I actually pronounce it 'Bobcat Goldthwaite'

Your friend is a pussy.

I don't particularly like the gun jamming idea, but in principle i think your point is good. One simple thing which you already alluded to was cooking.. I mean it might not be a bad idea if you had lots of ingredients which you could combine which might give you different benefits, like more health restored or something like that.. That way, your actual knowledge of cooking and what ingredients combine to make what are what determines your skill at cooking. Maybe if we had a notepad like many people have suggested, we could write down the recipes for others. You could apply the same basic principles to medicines, or perhaps even building materials, chemical agents.. Basically just lots of things which can be combined which the players have to figure out for themselves.. That allows for very real and tangible skills and transferable knowledge within the game..

I know it's a bit cliché, but how about one of the random item drops is one of those eerie music boxes, which players could turn on and leave somewhere? Players could use it to freak others out while they're stalking them.

Well you would think that if people are that scared of their character getting killed, they could just not play the game.. That is effectively what they're doing. Nevertheless i'm sure it's not an intended 'feature' and will likely be patched.

I saw a demo for the ARMA3 engine, which showed a different stance, where the player can be crouched and yet still pop his head up and down to peer over objects and get back in cover.. It looked pretty nice, coupled with the lean feature it could work well.

Duncan?

But what sense does third person emulate? outer body experiences?

Haha.. oh dear, while sneaking up behind a sniper... Imagine his surprise when he turns around.... Ok.. I think i have contributed far too much to this.

While i agree with the OP about the merits of first person.. I really don't mind it being a server option. If some people want to use it and they're happy for their enemies to be able to use it, i don't see why they should be restricted.

That alone should be minus 1,000,000 humanity haha

And what would you suggest happens when the meter runs out?

I think it would take up too much memory to have persistent bodies like that.. Maybe someone with more technical knowledge can chime in on that.. Perhaps just some basic looking skulls might give a bit of a 'stay out' vibe though haha

Since the 'vendor' will be a real player, there is no reason you can't do this anyway.. He just decides what he accepts as a token, et voila... You will obviously lose them when you die though, that is what adds to the purpose of playing.. You're trying to survive, and you're actually trying more than other games because that character only gets one shot.. No way you should keep your things.

I think it would only be necessary for them to implement some kind of message board system or communications system.. If they did that, there's no reason why you couldn't just do what you're suggesting anyway.. I don't think there's any need for a 'new game mode'