Purposely contaminating lakes (SA)

[victusmortuus 1074]

Idea; Just another simple idea which plays on the whole SA infection idea. It'd be as simple as taking a dead body, human, zombie or wildlife and dumping it into a water source and contaminating the supply for everybody.

How to: When a player is down in the current mod you can 'drag body'. This could be incorporated to take the zombie/human or animal and take them into a water source, dumping them and contaminating the water source.

Pros: Adds an extra something to survival. Good way to starve out players. Extremely high chance of giving infections to thirst stricken survivors with no other choice. Hiding a body in reeds could be overlooked by survivors desperate for a drink.

Cons: Water would be contaminated for you as well (instantly due to balance). Body would be highly visible as dead bodies float.

I can't find a picture or video for this but it appears in HBO's The Pacific. The Japanese contaminate a much needed water source with the head of a dead animal.

Carrying a zeds corpse for a prolonged amount of time should be hazardous of course, so there is also a risk of personal infection. However it would also be cool if you could store bodies in a car. Imagine seeing a ural pull up, two bandits get out, and proceed to dump survivors body's into a lake or damn. Really good suggestion, could make for some very cool gameplay moments.

Edited March 2, 2013 by Victus Mortuus

[-Se7eN- 874]

i kinda like this idea, it opens the game for alot of griefing but it makes it more realistic right? if you know a clan is constantly getting water from the same lake, this would be a good way to take them down without a direct fight, im for this.

:beans:

[victusmortuus 1074]

i kinda like this idea, it opens the game for alot of griefing but it makes it more realistic right? if you know a clan is constantly getting water from the same lake, this would be a good way to take them down without a direct fight, im for this.

:beans:

If somebody makes their fun out of traveling to every water source just to contaminate it... then so be it.

[[email protected] 37]

Carrying a zeds corpse for a prolonged amount of time should be hazardous of course, so there is also a risk of personal infection. However it would also be cool if you could store bodies in a car. Imagine seeing a ural pull up, two bandits get out, and proceed to dump survivors body's into a lake or damn. Really good suggestion, could make for some very cool gameplay moments.

[victusmortuus 1074]

Carrying a zeds corpse for a prolonged amount of time should be hazardous of course, so there is also a risk of personal infection. However it would also be cool if you could store bodies in a car. Imagine seeing a ural pull up, two bandits get out, and proceed to dump survivors body's into a lake or damn. Really good suggestion, could make for some very cool gameplay moments.

Mind if I put this in the OP?

[[email protected] 37]

Mind if I put this in the OP?

NP

Just got a DayZ forum account, been itching to make some suggestions of my own. :D

[HashSlingingSlasher192 29]

something cool that can be added is a water purifier that you can use to purify contaminated water. and since crafting will be added you can also make a makeshift purifier.

[Clumzy (DayZ) 377]

Carrying a zeds corpse for a prolonged amount of time should be hazardous of course, so there is also a risk of personal infection. However it would also be cool if you could store bodies in a car. Imagine seeing a ural pull up, two bandits get out, and proceed to dump survivors body's into a lake or damn. Really good suggestion, could make for some very cool gameplay moments.

I'd also like to put live people in cars, like in the trunk or something. Imagine the possibilities!

[enforcer1975 1111]

Well if that person wants to contaminate every lake in his living zone just to find out that he ran out of water...normally you would contaminate a lake if you are a military force and want to deny the enemy a water source, where of course you need a water source of your own ( those who have watched "The Beast of War" from 1988 should know what i am talking about, they nearly poisoned themselves while trying to drink from a water source which was poisoned by friendly forces some time ago )

Edited March 2, 2013 by Enforcer

[BSB Jimmy 360]

the game engine already supports loading players into cars, so i cant imagine it would be too difficult to add. +1

[Positronica 30]

The primary purpose I can see for such a feature would be griefing, and the game doesn't need features that are only good for that. The PvP strategic value of contaminating a lake is almost non-existent. There wouldn't be any "starving out" of players, because there's enough mobility, and enough options for hunting for water/soda that a single location, especially a lake, is almost never critical to survival for a single player, much less a clan. On top of that, water is already more of a hassle than just using soda to fill your thirst needs. Soda is often found during the course or normal looting, while filling a water bottle requires a detour to a water source, plus boiling the water, and then wasting an inventory slot on an empty bottle once you've drank it. Adding a new time sink of having to meticulously search a lake to make sure it's free of zombie bodies before taking water from it would just push people to use soda even more than they do now, which is already a problem with realism in the game.

The other big problem is that the player interaction it creates is way too far removed and next to impossible for players to base their social interactions off of. The contaminator is almost never going to know who he poisoned, if anyone, and the contaminee is almost never going to know who, or even from where, he got poisoned. And if you take that into consideration, all it would add is more unrealistic psychopath behavior to the game. The dissociative nature of video games already allows people to turn off their conscience much more than they would in a real life situation. If you add a feature to a game that can be used to hamper another player with almost no risk to the instigator, and almost no chance of being judged, shunned, or even found out by other player, then that feature will have a very high chance of being abused.

[victusmortuus 1074]

The primary purpose I can see for such a feature would be griefing, and the game doesn't need features that are only good for that. The PvP strategic value of contaminating a lake is almost non-existent. There wouldn't be any "starving out" of players, because there's enough mobility, and enough options for hunting for water/soda that a single location, especially a lake, is almost never critical to survival for a single player, much less a clan. On top of that, water is already more of a hassle than just using soda to fill your thirst needs. Soda is often found during the course or normal looting, while filling a water bottle requires a detour to a water source, plus boiling the water, and then wasting an inventory slot on an empty bottle once you've drank it. Adding a new time sink of having to meticulously search a lake to make sure it's free of zombie bodies before taking water from it would just push people to use soda even more than they do now, which is already a problem with realism in the game.

The other big problem is that the player interaction it creates is way too far removed and next to impossible for players to base their social interactions off of. The contaminator is almost never going to know who he poisoned, if anyone, and the contaminee is almost never going to know who, or even from where, he got poisoned. And if you take that into consideration, all it would add is more unrealistic psychopath behavior to the game. The dissociative nature of video games already allows people to turn off their conscience much more than they would in a real life situation. If you add a feature to a game that can be used to hamper another player with almost no risk to the instigator, and almost no chance of being judged, shunned, or even found out by other player, then that feature will have a very high chance of being abused.

If somebody wants to go round doing this then let them.

[Positronica 30]

If somebody wants to go round doing this then let them.

Why? What does it add to the game? There's a reason why pretty much every game that allows player to player interaction takes steps to limit pure griefing. As I explained above, the only purpose of such a feature is to fuck with other players. There's no strategic or personal benefit that a player gains by contaminating a lake. And with the nature of the gameplay and the Chernarus map, there's almost no realistic character driven reason why someone would contaminate a lake beyond saying they're "role playing" a crazy psycho. Therefore, if a feature has no gameplay based reason to be added, and if it has no story based reason to be added, why spend the time coding it? If your playerbase treats the world and it's story as real, and tries to play their character realistically in that setting, then it's a feature that will almost never be used, and if your playerbase decides to game the system, and just fuck with other players any way they can, regardless of the world's story, then it's a feature that will be abused and will likely need to be removed. Under either situation, it's a waste of coding effort.

And on top of that, even if you really believe that in a post-apocalypse setting everyone would just be total assholes that tried to murder and poison random strangers, while generally trying to fuck up the world anyway they could, and therefore allowing such behavior to flourish in DayZ is totally great and real, you're still stuck with the fact that the easiest way for other players to solve the challenge of poisoned lakes is to just avoid the entire water mechanic altogether.

[thesodesa 99]

Why? What does it add to the game? There's a reason why pretty much every game that allows player to player interaction takes steps to limit pure griefing. As I explained above, the only purpose of such a feature is to fuck with other players. There's no strategic or personal benefit that a player gains by contaminating a lake. And with the nature of the gameplay and the Chernarus map, there's almost no realistic character driven reason why someone would contaminate a lake beyond saying they're "role playing" a crazy psycho. Therefore, if a feature has no gameplay based reason to be added, and if it has no story based reason to be added, why spend the time coding it? If your playerbase treats the world and it's story as real, and tries to play their character realistically in that setting, then it's a feature that will almost never be used, and if your playerbase decides to game the system, and just fuck with other players any way they can, regardless of the world's story, then it's a feature that will be abused and will likely need to be removed. Under either situation, it's a waste of coding effort.

And on top of that, even if you really believe that in a post-apocalypse setting everyone would just be total assholes that tried to murder and poison random strangers, while generally trying to fuck up the world anyway they could, and therefore allowing such behavior to flourish in DayZ is totally great and real, you're still stuck with the fact that the easiest way for other players to solve the challenge of poisoned lakes is to just avoid the entire water mechanic altogether.

Water can be sterilized of most micro-organisms simply by heating it over a fire for a few minutes when you're close to sea level. It takes slightly longer at high altitudes because of the lower pressure, so the water boils at a lower temperature.

If that fails just add a good amount of salt with iodine in it or a small amount of iodine tincture (iodine in an alcohoic solution) and that should take care of the rest.

Edited March 2, 2013 by TheSodesa

[Death_Dealer 3156]

Well first of all, soda should not be a substitute for water, more like a thirst quencher. I don't recall the body being made up of mostly soda.

[thesodesa 99]

Well first of all, soda should not be a substitute for water, more like a thirst quencher. I don't recall the body being made up of mostly soda.

Soda is actually a diuretic, meaning it makes your kidneys pull water out of your blood because it increases the salt content of your blood dramatically (the body expends water to remove the salts and maintain a chemical balance).Therefore it should, at least in theory, make you even more dehydrated.

Edited March 2, 2013 by TheSodesa

[harley001 315]

If i put zombie bodies in the lake is the effect even worst?

[victusmortuus 1074]

If i put zombie bodies in the lake is the effect even worst?

I think yes.

[enforcer1975 1111]

And on top of that, even if you really believe that in a post-apocalypse setting everyone would just be total assholes that tried to murder and poison random strangers, while generally trying to fuck up the world anyway they could, and therefore allowing such behavior to flourish in DayZ is totally great and real, you're still stuck with the fact that the easiest way for other players to solve the challenge of poisoned lakes is to just avoid the entire water mechanic altogether.

The primary purpose I can see for such a feature would be griefing, and the game doesn't need features that are only good for that. The PvP strategic value of contaminating a lake is almost non-existent. There wouldn't be any "starving out" of players, because there's enough mobility, and enough options for hunting for water/soda that a single location, especially a lake, is almost never critical to survival for a single player, much less a clan. On top of that, water is already more of a hassle than just using soda to fill your thirst needs. Soda is often found during the course or normal looting, while filling a water bottle requires a detour to a water source, plus boiling the water, and then wasting an inventory slot on an empty bottle once you've drank it. Adding a new time sink of having to meticulously search a lake to make sure it's free of zombie bodies before taking water from it would just push people to use soda even more than they do now, which is already a problem with realism in the game.

The other big problem is that the player interaction it creates is way too far removed and next to impossible for players to base their social interactions off of. The contaminator is almost never going to know who he poisoned, if anyone, and the contaminee is almost never going to know who, or even from where, he got poisoned. And if you take that into consideration, all it would add is more unrealistic psychopath behavior to the game. The dissociative nature of video games already allows people to turn off their conscience much more than they would in a real life situation. If you add a feature to a game that can be used to hamper another player with almost no risk to the instigator, and almost no chance of being judged, shunned, or even found out by other player, then that feature will have a very high chance of being abused.

That's a big concern regarding the contaminator, as long as it is possible to hop to another server where the water might still be clean or the perpetrator has water stashed all over the place the only purpose of this feature would be griefing. If you bind one character to the server it was created it's another story..they wouldn't even try to do that because usually nobody shits where they eat although there might be exceptions but with most people turning of their conscience which is fact or we wouldn't have senseless pvp all over the place ( this is a survival game after all and not an arm yourself to the teeth and kill everyone situation like warfare ) they shouldn't be even giving a thought of adding this feature.

Edited March 3, 2013 by Enforcer

[Death_Dealer 3156]

If i put zombie bodies in the lake is the effect even worst?

Would you rather drink out of a lake with no rotting dead zombie bodies, or a lake with rotting dead zombie bodies?