James (DayZ)

My reply to this question is' date=' why not? Is there any harm in appealing to a wider audience so long as the game remains fun? This statement here is an opinion. By the way you word it, it seems as though you are stating it as undeniable fact (I am trying not to assume though :)) I will state a few opinions of my own on this matter, and of course you are free to counter me on any you believe to be false. First of all, I am not saying it is extremely hard for one person to find another. But you cannot deny the fact that it can be time-consuming. This can be a problem for players who don’t have too much time to play each day, but perhaps those are not the kind of people who should be playing the game? I can’t say anything for sure, but it is something to think about. Second, what you seem to think, as I’ve read throughout your posts, is that the system suggested by the thread creator is one in which you can spawn on a friend at any time (noted in posts talking of spawning “up north”). I don’t believe this is what zack was referring to, nor I. What we are talking of here is a severely limited spawning system, one in which spawning in the ridiculous (I say ridiculous because I agree with you; it would be completely wrong to the way the game is meant to be played if you could) ways you have mentioned is restricted/impossible. Third (truthfully relating to my second point quite a bit), is that you must have seen the “compromises” or changes people have suggested to make this system work. Are you saying you disagree with every single one of these suggestions; that with none of them this system could be implemented properly? I would like to know what you think regarding that.

Of course I can distinguish the difference between adventuring and finding my friends. Once again' date=' what I see from you is a generalisation of the specific point I’ve been trying to make. I am not necessarily saying that finding my friends can’t be an adventure. I’ve tried to say multiple times that I don’t think this is always the case. I am simply saying the sheer repetitiveness can reach the point of being completely ridiculous, turning into both an annoying and boring action. What is so much fun about having to locate your friend every hour or so (not just once, but over and over again) just because death equals a random spawn? I’m sure to veterans of ARMA who have memorized the map it may not be a problem to have to find your friends, but to both newer and average players, it can turn into something more than bothersome. Strawman? Not to be rude' date=' but all I’ve seen you do throughout this reply is nitpick certain things I’ve said to make it sound as if the whole point I’m attempting to drive across is wrong. When I reply to you I attempt to reply to your entire message, rather than pick out disagreeable sentences throughout. I think I may repeat myself again; I agree with you, in a specific way. I do find it both authentic and rewarding to have to find your friend, and do see it as quite the challenge. But the fact of the matter is that it can be irritating to have to do it over and over again, specifically within the same gaming session. I don’t like to think that when I go to play a game explicitly with a friend that I will be spending at least 10% of that time trying to find him/her. Do you not find that annoying in the least, or do you not play Day-Z with others to often? (Note: This isn’t meant to insult; I mean it as a legitimate question)

I gotta say, I love this idea. When I first saw the post, I figured it was just a basic name change; what I wasn't expecting was the depth you went into of all the features that would be added in along with it. I love the "simple complexity" that would be added with this change, for lack of a better phrase :P The idea that my actions don't just effect the way I look but the way my character acts and reacts is actually pretty incredible. I think this feature would actually create a feel that every life is a new story. Great idea Goldstein! :D

Once again' date=' I believe I understand what you're thinking in this and while I still have to agree in general when it comes to Arma and DayZ, I disagree in particular with what I am actually talking about. Its not a matter of trying to eliminate the challenge of navigation in this game. Its not meant to be looked at as a way of softening the brutality or "dumbing" down the gameplay either. What it is, is an attempt to remove the annoyance of locating friends. This by no means eliminates the aspect of navigation in-game, as you suggest. It simply removes the difficulty of locating friends to truly begin your journey. While I agree navigation is an extremely important element of this mod (and game in general), and to lose it would be to ruin a large portion of the gameplay, I disagree with thinking that navigation should be an important part of locating your friends to simply begin an adventure. What is it about spending a good portion of your time locating friends in any way enjoyable? From what I've read you believe since it is a challenge it should be there. Following your thought process, does this mean anything and everything that makes the game more challenging is something that should be added in? Simplicity in certain aspects of a game do not make the game itself simple nor boring. What it's meant for is to make the game more acceptable to more people, which moves me on to my next point... Design by committee isn't what got the game where it is today, but there's no way for you to say this isn't the way the game is going to progress. Why then do we have a suggestion board in the first place, if the developers don't care to hear what their community has to say. Yet another post of yours I'm sorry to say I truly don't understand. I would agree that developers aren't obliged to do anything we say... but shouldn't that be obvious? This isn't a demands board, this is a suggestions board. As the name suggests we are here to ask, not demand from the developers. Any of these suggestions could be turned down by the developers without a second glance, but the point is they actually want to know what the community is looking for, to make a game that caters to them.

I really like the sound of this idea. With the proper limitations, a buddy system could definitely be a great addition to DayZ. I know one of the main reasons I downloaded the mod was to try and survive a zombie apocalypse with my friends; spending a bare minimum of half an hour just to attempt to find/reach them can be ridiculously annoying. Of course, without proper limitations this system could be abused, though I do like some of the limitations you've suggested already. I especially like the idea of a time limit, such as only being able to spawn on a friend within around 5 minutes of each of you joining the game.