bibbish

A war-torn world. Few safe havens. Ruined climate. Boat crashes. It's all pretty bleak. Sure it needs some work, but I think it fits well.

I liked that one. Would add atmosphere and once you are dead and have respawned you don't have to worry about not being able to play while someone chops your old body up.

Sorry hang on you are implying that some players would tie a person up, rob them, leave them and not kill them. Right. Well depending on if killing is a big deal in SA or not. But like you said 'I'm a bandit, so id pop em', so I can't see many people being left alive after being robbed. But maybe...

Admittedly I don't watch them, no. Thanks for posting that. I noticed a few things. As what Rocket is demonstrating there is pre-alpha we're going to a have to assume that the info you have learnt from it may end up being incorrect and what I have concluded may also be incorrect. Firstly Rocket says that the player will be able to break out of the restraints after a couple minutes. The trouble with this is that he is talking in a very casual way, as he is in the rest of the video. I don't think he gave us a fact there, he didn't say 'characters in good health can break free of restraints in 120 seconds' or 'characters with good lock-picking skills do this faster'. I think he was giving a very general idea of how the mechanic will work. Secondly I think that if the character who is restrained is able to break free of handcuffs without any form of tool things have just become a bit too unrealistic. Or more specifically, it doesn't feel very authentic to the game experience. Maybe further down the line players will be able to conceal a lock-pick, hair-grip or paper clip on their person which a captor cannot find unless maybe they kill them and give the body a good inspection? These items could have durability too, like everything else. There would be risk for the captor, if they use handcuffs the captive person might pick the lock, if they use rope they may struggle free or cut it with a sharp stone or glass from the floor. Not knowing and the risk involved is part of the fun. But breaking free of handcuffs with no tool at all feels like a mechanic for the sake of it and too 'gamey' in my opinion. Next I noticed that the 'struggling' animation seemed far too obvious. Maybe the harder you struggle the faster you break free? That would be good, because the captive player would work towards breaking free, taking the chance to struggle harder when the captor's back is turned. As the mechanic exists now it is really obvious what the captive player is doing and should be far more subtle, a small movement you would have to watch closely for. As Rocket mentioned the captor would just tell them to stop and if they didn't would shoot them in the face. I've watched things like 24 and many films where the protagonist will be breaking free of restraints by using something sharp like a piece of glass to cut cable ties or tape behind their back, in the mean time they are distracting their captor. The distracting conversation is usually an emotional exchange. The trouble is if a random on the internet captures me I have no emotional attachment to them, I can't distract them with talk, especially when my character is flailing around like a fish trying to magically get free of handcuffs. This all adds up to a captor or group watching their prisoner. Every time they try to 'hold down' the button; to struggle free of their restraints they are told to stop. Sure I might be able to break free of my handcuffs in two minutes, but if my progress is repeatedly halted or even reset I could be there for a much, much longer time. Which takes me back to the point in one of my earlier posts - if I can't do much or anything when I am caught (such as ready a concealed weapon, get up and headbutt the captor), except 'struggle' which will only cause me to be told to stop, then I will get quite bored. To be perfectly honest when I see what Rocket is doing in the Devblog the whole restraints thing feels different. On the one hand it is a noble effort to add a new gameplay element to a game which is known for thinking outside the box. It is worlds apart from the OP's post suggesting that once people are restrained they can be hanged. It doesn't seem as 'sick' when Rocket explains it. But on the other hand, these mechanics are very raw. Everyone keeps on saying THIS WILL BE IN THE GAME ROCKET SAID SO, but I think the restraints idea is actually a little naive, unless it is rather intricate and brings interesting gameplay experiences to both the captive player and the captor, well then I can only see it being abused by trolls. If a person from X clan comes up with the idea to get captured by Y clan because he knows he can use his concealed lock-pick and weapon to break free and wreak havoc inside their base, well that would be interesting. Y clan would want to capture him though, they would have to believe that he has an uber rare item and if they hold him long enough he will give them the location. I think as you can see from my long post and very farfetched ideas about concealed lock-picks, struggling mechanics, clans and getting caught on purpose, I wouldn't be surprised of this mechanic didn't make it to the finished game because it is just too hard to balance. Other than a power trip/bullying I can't believe someone would want to take another player hostage, surely no information or rare item location is worth all that effort? On top of all this I can't see that that any player on the receiving end of this treatment would be 'happy' or 'accepting' enough of it to happen, simply because DayZ SA is a game, a simulation yes, but also a game which should be fun, and it is very difficult to extract fun out of being tied up. (Kinky stuff aside). Finally as hinted at above, balancing realism with playability when it comes to breaking free of restraints in an unscripted game where all characters are human controlled would be a nightmare. I think this mechanic simply isn't worth the effort. The bugs, hackers, lore, items, things to 'do', disease and possible 'end game' are more deserving of time if you ask me.

That story you told is pretty amazing yes. I think what is key and very different there is that you were doing a lot of things during the hunt. Looking, hiding, avoiding zeds, trying to fight back. While also surving, presumably if you ran you had to drink, if you were hit you had to bandage. Rocket is going to have to balance 'restraints' pretty well otherwise, no I may not buy SA. Unless the chances for 'escape' are pretty numerous/interesting I won't be tied up for 30 minutes if I am 'caught'. I think, honestly, that the majority of people would find that situation interesting the first time, the second time they would stop to show a friend and the third time would turn them off from playing the game. As we don't know what the 'escape' mechanics are yet I think we will have to put a pin in this. Game-play wise if there are things to 'do' while tied up (ready a concealed weapon, try to pick the handcuffs or break the rope, get to your feet and head-butt the captor etc) then maybe it might be fun, but if for 25 of those 30 minutes I am sat doing nothing well that's just boring. Realistic but boring.

The mere threat of just one person on the server having something like this does indeed add needed tension. I like it.

KoS to avoid server lag by people placing like 10 heads each. All those heads might look a little stupid. Of course a clan could place a head each, imagine coming across six heads in the woods. A good warning.

While OP may need a little therapy I think this is a good idea. :P We'd need to find a way to stop people putting heads everywhere though because it would get a little boring/weird. Maybe the limits could be: One head placeable per personAxe required to cut off head (since SA will should have lots of melee weapons no hatchet or fire axe means no decapitation)Knife/machete required to make stake Risk of disease, like someone else mentioned. (Since SA would have lots of different illnesses you would have to be ready in case you got one)Stakes can only be placed in soil, not in roads or stone or wood, maybe not inside buildings (?)

I agree, parents need to take responsibility. I wouldn't let my kid play DayZ.

But at the same time the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one. You are right, it probably wouldn't be worth the effort.

I wasn't aware of this. But yes, I agree, if your character, gear etc was entirely separate that would be fine.

Capo, I think you put it much better than I did. Basically there are 24 hours in a day. 10 of mine are taken up travelling and working, I require 9 hours sleep. That leaves just 5 hours. I'm not going to waste more than a couple minutes while some guy I have never met before walks me across a 225km square map or puts me in a vehicle just to kill me. Sure if it took 30 seconds it would be pretty interesting and if it was a friend who had caught me it might be funny. I agree with many though that we should not be held hostage just so some sick guy can either enjoy having a victim or hanging someone or both. Anyone who thinks otherwise I would think is trolling or mental. SalamanderAnder please don't be rude to people because they point out flaws in ideas and don't want their precious time wasted. I think someone being lead to be hanged (yes hanged everyone, hung means something else) in a TV show of a similar ilk like The Walking Dead or say in some film may be interesting and dramatic, but in a game when you want to be DOING things it would be very tedious. We are not cowards for not wanting strangers, on the internet, or otherwise to waste our time.

Hold up one sec. I'm no combat logger. What we have to do here though is remember that we are talking about a game and a game is meant to be fun. This is probably down to personal taste but when I have scavenged for gear for days and get shot, or even carelessly eaten by zoms I feel pretty gutted. I accept it though because having high stakes is what makes the game enjoyable. I then respawn and start collecting and playing again, because that is one of the most fun bits. (Just like leveling up in WoW is more fun than end game raiding to some). I must enjoy things being very challenging because I also play games like Dark Souls, despite not being the best gamer in the world. I know I have a slightly sadist streak in me. The 'dire gameplay scenario' we are talking about here however takes things a bit too far in my opinion. If you shoot me I can respawn some place else and carry on playing. I accept that you have looted my corpse. I SHOULD NOT be able to CHOOSE a nearby spawn and regain my gear. I SHOULD be able to carry on playing and have fun again like I described above. However being tied up and then not allowed to have any more fun for 1 minute, 5 minutes, 30 minutes, 7 hours... well I'm sure you can see that you would have just taken away my ability to 'play' DayZ. This would only work on roleplaying servers where killing other players came with a penalty and you were unsure what to do with me and I had an entire clan of players coming to rescue me. The reason I might consider logging if I was tied up and then creating a character on another hive or something is because I am not going to sit about, while tied up and you decide what to do with me. You can see how that mechanic is ripe for abuse by trolls, surely?

I see the distinction OfficerRaymond... I'm on the fence because I enjoy the feeling that a bandit might get me at any moment if I'm not careful.

This sounds like a form of bullying. Keep me in game? What if I turn my PC off? This may be fun for the two or more players who have caught another player but surely it would either be very distressing for the victim, or just boring? What if I took a day off work to play DayZ, stole some beans from your tent and you tied me up? I wouldn't stay online for hours pleading that you don't kill my character and let me go. I'd create another character and go merrily on my way. Stringing up corpses is a good idea though, I agree with you and the OP that hanging bodies, dead ones, from trees or posts would add atmosphere and serve as a warning to certain types of players. Yes, I can see how it wouldn't 'wash' in many countries though.