scriptfactory

I can't believe this post was made almost 6 months ago. I was expecting "more" from the game by now. This is probably why I shouldn't create unrealistic expectations about DayZ development.

I have noticed that my encounters on Hardcore servers have resulted in me being KoSed less since I generally get the drop on other players. It seems that most Hardcore players are oblivious to their surroundings.

This really disappointed me. After 6 months one of my new friends finally upgraded his potato a bit. He told me that once he upgraded he would start playing DayZ so I bought him a copy. Turns out he is still running 32-bit Windows because he can't afford a new license yet. Guess what? DayZ crashes every single time after about 5-15 minutes.

I am not sure if you are talking to me or OP but every item in-game entity is the equivalent of a "hardcoded mechanic". Zombies. Animals. Bandages. Trees. Everything. The fact that it looks like a human makes no difference. You hit a tree and a log comes out. You go to this NPC and he gives you items. It is a slightly more complex AI but it would be script-driven, just like trees. It seems that you are actually against complex entities being added to the game, instead of any hardcoded mechanic. Well, complex entities like cars are fine. Just not entities that take player items and give them other items in return. An NPC trader could set a baseline for item worth, allowing for an in-game economy to form. Without setting a minimum value for items, as well as a giving an in-game item fiat worth, there would be no standard for trading. This is why Eve Online has CONCORD. Without it, the game would not exist. I was talking about this feature as a mission/mod, anyway, since BIS seems to be against any NPC that looks like a human and interacts with the player in a non-violent way. It kinda' sucks because trading simply won't work on the public hive. Too many people with a griefing/hacking/deathmatch mentality that would do whatever they could to keep players from opening up stores. Random people who join the game will simply view DayZ as the Minecraft FFA DM it currently is then leave or join the DM. Private shards would not need this as creating a player-based economy is as easy as adding a relatively safe trading mechanic that can be circumvented with some effort. A certain level of trust (and safety) is necessary for people that actually want to open shops.

I like the idea of adding NPC traders. The NPC trader could just be a person that sits in a secure, reinforced building or vehicle and will trade an in-game pseudo-currency (e.g. cigarettes, alcohol, weed, bullets, etc.) for useful items or vice versa.Players could be able to break into the trader building or vehicles, shoot the trader and steal his items but they would be banned from using any other trader on that hive for an extended period of time (> 1 month). Also, the trader would fight back with powerful weapons so it would, usually, take a group of players to rob him.These traders would not be allowed to create many new items from scratch; they should mainly be able to trade the things that players have given to them.Players could be ganked while purchasing items. No safezones.The traders could give out Bounty Lists (new in-game item) of players that were blacklisted.If you "use" a Bounty List on a dead/alive player you will be able to tell if that person is wanted.Wanted players could be turned in for packs of cigarettes or whatever but you would have to deliver them to a trader. Dead or alive.Traders could give a bigger reward for wanted players captured and delivered alive.Bounties must be persistent.If you are delivered alive to an NPC trader you are put into a small jail.No suicide in jail. You would be provided with food and water. Starving to death should take a long ass time.Your sentence could be something like 1 week, real time. You could choose not to login for a week or just serve your time in prison with the other prisoners.After serving your time in jail you are allowed to use the NPC trader again.It could be possible to break people out of jail but the player that opened the door would get placed on the bounty list as well.Could be fun. Much better than zombies or packs of wolves like H1Z1. In fact, it would be cool to play this as a mod with no zombies at all.

I really dislike hidden stats like this. I wonder how long it has been in-game. Horrible.

Private shards will be added. Play on those servers. Stop trying to force your ideas on everyone else. Alpha. No, but really. Private shards will definitely change gameplay in a positive way. I'm pretty excited to see them added.

That is an interesting thought, however vitamins don't usually cure bacterial/viral infections (antibiotics/antivirals) or the flu virus (viral infection, vaccinations, no cure). Calcium and vitamins C & D, on the other hand, all help promote bone health/"growth".

Vitamins.

You mean like Eve does with their CONCORD NPC faction, right? Because that is exactly the same thing.

I am talking about "rules" in the context that most people on these forums seem to understand them. An NPC faction (CONCORD) adds structure to gameplay. It forces players to be conscientious of their actions or face the possibility that traveling through certain areas will be extremely hard.Eve Online bans players for real-life death/rape threats. DayZ doesn't even have a mechanic to report players.The player-based economy has its own rules. Players have to trade according to the structure setup by the Eve Market. You can't just trade however you wish across whatever distance. You have to travel to your station of choice to actually make the trade.Safezones.etc. This is why I said "perhaps". If you want, substitute this word with "arguably".

All games have rules. Eve Online is, perhaps, the greatest sandbox game ever created and it has rules and limits your actions. Even DayZ has rules and limitations in the form of game mechanics like player respawn, health management and limited run speed. A game can be classified as a sandbox regardless of the presence (or absence) of rules. I would argue that the presence of rules is what has kept the Eve successful for the past 10-11 years.

What exactly do you think "sandbox" means in relation to video games? It doesn't mean FFA DM.

So, basically, you just want a better character editor because everything else is already in-game.

I think you are speaking from a real-life perspective. I wanted something more applicable to DayZ. In DayZ I have never carried much. I don't need more eyes since I am pretty good at spotting myself. More hands will not improve my survival, it isn't like you need to clean out a town quickly. There are no problems that require solving in SA so brainstorming is unnecessary to survive. The way I see it, harder survival in DayZ means people will be more likely to kill me for my coat and backpack contents.

Even when surviving is made more difficult, in what ways do you feel grouping up will improve survival? Because if resources are scarce it is easier to feed one mouth than two.

My responses are in red above. :)

Excellent write-up Evil. I will read this in-depth and try to learn some of the concepts you are talking about. Player identification in DayZ is woefully lacking. I believe that gameplay would improve if unchangeable, unique player names were shown in-game. This current player-guessing situation (akin to prosopagnosia) we currently have is fairly unrealistic and disorienting. In my opinion it is no less immersive than the status messages we currently get that tell us our character is getting warmer, colder, warmer, colder, wetter, etc. Party identification, perhaps in the form of the Arma 3 hexes, would also have a minimal impact on immersion (I hate this word) for most of us while allowing players to recognize friendlies in their communities and keep out strangers. What I would really like to see is a realistic way for players to safely interact and trade with each other. Not safezones but some kind of in-game feature like barricaded windows/doors or barricaded cars that allow players to trade from relative safety, thereby allowing for trust between players to grow organically.

Should we look at the possible outcomes? I am assuming that KoSers accept death as a normal part of the game so, for them, death isn't really a negative factor. If a KoSer meets another KoSer there will be a shootout with the more perceptive person getting a distinct advantage due to noticing the other player first. But, for the sake of argument, let's say that there is a 50% chance of death for either player in this scenario. The surviving player gets all gear from other player.If a KoSer meets a non-KoSer the aggressor will most likely win. Let's say that there is a 75% chance of death for the non-KoSer. The surviving player gets all gear from other player.If a non-KoSer meets another non-KoSer then the best than can be hoped for is a can of beans or an untrustworthy traveling companion.So if we just take these three scenarios into account, along with the fact that KoSers don't care if they die, it appears that always choosing to KoS will more often result in an advantageous position for the KoSer, especially as their skill with the game increases and they are able to put themselves into more advantageous positions over other players. Do you see the situation differently?

I actually never said KoS is a win-win situation. I am merely talking about advantages/disadvantages when two random groups/players encounter each other in DayZ. Not the outcome. The non-KoSer is immediately placed at a disadvantage.

I am not an economist. I was only talking about the advantage/disadvantage upon entering into a scenario based on a violent/non-violent strategy. Could you explain why you think DayZ is more like a Hawk-Dove game, though? :)

This is the only reason ANYONE ever doesn't anything "good". There is always an intrinsic or extrinsic reward of some kind. Humans are just selfish creatures. I'm sick of this getting thrown around. Societies form because humans are social creatures. It is a part of human psychology (and physiology) to make friends and create groups/communities. Just because there is no society (singular) does not mean societies (plural) will not form. KoS is implicitly encouraged in DayZ. I wrote something on Reddit about this today:

Empty as in "no people".

I would love to see an "average population density" map released for SA. I have a strong suspicion that the strong KoS/DM prevalence in Berezino is by design. I believe that this is where the devs eventually want people to create homes and communities after barricading is added. There are three things necessary for my theory to be tested and they are all planned features or in development: 1. Barricading and door locks (of course). 2. (Safe) player trading (e.g. reinforced trade windows/doors). 3. World containers. After these features are added I feel that Berezino will become a new place. How can someone DM against someone barricaded inside of a house? Might as well see if these people have anything I need to go fight the bandits/snipers that are camped in the area surrounding Berezino looking for easy prey. Well, I mean, if hackers don't ruin the game experience for everyone with their new grenade carpet bombs.

I don't think we have seen true innovation in the sandbox/open-world genre yet. Games like DayZ SA are incredibly derivative of previous titles. I say this because it brings little to the table that we haven't seen before and, based simply on the list of desired features I have seen, it never will. At its core DayZ is simply a realistic version of Minecraft with guns and the possibility to torture other players. Compared to other games in the zombie-horror genre it is even lacking. The only thing I have seen that will, eventually, differentiate DayZ from other zombie games is the focus on survival and modding that BIS wants to bring. If they do not bring an extensive survival experience and/or excellent modding tools DayZ SA will have the same CCUs as DayZ Mod in 2 years. The competition is just too strong. So, I say, bring on the harsh conditions necessary for a survival game. Ignore the tears from KoSers and deathmatchers. I want to play a fair, but unforgiving, zombie survival horror game like I was promised.