Personal Identification Devices (shortened as "PIDs") are small electronic devices scattered throughout every level (other than The Vulcan Affair) in Viscera Cleanup Detail. They can be found lying near the bodies of deceased employees (prior to any events caused by the player).
Picking up the Personal Identification Device with the Hands will cause it to display its original owner's name in white letters above the device.
Prior to a fix in version 0.425, when brought to the Office with the Janitor's Trunk, the Personal Identification Devices would always change to an orange colour and display a different and seemingly random name when picked up. This name would change again each time the Office map was reloaded. Personal Identification Devices were also much more prone to getting stuck in walls prior to a collision-area fix in version 0.75. This was especially prominent in Multiplayer mode.
Prior to a later update, Zero-G Therapy, Section 8, Splatter Station and Rust-Station East (the "legacy levels") contained no Personal Identification Devices. This was later changed in part by community request.
Appearance
Personal Identification Devices appear as small rectangular devices, with two illuminated spots on one side and a small black loop on its top. The color of the device is dependent on level it is discovered in; although the coloration of PIDs are usually tasteful to the respective level's basic color scheme. PIDs in Cryogenesis, for example, are a pale blue or a darker more indigo blue.
Usage
Personal Identification Devices are used as part of a mechanic to file incident reports on the Punchomatic. To accomplish this, the player must simply push the device into the Punchomatic with the Hands until it disappears. It should be noted that these incident report forms can be filled out or edited at any time during a level, and not just at completion.
The name visible on the Personal Identification Device (when it is picked up by a player) will then be transferred to the Punchomatic Incident Report Screen in the form of a link to a new Report Sheet. This sheet includes questions detailing how the employee may have died, and how they may have been removed from the level.
Players should ideally collect Personal Identification Devices from each dead body prior to removing them so they may answer the report sheet with greater accuracy.
Players may also take 30 PID's back to the Office in the Janitor's Trunk to get the achievement "Identity Theft"
Names
Although some of the names displayed on the Personal Identification Device are scripted into the level and cannot change, most are randomly generated from a preset list of first and last names. The game contains 101 first names and 91 last names, for a possibility 9,191 different combinations. (Note that the first names "Jack", "John", and "Peter" are listed twice each.)
Several of these names are intended to directly reference other sources, such as the Stargate series. The following are the complete lists of names. Click on the "Expand" button to view:
| First Names | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adam Adro Agetha Ajax Alexi Amy Ando Anthony Boon Borak Butch Carson Carter Cedric Cermod Cerwas Chang Childs Daniel David Dick |
Dieter Douglas Eduardo Edward Elizabeth Elwad Eski Fabio Fent Figgy Fonz Fork Forli Gavid Gheck Grieta Hans Hector Henk Igor Ivan |
Jack Jack Jacques Jake Janko Jarwad Jay Jean John John Jose Julia Kari Kaz Kristian Krivko Kyle Manuel Mariana Maurice Miguel |
Monty Muriel Murlow Nim Paul Peter Peter Pewli Pierre Pitri Rebecca Rebekah Remi Rico Roberta Rod Rodney Roger Runkle Samantha Samwise |
Sawas Scott Seamus Selbar Shen Skaatt Stuart Thobias Thomas Thurgood Timothy Tom Tori Trudy Twitch Virgil Vlad William Wu Yuri |
| Last Names | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abercromby Anderson Beckett Bishop Booth Bracegirdle Budo Burnley Buscador Carter Chin Cortez Cromblin Cuervocasa Dantez Debrovnik Delwood Dryfaus Durstoff Edkinson Elmsly Fordaux Forsyth |
Frufru Glamley Gorm Gunderson Hafjorm Haggard Hansen Hasehosen Hewlett Holbrooks Ibrahid Jackson Jamarad Jordan Kajuro Khan Klizma Koromo Krafsborg Krevic Krishkow Krustaffel Kryzko |
LaMarc LeFont Maraharaban McKay Meng Merringer Munchley O'Neill Pablo Petrovka Piazze Pramishki Proudfeet Puddingbritch Pyjinksi Rivers Rooney Rutger Sampa Schlodd Schumal Semtoff Shepard |
Shezzly Slodovak Smargov Smith Smythe Soomaswasi Spade Speef Spent Steiner Sternson Sunderson Thamely Virdy Wackleberry Wang Wankopopolis Weir Wilco Wilkes Youngpants Yuán | |
Trivia
PIDs were originally meant to be simple dog-tags fed into a static information-readout device. The player would be able to scan them and read a screen full of humorous information about the deceased person -- who they were, how they died, etc.[1]