avant gard

Hello xXI Mr Two IXx, I read your dynamic loot suggestion the other day and I think it is really quite good. I especially agree with: "People blame scripters/dupers for all of the high end gear currently floating around the game economy, I believe and as some others have pointed out this is merely an acceleration of the game's economy." As lots of us have said, DayZ is experiencing hyperinflation of goods due to the regular creation of items. Hyperinflation causes a loss of value of said goods and as such the value of life is deminished (as the consequence of death is low(er)). This is a similar suggestion which I think is also good : http://dayzmod.com/forum/index.php?/topic/8616-lifedeath-calculator-intrinsic-valueculture/ So, we have three approaches to this (that I have seen anyway): 1) The removal of spawned goods entirely 2) A cap on the number of spawned goods that can ever exist 3) Spawning as function of the behaviour of players in aggregate. All approaches would I suggest need to allow for players to create goods and thereby allow the economy to fluctuate. I agree with you Deathcall that there is not much point in discussing economics if it is not going to be implemented or if the developers have already decided their approach. It would be nice to have some feedback on this from them. I do not particularly agree that the Eve economy is complex - it is a reasonably simple economy in which the needs of the aggregate are met by individuals or organisations. It is balanced by spawned goods from NPCs, however. On the map question, I agree that having small maps on individual servers as part of a greater whole would not be ideal as 1) logging in/out is frustrating 2) transition zones would be deathtraps. I am under the impression that there would be one central server running the standalone version of the game rather than multiple private servers communicating with one central server. I am not in any way technical so I would appriciate someone with technical experience advising if a 10,000 km2 map is possible with one server holding a population of say 20,000 players. I know Eve online does this, but I also know that in terms of data sent/recieved, it is not that complex and due to this is point and click boredom. Clearly, a large server running a large and complex map would be expensive but some ball park capital and operating costs would help to determine the economic viability of proceeding in this way. For example if it costs $2 million capital costs and $1 million p.a. operating costs, there would be a viable business model if 500,000 people paid a one time fee of $30 ($15 million) [this is a very simplistic example not taking into account tax, NPV etc.]. However, I have no idea about server costs or game development costs but pricing points and operating profits are clearly important in determining if a technically feasable idea is actually feasable. It would be nice to have some more feedback on this. Thanks.

Hi Deathcall, I looked a bit more through the suggestion forum after I posted (the forum is quite large) and I agree that lots of people are saying the same thing: that life is not valuable enough and inflation is too high. I don't really agree with Blogg10, I think the point is that you should feel scared to go anywhere incase you are shot. This is what provokes the emotional response. I do, however agree that shooting at people should have more consequences (i.e. that you might get shot) and I think the optimum way is to do this is to increase the value of life. Do any technical people have an opinion on a 10,000 km2 map? Is it possible and what sort of server operating cost are you looking at? As much as I cannot get on with Eve Online, the player made economy is a masterstroke and should be studied for incorporation of some elements into DayZ. My overall sugestion is to have the pre-infection items exist for one time only, after which if they are consumed or taken, they don't exist anymore. The only way to get items is to create them yourself (either through hunting or manufacturing). The repair of buildings etc. will encourage groups to form and model a real - world free market economy with monopolies, competition, collaberation, trade, murder, doublecross and theft. The main issue with this is that there is a massive first mover advantage and if you enter Day Z a year late (or die), you will face a massive barrier to entry as there are no freely avaliable goods. This might be a little hardcore.. The overall on feeling on other suggestions is that ammo will become the currency which is fine but food, water and medical supplies will also be a currency. For a currency to be credible, it must be widley accepted, widley usable and act as a store of value. I think that these three items fulfil these criteria and have the added advantage of being consumable so they are frequently destroyed (as such we do not need a regulator such as a central bank to destroy currency when inflation gets too high). The disadvantage is that they are necessities so there will be an initial period of severe deflation which may break the game for many people. I do think that the economics are the key to creating a masterful experience in DayZ and we should probably have a more specific area to discuss this because it is such an important issue but also very difficult to balance out a mechanic that works for everyone but at the same time punishes everyone.

Hello, First of all I have to say what a game. I have never played anything like DayZ and the emotional response the game gives you as a player is incredible. Truly ground breaking and extremely unusual. There are obviously lots of things to iron out and tweak that I am sure you are aware of (inventory system, bugs etc.) and lots of features that will be added later but what I would like to suggest is a solution to two of the largest issues currently in the game which are unlimited player killing and the economy. I completely agree that the pvp system is essential to the game. The emotional response without it would just not be there. I am in no way suggesting removing it. What I am suggesting is to increase the value of life. Currently, the ability to store equipment seriously devalues life as the only punishment after death is a slight walk. I don't particularly have a problem with storing equipment and I understand why people do it but because some players have lives which are less important than others a system of maniac killing has developed which is detrimental to the ability of players to create the world within which we play. My suggestion to increase the value of life is to massively expand the map. Whilst 250 km2 is a large map, it is only 15 km on each side. As such, you are never that far from your stash or your group. The system as it currently is is similar to Tibia (when your corpse retains your equipped items but you can go back to your stash). A map with for example a 150 km trek to a stash would significantly increase the value of life - as well as the value of vehicles and other such items. I would suggest a map in the order of 10,000 km2 +. The landscape itself is irrelevant, there are large portions of earth with basically the same landscape for thousands of miles (the Eurasian Steppe for example). The key in my opinion is to increase the value of a life without forcing anyone to play in any particular way. Hopefully such a large map is technically feasible. Secondly, the economy does not work (as I am sure you are aware). There is an abundance of survival goods as well as equipment which again, devalues life. It is relatively easy to be fully equipped from scratch an hour or so after death. With the abundance of goods, there is little need to cooperate or collaborate with others [which is unusual as mainstream political theory holds that in a world with an abundance of resources conflict should be minimal, yet here we have a blood fueled anarchy]. Goods need to be far more scarce and I like your ideas on crafting and player created in game goods. It is vital though that the economy functions properly for the realism to hold together: a year after the infection the survivors would have looted almost all of the pre-infection goods and would be hunting, manufacturing etc. their own goods. Finally, I do think it is important that we are given as little information as possible. I do not think that a kill count is of much use - it is surely up to us to remember our kills or not. For the same reason I am delighted to see you removing bandit skins and possibly the humanity system. What has been created here is truly groundbreaking and I really hope that you can create the world which will continue to stimulate a player's emotional response. I think that increasing the value of life is the key to maintaining the unique proposition of the game. Thanks.