BLNKY

I wish people would stop stating that you buy ARMA 2 and get Day Z as a free mod. It's technically true....but the reality is that (I believe) a very vast majority of all the copies (~1 million now?) of ARMA 2 that have been sold in the last couple of months might as well have "Day Z" written on the cover. It's an interesting situation, and not BI/Rockets fault in any way, but one they shouldn't ignore. A lot of players just payed for the game and they are now being asked to do it again. I have convinced several friends to buy the (first) game and now I will have to consider doing that once more....I think the smart thing to do would be to give a small discount (e.g. 10%) to any currently active Day Z player when buying the stand-alone....e.g. like Steam sometimes does for new games if you own a previous version (example: the S.T.A.L.K.E.R Call of Pripyat Loyalty Promo).

Anyone that follows this forum should have noticed that a very large amount of players are not here for yet another PvP-game - they are here for the survival-part - and I think Rocket et al have realized that. I also think/hope that there will be different types of modes, catering to the different play-styles, hopefully including some mode that mixes them both in a better way.

...an artist or an entrepreneur/businessman? What do you think - for the stand-alone game (not the current mod), does he still have a specific vision that he wants to realize at any cost or will he make the game that the majority of the current players want? Most obvious difference - will he/his team take steps to support different ways of playing the game, the way most other companies do, i.e. PvP, PvE etc., to make everyone (more or less) happy or will there only be one way and a "take it or leave it" attitude? I think a lot of people got intrigued by the survival aspect of the game (based on articles on gaming sites etc), bought it, and realized that there is a significant PvP aspect to the game that conflicts with the former. I already have a bookshelf/Steam-library full of multiplayer FPS:s - I'm not really in the market for another one...and if many people think like me, the stand-alone game won't be able to sell on hype as much - it will be facing a better informed audience this time. Is there an equally large audience out there for that game? I would personally absolutely love for them to find a way to mix the different modes and to make the player WANT to play it that way - not FORCE them to do it. I don't envy him/the team - that must be a tough choice...you have a vision and then other people (your potential customers), with a slightly different vision, show up....what would you do?

I agree - the PvP aspect of the game adds A LOT to it. That's why I hope they will find a way to blend the two modes...but in a way that leads to a positive experience for everyone involved and that means giving the players control over how they play it - the ability to switch between the modes and a reason to do it as well. From a business/player satisfaction stand-point, I think that is a must. I got several friends sold on the game based on the idea of what (I thought) it was - having played it, we're now slightly burned by the fact that it's not the survival game we were hoping for. I will not make the same mistake again - I will do my homework before I help Rocket and the team sell copies of the next one. Vision vs Business. Hmm...