[email protected]

I'm sure he would, but he's been hillwalking recently. Or so I hear.Bloody slackers, eh?

I've always thought, if anything a "benchmark-island" would be all you need. Stress your rig and wander about. No interactive stuff, no briefings or hints. Bootcamp, or any game-mechanic tutorials, would detract from the sense of discovery. (and the initial sense of "oh for fuck's sake") EDIT: Maybe to teach folks basic functions, there could be an offline, single player, pre-event intro. You wake up (scroll wheel menu action tutorial) Get dressed (clothing and gear menu tutorial) Make breakfast. Cornflakes and Milk (needs & basic crafting combined) Exit your house - Get killed by zeds. Now, go play online. Nothing more than the most basic game-handling instructions. The whole point should be figuring out for yourself how to survive.

I'm sure Mr. Lightfoot appreciates your faith in his abilities.

That's a feckin' terrible analogy.

What makes a Makarov shitty? A bad workman blames his tools.

Playing ArmA 3, the difference between minimum and maximum ATOC is a lot less drastic in terms of what you can see/see through. If you're suggesting the change for SA, you really shouldn't base any of your judgement on the settings available in ArmA 2. Nobody wants to be disadvantaged, but locking settings gives those with low-mid spec machines absolutely no say in the matter and no chance to compete against rich-kids and folks with nothing better to spend the cash on. When you bitch about your own disadvantage but don't care about anyone elses, you defeat your own argument.

Did that even have to be mentioned?I thought it was a given.

It could cache the map, or remember where it was last, but it wouldn't be able to triangulate its own position or track movement without properly functioning satellites.

If you need to organise a meeting place, you should use monuments, landmarks and grid references. Not HUD waypoints.The game shouldn't do any thinking for you. In keeping with the "authenticity" theme, if GPS is included and gives you waypoints, they should be wildly inaccurate. If satellites aren't synched, they're going to be pretty useless for navigation. (if they're even still there at all) EDIT: It'd be cool if GPS units were still a rare item, but 90% of the time you just get "No Signal", and the rest of the time it's only accurate within a couple of KM.

It'd be less about surviving through seasons, more about seeing how your priorities shift and resources change in availability even though you're in the same place.EDIT: If they do SA right, we'll struggling to survive at all. :P Still, It'd be nice to constantly have something to prepare for, even if you're not likely to last that long.

I think what it came down to was, it's a LOT of work to create a winter-style version of a map (snow-drifts, frozen lakes, frosted windows, snow in trees etc.) and it would most likely be something done for a NEW map, when the time comes. That's a long way down the line. As always. Search bar.

And you're trying to say everyone else is missing the point?

Is that so? Am I reading the OP wrong? EDIT: I think folks are giving a pretty clear idea of their opinions on the subject. In terms of your revised discussion topic; Backstory shouldn't play a part IMO. Everything in DayZ is about starting from nothing and facing off against the dangers of the environment. Nobody is stopping you role-playing an ex-military guy, but folks don't want to be forced into a "select a profession" scenario. It's all about freedom and working from a blank slate.

I think (playing Devil's advocate here) the only way this could work gameplay-wise, is if "sleep" was more of a power-nap, lasting a minute or two. During this time, your blood could refill faster (if regeneration is part of the health system), bruises / pain would subside faster, and your hunger/thirst would drain a LOT faster (to compensate for the health-boost). Logging out while sleeping, I'm not so keen on. I think, if it's included, it would have to be done during game-time, since tents are tied to servers while players are not.

I fail to see how a tattoo can be compared to actual lootable tools and gear in any way. Unless your tatto points North/deflects bullets/lights fires/can fly, it doesn't, in itself, hold any particularly advantageous traits. The best I can picture it as is a form of recogntion. On "respawn", the player may be controlling a different avatar, but they'll most likely have the same face, or at least hold the same affiliations. Personally I'd like to see an entirely fresh character on spawn. No gear, no tattoos/scars/beards (things which develop over time or show your age/experience). Just a randomly selected outfit made up of civillain casual clothing, followed by a pat on the back and away you go. If skills are ever involved, they definitely shouldn't carry over between lives. Giving more meaning to your character's life should be the target. Persistent ANYTHING devalues it almost entirely.

I'm dead-set against any of these "pick your gear" ideas, or choices at character creation which would have an effect on the content of your inventory. If the point of the proposed age-slider is to make the experience more challenging for yourself, why should it come with perks? Picking an older character might give you a lower running speed or less stamina, but it shouldn't be balanced out with gear. I've never heard of anyone getting to the age where they start growing bandages out of their arse. A random selection of civillian clothing would be enough to add variety. EDIT: Like Clumzy said. Some not-particularly-advantageous, everyday stuff would be OK. A watch, a pen, maybe (MAYBE) a nearly-dead lighter at a stretch. Stuff folks just have on them a lot of the time. As soon as you start getting into proper useful / vital gear I absolutely guarantee you folks will start suiciding to get the "best" start, or min/max character options, if they're available.

Any server which starts you with gear, is missing the point of the game.IMO, even a backpack and bandage is too much. If you spawn with ANYTHING useful, folks will drive up and down the coast, killing new spawns and taking their stuff. So yeah, it'll kill the game.

It would be interesting to witness, that's for sure. Honestly, I don't expect gamers, given essentially reality without responsibility, would create anything near utopia.

That was just an example. I'm not saying it would be bad to attempt to represent aspects of reality in games, just that if you start taking it too far towards realism, folks would be better off just going outside. :P I could play "cooking simulator 2014", or I could go to the kitchen and make a lasagne. Works of fiction, in all media, create their own settings. The thing with games is, if you're sticking to your story too strictly, it doesn't leave much opportunity for freedom and interactivity. It makes sense to gloss over certain elements in favour of an entertaining experience. EDIT: In lieu of "cooking simulator", take DayZ. I want to watch this game become closer to life than anything we've seen before, but if we have to sleep in real-time, it'll have gone too far.

Well, that was unexpected. I get what the dude's saying but, being that videogames are an escapist medium, it wouldn't be particularly enjoyable if, for example, they simply replicated real-life functionality for everything. In fact, it would sort of defeat the purpose. Pedantic < Fun Gamer's willing suspension of disbelief goes up to 11. @ SeaMan, DayZ, being an authentic, immersive survival-sim where a bandage can insta-heal bullet holes might just be considered an example of "ludonarrative dissonance" ;) EDIT: When reading the section on "ludonarrative interference", did anyone else think of Snake's unlimited ammo bandanna in Metal Gear Solid 2?

Actually, common sense says psychotic-cannibal density is highest in the cities, so your chances of survival would be significantly lower there.EDIT: It shouldn't be a question of spawning in either the south OR the east. The entire coast should be spawnable area. The beachlander intro leaves the scenario open to your imagination and having the whole seaside area to start in (potentially) would increase the options open to you without raising too many questions about how you got there.

SA might cause fainting, but comas would be a bit extreme.

Yummy. Better than horse-burgers I guess.

I like this. IIRC we were talking about something similar in a topic about dragging dead/unconscious players. You could (if zeds ate deads) use player corpses to "herd" zeds in particular directions so you're free to slip by unnoticed. Or build-up your own horde to use as a trap. ;) Obviously a lot of commotion (players running around/loud noises) should distract zeds from eating, but it'd be cool to have something to attract their attention if you're sly about it.