carcinovich

Slings take considerable skill to use, if you want to actually hit twenty feet from your target. I'm just not feeling it. We live in an age of smokeless gunpowder. There are million things more readily accessible. It just seems anachronistic and unnecessary.

I have always liked the idea of using spray-painted rags and/or handkerchiefs, tied around the arm, as a ghetto identifier of who is in-team and who isn't.

Still a proponent that if the player has running shoes, they run on roads slightly faster. If they have combat boots, they run on terrain slightly faster. If they have hiking boots, they can jog up any incline. If they have dress shoes, they can run more silently.

Yeah, I meant without. Oops. English = Hard.

I don't care if this has been reposted a million times. I don't care if every thread on here is about a beard. This idea must never, ever die.

The ability to overdose on basically water mixed with electrolytes makes very little sense to me.

Let's at least try to exercise some good judgment here, folks.

As a former 3D modeler and environment artist, if you don't want it to look trashy, what you are asking is not as simple as you're claiming. I don't care what your brother says. Also, items in the real world don't come in technicolor. They come in various shades, but not every single one of them.

Now you're thinking. Have beans.

So I could kill myself by beating my fists against a wall? Not feeling it.

Pocket size, or how much inventory an item takes, may be considering weight, too.

Yeah. If it was lethal, that'd just be frustrating. Near-misses would be nice.

Lightning strikes are rare, yes. But with higher risk activities, there are higher risks :) If you stay indoors during thunderstorms, and aren't tromping around on the top of mountains, wielding axes, you'll probably never get struck. I had lightning strike about 20 feet away from me, about 6 years ago. I still get twitchy during electrical storms, and I refuse to climb mountains if I believe there's even a remote risk. I'm not strongly for or against it, either way. Just saying.

If lightning randomly struck near survivors, with a slight chance of it hitting them directly, that would be sexy. The system could check: Are there any trees within a 100m radius around the player?How high is the player up, vertically?Is the player standing, crouching or prone?How wet is the player? If the player is in an open field, on a barren mountainside, standing in a puddle of water with their axe raised, maybe they actually have a chance of being struck :) Getting struck by lightning is a slim possibility, so having some *close calls* would be fun (and scary).

1) Hoarding keys/lockpicks to any significant degree would take up inventory. Once you're fully geared-up, lockpicks have already used most of their utility, and hoarding them makes little sense (especially if they are not stackable). 2) Getting shot means that you'd probably have most, if not all, of whatever it is you're hoarding ruined. 3) Even once you reconnect with your buddies, then you'd have to actually travel to the location that has locked caches. 4) Any hoarded keys/lockpicks would still have been gained through legitimate means (instead of exploiting them into existence using server-hopping). They were actually earned. They took considerable time and effort to gain. So if your friends want to share what they have with you, well, that is their own prerogative. Hoarding has it's aforementioned downsides. I'm not trying to stop "any" form of gearing up quickly. You can still kill people, trade for the good stuff, share loot between your buddies, etc. Instead, I'm trying to gate how fast content can be acquired over time -- so that it's not possible to exploit the current system and gain as much premium loot as you want by hopping around on empty/nearly-empty servers. There's a difference.

Yeah... And your point? Are you dense? The issue is about gearing up in a couple of hours because you know exactly where all the premium loot spawns, and then server-hop to gear up quickly. That's not playing the game, and that is what I meant. I would add "And you know it," but I'm really starting to wonder now. What is this, I don't even... Here... Currently (the problem), high-end loot can be acquired very quickly by server-hopping around areas where this high-end loot spawns. With gated content, high-end loot can only be spawned into the game through random drops. This is a slower process, as running around and collecting these drops takes serious time and energy. This cannot be exploited by server-hopping.Gated content is all about slowing down the rate by which premium items are introduced into the world. Whatever happens afterwards is incidental. Killing people WILL ALWAYS BE a legitimate tactic for acquiring loot -- but it doesn't actually spawn loot in the first place, which means that it has zero impact on the total amount of items being introduced into the world. You are talking about merely transferring it from one person to another. If you kill another player and take his stuff, that's a legitimate way to gear up quickly. Going to the airfield and server-hopping around IS NOT. You know, you should really stop while you're ahead. I think you're embarrassing yourself. I honestly think you're being a contrarian just out of spite. Maybe even to save face, who knows. It's annoying. Please stop.

You can't "farm" keys without playing the game and getting them in the first place. The cashing out process is incidental as the mechanism for releasing the gated content has already been activated.

As for realism arguments, you could also add random zombie drops of premium-gear in addition to what I had already suggested. That, or allow for a *very* small possibility that any given loot spawn could spawn premium-gear. The "gated" effect is essentially the same. I thought this idea was more realistic because it allows for some of this gear to be found in sensible locations. But I honestly would be okay with *any* solution that allows for properly gated premium content.

I edited the OP rather extensively to clarify a few things, and explain gating content in more detail (and why I believe it's necessary).

Lord of the Flies?

I'll shoot. Brainstorming session go! Rope as makeshift handcuffs.Duct-tape + flashlight = makeshift weapon attachmentDuct-tape + kitchen-knife/machete = makeshift bayonetDuct-tape + twigs = duct-tape braceDefibrillator as a makeshift torture device (damages health)Milk powder + water bottle/canteen = Delicious milk (no more dehydrating effect)Sewing kit + stick = fishing! (needle as makeshift hook, thread as makeshift fishing line, stick as makeshift fishing pole)Sewing kits consume rags when patchingRags can be equipped for surrender animationMatches + rags/sticks + wood = starts a fireEither a pillbox, or all types of pills as stackable (limit: 3) in the inventory (ie: charcoal tablets, painkillers, water purification tablets, vitamins, antibiotics, etc)Blood test kits, epinepherine pens, syringes, and morphine auto-injectors as stackable (limit: 3) in the inventory.Blood test kit + blood bag = can test blood inside a particular blood bagPen + book = special note inside the front cover (signed copy, anyone?)Pen + blood bag = can mark a blood bag with a particular blood typeWrench and/or screwdriver = makeshift weapon repairsRunning shoes = jogging/running on roads is slightly fasterCombat boots = jogging/running on terrain is slightly fasterHiking boots = jogging is now possible on steeper terrainWorkboots = far less chance of breaking bones when fallingRegular sneakers = quieter walking soundsEat/drink-until-consumed (or stuffed) feature, with possible interruptWalking possible when changing inventory itemsCertain items add noise when moving Ruined sunglasses are cracked / shatteredLess weight leads to less labored breathing and/or faster stamina recoveryDamaged sodas/bottles/canteens leak liquid over timeCan equip canned items and proceed to beat it against objects until it busts open (vast majority spills)All I got for now.

All *business* doors open outward. This is because of major fire incidents where patrons, or workers, were trapped inside of burning buildings and ended up piling against the doors. The outward force would keep the door from opening. If you weren't trampled/crushed to death by the other patrons, you were destined to burn to a crisp. Laws in almost every country shortly thereafter changed to ensure that doors opened outward, preferably with push-levers. Source: Former firefighter and EMT.

Simple idea, some of which has been alluded to before. Here's my take, and how it could work in-game: You can put your backpack into your hands, with could be the universal "I only want to trade, I'm not a threat" sign. With your backpack equipped, you approach another player. You must be facing each other. If they have a backpack equipped also, you'll see an option that reads "Request trade." The other person then sees "Accept trade offer" and presses "F" in turn. A trade window pops up, which has four boxes: 1) Other player's inventory (left), 2) You will get (top), 3) You will give (bottom), 4) Your inventory (right). Here's a mockup I whipped up to demonstrate what the trade window could look like: The trade window would be a drag-and-drop window, very similar to the current inventory screen. You would be able to see the other person's items, helping to facilitate trade, instead of asking them what they have (and in what condition). Example usage: "Yo, I see you got mad beans, bro. I will totes trade you this sweet scope for a few cans of the stuff, ya dig?" "Sure man, that's a nice scope, pristine and all that jazz. Hellz yeah. I'm down like a prom dress, fo shizzle." "Right on brotha, let's trade like yo motha." "Do eehht!!" Once you click "Accept trade," it means you're satisfied with what's being offered, and that you're ready for trade. It then marks that you're "Ready" Once you're ready, if the other player changes what they're offering, it automatically changes your status back to "Not ready" and you have to click "Accept Trade" again to confirm any changes that player may have made. Once both parties have clicked "Accept trade" and are ready, the trade is made. "F" cancels the trade-window at any time. You're left staring into each others' beautiful eyes, holding backpacks. Where you then both proceed to wearily back up, just in case the other person decides to murder you for no good reason.Rocket mentioned how he enjoys the breadth and depth of Eve Online, which also allows direct-trading. This is a very similar approach, and is confirmed to work well. This may provide a new and interesting way to interact with other players without killing them on sight, or holding them up and robbing them out-right. Or staring at the ground, dropping items, hoping they don't axe you when you're not paying attention. Thanks for reading. And as always, beans for your thoughts.

I just choose to believe that my character is just innately awesome. I'm comfortable with that.