Should we be able to play as zombie?

[martink8190@gmail.com 149]

Ok so AI is limited, predictable and mostly crippled, in some ways. I read some people getting bored threads or feeling like the've ''finished'' the game.

The idea would be to let actual real players wear the zombie skin and basically become zeds themselfs and hunt players in towns. What would make this interesting and fun is that you could run indoors just as good as ''normal'' players /survivors and bandits alike and there could be ten's of RL zombie players, eventually easying server loadout by eliminating AI.

This is how I imagined it would work (no, haven't thought this trough yet, thats where you help me :) )

# If there's a player in town, you can spawn in that very town whithin say, 100m radius. Observe, search & destroy :P

# you can respawn in any town where player is detected and ''swap'' towns as you like. When killed (delay timer or radius would be needed though as you shouldn't know where the player is all the time)

# the zeds melee attack would basically be animation just like they do now - punching and stuff but should be little reduced for the game balancing sake

# Ive probably forgotten something

Edited February 18, 2013 by Colonel-Wicked

[GOD™ 2795]

Nah.

Edited February 18, 2013 by GOD™

[HERBERT-THETREE 44]

would be fun but Id say no because of how much extra coding would be needed for it. I think the devs have enough to deal as it is.

Edited February 18, 2013 by HERBERT-THETREE

[Garblax 4]

Wouldn't being a zombie negate the point of a zombie survival game?

Plus, I just don't see how playing a zombie would be fun for more than 10 minutes.

[Dreams_Of_Cheese (DayZ) 71]

Since the zombies can only walk around, seeing a running zombies would just be a heads up to keep away. Maybe that zombie can command other zombies, like the space bar in default Arma 2?

[permaphrost 12]

Terrible idea. Being able to spawn anywhere a person is would just suck the fun out of the game for non zombies. If i wanted to play left4dead i'd play left4dead

[ActionManZlt 160]

# If there's a player in town, you can spawn in that very town whithin say, 100m radius. Observe, search & destroy :P

# you can respawn in any town where player is detected and ''swap'' towns as you like. When killed (delay timer or radius would be needed though as you shouldn't know where the player is all the time)

There is a very fun Arma 2 multiplayer mission-mod called Insurgency (you don't need any mods to play it, just Arma2:OA and the mission file) that works a bit like this.

It's the US army in Takistan, and they've got to search for weapons caches all over the country. Whenever a US soldier ventures into a town, AI enemies spawn in the town (just like in DayZ).

If you choose to play on the "enemy" team, then you can go into your map and see the locations of all AI characters. You can then click on one to take control of them, so that the US players actually have a bit of a challenge instead of the crappy default AI.

The takistani characters are really weak and have crappy weapons compared the the US (e.g. enfield rifle VS themal scoped machine guns), but they spawn in very large numbers, like the zombies. They also only spawn in cities that are under attack, just like the zombies too, except if the US completely kills every takistani in a city, then then stop spawning from that point onwards.

You should check it out if you can find a server that hosts this mission, because it's very fun with a lot of players. If it was done in the same way in DayZ, it could add a lot more unpredictability to zombie fights!

[Food 309]

This is how things would go.

You'd get shot in the head once, get pissed and get off.

[Hellfire1014 12]

Yea it's just like saying "man we don't have enough cheating trolls in the game already...lets let people play as zombies to garner in more trolls sitting in town waiting to feast on all the new players"

Also it kind of takes away from the fact that zombies are stupid. I mean they don't have anything on there mind. There not thinking tactically. Players would be tactical, zombies dont do that. Example.

"Well here I am beside the NW airfield. Going to check the surrounding area before I go in to make sure there aren't any players."

*Turns around to look behind himself*

"Ho well. Look at that a zombie proning over my way. Alright now he's hiding behind the tree. Alright now Im approaching him but whichever side of the tree I go on. He goes on the other.....almost as if he's trying to hide from me." Clever zombie.

Or another outcome.

"Here I am at the NW airfield" no zombies, or players around. Yay."

BUT THEN!

*30* Zombies spawn out of nowhere from players switching to that "town" and they all come after you, and chase you for miles on end, or just rape you where you stand."

Yea go play left 4 dead 2, or resident evil whatever.

Edited February 18, 2013 by Hellfire1014

[Garblax 4]

This is how things would go.

You'd get shot in the head once, get pissed and get off.

Might as well play a survivor then at this point, because this is exactly what happens either way for me!

[Michaelvoodoo25 3120]

When the SA comes out, and we see the new zeds, I may change my mind. Just so much about them now is broken, if we get control of a zombie where you can control them with ease, then no worries.

I would love to be able to control them as a group, with perhaps a top down commander interface, able to split them up and move them around like a battalion of troops with the point being to ruin players days. this would add another dimension to gameplay and would be perfect for DayZ.

[xwhitemousex 67]

You should have a chance to become infected (and not just regular disease infection) which slowly turns you into a zombie over time.

1. Your hunger bar will no longer be filled from canned food as a start... but cooked meat still works...
   
2. Then only raw meat works...
   
3. And then only eating survivors works...
   

An empty hunger bar never kills you, but being empty means you die faster.

In other words, your hunger bar is your health... the more survivor meat you have in the belly the more shots you can take before you die.

[mikecjordan@hotmail.co.uk 47]

"Logs on as zombie, knows where all players are as tells which towns can spawn in. Tells friends of player locations, players get killed by bandits".

The first thing that popped into my head.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, a lot of people moan about the entire "shooting on sight" mindset. This actually encourages it. Killing players as a zombie would not benefit you for any reason, at least as a player you might get to loot something worthwhile.

Edited February 18, 2013 by Atreyu

[timboski 618]

You should have a chance to become infected (and not just regular disease infection) which slowly turns you into a zombie over time.

1. Your hunger bar will no longer be filled from canned food as a start... but cooked meat still works...
   
2. Then only raw meat works...
   
3. And then only eating survivors works...
   

An empty hunger bar never kills you, but being empty means you die faster.

In other words, your hunger bar is your health... the more survivor meat you have in the belly the more shots you can take before you die.

I kinda like this idea. You could infect other players somehow too (sharing food/ammo/clothing etc) so people would avoid you like the plague (making team play strained to say the least). If you found the right medication you could be cured (at least in the early stages). I think you should die though and not turn into a controllable full zed. I also think you should have a slight benefit/benefits when infected. Maybe zeds would be less attracted to you or you could detect other players better somehow.

[xwhitemousex 67]

You should never spawn in as a zombie.

You should get infected and become a zombie.

And if friends don't kill you first, then you can roam around whereever and find players to eat... maybe even have a 25m range thermal sight so you can spot players who are crawling or trying to hide... but with just 25m range you can't exploit it to see people at treelines 300m in distance... anything beyond 25m when thermal sight is active is just a black fog.

Anyways, I don't think it's a good idea to have player zombies, but just throwing out some ideas for the fun of it.

[xwhitemousex 67]

I kinda like this idea. You could infect other players somehow too (sharing food/ammo/clothing etc) so people would avoid you like the plague (making team play strained to say the least). If you found the right medication you could be cured (at least in the early stages). I think you should die though and not turn into a controllable full zed. I also think you should have a slight benefit/benefits when infected. Maybe zeds would be less attracted to you or you could detect other players better somehow.

Maybe when you die from the infection your corpse becomes an AI zombie that starts to attack players :D

[timboski 618]

Maybe when you die from the infection your corpse becomes an AI zombie that starts to attack players :D

Exactly. I don't think you should ever become a full controllable zombie but getting infected and dealing with it would surely add to the realism of a zombie apocalypse. After all surviving should also be about trying to avoid becoming infected as well.

[pazur13 27]

Want to know why this will never get added? Because player zombies might still teamwork. We would need something to force them to kill survivors (Other than "Ima hungry, let's eat survivar or I'll dai").

-,,Zombie, friendly!!"

[timboski 618]

Want to know why this will never get added? Because player zombies might still teamwork. We would need something to force them to kill survivors (Other than "Ima hungry, let's eat survivar or I'll dai").

-,,Zombie, friendly!!"

True but that could be quite interesting in itself and the risk of infecting your team mates would cause problems playing like this.

[Mr Nasty 1023]

This is a survival game.

No.

[Pokey (DayZ) 103]

Nope.avi

[CS14 133]

People get pissed off for being killed as it is now, don't think too many people would like it but it's an interesting concept.

[Heiduk 265]

This is supposed to be a zombie survival game, but all I ever do is murder them. It might be fun to try and survive as a zombie for a while.

This isn't something I would place high on my wishlist but I think it could be fun if done right.

[ActionManZlt 160]

"Logs on as zombie, knows where all players are as tells which towns can spawn in. Tells friends of player locations, players get killed by bandits".

The first thing that popped into my head.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, a lot of people moan about the entire "shooting on sight" mindset. This actually encourages it. Killing players as a zombie would not benefit you for any reason, at least as a player you might get to loot something worthwhile.

If you wanted to, you could discourage killing by using this as a karma system. After your survivor dies, they become a zombie, and you can't start a new survivor until you've eaten as many brains as you had 'murders'.

[Heiduk 265]

If you wanted to, you could discourage killing by using this as a karma system. After your survivor dies, they become a zombie, and you can't start a new survivor until you've eaten as many brains as you had 'murders'.

I'm not saying this is a good idea, but it would be bloody hilarious. The sidechat rage would be epic.

1-1-E 1 (N0obSniper): "PWNED! that makes 50 headhots in a row"

N0obSniper was killed

1-3-B 1 (HatchetMan): "should have watched your back N0ob"

ULB was killed

1-1-E 1 (N0obSniper): "Hah! only 49 more brains I'm coming for you HatchetMan"

Zombie N0obSniper was killed

Zombie N0obSniper was killed

Zombie N0obSniper was killed

Zombie N0obSniper was killed

Zombie N0obSniper was killed

Zombie N0obSniper was killed

Zombie N0obSniper was killed

Zombie N0obSniper was killed

Zombie N0obSniper was killed

1-1-E 1 (N0obSniper): "DAMNIT! I HATE BEING A ZOMBIE! WHY ARE THEY SO WEAK!!!!"

1-1-E 1 (N0obSniper): "I QUIT THIS GAME IS FOR FAGS"