True. Normal colds, unless they're for characters that don't normally get sick, can get kind of boring if you're not into the whole 'fluffy caretaker roleplay' or 'reluctant caretaker roleplay' or 'overly stubborn patient roleplay' situations that it could spring.
But, again, that brings the question of where to the zany side effects come from? They have to spring from somewhere. Like the sleeping sickness came from Tear, or the truth serum that Anissina put in air fresheners around the dome, or when Richie's Big Bang potion exploded and effected a bunch of people. A regular cold is easier to implement like the incoming wave of newbies and someone brings something along. Zany symptoms might require a slightly zanier in-game realistic measure to get started that none of my characters have the ability to start.