Magnazan

Use Dayz Commander. Easiest way to keep up to date.

The other addition to perm npc protected areas would be to have a heavily armed/protected weapons storage. This would add one thing missing from Dayz - an objective. I like the idea of Zombie zergs that would be awesome - kinda like in SIlent Hill when you hear the siren it's time to get the guns out!

Absolutely this is going to happen but that's part of the risk in being safe, plus for bandits how easy would it be to kill people sniping the safe zones... The point about having the zones tho is that within the confines of the town/village/area would be patrolling NPCs. It could also be a great place to meet up and organise groups to head out.

People seem to like the idea of fortified areas which is cool but it's still player controlled and doesn't transfer well from server to server. What I believe is a good idea is areas within cities or on the outskirts (Maybe a few around the whole map) that are protected by NPCs and offer trading/safe zones. This provides a few benefits: An area for survivors/beggars/traders to go and have some protection from NPCs - Shoot and be shot kind of deal Provides an area where Clans/Bandits can attempt to storm Offer an area to hire people for contract killings/jobs With a couple of major areas and maybe one or two villages in between it would add a nice dynamic to the whole game and provide some sort of economy. It means that there are places n00bs can go but it's still not completely safe from raiders.