jkingsbury6@hotmail.com

My skins argument is that by not having skins people play less realistically than they would with them. no skins = game becoming more deathmatch than zombie apoc. If two people encounter each other, a survivor and a bandit, and the survivor doesn't know if the bandit is a bandit or not. The survivor who represents the survival of humanity is not going to shoot the bandit. The bandit on the other hand is going to shoot the survivor dead. The bandit will always be the one to kill first. It is now too late for the dead survivor to retaliate. At some point the survivor will become sick of this being played out over and over and will become a kos-bandit type player him/herself out of neccessity and wallah dayz is now more deathmatch than zombie apoc. That is why we need different skins to prevent the game from being like that. Everyones an unknown that might kill me so i better be the one to shoot first... farms the bandit mentality until it totally takes over. No point in trying to play as a survivor with shoot on sight bandits everyewhere (might as well just join the deathmatch/bandits). Try to talk to other players they might shoot me i'l just shoot them first. If we know that players are good or bad that might be less realistic in the ideal concept of how a zombie apoc might be; but more realistic in how people play the game; which would more realistically reflect how people might act in a zombie apoc. Without skins bandits view averyone as a target. Without skins survivors view anyone as a potential threat. This way the survivors only learn who their targets are after they are shot/killed (most of the time) or shot at and missed. Eventually the survivors join the bandits out of necessity or while hopeing that another Z-apoc game will better suit their idea of realistic Z-Apoc play. Even if you can play "properly" as a bandit and kill for reasons a bandit would really kill for doesnt mean others will too. Still having no skins gives a big advantage to the bandits. If skins exist then its a big advantage to the survivors. If advantages must be given one way or another, in a zombie apoc they should go to the survivors "good guys". We pro-skins folks don't believe (or at least i don't) that there would realistically be sociopathic murders behind every tree in a zombie apocalypse. Another day in the zombie apoc where 40% of the population murders as many people as they can everyday... that is more unrealistic than not having skins. Without skins thats the end result ^^ It's a trade off but worth it.

Here's another possible solution to reduce DMing on the servers: Maybe Bandit bullets should only work on a player that has better equipment than they do. So no more senseless killings by a fully fed bandit with more food and a better gun than their victim. Also the one they wrongly tried to kill would be able to go after them as they would have the lesser equipment (forcing bandits to think twice about killing for lulz). People would then only bandit in roleplaying appropriate situations. As it is with killing for vehicles make anyone killable within a certain range of a vehicle or something. Perhaps each item would have a point value. I understand this solution is less realistic than a "real" Romeroesque zombie apoc (where everyone could do what they wanted). It is still more realistic IMHO than people playing dm within one. I'm not saying eliminate PvP altogether just the part of it that is unrealistic in a ZA. It IS unrealistic especially in a ZA to kill for no reason. Make a bunch of noise and attract possible zombies for a laugh? highly doubtful.. instead of common. Only a murderer kills for the joy of killing.. Real bandits kill for loot. Currently i feel that this game is a more of a DeathMatch with zombies than a Zombie apoc sim/mod. I still love the game just think it could be even better.

Here's a possible solution to reduce DMing on the servers: Maybe Bandit bullets should only work on a player that has better equipment than they do. So no more senseless killings by a fully fed bandit with more food and a better gun than their victim. Also the one they wrongly tried to kill would be able to go after them as they would have the lesser equipment (forcing bandits to think twice about killing for lulz). People would then only bandit in roleplaying appropriate situations. As it is with killing for vehicles make anyone killable within 50 feet of a vehicle or something. Perhaps each item would have a point value. I understand this solution is less realistic than a "real" Romeroesque zombie apoc (where everyone could do what they wanted). It is still more realistic than people playing dm within one. I'm not saying eliminate PvP altogether just the part of it that is unrealistic in a ZA. It IS unrealistic especially in a ZA to kill for no reason. Make a bunch of noise and attract possible zombies for a laugh? highly doubtful.. instead of common.

Obviously disconnecting is an easy way to get out of dangerous situations and keep all of the loot one has just yanked. even less consequence.. i just killed random dude now i am on different server he can't even get revenge if he tries... ultimate burn. feels so good to be a doosh for all those kids that get picked on at school. Yes i understand that anyone bandit or survivor can do that.. the current balsance encourages people to do this to try and balance it out. spend hours and hours only to be killed by some such person.. Anyways sorry about the rage.. Here's a possible solution to reduce DMing on the servers: Maybe Bandit bullets should only work on a player that has better equipment than they do. So no more senseless killings by a fully fed bandit with more food and a better gun than their victim. Also the one they wrongly tried to kill would be able to go after them as they would have the lesser equipment (forcing bandits to think twice about killing for lulz). People would then only bandit in roleplaying appropriate situations. As it is with killing for vehicles make anyone killable within 50 feet of a vehicle or something.

In a serious survival situation guy A doesn't kill guy B without a reason. In dayz it happens constantly. In a real situation where a horde is coming to kill 2 people guy A wouldn't be able to just kill guy B steal all his shit and dissapear to another reality before the horde gets there.

Originally i was really excited to play a game that was as close to possible to a real zombie apocalypse (ZA). However, I don't truly believe that a real Z.A. would have a high saturation of people killing other people on sight. It's not proper roleplaying if you just kill to just kill unless your roleplaying yourself as a murderer that just wants to kill as many people as possible before death (which is lame). I think the game is more of a long DM with zombies than a survival game. Maybe it seems to new players that DMing is the only way to go because that's what it mostly is and the beast feeds itself. Soon that will be all that it is... I will enjoy this game as a deathmatch if i have to.. I do love a good bloody killing spree deathmatch... but what i really want is a more realistic sim of a Z.A. I don't want it to be just a game I want it to be realistic as possible. When the zombies do finally come I doubt there will be snipers in every window shooting more humans than zombies "just for the lulz". they would be one in thousands; most people would work together to survive. The attempt at no rules for the game in effort for a greater level of realism has had the opposite effect. Unfortunately people (kids probably) can't handle playing this game maturely. Therefore we need to encourage survivor play or make bandit play less rewarding. Make all the bandits pink and glow in the dark :) Or at least make it so they can't appear kill you take all your shit and disappear to another server. In other words each server is a different persistent world where items don't transfer. I'm not saying that there aren't bandits who actually roleplay the bandit scenario. i.e. killing for loot or killing for food or killing to take vehicles, necessities etc. I am saying those "good" bandits are vastly outnumbered by shoot on sight types who kill just to kill like its a DM. Its the killing for no reason that i find unrealistic. I have not given up hope that this game can evolve into a more realistic simulation of a zombie apocalypse. That is what I wan't I can tell I am far from alone.