Yourself

I'm glad you enjoy DayZ so much, but to say that this is the first piece of original gaming in a long time is simply wrong. Sure, the most profitable games these days are for the most part forgetable and unoriginal but there is a regular treasure trove of original games out there, albait produced with much smaller budgets mainly by independent developers. Why aren't the big publishers lining up to invest in the kind of game DayZ represents? Because there isn't much money to be had in it, even with all the publicity generated at the moment. Sure, this mod has a lot of appeal, but only for a limited group. The FFA concept alone, where every player can kill everyone else without any repercussions, will act as a deterrent for most players interested in a survival shooter. A publisher is a company and at the head of these companies you have people that hardly care about creating original games, but rather about how much profit the game could potentially generate. Why invest in a standalone version of DayZ and make some money when they can simply make a new Call of Duty and make much, much more? Even if you would get a publisher to invest, they would kill the developers creativity, streamline the game so much for mass appeal that what comes out at the end is not even recognizable anymore. This is where crowd funding sites like Kickstarter come into play. I could very well see a call for funds for a standalone DayZ reaching its goal very quickly. Even then the final product won't have the same scope as the current mod-version of DayZ, since that is mostly based on the resources of an existing game (models, engine, game world), which cost a lot of money/time to make/license. ------------- Also Rocket won't be able to charge for this (the mod version), unless Bohemia Interactive take him and his mod under their wing, since I'm sure there are a lot of legal issues with charging for a mod that will only function with a game produced and sold by someone else.

I agree, half. If done right, this could be good. I'm thinking less traditional questgiver NPCs though and more hidden clues and without the whole group system. For example: you may find a note that points to a secret stash in a zombie infested area. You now have the choice to either a) attempt to retrieve it on your own b) get some friends to help you and share the items or c) try to get some strangers to help you, with all the potential risks that any interaction with unfamiliar players brings along. The clue could sometimes give a hint at what is inside the stash: a complete survival outfit, a cache of military grade weapons, an ammo dump, the location of a vehicle and parts to fix it (hidden in seperate spots) or even just plain food and water. The difficulty in obtaining the stash would have to rise with the potential reward. Clues would also be lootable. So if you stumble across a dead player with the bloody note clutched in his hands you can continue where he left off or you could even attempt to trade the note with another player (again with all the risks involved). Furthermore the clues would be linked to the stash, i.e. the items will only spawn after the person carrying the clue would get near it or interact with the hiding place (not sure if this is somehow technically possible). Just some thoughts that stumbled into my mind wanting to get out.

I doubt it's even possible for a mod to be put on Kickstarter. The dev's should overthink their "no donations, unless you want to set up your own server"-policy. I bet a lot of people would be willing to donate.

Any protection system is bound to be exploited in some way or another. If you are getting killed all the time try a different tactic, different server, get some friends to play with you or move on to another game. No sense playing something that only frustrates you. PvP is too strong a part of this game for the developers to put restrictions on it.