Feedback on status of infectious diseases in DayZ

[Very Ape 748]

So, I assume you'll have the option to boil all of your water?

As long as the player can take preventative measures (preferably long and annoying measures, so some people do get careless) to prevent disease, than this is an excellent feature. Say, if I happen across a pond, filling up my water bottle won't be enough. By lighting a fire to boil it, I'm potentially disclosing my location to other survivors.

Edited November 28, 2012 by All Powerful Ape

[Guest]

Rivy is spot on, adding complex mechanics that will require "thinking and challenges" wont, because everyone is just going to create / use a wiki that will allow them to figure everything out much easier. The reason DayZ is so challenging is because there isn't any complex mechanic forcing you to deal with complex situations, but rather complexity comes from the simplicity of the game. From planning your route in and out of a town to trying to hunt down some bandits carefully, players create their own complexity because of how open ended and simple it is. Games like minecraft are the same; it doesn't have any complex mechanics, yet you have thousands of people who have built and made extremely complex things using redstone and building etc. Adding complex mechanics wont improve immersion, it will prevent it.

[mr_chabowski@live.co.uk 2416]

A lot of these conditions will be, superficially, very similar. A wiki will be all but necessary.

If to identify the symptoms of a disease, you must pay attention/inspect, then that's using the most simple mechanic available.

[Rivy 32]

^Then I hope they find the balance between words popping up saying "You've got a new disease: Cholera !" and "What the f**k is wrong with me I already took 5 different antibiotics and I'm still coughing ?!".

This new addition has huge potential for endless frustration, let's see how well it fares xD

[Guest]

If you cure yourself of a disease wouldn't your body then become immune to it? Then your own body becomes an invaluable cure for disease, and you can create endless cures with your blood that you can give to others. This will also encourage people to kidnap you so they can get your blood, so it adds a whole new aspect to PvP. Or maybe I'm wrong about this...

[mr_chabowski@live.co.uk 2416]

Depends. Virus' and Bacteria adapt and evolve. I guess that's why they're so dangerous.

I don't think you could catch the same virus twice, but it could potentially spread around many, many others and come back in the form of a different virus.

There aren't very many anti-viral vaccines in existence. And anti-viral drugs are specifically engineered AFAIK.

I think the best way to cure a bacterial infection is by killing the bacteria with antibiotics.

Not sure what you'd have to do to someones blood to steal their antibodies....

....no harm in trying though, eh?

Edited November 28, 2012 by Chabowski

[malau 11]

Remember, those articles are written from the perspective of epidemiologists dealing with populations not with individuals. Dead bodies have a negligible long term impact on the spreading of epidemics. I.e. your dead body sitting around is not going to cause the population much trouble (unless, of course, you have cholera, and when you shit your pants as you die, it falls into a pond... and then the water source becomes infected for those not adequately boiling their water).

But, that dead body will present a very real problem to anyone immediately looting it. Even your own fingernails continuing growing for some time after you die, certainly the diseases talked about here are nearly all spread either by faeces, urine, or blood. Hep has been shown to stay around for an extremely long time. Your faeces don't immediately change much upon death, as your bowels are regulated by natural bacteria anyway and it takes a few days before they start losing their battle or taking over entirely. So at least for a few days, your body presents a very real individual problem to anyone coming across it. But it presents no great danger to the population, unless you shit in peoples water or mouths as you die.

So, will there possibly be in the Standalone - surgical gloves, face mask, water purification kit etc as new in-game items to negate the above infection routes mentioned above ?

[wolfstriked 143]

I am all for a game world that has items galore that are at first sight useless but can be crafted into useful items that are life saving.

empty cans+rags or sand=water filter

clean rags+alcohol=bandages

thread+needle=suture kits

clean rags+peroxide+thread+needle=medkits

alcohol+weed=cure for the apocalypse blues

Stuff like this can be found all over the place at low spawns so people can actually not have to run down to a hospital for bandages(should only spawn in hospitals then).For the water filter,there are maps with clean looking water and maps that have green disgusting looking water.If the water is clean looking then just a boil will suffice but if it looks very dirty then filtering and boiling would be necessary.

The more items the better for immersion IMO.

Instead of that huge ass tool box have a tool pouch instead that you find individual tools for spread thruout the lands toolsheds and industrial buildings.Wirecutters to jump vehicles is one example but we all know certain tools for certain jobs is what the real world lives on.

[zimsabre 10]

Wow I'm going to get infected for sure :( can't escape all of that ha! .. Zed suicide is the only escape.

[logan23 118]

I can just imagine there will be that one player who will try to get every disease in DayZ, just to see if they can.

[finkone 320]

<- this guy.

[logan23 118]

Oh Reaper 3, lol

Most players will have a player diary -writing down ways to get well and make meds,....while you...Will be writing ways of getting sick and checking if you get all the symptoms so you check off the disease as having it.

I can only imagine the reaction to the player who finds your body and see this note and think,...I think i might have just got every disease by looting this body,..doh!?

[mr_chabowski@live.co.uk 2416]

[*Regulator* Jackeroo 14]

Interesting,

Few things come in mind.

One thing to make sort of skill, to become real doc ingame for people (exsample, skilled doc could do "check body" and determine what disease you have etc etc)

I know lots of people are agains any skills but something should be made to value the actual character, not just the gear... here is one good thing for that, and much more should be added for everyone to learn.

You could be able to find handbooks etc from hospitals that doctors use to check things and learn, not just only medical but other things.

I love that idea, then there would actually be some real value in players. For example, in a group of your average bandits, a couple of people have caught a bad disease. They spot a doctor, and instead of killing him straight away, they hold him up and ask for his help and expertise.

Also, maybe we could do that with other things. Let's say someone becomes a skilled mechanic by reading pamphlets and books he's found. They find a couple of players with a problem concerning their car that they can't diagnose or fix. The mechanic then sorts out the car and moves along... This kind of thing might include ammunition forgers and possibly, for base building, plumbers and carpenters if you want to make something more advanced for your house.

BUT, I can imagine some fantastic sabotage situations coming from this idea. So those couple of players that needed their car fixed are found by the mechanic. The mechanic fixes their problem and secretly plants a car bomb in there. The car bomb thng would probably need some very advanced skill though to stop trolls sabotaging everything.

[Powermale 1]

Some suggestions:

I don't think Hep B should be in the game, as in real life it has a mean incubation period om 3 months. I realize you'd have to shorten the incubation period for most diseases in the game to make them work gameplay wise, but there should be limits to how far you stray from the real disease. Also, Hep C primary infection is usually mostly asymptomatic, and the disease is only apparent after years when chronic liver disease develops, not a very game friendly disease. Hep A has an incubation period of at least two weeks. It would be fun to see jaundiced players running around though.

I think you should stick with diseases with minimal real life incubation periods of not more than a week. Cholera, influenza, common cold and meningitis are good choices. I would love to have symptoms that are visible on other players such as rashes or pallor that you'd need another player to spot for you (or 3rd person view). And if you include pooping, the color and solidity of the excrement could give clues to the diagnosis. How about including dysentery as a disease, and have players produce bloody stools! And i.v. fluids should be necessary for a bad case for cholera, drinking a lot is only sufficient in mild cases.

And I'd love to see a meningitis sometimes resulting in cranial nerve dysfunction such as facial palsy, hearing loss or balance problems.

Also, for giggles you could include a harmless but extremely contagious disease such as "epidemic keratoconjunctivitis" (viral infection of the conjunctivae and corneae of the eyes) which mostly only results in bilateral "pink eye".

As for diagnostic aids, how about the ability to check one's pulse (or auscultate another player's heart to make it auditory), and hear one's breathing rate, as well as a thermometer for measuring body temperature? The current definition of sepsis (which is a sign of a serious course of an infection) uses four criteria, and three of them are pulse, respiratory rate and body temperature (all in the resting state, of course, not after running around), so players could use those to see if their infections are getting life threatening.

And how about giving epinephrine another use by introducing a very small chance of anaphylaxis when taking a drug?

Edited December 13, 2012 by Powermale

[radivmoe 47]

did you just confirm that we can in fact shit in someones mouth? im buying 2 copies of this game now. a well placed turd could potentially kill hundreds of players spanning many servers.

grats

[radivmoe 47]

The diseases are a really good idea, it could be good to put some kind of "Ph testing strips" into the game. They could be used to test the water see if its safe or not.

Also will the infected carry diseases say if a "Z" is in a pond could this make the water unsafe?

Pic

https://www.electron...e/ph_strips.jpg

PH-strips only determine how acidic water is, not how many bacteria/viruses the water is containing

[radivmoe 47]

Will vampirism be in the game?

Let's drink the blood of this random dead survivor. HOLY SHIT, HOW DID HE MANAGE TO GET ALL THIS SHIT INTO HIS BLOODSTREAM WITHOUT DYING! aaaaahh morphine...

one vampire later: Let's drink the blood of this random dead survivor.

[radivmoe 47]

^ Purpose served = none

EDIT:

I'm sure you think your absurd exaggeration is very clever, but it just sounds like you're crying out of fear of the uncertainty.

Either man-up and embrace these new experimental features, for the good of the gaming industry, or go back to your comfort zone and stay there.

EDIT AGAIN:

it's easy to say "for the good of the gaming industry, but the fact remains. if few people play the standalone because of this, nobody else will do anything even remotely similar because IT DID NOT WORK!

don't get me wrong, i like what rocket is doing. i was attacking your argument, not your cause.

Edited January 18, 2013 by radivmoe

[radivmoe 47]

AIDS, you gotta have those too.

and how are you to spread that? i really hope you were talking about blood, and not... anyway, that would be innapropriate, and cause DayZ to be banned in australia.

[radivmoe 47]

I understand that Arma is a military simulator series, and up until now it has been apparent that DayZ was a zombie apocalypse simulator. It now seems as if it's leaning towards just a real life simulator, or a medical simulator, with zombies.

are you saying that if there is a zombie apocalypse, all disease will suddenly become non-existant? as far as i know DayZ is a simulator of what real life would be if there were zombies, and then it all makes sense.

anyway... use duct tape?

http://dayzmod.com/forum/index.php?/topic/112273-duct-tape-fixes-everything/

[radivmoe 47]

as well as a thermometer for measuring body temperature?

what kind of thermometer would that be? the kind you stick up your arse, or the one that you put in your mouth? maybe even say that if you loot a corpse who stuck a thermometer up his arse, and you measure it with your mouth you can get really sick. i think that is a great idea!

anyway, to cure cholera.... duct tape?

Edited January 21, 2013 by radivmoe

[Private Evans 1303]

will blankets, glasses or gloves provide any protection when entering contaminated places or checking dead bodies...?

[hoik 415]

I don't know about the specifics of the diseases that are planed to be in the SA, so I don't know if immunities could come into play. If they could, I think this would bring a whole other aspect to how diseases could actually be used as a game mechanic in DayZ. eg. to "level up" (gamey term, I don't mean in the tradition sense) our avatars and have something aside from loot that will be lost when we die - a character with a large array of resitances should/could be very valuable.

Edited January 19, 2013 by Hoik

[malau 11]

I don't about the specifics of the diseases that are planed to be in the SA, so I don't know if immunities could come into play. If they could, I think this would bring a whole other aspect to how diseases could actually be used as a game mechanic in DayZ. eg. to "level up" (gamey term, I don't mean in the tradition sense) our avatars and have something aside from loot that will be lost when we die - a character with a large array of resitances should/could be very valuable.

Acquired immunities - that's a great point, and would make the SA less exasperating than it seems.