RooBurger

I just had an idea which would eliminate most advantages 3P has in combat while still allowing players to use it. Put a visible object in the air exactly where the player's 3P camera is. It should also show what direction they're looking. Make the invisible periscope visible. EDIT - added the concept to this image I made before:

FP while prone is better than nothing. Let's hope with all this discussion that FP-only servers become more popular.

Most people look around corners with 3rd, then pop out and shoot with 1st.

Some people actually prefer 3rdP because the hands don't look good enough? What the hell? If they were minecraft style block arms it wouldn't change the gunfight mechanics. I think head bob should be removed entirely, or be switched off by default. There's no real reason to have it. In reality you aren't conscious of that movement, there's no need to try to emulate it.

The comments on that video made my skull implode.

I agree it improves gameplay and all your other points. But for me the realism aspect is part of the reason I'd like to see 3P gone - take it out and bam, gun fights are far more realistic. Anubis, you listed other things which aren't realistic - so what? If there is a component of the game which can easily be improved in terms of realism with no sacrifice to gameplay, why not do it? Just about everything you listed is a glitch, not an intended feature of the game. How far are you willing to take this "but the whole game isn't realistic" argument? Would you be happy to have WoW style magic spells included? laser eyes? levitation? Because that's what 3P is - a magic periscope ability.

I created that picture. After debating a few people on the internet, I realised that most of them really had no idea how 3P actually affects combat dynamics, which blew my mind as it seemed so obvious to me. Sure, we're just playing a game. But there is absolutely no need to destroy the realism of gunfights by turning it into an invisible periscope battle.

You can reduce the head bob in the game settings. It's not even realistic, your eyes adjust to the movement of your body when running.

Sacriel certainly wants third person to be removed, and I'm pretty sure Frankie doesn't like it either. They just use it because it's hard to find populated FP servers. Seems like all the hardcore people want it gone.

Sun Tzu said, "He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot, will be victorious". Either fight on your own terms, or not at all. This is how I play when I'm in the mood to seriously try and survive as long as possible while still engaging bandits and any other players who I might consider a threat. I'm a fan of Sun Tzu's The Art of War, and this chart is how I apply the principles recommended in it directly to DayZ. I call the most optimal phase the "control phase" because in this situation you're the one calling the shots, whether that's fighting, talking, leaving, continuing observation, whatever. Once the situation reaches a point where the fight could be considered fair, you should either try to regain an advantage or retreat. If you cannot gain the upper hand, definitely attempt to retreat and escape. I've got no idea how other people will take this, so I'm interested to hear your feedback. Just remember everything in this chart is a generalisation, don't take it too literally.

About "Magoo" phase - yes, it's in reference to Mr. Magoo. Originally the chart just had Control and Retreat phases, but I added a third. I had a lot trouble thinking of a word to describe it. Magoo popped into my head. "Quincy Magoo is a wealthy, short-statured retiree who gets into a series of comical situations as a result of his nearsightedness, compounded by his stubborn refusal to admit the problem." It means you're completely oblivious to the problem at hand. That's why it can't be part of the Retreat phase. Retreat from what? Of course, it's a game and during gameplay these kinds of factors come into play as it's not your own life at stake. I don't always play according to that chart, sometimes I go full retard just for fun.

Exactly. I'm guilty of it myself, staying when I should leave because I feel like I should, but in reality I've lost control of the situation and now I'm just rolling the dice. Codifying phases helps me act more consistently and survive longer, rather than letting the instinct to RAMBO take over.

Well, I don't give a damn about either of those games.

This mentality is why it took so long for a game like DayZ to exist in the first place. "You have to run for extended periods of time to get anywhere? You have to eat and drink? Your legs break and you have to crawl for 2KM to find morphine? Bandage wounds or bleed to death? There's no protection from other players? You get sick and need antibiotics? Permadeath? No skills? No rules? Nothing? That game would suck!"

Pretty sure most people think it's one of the worst inventory screens ever devised. But they put up with it because DayZ is a brilliant game. Mechanics and functionality are far more important at this stage.

Glad I made the image then. I'll use it whenever this discussion comes up. I've tried a few times to explain why you're boned if your prefer 1stP, but the point never seems to get across. Whether it should be changed in the game is another matter, but at least you understand my point of view.

This is totally correct of course. My issue is that it makes firefight dynamics less realistic. Everything else about the firefights is more realistic than any other game I've played. But this one thing sticks out. This just doesn't happen. People who prefer 1stP are in the minority, so you rarely end up with a full server. So even the 1stP people head over to the other, larger servers for more interaction. So no, you can't have it both ways. I literally cannot find a single local server right now with 1stP only. I don't believe this will ever change, the backlash would be too great. I'm just voicing my opinion on why I prefer it.

Do people usually whinge this much before a game is released? I haven't followed a game this closely on the internet before. The best I could hope for as a kid was to see a screenshot in a magazine and maybe a few comments from the developers. I really appreciated the fact that they released anything at all. What I've seen from fans of DayZ blows my mind. For that matter, do developers usually create this many blogs entries, respond to their fans on twitter, forums, reddit, attend conferences, do interviews to the same degree that Rocket does? Because I'd be very surprised if so.

If your chief concern is the graphics, you're not the kind of person who would get the most out of this game in the first place. Most people bought ARMA so they could play DayZ - yet the DayZ mod is practically identical to ARMA. Ask yourself, did it matter back then? Or were the modifications Rocket made more important? Nothing would disappoint me more than if the SA was just a graphical update. The only thing I really give a shit about is what is happening under the hood. Better graphics are nice, but way down the list of priorities for me.

You've completely misunderstood. I'm not saying people are cheating if they use it. If I don't use it, I'm putting myself at a massive disadvantage. It's not a matter of preference. I'm gimping myself if I don't use it. If I choose not to use 3rdp in the game, that doesn't change the fact that others are using it. And I can't join a server that doesn't use it. So I'm stuck.

Yes, it's my personal opinion that the game wouldn't be any less fun to play without 3rd person. A lot of people would be pissed off for a while and then get used to it. Again, I'm not backing that up with evidence, it's just my opinion. I play on 3rd person servers because no one plays on 1st. When I play on 3rd, it forces me to abuse the shit out of it so I don't get killed. I've heard the same thing from other people. So they can't co-exist in reality. I think you misunderstood... or I'm having trouble understanding you. I said nothing about a perk system. It's not terribly important to me that aircraft are simulated accurately, I just think it would be cool. If this game was designed to be entertaining to the greatest number of people possible, it'd be CoD.

People had the same response to Rocket's original idea. Too hard, too unfair, too realistic. No one thought it would work, so no one tried it. Turns out it's fucking amazing.

I want to know how I should use cover in a real gun fight. Third person gives you a magical camera and breaks this, which is why I don't like it. 3rd person is not necessary to make the game playable or fun at all, it's just there because people have got used to it. I'd love to play on a 1stp server but they don't exist (with players on them). That's all I have to say, I've debated with people on here about it before and didn't get anywhere. Anyways, to me, the stress is fun. I love how unfair and random the game is. Any realism which adds to this, I'm all for it. Simulate as much as possible. I don't agree with the idea that "it's just a game people! do whatever the fuck you want, let's fly on unicorns!". If I see someone flying a plane, and it was obvious they must have a high level of technical knowledge to be flying it in the first place, that would be awesome. You might go for a month playing it every day and not see a plane flown successfully, then one zooms overhead! Shit, we've got a pilot on the server! But as I said before, there are just some points you have to concede. An abridged medical system. A thumbnail version of food, drink, sanitation. Even "permadeath" is not permanent - you can start again with a new character. But if you leave them out altogether you end up with a very different experience. How does it feel to die in CoD vs losing a week old character in DayZ?

I'm interested in the game not because of zombies, but because it's the best survival simulator I've ever seen. I've never played a game that feels this real psychologically - the stress and difficult decisions you have to make really foster a genuine experience. I say make it as real as possible. To me, things like blood bags, eating food and being instantly healed are more of a compression of time - in reality you could rest, eat, sleep, heal for months with the help of friends before you're 100%. But that just isn't practical in a game, and it's here that you are forced to part with reality, compress time, compress the actions you have to take so that it's practical as a game. You just have to decide where these points are. Personally I think it would be really cool if the aircraft lying around at the airfields required expert knowledge to fly.

What, people aren't allowed to be fans now? Do us a favour and get off your high horse, climb down that ivory tower and unclench those buttocks of righteous indignation.