BattleMetalChris

Completely agree about the zombies. Currently an effective way of clearing a village is to run through the centre, out the other side and see what you're dragging behind you. This should be utter, utter suicide. Yes, they are scary at first, but once you've been playing for more than a day or so, they become comical even if you're unarmed and alone. They should be dangerous if you're armed, deadly if you're unarmed and a firefight should have a good chance of turning into a desperate running battle with the sheer numbers the noise attracts.

I usually keep a few disinfectant-coated fruit in my inventory, for a hefty dose of Karma (not to mention disinfectant) for anyone who decides to rob me.

Bacon is ALWAYS made better by the addition of more bacon.

Sucks to be that guy if they ever find a cure.

Seriously, is there anything in the entire universe that isn't automatically made better with the addition of bacon?

haha, I thought this was going to be a compaint that the other players weren't convincing enough when using VOIP. :P "OK, I get that I'm a noob, and..erm.. a cigarette or something? And presumably that other part was something about my Mother, but let's try it one more time, with feeling."

Yes, I imagine in 1990s-era Russian backwaters, everybody and their grandmother went around on Longboards.

A bunch of times, I've either been playing without a mic (as I usually play after the wife and kids have gone to bed, and can't be shouting at my PC at god-knows what hour of the morning) or been in a group who, while mic'd up are nevertheless trying to keep quiet, and I've wanted to indicate 'Over there'. We have 'greet', 'surrender', 'sit' and with a bit of key-remapping, 'give-someone-the-finger'. I think we could do with a 'pointing' action, either pointing with an extended finger or for the flat-palmed 'army-style' point. Something to indicate direction. Also useful would be hand signals for 'come over here' and 'halt'

The point is that in a survival situation, people WILL have different skills, (in the example I gave in the OP, some people WOULD be able to get a sink going to get a drink, some people wouldn't have a clue), many of which are impossible to implement through the game interface in a way that would make it possible to get better with practice. I'm no doctor but I'm sure there's more to a blood transfusion than standing next to someone whilst holding an IV bag and pressing 'F' ;) , and you'd struggle to find an example where a player got better at administering one in-game just through repetition. For complex tasks like that, no amount of 'gameplay experience' is going to make you better at it, unless you start adding something like ridiculous mini-games to represent tasks which require skill (which I'm guessing no-one wants). Fixed skills would be a way of representing the varied skillset that the general civilian populace would have, which may or may not include skills applicable in a survival situation ("great, I rolled a mime-artist.."). As I mentioned too, it would help to solve the 'ok, now what?' feeling you get when you finally make your inevitable way to the airfield and get all the best equipment, and make multiple play-throughs more varied. I agree though, that you'd have to find a way of people just suiciding until they get the skills they want.

I'd love this. I like to experience night-play but find doing it for long periods unbearable. The only real option I have is to jump into a server that's set to night-time for 30 minutes or so and then back out which ruins the continuity. Half an hour to an hour of enforced night, followed by possibly a longer day as daytime play is arguably more fun (we can say its summertime or something, so 2/3 of the day is daylight). In fact, why not have seasons, especially once weather and cold is implemented? A 4 hour day/night cycle makes for about a 2-month year cycle, the servers could have a random day of the year. This would also let you pick a server which matches the kind of play you want without having to endure an entire session in darkness.

One thing I think would add a bit more depth to this game is character skills. Before you go '"stupid idea, noob!" I know there are no plans to introduce grinding or levelling up, but what about fixed, random skills which are assigned on spawn? Some skills I can think of might be: 'Handyman' which would give you a chance to get a sink in a house working so you can drink (maybe not all sinks, but a random %), or once cooking is implemented, the cookers. 'Weapons', which could cause any weapon they are handling to work as if it was better maintained (so a 'worn' weapon would appear 'pristine', a 'damaged' one would be 'worn' etc) 'Bushcraft' which would cause any food hunted and prepared by the player to have more energy, or maybe once weather is implemented, the player is less affected by the cold and wet. 'Mapreading' which would place a player marker on any maps found. 'Medical' which would make any medical equipment use have less chance of causing sickness/infection This would help replayability, as you'd need to alter your playstyle slightly depending on the skills you spawned with, and also make working in a group more fun as you could pool your skills together to help each other. You'd have a random chance to get none, one or maybe two skills so it would never make a player gamebreakingly OP, but just enough to add a bit of variation to each new spawn and to add some value to a character beyond just 'who has made it to the airfield and got a big gun'. What do people think?