mangozapp

Yes indeedy, that was exactly what I were thinking you old crow, carrying engines around in your back-pack in the mod... Hmm. That kind of operation would be a really good method of forcing player interaction: having to gather a team together to transport a heavy item, planning and defending the route from the industrial to the broken vehicle, setting someone to fend off other players from the vehicle while the transport is taking place...All those kind of things add a huge dynamic. In my experiences wtih the Mod, as IRL (?), it's the journey and striving that is the really interesting part of things... Once you have the vehicle running... Well, then you're again at a loss looking for a mission. The more of a challenge these scenario's present the more you have to use your brain and think creatively. Hmm. I did quite a bit of work myself a couple of months back on the design of an 'unreliability' system for vehicles. ...I can't post it right now as it needs finishing off and making intelligible. But, one of the key changes I was suggesting was making vehicles pushable and reactive to gravity/incline with or without a player present (and the obvious addition of a parking break). That would allow all sorts of crazy things and possibilities. One thing that I just thought would be hilarious was imagining a car stalling or failing to start... The clan inside having to jump out and push the thing before it would start... How funny and nerve-wracking would that be! [TDC] clan desperately bump starting their clapped out Trabant down the run-way at NWAF. :D Aye, I'm a bit busy with other things right now but when I get a chance I'll see if I can't quickly finish off my brief for unreliable engines :rolleyes:(that's why I ain't continued into more depth with the suggestions here, thought I best finish off that idea before getting wrapped up in sailing etc. Easy now. Defo, do it. :) To give you some support on this, you ain't alone with your dreams of some functionality with the rail system. A while ago I was playing on the Mod and following something a newbie asked (I think) I got a bit cheeky and put something on global chat saying I'd got a train working. ...I thought everyone would realise I was just taking the piss but loads of people believed me and were really excited about it. I think it's a thought that occurs to everyone when they see a train - "F***, I wish I could get that running!" That would be pushing the limitations of the apocalypse and character's believable capabilities but something of this sort... Again, a whole new element. Maybe these things would be one option for transporting a heavy engine etc. across the map to repair a car etc...?

..argh.. deleted to 'multiquote' ...well that's thoroughly balls'ed this thread up :blush:

...

Indeed, wasn't contradicting you in that regard. Just being a pain in the arse on the off chance that someone read that who had a really cool and original 'distant future' idea that they then felt reluctant to post. Erm. Yep. So. Yeah. Good. Glad that's all settled. ...At some point I suppose I should play the game... Truth is it's a bit dull right now and these forums seem far more interesting and imaginative... ;) I keep running up North without seeing a soul and then not playing for a week because I just can't be bothered to run all the way South again. Am I the only one whose player doesn't get wiped? I mean... I'm seriously considering complaining about it. I've been running up and down the map for about a month now... I almost got killed with a few mates a while ago after going to support the lucky b******* fresh spawns on a Balota loot run and we came across a group of bandits... but then, by some terribly unlucky fluke, I ended up behind the bandits and came out the last man standing... It was gutting... 'Where'd you spawn dudes?' '...Ah, O.K... I'll run all the way there then... oh, you're logging... I'll run North then and hope they've added aircraft by the time I reach NWAF.' ...I even logged on to find my player had dissappeared in the menu screen after last update, thought, "Ah, at last! Electro madness here I come!" Log in and there he is, that f***ing boring t*** standing there with all his fancy s***... Just grinning at me like "Ohhh, you didn;t think you'd get rid of me that easily did you?!?" Please, someone, I'm beside a little lake just North of a row of new houses near where Pobeda Dam used to be.. about a click West of "Strykypikipoopoo" the new (f***ing ghost-) town in the North. I'll logon tommorow at about 9pm (UK), How's that? Bullet in the back of the head. Please... Everyone else is having adventures! Sob. EDIT: OH NOOOOO!!! Just realised that won;t work... how'll you know which server I'll be on..?. I'll edit it in here before I log on.

rofl. EDIT: and subsequent chuckling. Much chuckling.

Whaa! What cowardly, land-lubberly prattling is this? What a tale t'would make indeed. No sir, if ye've ne'r caught a whale ye'll be nay friend of mine!

I think you may be going in a bit strong with the murderer bit... but, possibly, maybe, in some (hopefully) rare cases you may not be too far from the truth. I recently read a (newly published) book: The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson which your thoughts brought to mind again. In this book he explores the debate in psychology around psychopathy and specifically a test, basically a list of check points, to determine if somebody is a hac... HA!... Whoa!... A psychopath. (This thread is going into some pretty curious territory that may or may not be 'on topic' but, hey, it seems a valid exploration of an issue that effects many of us, if an Admin thinks it needs to be moved to an off-topic section then so be it.) Back to the psychopath test... I have taken the list below from here. In the test (or interview with the person in question) a score is derived accessing the persons leaning on those points in question. Please understand, I am posting this as an exploratory device, though I have a longstanding interest in this field I am not a psychologist and, personally, I have serious doubts about categorizing an entire person's being and future capability on the basis of an interview with a shrink. Anyway, the list of traits associated with a psychopath which are accessed in this test are: glib and superficial charm, grandiosity need for stimulation pathological lying cunning and manipulating, lack of remorse callousness poor behavioral controls impulsiveness irresponsibility denial parasitic lifestyle sexual promiscuity early behavior problems lack of realistic long-term goals failure to accept responsibility for own actions many short-term marital relationships juvenile delinquency revocation of conditional release criminal versatility The main underlying trait, in my understanding, which leads to these behavior patterns is that psychopaths are incapable of empathising with another person. One of the example given in the above book regards passing a car crash, according to current understanding, when a psychopath wintnesses something like this he/she will not be disturbed in the slightest, they will look on the devastation, the mutilation as I might observe an interesting science experiment. Its a scale, on the other end of it are neurotic people who overly empathise and may be subject to a kind of social paralysis as a result. To put that in context, I think, possibly, I lean toward that end of the spectrum - i.e. I have a tendency toward focusing myself too much on what other people are feeling or suffering and, in the process of that I often neglect to state my own position or fail to equate how a situation is effecting me, sounds nice but it creates problems later on when I 'rewind' and possibly find I've not adequately expressed my own dissatisfaction etc. Anyway. Yup. I have wondered about this. According to Jon Ronson's book Phsycopaths are not nearly as rare as we think they are some statistics show that in the US 1 in every 100 people could be categorized a psychopath (1 in 200 in th UK apparently) [statistics... I don't trust them, but hey]. They are not all murderers either, far from it, some are extremely successful people in the eyes of society - they do not suffer those empathetic tendencies which may otherwise stop someone from stepping on their piers on the way 'to the top'. They are also often charismatic, charming individuals until you're on the wrong side of them. One thing of interest is that, apparently, these character types have been noted for gravitating towards the social hub of their society - due to their need for stimulation - i.e. They're generally not found living out in the sticks but instead they move into the capital city where they can more successfully satisfy their social needs. In that respect I can't help but think that PC gaming offers an immediate social hub and platform for these kind of characters to seek satisfaction. A highly successful game is a capital city of a kind and for many young men today, for gamers a top title is their social proving ground - the hub of their culture, and, yes, a game offers potentially limitless stimulation, potential to dominate and control. Winding this up... Following my own recent experience with Rust I couldn't help but feel that something was happening that went beyond the boundaries of a 'game'. I felt there was a desire on the part of these cheaters/hackers/script-kiddies to impose themselves on me with their actions in a very personal way. That feeling meant that I found myself reluctant to engage with them as I might a simple bandit. I got the distinct feeling that if I attempted to challenge them I might find myself pursued. I didn't give that feeling too much credit but it was there, that feeling that I might just find myself on the end of a hate-mail campaign or something else of that sort. Lastly, there is a particularly troubling theory that psychopaths, that 1% (that often reaches the top of their fields in political and business circles) have an influence on society that is completely out of proportion i.e. their ethics are so far removed from that of their 'polite' piers (the underdogs) that that their traits become the dominant. I guess that is what I have been incidentally attempting to bring up here - the negative traits of some players are so dominating in the minds of many players that they get taken along with that current. They don't really notice the fact that 99 players acted normally but they cannot forget that 1 player/clan that utterly degraded and belittled them. So it's in that respect that I have been wishing to explore ways for the 'Mr Nices' of DayZ to put themselves forward a little more 'aggressively'. That isn't a natural thing for these players/community members to do but without it I feel that 1% will dominate the horizon for new players. Here endeth the lesson :blush:

The burns scars I like, the rest seems a bit.. well, I'd rather see the Dev's putting their time and energy into things that will add dynamics to the gameplay, different kinds of Zeds are appearing already and dismemberment is aesthetic - "He's dead. Does he have a friend? What loot does he have? O.K. Move on." That battle-scarred survivor thing did look to have been intended with the clothing damage but it doesn't seem to really work out that way in game... You don't know if the guy has picked up damaged clothes or been in the wars. So, yes, something to definitively mark an old-timer would add a new element to player interactions. Personally though, I'd go with the beard/hair growth option. I like beards.

Yup, I'll have a look at that vid shortly... But it was actually getting into Rust and then being repeatedly hacked (finding no-clippers had walking through my base's walls every time I logged out) that got me fired up and thinking about the possibility of this same thing happening with DayZ once the code gets out there. (Is that what happens? I ain't a clue how it works tbh.) That is, I guess what I feel may be approached a little more sensitively: the natural tendencies of young, insecure players... Guys who are (mistakenly or otherwise) looking to find more than we might seek in playing video games - i.e. some genuine social status. These tendencies are very real and I think the way the industry pushes elitist, hierarchical thinking in it's products and doesn't seem to consider the (predominantly young, male, yet to prove themselves in life) audience's weaknesses is asking for backlash. I'm going to start repeating myself if I'm not careful... But I think there could be a little more creative thinking on concessions that might be made in order to soften that elitist leaning drilled into the game-playing public. DayZ ain't an advocate of that ethos but, at the same time, it leaves the welcoming of new players completely to chance so that they might easily continue in that same elitist way of thinking when they enter Chernarus. If DayZ is to be different in that respect then I feel it needs to put itself forward a little, as a positive, forward thinking community or the old hierarchical precedent and the consequential backlash will, I feel, return through old association and swamp the game. Not suggesting any real modifications in the game itself, the hero/bandit choices etc... But some kind of way to make sure new players meet the community before they fall into that same-old 'fuck him, I'm anonymous, I'm the best, he's shit' kind of thinking and start spreading that around the coastline. Edie: vid watched... or most of it... Yeah, as you said, something is broken in these guys. The thing I fear is that these broken guys are so completely lacking in social etiquette because of complete game addiction/ no-life'ing... but hey, whatever it is, they're... well... Terribly pathetic, tragically misdirected individuals and no, in that case, they need something far more than an adjustment to the game to rehabilitate (probably their future wife leaving with the kids and a subsequent nervous breakdown..Oh well.) :(

Agreed in all but one point - withholding ideas for things 'very far down the road'. In my opinion, now is the time to make suggestions for possibilities way off in the future... There is no harm in such ideas gaining interest and momentum now, the bug reports will continue regardless. As members of the Dev team finish their current projects and begin looking at new areas to devote themselves to they might just take a look on the forums... If there's some off-the-wall idea that players are united behind they might just decide to explore it's possibilities. Those distant ideas are, in my opinion, the only likely ones to be of real service, the other little, obvious fixes and modifications are likely to be either outlined already in the work-flow of the devs or an alternative 'fix' or addition will already be outlined - i.e. the dude/s working on weapon's probably already has a whole series of new guns that he's decided to bring into the game, I'd say the odds are against him browsing the forums to see what every Tom, Dick and Harry thinks he should be working on. However, in six months time... Well then maybe he'll reach a block... "I want to craft a PVC pipe cross-bow - 2138 votes" ...And off he'll go.

No to that picture. It is completely inappropriate on a video game forum. I am pleased to say I have enough humanity, empathy and imagination remaining in me to find that sight extremely disturbing. You however have no right whatsoever to lay that in front of my eyes on this forum. If you find that entertaining and cannot connect with the fact you're looking at a real human child who has been burned and dismembered than you need to take a long break from video gaming, take a long hard look in the mirror and perhaps visit and talk with some real people who have suffered violent abuse in their lives. Maybe then you'll find mental vandalism such as your posting here is a little less to your taste.

I find these weapon's expert nay-sayers a bit tedious and I question their sources/expertise. The fact is, in reality, you'd be hard pushed to find anything but an air-rifle, a farmer's shotgun or, possibly, an old pistol he uses to put down animals with. You definitely aren't likely to find firearms in a school, nor on it's roof. Any military weaponry not actually in the hands of a dead soldier would likely be locked away in steel cabinets bolted to the floor - likewise the ammo. You don't find assault rifles just left lying around on bunk-beds. Point being. The firearms present in the game are far from realistic already... If we're going to pick straws about the realism of finding a working whatever then, first, we better completely re-work the existing gun and ammo spawns and make it so you have to find a nine-inch angle-grinder or oxyacetylene cutting torch to access them. ;)

The addition of notes will make this option available to players. My first thought on hearing about notes was using them to write to the guy who's going to snipe me.

I think you've heard this on a post referring to DayZ mod. I've just written a post here: http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/168727-small-safe-town/page-2 - that you might find interesting as regards your idea, which is a nice one... though maybe not quite allowing for the flexibility players will (hopefully) be allowed in the future as regards creating their own scenarios for other players on the server to involve themselves with.

I feel it's too early right now to foresee how things are going to work in this direction. Rocket's proposed radio's/walkie-talkies, underground base building and vehicles will all have a major impact on the way the game pans out for players. If players have access to radio's (map-wide transmission/reception) then clans will grow much quicker on the map. It will also be possible for players then to create safezones of their own and put out invitations for wandering survivors to seek out their base and join them. In that kind of scenario, a radio will become that 28-days later life-line for small groups/lone-wolfs looking to find security and other friendly survivors. Once base building/tents come into the game there will be a reason for players to remain on a specific server, once that happens people start forming real, long-term relationships with other players frequenting their server - trust and allegiances develop - even a lone-wolf might have a group he has helped to call on for aid. Once these relationships begin to form players can begin to create and share their own unique scenario's and bring other players in to help maintain them. At the moment that whole area is stifled by the fact that players can't communicate and everyone's 'just passing through' - Relationships currently existing between players are generally formed outside of the game and 'imported'. One very important thing in all this is the fact that many players are currently experiencing DayZ for the first time - they're still completely taken up with navigating, learning to survive, travel in relative safety etc. After a year or so's play that stuff will be out of the way and simple banditry etc. will begin to get a bit tedious. Then, hopefully, as I experienced on a couple of DayZ epoch servers, you'll start to see some really interesting stuff happening - teams creating their own, independent rules and missions, new games 'within the game' that other players can experience... There are so many new players struggling with the whole thing right now that even if you could communicate a new idea, building a safezone etc... Many simply wouldn't be interested. I do hope, personally, that this aspect of the game is encouraged through future content additions. It's what the DayZ Epoch mod broke ground in and, for me, it created a far more dynamic, involving play style.

Yep, it has to be harsh, I think, to make you wary about taking risks in a situation where there is no medical support available. That said, 100% death chance from these kind of falls is a bit digital. I'd imagine something of this sort would be a little more realistic: 10-15ft drop: 50% chance of a leg injury/walking away unscathed. 15-30ft drop: 20% chance of leg injury, 60% long-term crippling (stuck prone), 20% death Anything over that: 10% chance permanently crippled, 90% death. [Craft Michelin man suit from foam mattress? Y/N]

There's always the possibility of a potholer's/miners helmet with torch built in...i.e: http://www.bris.ac.uk/university/media/centenary/cabinet/helmet.jpg

Yep, with you on that. It's the kind of simple flying machine that might just be valid for a survivor with a minimum of tools/facilities at his disposal. I really hope they don't put UH-1H helicopters or something of that kind into the game when they begin working on vehicles - though fun they're just so completely out of context, imo... Those kind's of vehicles require massive resources and continual, highly skilled servicing to keep airborne... a level of technical support and expertise that just ain't going to be available in a DayZ scenario. Unless there happens to be some uncannily preserved military airbase on the map with it's all it's supplies, engineers and support personnel intact.

Exactly what might make it a very entertaining expedition/end-game scenario. ...Where it goes, nobody knows! ...You'd need to be free to move and fire inside the basket... And wear a parachute maybe. Just imagine seeing one rising out of a valley in the distance.. That huge balloon drifting over you at 400m alt. ...Being inside the 'basket' with you two mates and hearing the dreaded sniper bullet whistling past... a hole through the cloth... opening up the propane to try to keep it airborne... :D

Now you've done it.

Yeah baby... I think this has been made using decommissioned parachutes... Something a survivor might find at a heli crash or Military loot spawn.

Err... It's all pointless... It's a computer game. But yes, maybe ;).

I do think that some players, who are already completely at home with multi-player gaming, forums etc. etc. underestimate how much there is for a noob to get his head around in order to A. find info he needs B. Give suggestions C. Play the game with some success D. form teams E... Blah. From my own experience I know that DayZ is interesting enough to attract people who have previously not been into multi-player gaming at all. A lonewolf coming in cold like that is flailing around in the dark... I wasn't used to using forums at all before playing DayZ. The whole Alpha release thing... there's a lot for someone coming in cold to catch up on. After writing my original post I wasn't sure, when reading through it, whether to actually remove the focus I had put on hackers... Because that, for me, is just one end of the commune idea... Its effect on hacking, if any, would be incidental. The idea I was really focused on with that was giving new players direct in-game access to the community from day 1 and, hopefully, communicating that mature, 'all in it together' attitude which doesn't come across to a player who is unfamiliar with the game and finds themselves preyed on by bandits when they're sorely unprepared to compete. I'm not in any way saying that banditry etc. needs regulating, just that I think it might be good to put something in place to balance that early beating everyone gets. At that early point, I think, quite a few (maybe older) new players will not be utilising the forums etc. wherein they might find that everyone is in the same boat with bandits etc... Because of that it's not hard to take things a bit personally and think everyone else is having a great time hanging with their mates up North.

For me the issue isn't so much about what is realistic to find in the region. I personally find the concentration of military gear a bit off-centre. Yep, I know it's early days and there's lots to come but it did surprise me to find that the Dev team seamed to prioritise military items in their workflow. Simply from an aesthetic standpoint this military stuff isn't very interesting to look at. To put it bluntly I find it a bit dull, a bit unimaginative. They basically seem to have prioritised satisfying the old Arma players who are really into all their military replica stuff. Fair enough, buit DayZ isn;t a military simulator... or is it actually just that but dressed up as a zombie sim... Aesthetically, it looks a bit that way right now. The trouble is, now that precedent has been set, there's going to be an uproar from those with military tastes inside the community if they try to turn away from that. If they'd started off on a more civilian, bodged together kind of setup for players to accumulate then, I think, folks would have enjoyed that new take from the start and run with it. Now, whatever happens, however rare they make this military stuff, I get the feeling it will remain at the top of everyone's list i.e. The top players look like soldiers from Arma. That, to me, is a bit of a shame. It's set a precedent.. quite a few players will now be dreaming of the day they'll get an update with an AS50... Instead of one day having the option of crafting a crossbow from a truck leaf-spring (or whatever).

Yeah, into rivers where players must make a specific choice whether to head along the stream for a bridge and risk a choke-point or get wet. Bridges too - Taviana's bridge is (though a bit o.t.t) always a nail-biter. Some more organic stream and river crossing points would also be cool, a couple of fallen tree models etc. Also, a small thing: footpaths/animal paths. I was a country kid and It's just one of those things that seems really lacking in the woods and fields to me. There is the occasional bit of fairly wide path here and there now but I think, given all the farms, villages (and wildlife to come) there would naturally be far more. Rambling footpaths criss-crossing the map, dissappearing, reappearing, running through woods, over streams... And small animal paths all over the place. There is always a run of beaten- down grass heading across hills on common wild-life pathways. It's just one of those logical, natural things that feels overlooked in the environment. Such paths are also a good way of making one open area of grass distinguishable from the next.