Cooldown is an awful idea. Unless you and your friends are a bunch of tards and hanging around the coast, if you die it's gonna take you at least 15 minutes to get somewhere. So if you die there's still a strong possibility that you'll lose all your gear. I've been alive for 8 days so all these people bitching about PK'ers are just crybabies that made stupid choices and paid for it. Or got unlucky, it happens. I rarely come across another survivor and when i do i ignore them and wait for them to pass through unless they make an approach towards me, then i shoot them, better safe than sorry. As far as the whole "The game is turning into a deathmatch" argument. I can't say it hasn't some people don't make it their goal to survive for a long time, some people just want to go looting for the night and if they die, oh well, they'll do it all again tomorrow. That's just how some people play. Stay away from other people if you don't like it.

Far as i know the only SVD in Day Z is the Camo one.

Some people just don't understand the meaning of Alpha testing. Seriously most games aren't even playable in alpha, this game is honestly more stable than release candidates for a ton of AAA games. We get more and more features and content every release. No one should have to set you goals in a sandbox game that's about surviving, your goal should be to Survive and gather useful items. Maybe start helping new players out before they meet someone that's gonna stab them in the back and make them shoot everyone on sight. Take a castle and get some tents to stockpile ammo and guns. My biggest regret right now is i'm running around with rare guns, grenades, smoke grenades, and a ton of other desirable items and no where to store them, i am in dire need of a regular server to play on and a tent.

I want to see the VSS Vintorez since it's already in Arma 2, it should probably be the rarest rifle in the game considering it's damn near silent and has a pretty long effective range. As for melee weapons, it's been said time and time again, Arma 2 does not support Melee, it's not worth the trouble.

Throw a tin can or whiskey bottle at the person 1up if you peg them with it and send them into shock, lol.

Here's the problem i see with the current Hunger and Thirst mechanic. First of all I'm and outdoorsman with experience in both Artic and Desert backpacking. You don't get hungry and thirsty this frequently, the Current HUnger and Thirst Mechanic is more of an annoyance and immersion breaker than anything else. You can go 30+ days without food in a real Survival situation, and 4-7 days without water. I end up having to drink a water bottle almost every 45 minutes to stay alive in Arma 2, so either my water bottles are holding about 2oz of water, or the system is entirely flawed. I log in and nearly die fumbling for food and water out of my backpack, it breaks the immersion. My suggestion is to make the food and water mechanic more realistic, and have hunger and thirst impact your characters performance. Getting dehydrated run slowed blurred vision ect, all the way up to what the current system does, but slow the time scale drastically. I have 8 water bottles just in case right now, reastically i should only need 4, TO remain properly hydrated i should be drinking 3-4 water bottles within a 24 hour time span, and eating 2-3 cans of beans/meat. If i start getting hungry i should get the effects of low blood sugar, making it harder for me to aim, ect. I love the fact i have to eat and drink, but I think the time scale is entirely too exagerated, when there are other consequences that could be implemented durring the in between periods. Right now the mechanic just breaks the immersion far too much Overheating is an idea that's being thrown around now the the temperature system is in play, when can play into all of these factors. Too hot, drink more water ect(BUT PLEASE DO NOT IMPLEMENT THAT WITH THE CURRENT RIDICULOUS DRINK 20 GALLONS OF WATER IN 10 HOURS WE HAVE NOW), With lootable outfits coming soon we can look forward to outfits having different temperature scales. a Raincoat for example will help you keep your temp up in the rain, but wearing it in the day time while running all day is definitely not advisable. Ghillie suits would obviously be incredibly hot too. Which brings on the whole idea of an weight system slowing and speeding your movement which i didn't think of until just now. Anyway, sorry for the jumbled mess of ideas, i should have really outlined my ideas before the post but these are my suggestions to promote long time playing and less DM on the coast.

Arma 2's engine doesn't support Melee, the Zombie attacks are actually AoE damage. There are no Melee weapons in Arma, and honestly if something gets that close to you, you weren't paying attention enough, it should have already been shot.

You can't choose gender, this mod is in Alpha. That means that it's not even close to an official release, currently we are just testing it it. The majority of the updates currently are probably going to go towards code and not things like character models, because game stability is a lot higher priority right now than aesthetics. Maybe when it's in alpha we might see some more aesthetic options, and maybe a VSS Vintorez

Go out in the woods and live for a week, that's what i'm doing.

You need the commercial release to run Day Z, that means Arma 2 and Operation Arrowhead, it's not compatable with Arma 2 free, because Arma 2 free is not Arma 2, notice how they tacked a Free on the end of it do differentiate the two?

I'm down. add dlorT on steam, ignore the trollish nature of my name, i'm primarily a scavenger, i don't waste bullets on morons unless they're acting funny. Hit me up and we'll meet up on a server, and teamspeak and talk politics, i've got a group of players http://steamcommunity.com/id/Hadet/

Travel in groups, obviously you're an easy victim if you're lone-wolfing it. Having the database mess up and put me on the coast at the moment, and continually not sync my position is what's upsetting me, I can't get out of the cities which means i can't get away from other players. I generally avoid other players and observe them if i see them. If you're stupid enough to go running gung-ho into an area without properly scouting it, you deserve to die. Someone is going to kill you, there's two things that go through my mind when i see another player. "Watch him" or "get out." I usually choose to watch them, i'm not for killing another non-hostile player and most other players will generally leave you alone, or even help you. If you're on the coast getting sniped by bandits, yeah it sucks, get off the coast that is the solution. There's not good loot in the cities, getting a gun that makes a ton of noise is a death sentence unless you're playing with other people. My suggestion is the head to the nearest smaller town, and get yourself a hunting knife and matches. The CZ 550 is great for killing livestock at a distance as well keeping an eye out for other players. Watch what they do, if they're scavenging and avoiding Zombies chances are that player is going to be experienced and friendly. If they're in a group with other players, offer to join them on teamspeak or something. Or avoid them entirely wait for them to leave and go about your business. Encountering other players is tense for a reason, there's limited supplies. I've robbed players for water without having to kill them before. I've even had a random players give me first aid. Once you get some good gear though, avoid other players you don't know unless you see them working together with survivors in side chat.

I think the amount of time it's dark outside is incredibly realistic, the problem here lies with the pitch black levels of darkness. You literally can't play, you can't see your gun in your own hands without turning your gamma and brightness up. NVG's really help but i've only ever had them once. A flashlight is definitely a nice addition and the G17 had one attached to it, but the Flashlight is still decently useless in that level of darkness. I'm all for light sources alerting zombies and other players, that's realistic, what's unrealistic about it is the fact that i can't see a zombie 3 meters in front of me, without raising settings in Gamma and Brightness. This and the fact that i can't see the loot on the ground means i run a real risk of starving to death in the night. Speaking of which i'm pretty sure you can go weeks without eating, that's another issue for another time though. I just feel i shouldn't have to drink a liter of water and eat a whole meal every hour or two.