sheaf

Q: What do you think of adding local notification sounds and messages for player logins and logouts?

Disconnecting to avoid death, and other exploits such as server hopping are negatively affecting the overall atmosphere, undeniably. How should this behaviour be prevented? Let's assume we have at our disposal complete logs of logins/logouts (and possibly other relevant information). My personal view is as follows: It seems to me looking at the logs can only achieve so much — it'll no doubt catch blatant cases of server hopping, but I have a hard time believing it could actually address disconnecting to avoid death, for instance; that behaviour is not obvious just from the logs alone, and needs to be prevented in some other way. Providing logout timers as well as notifications forces people to go and hide (preferably in forest) to avoid making their presence obvious.

I don't think punishment should come after the fact, from looking at logs. I think the system needs to be changed to accommodate for player logins and logouts to prevent any kind of disruption. I would suggest: Logout timer: need to e.g. sit down for 30 seconds before logging out. Login and logout notifications (both in chat, and to nearby players with visual and sound). Possibly a short login timer (not necessarily needed if sufficient notification for login is provided prior to instantiation). This solves the problem more naturally, by giving players a real incentive to not disconnect in the middle of a fight, or to login/logout in crowded areas where the notifications reveal their position and put them in a tough situation.

Woah, woah. You actually might be onto something here... could we get some feedback from lonewolf players? I'm not wanting to make things easier or force playstyles, but adding some psychological tension would be awesome. Something related to being around people, that could be medicated if you want to lonewolf. Thoughts? Personally, I don't so much like making up rules to force a particular atmosphere. I find that the feelings of tension and paranoia when going alone are already well present and meaningful (as a player); making that an ingame "depression meter" seems to miss the point. When you're going alone, any sound you hear is terrifying. Maybe someone is lurking in the dark waiting for you, and no one is there to help you. That has impact. I don't see anywhere near the same impact in imposing mental states, it should instead emerge naturally from the player's actions. DayZ shines in really connecting to the player and making him feel what it can be like. At least that is my experience. I don't see the same appeal with ingame mental trauma effects. (See e.g. Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth which has a lot of those effects) Edit: I agree with what's been said before: