AbhChallenger

The only issue I see with near pitch black nights is that it gives people who know how to up their gamma a way to "cheat" against those who do not know how or are trying to play the game legitamitely. Then again they said that the graphical options will be limited in an attempt to reduce this kind of settings fu play.

The engine started from the Take on Helicopters source code so while that is a bad benchmark to use considering how much they have likely changed that for the DayZ engine. It is likely closer to that than Arma 2 in my opinion.

The modding we have seen from the mod can never happen in Standalone. SA can't end up like the mod with a majority of servers saying "2000 vechicles! 500 choppers! self blood bag!1 DOnate 4 sniper rifl3!!!1" However there is a way for both sides to have the game they want. And it is quite simple really. Take the Valve approach. You get access to the engine for free if your game is free. You can use it to make the Zombie or disaster game you want to make. HOWEVER you are not allowed to call it DayZ nor will you show up on the DayZ server listings nor hive. Then the engine can be offered to licenced if someone wants to say start a Kickstarter for "Mega super Zombie op3n world game" or similar paid effort. Again DayZ is not affected but those who want a different open world experience can have that. Look at "No More Room in Hell" and "Contageon" Neither even require Half Life 2 to be purchased nor installed.

I fully agree with no Private Hives. While it did help fix a few problems. It was a band aid approach and a band aid infected with "OVER 9000 Vechicles! Self Blood baG!!11 full loadout on donation!!111" Being standalone. There are plenty of ways to encourage players not to play logoff games or server hopping. There is no need for private hives to deal with that. That being said. FAR into the future and well after V 1.0 I would like to see some way for other people to make their own games using the DayZ engine. However it has to be made clear that they can not call their work "DayZ" and their experience has to be sufficiently different from the main game and not just "MAP IS FULL OF CHOPPAS!!!!11"

This is just my opinion however we live in an age where the Steam Early Access forums are filled with idiots saying "OMFG DONT BUY THIS ITS NOT FINISHED!! PAY TO BETA TEST!1 WTffffff!!!" There is a real possibilty of market loss from an alpha that is COMPLETELY broken. BI does not get to enjoy forgiveness like Rockstar did when they let loose alpha quality online play for GTA. Having said that tho. In my opinion there should have been an alpha without zombies and the network bubble. Yes it would have been controversial but it would have not been squeezed in with next gen consoles and a boatload of AAA games at the latter part of the year. The decision to delay is going to cost sales potentially into well of next year. And then you have to deal with all the Kickstarter games coming out. Again this is just my opinion but I believe an internal deadline needs to be a few days before Halloween. Even if it means no zombies.