Positronica

That's a BS argument. There are already a bunch of options in the game that servers can enable to make things easier for players, such as crosshairs and tagnames, but guess what, tons of servers CHOOSE to disable those options and have no trouble attracting players. Servers also have the option of putting in way more vehicles than normal, or giving players all kinds of extra starting loot, and while some servers choose to do that, there's still tons that choose not to, and again they have no trouble attracting players. The claim that the FPS-only crowd somehow knows what's better for the game and that everyone else will simply select the easiest, most cheesy options unless those options are removed simply isn't borne out by the facts. On top of that, the fact that servers that disable 3rd person have such a hard time attracting players, coupled with the fact that the playerbase has clearly demonstrated the ability to selectively weigh the gameplay value of different options, is pretty strong evidence that restricting the game to first person only would negatively impact the enjoyment of the gameplay for a huge segment of the playerbase... and in the end, enjoyment of the gameplay is the ONLY thing that matters. Realism and immersion only matter insofar as they further a player's satisfaction with the overall gameplay, because that's the only reason anyone actually plays DayZ. Anyone who's logged into DayZ has made the conscious, or sub-conscious decision that at that moment in time, playing DayZ is more enjoyable to them then watching TV, or taking a nap, or firing up their XBox. That doesn't mean that things shouldn't be hard, because humans derive a lot of enjoyment out of overcoming challenges, and that doesn't mean things shouldn't be immersive, because humans derive a lot of enjoyment out of virtual escapism, but ultimately, both of those things are only components of the overall gameplay experience, and should never take sole priority.

Ammo for the Mk 48 isn't too hard to find. Pretty much any military spawn site plus deer stands seem to have a chance to spawn in. I've been using an Mk 48 as my primary weapon for over a week now, and I've never had trouble finding ammo when I need it. Facing off against zombies with the Mk 48 is awesome, too. It's one hit kill, the site is great, you can carry a ton of ammo, and the number of shots you can lay down before even having to worry about reloading is killer.

Whenever someone uses this argument about something in a game all I can assume is that it's someone who rarely actually goes out and experiences real life. A CG world presented to you with highly limited peripheral vision and simulated sound as the only two senses you can use gives you quite a bit LESS awareness of your surroundings than you would have in real life. Now, it's fine if someone wants to say that everyone should just be happy with those handicaps, but it's a BS argument to somehow say that it's more real to live with those handicaps instead of trying to come up with in-game ways to approximate the type of spatial awareness that the standard limitations of a FPS can't get around. Also, if the goal in DayZ is to encourage players to interact, group, and cooperate more instead of going solo with a KOS mentality, then I think there's definitely a place to discuss in-game tools that further that goal while striking the right balance between maintaining immersion and enhancing gameplay.

When it comes to the healing gameplay in DayZ, the goal should be to avoid repetitive time sinks, to avoid arcade-type mechanics, and to avoid situations that remove player choice/game interaction. On top of that, one the biggest goals should be that when it comes to health and healing in DayZ (or any survival based game for that matter), players should rarely if ever be put in a situation where they feel that from a gameplay standpoint it's more fun to just suicide and respawn with a fresh body instead of trying to survive at your current health. Surviving a situation that almost kills you and then taking the steps to get healthy again needs to be shifted away from being a frustrating gameplay experience and more towards being an enjoyable gameplay experience. That doesn't mean things can't be hard, but when it comes to a game, hard plus rewarding is better than hard plus frustrating. Right now in DayZ, at least on the servers I play on, the sidechat is constantly full of players asking for blood transfusions, and at least once or twice a day I see a conversation where a player who's low on blood and only has starter-city gear decides that since none of his friends on sidechat are close enough it's less of a hassle to just suicide and rescavange an M1911, some soda cans, and a little bit of food. Obviously that's a huge sign that solo-healing in DayZ is broken when players are routinely willing to abandon immersion to get around it.

Personally I think grouping should definitely be added. Group chat can be left out, as long as direct chat is an option. Lootable radios would be the best option for semi-private long-range communication. On top of that, I think while grouped, you should be given an on-screen indication of your groupmates' locations, as long as they're within a certain distance of you. I know some of you will say that such a feature would be unrealistic, but I think actually it would be more realistic than the current situation. In real life you have much better peripheral vision than what you get in DayZ, plus in real life you can use the movement of your head and eyes to very easily track the location of friends that are in your immediate vicinity. Facial expressions, body language, and hand gestures in real life can also convey all sorts of information that just isn't possible to convey with the Arma 2 engine. In game features that better approximate the natural ability humans have to operate as a group would only enhance the realism of the game, and would improve the gameplay experience. I know for a fact that I'm not alone in that I will often choose to just keep playing solo, because the hassles of trying to keep a group organized using only tunnel vision and voice chat just isn't worth the hassle.

Probably get flamed for this, but I'll say the three guys supposedly doing the "hold up" we're adding a better gameplay experience to the game than the OP. First off, instead of being typical KOS players, they did something different, and actually gave your buddy a fighting chance to resist their orders. Next, at least from your story, we don't even know that they were planning on robbing your friend. They might have just been telling your friend to drop his gun so that he didn't KOS them while they tried to explore the fire station. And to top it all off, the thing you seem the most proud of is that you used what is essentially a flaw/exploit in DayZ to "punish" those three guys for not just KOSing your friend right away. The only lesson you taught those guys is that from now on, don't try to interact with players you don't know and just kill them all instead since flaws in the mod can punish you for doing otherwise. Oh, and for the record, I've never killed another player in DayZ yet.

Yeah, a more usable melee option is definitely needed. My character can already draw his side arm and sling his long gun over his shoulder, and he can also holster his side arm. It's immersion breaking that I can't somehow do both of those at the same time and then take out my hatchet. It's most likely that it's a limitation of the Arma 2 engine, though. One alternative would be to give the hunting knife the same "remove from toolbelt" option that the hatchet has, only the hunting knife would go into the side arm slot instead of your primary weapon slot. It would mean still having to shuffle a weapon around, but I think a lot of players would be a little bit happier having to drop or backpack their sidearm as opposed to their primary weapon in order to enter melee.