Plepple

Yes, scrap them! One of the basic premises of the game is realism, and not knowing whether someone is a mass-murderer on a first glance is exactly the kind of tension that made me fall for this game.

Arguments from initial design and supposed back-story is completely useless in this early stage. You can always claim that a feature or the lack thereof is a product of the intended design -- and that stifles actual progress that could easily make the game much more enjoyable for everyone. That being written, I somewhat agree with the original poster. Having things like dynamic missions from NPC survivors or self-emergent objectives other than "gather, kill and live" could greatly increase replayability, which is one of the big aims for DayZ.

To clarify something, I'm perfectly aware that the lack of open houses is an issue with the map itself. There are two main obstacles to really give this game the immersion and zombie-apocalypse feeling that would make it excellent: the lack of the ability to barricade oneself and how few houses one can actually go into. Both of these features would naturally require a whole lot of work to make them even viable, but I think that the benefit tremendously outweighs the cost. Those two things by themselves could make the game into a true masterpiece, and I'm sure that many other players would agree. It's time to recognize how huge this game is becoming, and strive to make it even better. Thanks!