Let's talk about communication

[Target Practice (DayZ) 1335]

So, I don't know if it's been confirmed one way or the other yet, but I would assume that the standalone is at least moderately unlikely to have a global/side chat feature in it, so how will players be able to contact each other in-game? As it currently stands, there isn't really any way of doing that unless you happen to stumble across someone who's close enough to Direct Chat to.

With Rocket having gone on record (I believe) in saying that he wants to encourage interaction between players more in the standalone, finding ways of communicating with them is going to be something that needs addressing sooner rather than later, as there are going to be kinks that need ironing out.

To my mind, there are certainly two leading contenders for inclusion, and those are Flares and Radios.

FLARES:

Be it handheld flares, flare guns or weapon-launched flares, the suggestions forum has seen a ton of suggestions for flares to be included, and there generally seems to be relatively little opposition to the idea. Flares are an excellent - if imprecise - way of alerting people to your position. They're unlikely to be too uncommon, seeing how Chernarus is largely surrounded by water, and wouldn't require anything other than simply finding them and keeping them in your pocket until needed. There's hundreds of threads discussing them, so there's not too much point going into any more detail than that right now.

RADIOS:

Once again, a very popular suggestion, and one that doesn't have *too* much opposition. The way I personally see radios working is not as a team-based communication device, as it's going to be near-impossible to convince people not to just use Teamspeak or Skype or similar, but as an in-game equivalent to side chat. They can easily be switched on and off for those that don't want to listen to player banter. Batteries would be an issue, and would be a rather handy way of preventing - or at least inconveniencing - spammers, as there are unlikely to be too many folk so dedicated to spamming that they're willing to spend hours searching for and hoarding batteries just to rickroll the distress channel.

Beyond those two, there have been mentions of 'bounty boards', 'signs' and a few other bits and pieces that could potentially become good ideas with some refinement. The reason for this thread is that I'd really like to see if we can get some kind of proper discussion and back-and-forth going about this, because it's going to become a truly MASSIVE part of the game for many, but at the moment there doesn't really seem to be much in the way of thought put into that side of things (although I'm sure it's on the list!).

What are the biggest problems in enabling players to communicate long-distance? How do we solve them?

[willey.erd@oundleschool.org.uk 506]

I'm planning to use radios as a team coordination device, because it will add a lot of tension.

If you're talking about long-range-comms, then yes, it should be difficult, although perhaps there should be some suspension of disbelief for the game.

I know you're trying to get some more discussion going on the matter, but honestly I can't think of much more to add to what you've already said apart from the fact that I don't think there should be an 'easy' way to access the radio channel everyone's on - I think you should have to trawl through the frequencies until you find the one you're looking for.

[Target Practice (DayZ) 1335]

Oh yeah, there'll be a few (or perhaps more than a few) folks who use radios for roleplay or realism purposes, but the vast majority of folks will simply use Teamspeak if they're entering a game with pre-existing friends.

Regards difficulty, I think it's certainly possible to achieve without needing to break that willing suspension of disbelief, and if indeed it can be done, then it would be crazy not to at least try it - there's plenty of scope for such a thing, and it actually seems to be something that a significant proportion of the playerbase would welcome rather than oppose.

As for channels, I think it could actually tie in to the 'knowledge = power' discussion that has been banded about a few times in here - why not simply tie in real-life distress frequencies to the ones in-game? As an example, through my work, I happen to know that the marine-band VHF distress and calling frequency is 156.800Mhz, so if I put out a call on that frequency, I'm much more likely to be heard, as damn near every marine-band radio set out there has that channel tuned in as a default.

Obviously in DayZ, we wouldn't be using marine-band radios, but you could simply swap that out for any spectrum/band you like. All you'd need to do is have a 50% chance that a spawned radio is preset to a known distress frequency and a 50% chance that it'll be set to a different, random frequency. That way, anyone with prior knowledge will have an advantage, but it doesn't preclude the dedicated newbie who's willing to experiment and learn from being able to use it either.

EDIT: Also, many radios out there have a 'scan' ability now, so that they will automatically scan all known channels/frequencies and when they pick up a transmission on a channel, they will automatically switch to it.

Edited March 10, 2013 by Target Practice

[thejarofflies@gmail.com 12]

Firstly I would really like if the game can somehow forbid using third party programs for voice chat.

Don't know if it's possible, but maybe it could be made.

Of course that would have to be a server option. Many people including myself sometimes still prefer TS or Skype, it's just easier to organize...

But if I would like to roleplay as you say, I would like to know that everyone on the server is doing the same.

In that case, radio chat and direct communication would have to work at the same time, if you speak to someone over radio, a friend next to you should also hear you(and maybe hear the radio also).

That means in fact that the radio would act as a source where the sound comes from. So if you stumble upon a turned on radio you could hear people using that frequency.

It could be also used as bait :)

The benefit of using only in-game voice would probably reduce KOS. Two groups would maybe hear each other before seeing each other, that leaves time for them to talk it through before they start shooting.

If you ask me, on those server I wouldn't leave an option to turn off the direct communication chat, so if you start screaming because a zombie startled you someone else can hear you. :)

or maybe zombies could be alarmed if you are laud :)

Also a command for setting a volume would also have to be implemented so you can whisper and yell. For some stealth play