Jikfive

Cry moar.

Last night was one of my most memorable gaming sessions for ANY game. I spawned in on the coast and quickly dashed to a bush for cover. I then took the time to look around and study my surroundings. A few hundred feet down the beach I saw another survivor and aimed my makarov while I studied him. (I normally try to avoid people and only shoot in self defense) He must have been afk because he was not moving at all. So I quickly dashed up to him and rummaged through his pack. I took his beans and water bottle, and then dashed into the nearby forest laughing my ass off. I would have loved to see his face when he realized that his water bottle and food were all gone the next time he needed to eat and drink. About 4 minutes later I was following the road in the woods nearby when I hear shots ring out behind me. I continue running and free look behind me and see a group of 8 survivors. Oh shit. This guy is coming after me and he brought some friends. Then I notice that the 7 guys behind him are actually a train of zombies. I continue to run and veer to the right. This guy follows and continues to shoot hitting me two times breaking a bone crippling my movement. Forced into a corner I whip around and rapid fire my mag at him. I think I knocked him down because he fell and the zombies were upon him. I quickly hobble away and use my morphine. I am about to begin bandaging when shots ring out again. This persistent bastard was shooting me from the ground while he was getting eaten by zombies. I am hit one more time and run again. My blood now has dropped quite dangerously and I am bleeding out. I go to a nearby bush and quickly bandage myself. I can still hear the zombies eating him. Right after I stop the bleeding my character passes out, I can still hear the zombies nearby feasting. The suspense of lying there helpless knowing that I could be next on the menu was intense. I finally get up again and safely wait nearby until the zombies dissipate. I went back and looted the corpse, It wasn't the guy that I had stolen the water bottles from. It was someone completely different. After tea bagging his corpse I victoriously claim my loot (which wasn't much) and moved on my way. I cannot remember the last time I had a situation so memorable in a video game.

I will probably just shoot any g.i.r.l. (guy in real life) I see. Nothing breaks immersion faster than a chick with a dudes voice. I will most likely shoot you just for being annoying. So please, go ahead while I enjoy the lulz. The bandit skins have been removed. :D Most trolls in other games usually pick the female avatar anyway.

Not a good idea. You are suggesting to create a system where death loses much of its impact on the game. It will turn the game into easy mode. *Boom* you are killed by a bandit because you were out in the open but you happen to have a buddy nearby. You spawn in and both of you look for him. *Boom* Now your buddy is the one that is downed by the bandit, but YAY! he magically spawns in on you and you both continue your search. You finally find the bandit and dispatch him. Good job! Its like neither of you got shot! Such a great survival game! Where the whole "survival" idea flies out the window. You are now rewarded for your bad play style and go back to your original corpses get your old loot back and the loot of the bandit. Suck it up. If you and your friends cannot create a plan and safely navigate yourselves and survive alone long enough to reach each other at your designated rendezvous point then you really need work on your game and not ask for mechanics to fill the gaps in your strategies and tactics. Maybe you should ask for a resurrection on the same spot you died just like the fail MMOs are doing now.

Do not allow servers to turn pvp off. The first thing hunters would do then is join a non-pvp server. Go to cherno, get the best gear they could find, load up and hit the hardcore pvp servers and hunt people all day. When they run out of supplies/die in the hardcore servers they would just return to the care bear server to stock up and go slaying everyone again. Not a good idea.

Oh god NO. Please don't pussify this mod. Next thing people will want to be able to respawn where they died. :(

@Skates so is quake deathmatch. This game has a lot more potential than deathmatch with zombies.

I do agree that Dinnj might have a good point and that simply putting a name to a corpse may be a little heavy handed. However, lets continue on this line of thinking because I think it would be cool. During salvage operations survivors should be allowed to find clues as to who or what might be killing their fellow players without completely giving names away. It would also be cool to have an increased time to bury bodies, IF you are a good guy you can take an even LONGER time to bury a body and give the man a "proper" burial. Putting up a headstone/cross and maybe have a message on the headstone. "Here lies JikFive, He shot at me first. :P" Also giving other survivors a hint as to what your motivations are. On the flip side bandits can put up bodies on display as a means to marking their territory if they so choose. "Here lies JikFive, an example what happens to all trespassers" So players ultimately have the CHOICE to put the message on the body if they choose. What "bandit" WOULDN'T want to scrawl their name over every dead body in order to gain some notoriety? What "Good guy" survivor wouldn't take the time to give a proper burial if he could? This could give insight into the burying players mindset that others can find. In the end it would be the players choice on how they play. People wouldn't be forced to bury/display the body, but it would be a cool feature if they did.

I actually didn't know you could bury the bodies lol. Thats fine, if they want to bury the bodies that would be great. Increase the time it would take to bury them. They may be loathe to expose themselves while taking care of it. Maybe make a shovel a requirement. Imagine if you are in the middle of burying a body and are discovered by other survivors/bandits. You may have to explain yourself to survivors, or you may just get shot on sight. True bandits killing for the "lulz" won't take time to bury the bodies. It is a sign of notoriety and a warning to others about how dangerous they are. What do you think?

I have been thinking about this for a couple of days and now realize to provide incentives to play as a "good" guy are misguided. I agree that the game should be organic. It will be a good move to get rid of the mandatory bandit skins because it forces players into a narrower set of actions that they could take. Whenever I would see a bandit I would shoot him on sight. Bandits know that, so they are forced to continue their banditry because they know they generally have to shoot first, this system prevents them from getting a chance at redemption. I like the idea of players being able to find skins and change their appearance. This could add a very interesting element to gameplay. People are still paranoid about deceitful pvp. Getting shot in the back by a seemingly friendly survivor with little warning really deters players from interacting with strangers. I have an idea. How about people who find dead bodies can examine them and are given information on who killed them. "This player was shot in the back of the head, it looks like the work of JikFive." If I find multiple bodies that are shot in the back by "JikFive" in an area then I can reasonably deduce that Jikfive might be a character that I can't trust because he shoots people in the back. "This player was shot in the front of his chest, it looks like the work of JikFive." If I saw a person shot from the front by JikFive now I would have to question if he shot the man in cold blood or in self defense. This system could encourage bandit type players to keep playing as bandits to gain notoriety, and it can also reward paranoid survivors with a SMALL piece of inside information that might give them an edge when dealing with aggressive players beforehand, without completely destroying the paranoia about meeting a deceitful stranger.

Easy Fix. Alternate the day/night cycles every 7 hours. Then players will be guaranteed to have a variety of in game darkness/light. It is just silly to penalize people who have day jobs to fumble around in the night all the time.

Dinnj here we go. As a survivor your food and water requirements could be slightly less frequent. Now I have a choice, do I want to go bandit and give up my bonus?

Deadbolt I have 10 friends on TS. What would my incentive be to talk to a stranger instead of killing him? I already have friends and a group.

Deadbolt took the words out of my mouth. The game is in danger of forcing players into 2 options. Ignore/kill. It discourages interaction with strangers. If everyone wises up and becomes too paranoid to even INTERACT with strangers hilarious moments like this will never occur.

The point I am making right now, with the current systems risk/rewards. If you are not shooting everyone in the face and looting them then your odds of survival will go down.

Dinnj why did the devs force bandit skins on players in the first place?

I actually do not know what a good fix would be. But look upon the main page and check it out. step 1, salvage. Step 2 slay Zombies and BANDITS, step 3 survive. It is painfully obvious to me that the dev really wants banditry to have some meaning and weight to it. The atmosphere right now discourages ANY kind of interaction with strangers. Also, I never suggested penalizing bandits. I just think that survivors should have a benefit that may be given up in order to turn towards banditry.

Your right it is a social experiment. However, part of the experiment relies on trust and paranoia. If the system rewards murder then you will have a world where NO social interaction will occur. I have 10 friends on TS, so why would I even bother talking to a stranger. The paranoia is gone. I have my group. I kill anyone else that is not part of it, and I only get rewarded for it. So the social experiment you are describing actually discourages ANY social interaction with strangers. a la team deathmatch with zombies.

Don't get me wrong. I love the Pvp. I love the permadeath, I enjoy the idea of bandits. However, if the game devolves into a deathmatch/team deathmatch vs zombies it wouldn't be very fun. I want the decision to turn towards evil to be one that carries weight. Because right now, there are NO negatives to shooting EVERYONE you see in the face. ONLY REWARDS. Why do you think the devs initially forced bandit skins onto murderers? To reveal to the rest of the world what they are in hopes to alienate them from the rest as a consequence to their evil actions. That however has not worked. The consequence of their decision does not balance their rewards. This is why the devs have the thread up right now. There NEEDS to be some balance. If too many players resort to banditry then it WILL become deathmatch with zombies.

Yes grouping up is great. However, I can still group up as a bandit with my friends also. I am just saying that the choice to play as either a bandit or survivor is an easy one to make.

I am merely stating that there are really NO incentives to play as a good guy.

Instead of trying to change the PVP system how about you figure out a REWARD for playing as a good guy? Right now playing as a bandit has great REWARDS and low RISK. Bandits. 1. No moral dilemma when dealing with strangers. Ambushes players. 2. Less need to scavenge because they are supplied by loot they receive from corpses. Reducing exposure to hostile zombies and to strangers. 3. Permadeath rewards this risk aversion type play. Surviors. 1. Moral Dilemma, exposing themselves to greater danger when dealing with strangers. 2. Higher need to scavenge to sustain themselves, exposing themselves more often to hostile zombies, strangers, and bandits. 3. Permadeath penalizes this type of play. In my mind the logical choice would be to play as a bandit. Devs really need to figure out a way to reward players that play as a "good guy."

Keep the PVP. The human element and risk of contact with strangers is what really makes this game exciting. As a survivor it really gets the adrenaline going when I meet another player who I am unfamiliar with. If the pvp is nerfed/removed I might as well go play Left 4 Dead.