Dasutin

I think the minor skills will help with making other people see you as more valuable, and something as simple as being able to write a back story, and customize the appearance of your character a little more would also go a long way for making you care more for your character. (it seems silly, but that's a big part of roleplaying, and helps you see the character as a person, rather than a humanoid peice of data that you control.) Or heck, even a randomly generated character and backstory, with unique traits based on those things would be cool. You get a cool random character, you're less likely to put yourself in a deadly situation.

The thing I don't like about a respawn timer is that it punishes the victim. I know it's supposed to be a motivation to not die, but it's also another fuel for the griefing fire. People who enjoy making the game living hell for other people will have even more power to do so.

I'm just saying that there's a link between that and the KOS mentality, I guess. That the value of a living player needs to go up for everyone, not just for the person who is the player.

Well, once you can store your gear, your life becomes even more meaningless. It's not putting work in if you just have to run back to the woods and take some stuff out of a tent.

The value of your character to other people is never going to equate to the value of your character to you. It's really depressing, and a huge bummer, but it will always be infinitely easier to just shoot another player and take his stuff than it will be to handcuff him, steal it, and then let him live. There's no reward for the second path, and it takes more time. Time that you could spend looting, or time that another player could be using to sneak up on you. I love the concept of the handcuffs, and needing living players for blood transfusions and stuff, but it's never going to address the actual issue, which is that it's just easier to kill everything you see instead of take the time to work with someone or barter, or interact in any passive way. I mean, sure, some of the issues will go away once zombies are in 100% and there will be real risk to shooting your gun, but it's not going to make people stop shooting on sight when they can get away with it, or interact with other players like they would in a real survival situation.