Feedback on status of infectious diseases in DayZ

[knifely 34]

Why not have the info available in game?

I think the idea is we'll find bits and pieces of info.

Not that it matters, because you know there will be a guide on one of the sites within a week of release. Then you just decide if you want to 'cheat' or not

[Bludy 324]

the worst part should be recognize the disease, because they have a lot of common symptoms and you cannot really distinguish between viral or bacterial meningitis without complex analysis for example, especially if you have 40°c of fever...the posology and indication for therapy should be in the description of the medicine, and about this i'd loke to ask:

antibiotics require multiple assumpionts, will be this ingame?

[Michaelvoodoo25 3120]

The apocalypse just became more realistic! Not only do you have to contend with zeds, now you have to be careful what you drink and what you wear!

Now, when? I can not wait any longer!

[ImageCtrl 719]

Why not have the info available in game?

Not shure if I´m right, but I remeber that rocket want zero displays on screen. All Infos you need are ingame (sound of cough, hands blody etc.). I love this idea, don t like displays like blood, humanity, murder.. etc on screen.

All infos you need u get ingame by feeling it.

[steve t 32]

It sounds way different to what I imagined. In a way a whole different approach to what we have been playing up to now.

I do not know enough to comment on whether or not I like this, at this stage.

I am no expert and I am not a creative type person, so I trust the judgement of the developer. To me it translates to taking the game into the direction of a medical simulation, but as long as there is a good balance between infection and cure, and creates interaction between players, it should provide us with an interesting game path.

[Mandalore (DayZ) 76]

So we *should* be able to avoid getting diseases simply by only drinking and eating from cans, avoiding melee combat and not wearing stuff we found. Right?

[sarge11111 22]

Thanks Rocket (and crew) for taking the time to really perfect the concept and mechanics in realism of the standalone.

Although I'm dieing for the release of the standalone, I really appreciate you guys not hurrying a product out just for the sake of competition. I will continue to wait.

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

So we *should* be able to avoid getting diseases simply by only drinking and eating from cans, avoiding melee combat and not wearing stuff we found. Right?

If that was the case disease wouldn't be an issue in third world countries or after disasters anywhere else.

[Bludy 324]

more than calculating with a table if someone will get an infection doing something, it would be interesting if a source would be judged infected when the server restarts, so maybe a number of zombies or a lake or a certain number of wild animals, or a town :-) and then starting the table of probabilities for every player who makes contact with the source

[ImageCtrl 719]

Server restart was the mod. SA have new serverstructure, no need for restart if i remember right. Correct me if I m wrong. :D

[Rage VG 4033]

Now, I'm no medical student but I believe even though there are vaccines to some of these, there are (as far as I know) no cures for meningitis? Maybe that's just me being a doltz, but if that is the case, can we assume that some of these diseases (if caught) can be a terminal sentence?

Don't want to seem like I know better or 'owt, because I sure as hell don't - I'm stoked that there's been so much consideration and work put into a tiny aspect of DayZ.

I had meningitis when I was 10, I do believe there's a cure.

[terrvik 2409]

Not shure if I´m right, but I remeber that rocket want zero displays on screen. All Infos you need are ingame (sound of cough, hands blody etc.). I love this idea, don t like displays like blood, humanity, murder.. etc on screen.

All infos you need u get ingame by feeling it.

By in game I imagine it should be possible to find medical journals and stuff that fits in the world. Like when a third arm is growing on your backside you must go to a hospital and do some research on why this is happening. Might be a alot of work and text and stuff but anyhow. Would definitely prefer this over yet another reason to read up on DayZ-wikis and such.

[dallas 5195]

I love this.

You can't trust anyone in Chernarus, but now you can't even trust trustful people in Chernarus.

I really like the idea of friendly players, insisting on keeping distance to eachother out of fear.

I also predict, instead of the ingame hat shop, Rocket and his brother are planing to sell ingame medical consulting for real money. Btw. what happens if you misdiagnose a common cold and eat all kinds of wrong antibiotics?

Edited November 21, 2012 by Dallas

[rocket 16567]

Based on my systems tests so far, Cholera is going to be a major, major killer. An outbreak of Cholera on a server could well trigger a huge number of deaths. If you find a cache with a Cholera vaccine, you will be able to make yourself a very rich person.

[SmashT 10907]

It's not going to be a one-stop shop at the hospital to get everything is it?

[rossums 2190]

Based on my systems tests so far, Cholera is going to be a major, major killer. An outbreak of Cholera on a server could well trigger a huge number of deaths. If you find a cache with a Cholera vaccine, you will be able to make yourself a very rich person.

I like the sound of things, especially the diseases - this will force players to think a bit differently, especially with time constraints and the side-affects of an illness.

How rare do you plan on making the vaccinations?

Antibiotics as the game stands are very hard to find - are the vaccinations for the more common illnesses going to be easier to find?

[dallas 5195]

Always loved reading about these different deadly virus like debuffs in MMOs, that would spread from a single new monster and wipe out entire servers, when players tried to flee the outbreak.

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

For me the whole disease system will be the biggest game changer in the future if it's implemented well. As well as the zeds and basic survival I'm pretty sure in this sort of scenario disease would be the biggest concern for survivors. The potential of the game dynamics it could introduce are pretty fascinating and would move the whole genre ahead leaps and bounds.

[mr_chabowski@live.co.uk 2416]

This project sounds more and more ambitious every day.

I look forward to seeing how I fare as a diagnostician/taxi driver.

Are we going to have an overdose or resistance mechanic, so some smartass doesn't just munch all the antibiotics under the sun "to be on the safe side"?

I imagine all the "balance" issues will come out in the wash. The first wave will be a doozy.

EDIT: So excited I had to correct my spelling!! :D

Edited November 21, 2012 by Chabowski

[ketsa 41]

Make this happen.

I have AIDS to cure.

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

I've just had a thought too. Fed up with that clan ruling the server? Send one of your disease riddled members in as a new recruit and watch their numbers drop rapidly. Either that or poo in their favourite water source.

Edited November 21, 2012 by Fraggle

[dallas 5195]

When we're locking down the standalone for hacking, it would be nice if data mining was made harder by encrypting the files. I feel like some of the game mechanics were too quickly mastered, because meta-gaming became so predominant.

Edited November 21, 2012 by Dallas

[badbenson (DayZ) 38]

Many of these conditions will only really affect late-game characters.

i don't want to be the party pooper here but i don't see myself looking for a cure if the best cure is suicide and respawn. also there are many players playing in "PvP rush mode" respawning several times a play session. how will the whole system make diseases like this actually make sense?

why would i try to stay alive longer and build labs and shit to be prepared for a disease, if someone just playing for PvP, running around the map (perfectly healthy all the time due to PvP related respawns) in search for players, will eventually find it and destroy it just for fun?

i'm not saying i don't like the idea but i already see people giving their gear to friends/putting it in their cars so they can respawn to get rid of a disease.

this is just something that comes to mind if you think about those diseases put into a game that works like the mod dayZ.

so wouldn't it make more sense to make atleast parts of the disease (maybe not the state of the disease but the mere fact of being infected with it) travel over to a new character? so people are forced to deal with it and accept it as a part of the whole experience.

not trying to make it sound bad...just thinking out loud here.

it's just that my experience with games in general and dayZ especially is that people will find the most effective way of playing the game and play it that way. so why would someone go into town to find antibiotics and risk his life AND gear if he could do what i said before and save the gear and only lose his life? which is a very temporary loss in a game. :P

so to make it short: will this make sense in a broader perspective or will it just be a factor/hassle for those players who avoid other people?

[RiggsUK 69]

Cynicism alert!

I predict 5% curing themselves, 20% die looking for a cure and 75% say "guys im sick, gonna respawn"

[rocket 16567]

so to make it short: will this make sense in a broader perspective or will it just be a factor/hassle for those players who avoid other people?

In the real world disease isn't really about the individual, treatment and vaccination protocols are also never implemented with regard to the individual - they are about populations. Most of the diseases listed have at least the majority (sometimes the vast majority) of people asymptomatic (carriers, no symptoms). That is where trying to get some level of civilization going becomes really important if you want your population to survive longterm. It gives the most tangible reason of all for wanting to group up formally - the ability to make your world habitable for longterm habitation.

The majority of people will survive most of those diseases with a few problems, so I don't think suicide will be as much an issue as folks here make out - especially when you just found that rare parka and some nightvision...