Element47

the worst thing about this thread is not people punching other people, or people complaining about being punched, but the number of people using the term "bambi" multiplied with the number of people using the term "bambi" in wrong context.. the amount of yoloswag in this thread is too damn high

being a medic in DayZ may require a certain level of frustration tolerance. but it can also be very rewarding.

I have come to learn that game development follows its own, sometimes shifting, rules. but then, so does research. we churn out buggy proof-of-concept code and barely working demonstrators all the time, and yet the funding grants keep rolling in :) opening the alpha to the public surely was not without peril, but what are the alternatives? survival games are popping up like mushrooms after heavy summe rain, bringing early access to the public with a price tag attached allows to bind at least some of the potential demographic. with a passionate and loyal fanbase created by the mod, it was probably the best move. as for Dean Hall - he stated openly that he will not stick with DayZ once the game is released. From what i gathered from interviews and AMAs he will be opening his own studio and focusing on a new challenge after DayZ release, while DayZ maintenance and content updates remain with Bohemia

and VoiP exists solely for this purpose? and if VoiP would be removed, he couldn't warn you by other means? through any of the dozens instant messengers, like steam chat? is the next step removing any instant messaging functionality from a computer before its able to start up DayZ?

dont try the association fallacy. loot maps exist for one purpose: to reveal what you else would have to learn by experience - that military barracks spawn military loot, that police cars spawn handguns and maps, etc. VoiP does not exist for the sole purpose of reducing the challenge of the game. it actually often adds value to the game. those two have nothing in common. by trying to throw them in the same bin, you are disqualifying yourself from serious discussion.

from my experience, people who do not want to communicate via direct chat with strangers cannot be forced to do so, and people who are willing to communicate via direct chat with strangers will do so, no matter if they have 10 friends in TS3 at the same time or not. among my friends, interrupting a teamspeak convo to press capslock and shout out to another player ingame is pretty common.. in the end, if you want to change how players behave, you need to change the metagame, not the mechanics. to tell a story, when Doc Wasteland went out and started healing people back in the times of the mod while everybody else was just paranoid and shooting each other, he didnt call for a change of game mechanics. he changed it himself, singlehandedly, by introducing a component of trust. and the gameplay changed, players have seen that you can really choose your path, and there was great fun with people playing as medic, supply runners and bodyguards.. following OPs logic, the medic whitelist too is an out-of-game asset providing information that wouldnt be available through ingame means, and thus cheating, and yet it has added so much great value to the game, it has created so many great stories. you cannot simply denounce any out-of-game asset as an exploit. you need to carefully analyse how much it adds, and how much it detracts from the experience.

how is communication "spawned from utter lazy gamers"? most people i know use voip because sharing the experience and communicating directly makes it more enjoyable. the reason why this debate is led so passionately, is because this is suddenly denounced as something wrong, as something objectionable. which is imho absurd. forced ingame voip would be a gamebreaker for me and many others, who use VoiP to communicate with others who are not at the same time in the game.

there is obviously a serious problem with synchronisation between clients and server, another symptom is people seemingly running through walls, when positions are not properly synced. definitely no reason to call another player stupid though

as a HCI researcher with indie game developers among my friends, i cannot share your assessment. 1. EAA: has been open to focus groups, has been opened up following demands from the community, price tag for finished game + early access is not unusual, providing early access to early backers is pretty common by now. 2. Console: please provide quotes + sources for your statement, that console ports are imminent. In an interview with Eurogamer in Summer 2013, Dean stated: Please provide a more recent quote to support your claim of "imminent" port. 3a. Listening to the Community: If you have even the slightest experience, you know of the massive difference between listening to the community, and actually doing whatever the community demands. A strength of Dean Hall was keeping true to his own vision despite the often self-contradicting demands from the community. This is what has earned him a lot of respect. The frequent communication with the community using social media outlets like twitter and reddit (last AMA on reddit was one week ago if i am not mistaken) also adds to the impression, that the devs do actually care about the community. 3b. Updates: really? so you missed for example the changes to the backend, the separation of hardcore and regular hive, the fixes to server memory issues? Updates are been frequent, well-comunicated, and include fixes (documented and undocumented) as well as gameplay additions. Many features are tested with trusted, established community pillars before hitting the stable branch. this is as exemplary as one could wish from a game dev. 4. Promises/Timeline: you will agree that there is significant difference between setting milestones for your team, and communicating them to the public, especially on a project under such media scrutiny like DayZ.. also: I am worried about many singular aspects of the project, but not about Deans ability to realize his vision, and not about his honesty to the community.

I am sure the whole of Chernarus would be highly entertained listening to my wife quarreling with my daughters.. but to be honest, this would really detract from the "realism" feeling..

the issue is not Teamspeak 3 as a single application. there is a ton of different VoiP tools, as well as other assets and aspects that create a "meta-game". the whole anti-voip crusade is the attempt to force a certain purist gameplay approach on everybody, while hypocritically ignoring other aspects of metagaming

but having clanmates/friends in the game is cheating. a fresh spawned character knows nobody in chernarus. friends are a gamebreaking easy-mode cheat.

that was my first thought...

So you agree that playing with friends or making a clan in DayZ ruins the game as much as using TS?

according to this logic: playing with friends is cheating, its circumventing the game mechanic of a LONE survivor, who is stranded in a foreign place. in the same regard, any clans, groups or gaming communities constitute cheating. you circumvent the permadeath mechanic, as your freshspawn wouldnt know anyone from his previous life. having different graphics setting is cheating. the starting point for everyone should be the same, larger resolution, FoV, different head bobble, different input devices, its all creating unequality - all cheating. "Join Game" feature of the Steam Friendist: cheating.

soo.. he used less resources to achieve the same effect. doesnt this make him... smart?

considering my inventory management, that would be my preferred crafting solution:

use cover. move inland. drink until full when at a well or pond (yes, this means spamming the key for an extended period) and btw: drinking at ponds works in 1st person only. eat all the food you find, dont carry it around. zombies dont like hills. use it to your advantage. snipers like hills. use it to your advantage. dont get attached to your gear. dont log out when in danger. face it. embrace it.

@OP: agreed on the topic. as weedmasta and Andrestor nonchalantly pointed out, a lot is already in planning, but its good to hear it advocated.. *tips hat* excellent posting (again). i wish i could give more beans. thank you.

still not sure if attention whore or serious asset to community... but i think i like you, rick. +1

its stickied in this very subforum, so if someone missed it (like you) then he needs to learn2forum http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/159251-merinos-in-depth-video-guides-updated-jan-22nd-all-medical-items-to-keep-or-not-to-keep/ edit: of course, one cannot be reminded often enough of the fantastic work my colleague Merino has done, so beans for that. ;)

there are several successful trading venues in DayZ, FTC comes to my mind for example. the only game-enforced "safe zone" i would support would be zones in which you cannot log out/in, thus preventing ghosting

in all fairness, the fact that you can only drink in first person, and that you only drink a little sip so you have to spam the drink option is absolutely counterintuitive, i'd go so far and say this mechanic is broken and needs to be fixed someday. that said, food and drink are not that hard to find if you look closely. understanding the hunger & thirst mechanic helps too, and the forums offer every possible help imaginable. rant not justified.

heh thanks for making me smile on a dull and stressful day, brother :) edit: also great song choice :D <3