and therefore beneath consideration).
Anyone have any thoughts on the concept?[/b]