mercules

Of course and again this goes into granularity. That hypothetical person is right there needing help in a real and visceral way. The starving children which are very real are also very ambiguous as I can neither see nor assure that anything I do has actively helped them in any way. Instant feedback from helping the guy with the broken leg as opposed to no feedback from sending money to help children I've never seen or met. It's not hypocritical. There is enough food on the planet to feed every man woman and child. Some of the countries that have starving children also export FOOD, India for example. There really isn't a practical measure I can take that will effect something like that in a measurable way. So I educate people and give money to charities that work to actively CHANGE that situation through political means and within the system. Short of becoming an Indian citizen and somehow working my way into a position of influence in the government and/or financial circles there is nothing I can do to help those starving children, but that guy over there with a broken leg? Yeah, him I can immediately do something for and know my effort wasn't wasted.

Why? It's not like you can become a Zed from being bit. Survivors are immune to the disease itself.

I love the idea but it is impractical outside of a closed society that enforces the rules themselves. ShackTac does it but otherwise there are too many ways to cheat the system. I can run Skype/Mumble from my phone with earbuds off my network. I will be able to hear what is going on in the game as well.

Yes, but Battlefield 3/4 does that so much better than DayZ since it was designed to do that and DayZ wasn't. ;) Heck, DukeNukem Forever does that better than DayZ.

You mean more like, "But I'm lugging these cement blocks and I know if I have to run to change position my gun will be wavering so much I'll never hit him so either I drop these or I shoot him." Epoch adding in the weight/fatigue realism system really forces me to act differently in a lot of situations.

Tell me about it. In vanilla I have a DMR and an M14. Plenty of medical supplies, decent sized backpack, all the basic survival tools. I'm sitting there going, "Now what?" I've considered hitting NEAF, but I would like backup. I'd wander down and see if I could counter snipe some bambi snipers but that tends to work better with a spotter and shooter. I'd go hunt for a vehicle along the edges of the map, but my friends log in so infrequently right now... what would I do with it before it was found by someone else? I could craft a few things, but what would I do with it? I'm at the wonderful point in DayZ where I have some good stuff. Too good to just go haring off without a plan and goal in mind but not really good enough to fully take advantage of it. I have a few clips of DMR, but not enough to get into a couple serious engagements. I don't want to leave it in a tent to be stolen while I take a AK Kobra and go to risky areas but I might have to if I want to do anything in that game. Basically I need some friends to hop on. With the others I have to take some care but if I loot an industrial point which won't have too many players camping it or going there regularly I can get one step closer to building something. I can take an hour of time, run off to the closest point and progress in the game. In Vanilla anything I do at this point is more likely to put me back a step than advance me in any way.

A long time ago I took an ethics class as well as several other philosophical courses. In many cases we were forced to deal with hypothetical situations and explain what actions we would take and our justifications for such actions. Some class mate had a lot of trouble with the exercise usually because they were the type of person for whom certain things were concrete and never shifted and those were based off of nothing but preconceived ideals. The other ones who had difficulty were the ones who's morals swung like a pendulum back and forth as the situation changed. Some people could just not present a reason for their proposed actions other than, "It's right." or "Well that is wrong." One of the hypotheticals we dealt with was granularity. He specifically mentioned games dealing with both board games and computer games. He found it fascinating that some people who would never cheat at a game would lie cheat and steal in more real life situations and that the opposite is true. It is fascinating that on one level where the situation will not really cost you anything other than time spent in an entertainment some people would refuse to break the rules even unspoken codes of conduct. Little gentlemen's agreements would come about when some people interacted on a "game" or other hobby level but those same personalities would not hesitate to gain any advantage they could in their work or personal life. On the opposite side were people who were ethical "because it was real" but then saw no issue with using exploits and even cheats because it was "Just a game". -------------------------------------- Where am I going with this? Well, DayZ gives you a whole OTHER level of it. Not only are their cheats for the game but there are moral quandaries within the game. You run into a wounded player with a broken leg who doesn't appear to have a weapon. You have plenty of morphine. Do you leave him and run off? Do you laugh at him? Do you shoot him and if you do is it to pad your kill count or mercy kill? Do you inject him and maybe even bloodbag him? Do you offer him a weapon? Do you drop the morphine nearby for him but run off? All of these are possible and it's interesting to see what someone would do in real life, in that situation if it was real, and in that situation because it is a game. Personally I would probably ask him if he needed blood, blood bag him, then give him morphine then move off on my own. I have no idea why my empathy quotient comes out fairly low when I take a test that measures it, yet I tend to go, "That situation sucks. If I was him I would want me to help him." I understand it is a game, but for me it is also a simulation. I would NEVER want to live in a zombie apocalypse but sometimes it is fun to fantasize what that would be like. DayZ gives me a chance to think about that and in such a situation I know how I would ideally act and that is how I try the play the game. I shoot bandits, avoid other players when I can, but if someone genuinely needs help I am willing to do what I can as long as it doesn't risk me and mine too much. In real life I am part of the emergency response team at work, I've been a First Responder, and was a lifeguard when I was young. I like helping people. I am more introvert than extrovert and I am snarky as hell. In fact I was told once by friends and guildmates I was not allowed to speak to people outside the guild while playing the game we were on because of how sarcastic I can get. So yeah, I play DayZ as I am in real life. It goes back to the granularity thing. We were challenged with the idea that, If it isn't okay to cheat/lie/steal in life, why is it in a game, and vise versa? I guess ever since then I've thought about that and realized that morality in a game, where it doesn't matter in the end, is a true show of the character you at least want to have and hopefully do have. That your morality should match and "It's only a game." and "Well this is real with real consequences so it's okay to get ahead." are, for me, undesirable. I won't expect anyone else to follow my philosophy and code.

In real life you don't consume one box of antibiotics and feel better either, but game time and real time need some separation. Don't forget that in a single hour of playtime your character often runs the equivalent of a moderate length 5k marathon if not double that. No one could reasonable do that several times over the course of a day and only eat a couple cans of food and few beverages. It's exaggerated to have an effect or not get into the way of enjoyment. I presume the nutrition system will be similar. Lack a certain thing and you may end up with brittle bones that break easier when you are damaged. Wouldn't that be fun? :)

Nope... I would want the box to be waterstained heavy coarse cardboard. It smells faintly of burnt leaves when you open the cover and scratch the "Scratch and sniff" patch.

This I can agree with. I still suspect a lot of people are saying they will go, "I've got a gun... I can SHOOT PEOPLE... let's go find people." but I think the reality might be more. "I've got a gun... Crap there is a player over there. I've got 8 bullets and I could shoot him, but what if he has friends or there are other players around and they hear the shots? I don't have enough ammo to shoot more than a couple guys if anything goes wrong. Maybe I better wait." Then again there are those that will go, "Gun! Player! Bang! Zombie! Bang! Squirrel! Bang!Player! Bang! Zombie! Click."

Which is exactly why I have been playing Epoch and Origins as much as Vanilla lately. I got my level one hero house built in Origins so now I can work on a garage and park my ATV. My best gun is a M4A3 CCO although I have a Kobra and mags for both. I have a silenced pistol I use when I need to since ammo for it is even more scarce. Tonight I think I'll make a sweep of some industrial areas to get stuff to start my garage and head over to an area I heard drops slightly different military gear like Range Finders and see if I can get anything. I'd like an SVD or DMR for later when I have to raid areas with AI and I might have to clear a path from further away. In Epoch I still need more scrap metal and cinderblocks to build with. Would be nice to find a few supply drops and helicopter crashes so I might have to risk going out in a vehicle.

How is that Adobe Flash running on your iPhone/iPad? :) Did you know Apple used to own part of Adobe? I utilize computers day in and day out at work. The majority of the business world uses Windows. Hell most "Point of Sale" systems are running Windows so the vast majority of your service industry uses Windows as a standard. My point was very simple: Why would you spend at least half as much again for the hardware on a GAMING machine if you are going to have to install Windows to play your game anyway? Why not just by the industry standard machine and OS and stop right there. Instead you have to pay more to then turn around and buy another OS just to play a game? I mean if you had a Mac already it is easy enough to turn it into a Windows machine to run games as well, but why would anyone buy a Mac to play games?

I head for a nearby industrial or farm area, looking for a hatchet, crowbar, or machete. Gun is a bonus. Next up is residential spawns, I'll hit little towns, castles, and such. I'll then start hitting Deer Stands as I travel inwards and north. Deerstands will finish off the map/matches/machete/knife issues you might have. Then it is time to try and hit some military spawns. Unfortunately the major ones are in Cherno, Elektro, Stary, NWAF, and NEAF focusing players into those areas. If you are poorly armed stay out of them. How do you get armed? Go into them... conundrum huh? Solution to that is try hitting some of the smaller one shot little spawns like the Factory near Orlovets, Berenzino, and Green Mountain.

So the next time you turn around and someone with a bandit skin is pointing a gun at you in game. What is the first assumption you are going to make? "Oh, he just wants to hang out and braid each other's hair while talking about painting or maybe that cute boy up the street." ~OR~ "Oh crap he is going to shoot me!" 99% of the time the thought involved will be closer to the later than anything you presented as an alternative. Basically you are as much of a douche in game as you appear to be on the forums. Good to know. Enjoy your life.

It's not a stupid assumption it is a logical conclusion. All evidence points to you being about to pull the trigger. Conclusions from your 5 second stardown(if it was that long) would be, "Oh god he is catching his breath I should run now while he is still shaking." and all along that line. "Maybe he needs to reload?" "He has his map up and hasn't actually seen me?" "He pulled the trigger on an empty mag? I best go before he reloads." I have no issue with you shooting him, I do have an issue with you thinking your future actions are obvious. It's like when my wife has half a conversation in her head and then pulls me into it without filling in what has transpired in her internal monologue. I have no clue what is going on but everything is very clear to her and she can't understand why it isn't for me. Come on... use your words. You can do it.

All it says though is, "I am about to shoot you." At that point what is there to lose? Either he runs and gets shot or he stands there and gets shot. At least one way you might be more likely to miss. He should have run to the side though instead of straight away. ;)

It really isn't that implicit. In the same situation I would have tried to escape as well. I just spotted a bandit skin who looks to have spotted me but hasn't shot and hasn't said anything? I am going to assume he is just going to shoot me and try to break LoS or at least make him work for it. Now if you had said, "Freeze!" or "Don't move." I probably would have followed instructions and seen what came of it, but dead silence and you have a gun? I'm going to assume KoS and either you just stumbled into me or you wanted to get close and use a silenced pistol so you didn't give your position away to other players or zombies. Either way I am already assuming you are going to shoot me.

Here is how it works. In order to display another player on your screen your client needs to be told by the server where they are at. So the cheat program is written to listen in to this communication. It hears your client broadcast your location and the server tell your client where the other player is. Simple calculation for range from there. If the cheat program knows the bullet drop it then knows right where to aim the gun to hit someone at coordinates X,Y,Z with the "bullet" since again that is all controlled by math and your client telling the server which direction you are pointing and how high or low. If they are moving it can take a sample of their location every tenth of a second and build a frame of reference for speed and vector from that and again calculate where they will be in order to lead the shot. The hardest part is probably figuring out what is sent back and forth between the server and client and the format of it, and then getting your software to inject commands into that stream without breaking it. So to go back to my layman's description.....

Coming from a Tech Support role I like to see interfaces that are clean, intuitive, and have a smooth workflow. I say I could care less about screen art, but I love certain iconic things. This logo conveys DayZ to me. The opening cinema of Borderlands 2 put me into the perfect mood for when I started playing that game and the interfaces convey the feel of the game. For the most part I am not a huge fan of glitzed up graphics. I like realistic looking textures when playing but even Borderlands comic booky style is fine if done well enough, which it was. I refuse to give up useability for "style" however. If a menu you need to access under fire or numerous times while playing slowly irises open or closed it will annoy the hell out of me even though it "looks nice". I'm trying to think of a specific example in a game here but I can't right off the top of my head. I know there was one I was complaining about for a while. If we look at Mechwarrior Online's current UI(they are going to UI 2.0 very soon) we can see what they were trying for and they made improvements over the original design to get to this current one, but there are serious flaws. There are tiny buttons to raise or lower armor on a component when building a mech that you have to get the mouse over a very specific point for the button to activate. You have to go into the social tab, then groups, then create a group, then to the friends tab, click on the friend's name, then click on Invite to group. To group up. Very clunky and makes you dig deep. It looks okay, aside from not being full screen, but it's work flow is horrible. Their 2.0 version, however, looks excellent AND looks like they paid attention to workflow and usability.

...and I can appreciate someone who will at least read through them and consider them even if they don't convince the person to change their opinion.

I do too, but they tend to vanish overnight so I go for more reliable transportation.

I play both Epoch and Origins as well as Vanilla. Heck I just started playing Battle Royal which is a pretty extreme jump from DayZ Vanilla. I believe the Standalone should not be open for modding. This sounds hypocritical but it really isn't. You will notice how hard it is to find a VANILLA Epoch server, to the point where most of the people bashing Epoch are bashing things that are not even in Epoch but are add-ons that individual server owners have added like safe zones. A lot of the people on epoch are not even playing Epoch. They are playing 1000+ vehicles, Self Blood Bag, Start with Gear, and Basebuilding 1.7.6 with traders as far as they would notice. There is the same cherno/electro experiences of spawn and get shot. Vanilla Epoch servers are about as hard as regular vanilla, but a lot of people avoid them because they are "hard". So for every good server using a solid Mod as intended you get 20 that are basically crap. Why? Because they can private host and add whatever mods they want to them. Can you give examples. I can. In both Epoch and Origins there is a way to basically secure gear in a manner that a player would have to stalk you and kill you at the right moment to get it. I don't see that as a bad thing. You can't guard your stash 24/7 alone.... but then again you could guard it a lot better than you can in Vanilla where people can access it while you CAN'T be guarding it because you are not online. See, if tents only existed while the owning player was online then every time they run off to loot things the tent is exposed but they have a reasonable ability to affect it's security. They could have several people take turns guarding their tents while a few ran off and looted, which is how most people would do it. Otherwise they could loot only nearby places and keep checking on their tent. As it is there is the workday and while I sleep that anyone can wander up and just take everything. I don't like the, "Can't access in any way..." Safe and House in those other mods, but given that someone can scope your place out when you are not online and then wait for you to log in and ambush you while they are open, they are not totally secure. It's basically a way of saying, "While you have to do that real life stuff, you don't have to worry about your pretend stuff." That is the primary change but I think it is a solid one because otherwise we are only rewarding those who have more freetime. ;)

What you say is somewhat true, but I think what most people are missing is that it looks like in the SA it will be a lot harder to get straight away to KoS. If it takes you several hours(instead of 10 minutes) to find a gun and enough ammo to engage others are you really going to KoS in the manner we currently see? Are you really going to waste someone who is no threat to you and has nothing to gain at the cost of one of the 8 bullets you have? It sounds like gear is going to be a lot harder to come by and wear down. I believe that alone will slow some people down from the costal FPS KOS run and gun gameplay.

Origins: Tavianna map but with some specific updates to it for Origins including an additional couple of islands. New buildings. The Zombies don't track as well as the current Vanilla zombies do but are a bit tougher in general to kill and tend to go down best with headshots. All new skins for the zombies. Multiple hero/bandit levels as you gain or lose humanity. Custom skins for the various levels. Ability to collect needed supplies and build a house. Some are drops in building and some need to be gathered like Stone and Wood Piles. Regular vehicles and "reinforced" vehicles. There are some that you can add metal plates and such onto so that they are more durable. these are things like a taxi you can add on metal plates to make it withstand more damage. Different weapons pack. Various pistols, submachine guns, and rifles. The power level seems to be about right so far. DMR and M14 seem to be the most dangerous and they are pretty rare. Running around with AKs and M4s at the moment unless I go to take out zombies in which case I tend to use a MP5SD6 which works for headshots. A Sector B section that is guarded by AI soldiers. You can't really solo that area. They do not have the better weapon swap system or crafting of 1.8, the zombies are not as robust as 1.8. Infection doesn't seem common. It's a different experience than DayZ but if you have played a bunch of DayZ then it might be a good change to try out.

However, the crafting and such seems to be a nod in that direction.