I'm pretty sure most third-world countries have more happiness then this thread. Gaming forums such as these are a dark, dark place. Most people do not behave like this in real life (talking about suicide like it's no big deal), no matter what country you are in. I've never seen so much hate.

To be honest, I have never used 3rd person. I played for several weeks before I knew there was a third person, and I still don't even know how to engage it simply because I'm not interested. I have seen many videos with it though and it just seems to ruin the suspense of the fog of war. And I would hate to have the game made easier just by changing my viewpoint. For example... I hear footsteps coming down the street around the corner. How geared out is the person? How many are there? Is he bleeding? Is he being chased? Bandit skin? With 3dp, I could just unrealistically look and if I want to shoot, basically pre-aim where he is and pop out, must like a wall hack in old school counterstrike or quake. But to me, just like using a wallhack or whatever, it's completely missing the point of playing the game (any game). It's the fear of the unknown that gets the blood and adrenaline pumping! Crawling through a zombie infested field with grass in your face and the sounds of walkers all around you, most of which you cannot see, is a real thrill. And it helps to know that everyone else on the server is having similar experiences.

That's the opposite of what I've encountered. I empty tents, then hatchet them. I come back after server restart and the tent is back up and full of the same gear.

Just had an idea that I'd like to add and about blew my wad. Currently we have helicopters, which are, I dare say, out of place. But I understand, it's already modeled and coded, etc.... But the idea of flight is incredible. There should be suitcase storable hang gliders. They are rare, and take up a lot of room, can only carry one person, and you can't shoot from them. But they are quiet and portable in your bag (if you make room). Furthermore, if you find three wheels, a seat (or two), and a lawnmower engine + fuel, you can upgrade it to an ultralight which is faster and can land and take off from short and flat fields or roads (hangglider would require a certain incline free of trees). As an ultralight, it would no longer be storable as an item. The pilot can also shoot one-handed weapons, the passenger could shoot any weapon, or drop supplies, or whatever. Sounds pretty bad ass to me.

I think I'm with you. Just had a hacker teleport next to me and shoot me while I was hiding in a tree. I think I'm done with this until they do something about it.

This game seems to bring out the true character of people.... at least initially. Then it trains "us" to be selfish and untrusting. Fight that urge. Continue to be good.

I wonder if some of you have played this game... Yes, your character is customizable (face/glasses/beard) Yes, there is a mouseover heartbeat on bandits already. At least both of those were true in the last few patches, not sure of the current patch. Anyway, I came on board just before bandit skins were removed. I remember being able to halfway trust some people that looked the same as I did and people were more friendly. After removal, noone trusted noone and it was shoot on site for everyone that has a decent weapon. Seriously, if you're in a ghillie with a DMR, and you see a guy with an enfield running right at you, wouldn't you murder him because there was no trust? Now there is a reason not to. If you want to play as a bandit, then murder him. But if you don't, then now you have at least some reason to trust him. It seems the people that choose banditry don't like it because it's harder to fool someone into trusting you. But if you play smart and with patience, you can stay out of the bandit skin and it will then be easier for people to trust you. Or you can continue to mow people down like you have been doing and nothing changes.

That's my philosophy as well... evanglise the coast! So far noone has betrayed me and my friend, but we're very cautious.

Well, hacking wasn't on the list, so I went with the "friendly!" option as I play as a carebear.

Love the tranq gun idea, and also maybe a handheld stungun? It'd be awsome to tranq someone, carry them to the top of a tower, and drop them off just as they wake up. :) And I'm not even a bandit, I swear!

Nova, I appreciate your input...it seems you're trying to keep the spirit of the game as sandbox and not path driven. I have a two more ideas that I don't recall reading in the OP. (thanks for adding my other 2 about the beards and locks btw) These are both related, but one is for the person who take a life, the other is for someone who dies. 1. Collectable dogtags - If you kill someone, you can collect their dogtags which gives you the option to view a screen showing their name, how long they lived, and stats such as murders, people healed (in different ways), how far travelled, how many bullets they fired, or whatever. I think these things would be interesting. Often when I die, I wish I could communicate to the person that killed me what kind of a person I was. Something to leave behind. 2. End-game stats - Instead of keeping a real-time murder/zed/headshot count on the gui, display these things upon death, including the other things above such as how many blood transfusions given, how many bandages used on self/others, etc... And if I was killed by someone, I'd like to know their name, stats... something about them. 3. (Just thought of this one) Grave stones!! If you lose a friend (or some random dude's body, whatever) and bury him, you should be able to find a rock and craft a tombstone with their name on it, their "age", and a short epitaph. 4. One-shot Polaroid cameras (this was suggested by someone else in another thread, just adding it here). Find a camera, take a pic, leave pic behind for someone else to find. I think it'd be cool to run across a photo of a group of guys that had traveled through ealier, or maybe a pic of someone getting eaten, or landscape photo.... No idea how it would be implemented, but just an idea.

Two temporary solutions: 1. Dupe low-end equipment. 1000's of DB shotguns is what we need!! (/Sarcasm, I don't know how to dupe and don't care to.) 2. Use enfield to shoot people, then hide their body without taking the rare loot.

What sorts of error messages?

The player would be rewarded if: 1. The owner of the camp did not have locks for all openable objects. OR 2. The player takes the time to crack the combination. More common 2 digit locks are fairly easily crackable by one person.... the very rare 4 digit locks are realistically uncrackable by one person unless they gain trust of the owner of the lock (join clan, buddy up with, etc...) Or they can wait until the owner comes along, unlocks, then pop him. With this system, you still want to put your tent (or whatever) in a hidden area so it won't be found, but if it is found, it's just an extra measure of security. Or you could put it as a decoy in the open with a lock and shoot people that try to crack it. Or write the code on a piece of paper with coordinates so if someone kills you, you leave them a surprise.... If Rocket implements his personal underground bunker idea, I think it would make sense to be able to lock them. But you want to give people some chance to get in IF they find it. Maybe only make bunkers and safes lockable, and tents are not... or tents can only have simple 2 digit locks....etc.... I just think it would be neat because it opens up another avenue of game play as a thief.

Just browsing, but some things that are not in the OP. Growing Beards. (Has been mentioned in other threads and by Rocket himself) Rare, completely random wilderness loot caches of random quality/quantity, and completely unpredictable as far as location (unlike current heli sites and other loot drops). Similar to finding a players tent, but spawned by server. Maybe a failed air crate drop? This would make finding interesting items more possible for the rural survivalists that don't want to go into towns. 2, 3, and 4 number combination locks for tents or player owned buildings/structures/lockboxes (lock must be found). This way, someone could spend their time trying combinations to crack it, or they could try to meta-game the code. This is in addition to the lockpicking idea already suggested... this would just be a different kind of lock that only requires time or luck to crack, but cannot be picked. The code could be shared among clan members so they would all have access without having to have a physical key. But if it is left unguarded for too long, someone (or a group) could just sit there and try all the combinations. Maybe trying all combinations would take 1 man-hour for the 2 number lock, 10 hours for the 3 number lock, 100 hours for 4 number lock. Only the dedicated or the lucky would break it. It would probably take an average of half those times to find the combinations. The most prized 4 number lock would be virtually unbreakable by one person, but a clan of 10 could do it in a few hours if they coordinated.

This is similar to how my friend and I play as well except we only carry hatchets when out in the open, and we use signal fires to get attention. So far only one person has came by our camp and he took about 6 steaks, morphine, and blood bag. There will be more attempts tonight.

A part of your story is identical to an experience I had that I posted in another thread a few weeks ago. There were 5 of us and we were all inside the compound. There were no zombies. We heard one rifle shot right outside the front gate and noone in the group admitted to firing the round, and I am quite certain we were all inside. This was during the daytime and we saw or heard nothing else out of the ordinary. That was the first time I had been there, and I have not returned.

Sounds pretty cool, too bad about his buddy though. To me it would have been worth the risk to not fire at all, but it worked out for you so well played.

My friend and I are in US 88 and just got mowed down by a teleporting hacker. We had just left Devil's Castle and encountered a friendly on the way out. We communicated and let each other be. As we were running down the hill, we heard about 10 shots fired and 3 or 4 people showed up as dying. We had already run downhill about 2 minutes away. About 10 seconds later, while we were in the middle of the forest gutting a pig, this guy appears out of nowhere and mows us down with the same weapon (don't know what kind, but very distinctive). Several more people showed up as dying in that same time frame... probably 10 or 15 people in less than a minute. My first time dying to a hacker, very frustrating. Unfortunately, no idea what his name was, or if he is still there.

This is actually my first death to a hacker and I have been playing a lot. The server was actually pretty packed out... The servers that I usually play on are pretty low pop due to 3rd person off. Lots of ppl attract hackers I think. It's just really demoralizing spending all that time to get all that gear, then to die for no fault of my own.

10 minutes later, he just transported a bunch of people (my buddy included, but not me because I had just died) to one place and mowed everyone down.

Tips for avoiding KoS... 1. Use a mic. 2. Always get first visual/audible contact and maintain the advantage of concealment and cover when making voice contact. 3. Play on low pop/3d-off servers. 4. Stay near the coast, but away from Cherno/Elektro/Berezino 5. Do not get fancy clothes. 6. Do not get fancy weapons, or hide them if you do. 7. Do not drive a vehicle. 8. Avoid people who have fancy clothes, fancy weapons, and vehicles. They have more reason to take no chances.

I've been getting this quite a bit lately....

It's good that more groups like this are forming. This means the likelihood of KoS is going down! When KoS goes down, more innocent survivors are around to take the fight ot the true bandits that have chosen their path.

Me and a team of 4 other guys went up there once. We were all inside the compound and accounted for. We heard a single gunshot just outside the walls near the front gate. Noone in our group claimed to be the shooter. We got out of there fast. Never saw or heard anyone.