Pacificwing

Is there any reason we can't just make night time brightness a server variable and let the server admins decide based on personal preference? Why does this even have to be a debate? Also, I've noticed people throw around the words "realistic" quite a bit. I'd like to call bulls**t on that one. This game could be described as many things, but realistic isn't one of them. Like, for instance, food. The average feeding cycle lasts about 15 minutes until you're hungry again. Even if we assume you can make it roughly 30 minutes without eating in the game (which, afaik, isn't possible), that means you have to chow down on more than 40 cans of baked beans per day to sustain yourself. And that is using very generous math. The day/night cycle is in real time, but apparently your biology is not. Have you ever eaten 40 cans of baked beans in a single day in real life? Even if you did manage to pull that off, you aren't going to be running a marathon worth of cardio in the same day. The night is so dark that it is apparently "realistic" (even though it certainly is not, as many have stated). Your eyes adjust in daylight (massive HDR effects, especially in the forest) but apparently they can't adjust at night. And what is with being able to heal bullet wounds by eating 6-8 beef steaks? Stop with the "realistic" banter. This game is *not* "realistic". It is difficult. It is atmospheric. It is challenging. It is massively fun. But it is not realistic.

I'm not sure the problem is with the zombies. Right now, they aren't much of a threat, but I'm concerned that the dynamic of the game is about to take a major change, without any changes to the mechanics of the game itself. Currently, most players are new, and just discovering the world. But you can already see the formation of "groups" or "cliques", as gangs and clans are starting to form. This will only become more common as people become more familiar with the game. After that, you will have turf wars and gang territories. This is simply human nature, and it is already starting to show in the game. My concern is that the game is going to become increasingly hostile towards the single player looking for the "lone wolf" experience. This is the very experience that made this mod popular in the first place, and it is about to disappear. Right now, as a single player, your biggest likely threat is running into another single player, and him seeing and shooting you first. Occasionally you might run into an organized group of 2-3 survivors, but that is usually it, and they aren't a problem when you reach the outskirts. Imagine what the game will be like when you can't go to the airfield or any of the major towns because they are clan territory, and you aren't in the right clan. Imagine when your "lone-wolf" experience turns into you constantly being hunted by a pack of 5-10 more. This is the turn that the game is likely to take in the near future, as people get more familiar with the game and start to get organized. Some might think this is a good thing, but it is a major departure from what is making this game popular, and that benefits nobody in the long run. I just hope that as the game becomes more mainstream, you don't lose that "alone in the world" atmosphere that made it so popular in the first place.