Morale

[dulix11 731]

So here is my idea:

Overview: Morale would be another icon above the thirst, hunger, eyesight etc in the shape of either a head or brain. Basically, when something happens, it may decrease or increase depending on what it is. As it lowers, the icon turns from green, to dark green, to red, to black. It shows the mental state, confidence and enthusiasm of the player.

Decreasing morale:

- Zombies - Getting into fist fights with zombies will lower your morale significantly.

- Firefights - Getting into a firefight will lower your morale significantly. The closer bullets get to you, the more it will drop. However, you will lose more morale the first 2 or 3 times you get into a firefight.

After that you still lose morale but not as much.

- Night time - Unless you have a light source, anything that happens could slightly lower your morale.

- Wounds - Slowly lowers morale. The bigger the wound (broken limb, bullet wounds) the faster and more morale is lost.

- Killing - Would lower morale noticably.

- Hunger, thirst - Slowly lowers morale.

Effects of decreased morale:

100% - 95% - Mild shaking, hardly noticable.

95% - 85% - Slightly more noticable shaking, occasion cough.

85% - 75% - More noticable shaking, short breaths.

85% - 65% - Moderately noticable shaking, slightly heavier breathing, occasional cough.

65% - 50% - All of the above, hunger and thirst drops slightly faster.

50% - 40% - Frequent coughing, noticable shaking. Slightly heavier breathing,

40% - 30% - Shaking equivilent to that of pain. Constant heavy breathing.

30% - 15% - All of the above, Constant heavy breathing and coughing. Moderately occasional vomiting. Slightly blurred vision.

15% - 5% - All of the above, hearing things (zombie growls, footsteps, screams if you're a bandit etc) These would be faint, but get louder every now and again. NO HALLUCINATIONS. That would be stupid. Vomiting, blurred vision.

5% - 0% - You are a shaking pile of mucus covered slop. You constantly shake, vomit, cough and can't see. You are not far off death. The slightest noise could set you into another session of mucus expulsion.

Increasing morale:

- Finding loot - For every time you place your crosshair over a loot item and display its name, your morale will go up very slightly. Finding vehicles will increase morale alot more. This only applies if the loot has not been touched by anyone else, so you can't get buddies to empty their backpack for your problems. Finding weapons/ammo will replenish slightly more morale.

- Campfires - Campfires will significantly increase your morale.

- Friendly survivors - eg. trading items, talking with them, walking with them etc will increase morale over time.

- Guitars - Should be added. This would increase morale over time, faster with friends and even faster with a campfire...and friends.

Well, thats it, I may add some more stuff when I think of it. Please comment!

Edited April 1, 2013 by dulix11

[Inception. 9443]

I actually like what you have presented.

[dulix11 731]

I actually like what you have presented.

Keewwl, acknowledgment from a mod. I feel so priviledged! Thanks for your reply.

[_Anubis_ (DayZ) 139]

Please add weapons&ammo to the morale boosters: every time I find a M4A3 CCO and a lot of STANAG magazines for some odd reasons I suddenly feel a warm sensation of safety and joy spreading in my body... [1]

_Anubis_

[1] as someone quotes, it is a kind of "How do you like me now bitches?" thing

[Lady Kyrah 1109]

Would be nice to be able to simulate how events affect us differently. Some people do enjoy the adrenalin rush of a firefight. It would be nice if the more a player is exposed to specific dangers, the better he is at handling it and channeling himself to get over the obstacle.

[BwobBwub 660]

This adds consequences for being a bandit, so KOSing could be reduced slightly.

[DayZoey 110]

Sound fairly similar to what I proposed with sanity about half an hour ago.

Still though, it sounds much easier to implement and volumes of more feasible so... Well done :)

[dekartz 315]

I'd think killing someone (especially if you intended to) would be a boost in morale. In turn, you could make their corpse a morale-dropping effigy to ward off other players (and evil spirits)

[DayZoey 110]

Coming across random carcasses in the game should be a huge drop in morale too.

It's a huge fear factor for me in the game as it is right now when I hear those flies buzzing, I immediately lose any desire to be where I am because "Oh jeeze... somebody has been killed here fairly recently. How recently? Is the killer still here? Did they bury the body or will the person be coming back for the chance to recover their loot? Crap I gotta get outta here"

Don't see why that wouldn't effect our characters' performance, coming across a fresh not-zombie cadaver would be putting them under a great deal of duress.

[liquidmind 320]

I don't really like it for the following reasons:

1) I am a fan of the invisible UI, I don't want any further icons, i want those that are there removed.

2) I do not like the game to tell me, how I should feel or how my emotional reaction to a situation should be. Being able to overcome shock and to keep a clear head, is something the player needs to be able to do, not something enforced by the game. (I don't even like the shaking hands, after a close-miss by a zombie. Either I am in physical pain or not. I don't want mental pain in the game)

3) I don't see why killing should affect your morale always negatively. There are people who get a morale-boost out of it, while others might even break over the guilt of having killed someone. It's just not realistic.

I see that things like hunger, thirst, cold weather, etc. would affect your physical condition, keeping you from performing at a maximum. But I'd prefer to see that affect the maximum speed and the weight I can carry, not some artificial morale-counter.

My hands should only shake when I'm freezing or in severe pain. All-tough I like your proposal with different states of physical health, I don't think that has anything to do with a players morale, or that a calculated morale should affect what you can do. In the end, it's me behind the keyboard, who has to find motivation to do whatever I do, despite whats happening to my character. My character has no feelings.

[CreepySalad 108]

I agree with the dude above me.

Your character shouldn't feel fear or whatever, YOU should.

hallucinations would be cool if like there were mushrooms or something maybe i guess ok

[shadowjack 254]

The 2 above me are on it. It is my hope that the game will have enough emotional challenges that we don't need forced and phony mechanics. Im pretty sure this idea does not fit with Rockets vision.

[_Anubis_ (DayZ) 139]

Im pretty sure this idea does not fit with Rockets vision.

I was about to make some nasty remarks about this bold statement but mysteriously your signature stopped me...

Beans to you instead, I do not question karma.

_Anubis_

[dulix11 731]

Sound fairly similar to what I proposed with sanity about half an hour ago.

Still though, it sounds much easier to implement and volumes of more feasible so... Well done :)

I literally found your thread the second I clicked off this page! Sorry about that...

On a side note, thanks everyone for posting your thoughts.

[badluckburt 974]

I like the idea but I think the only way this would work if DayZ would incorporate biometric feedback from your own body while playing it. That would be pretty sick and the game could even determine wether your morale goes up when you're killing :P

-edit

Thinking about it, this would not work. It leaves room for even bigger exploits. Watching extremely funny shit on the side that makes you laugh everytime you see it saves you whenever morale is low, so does doing drugs and what not. When I play drunk or stoned I'm laughing my ass off when I get shot because I'm way less into it then when I'm sober.

Edited March 31, 2013 by BadLuckBurt

[liquidmind 320]

I like the idea but I think the only way this would work if DayZ would incorporate biometric feedback from your own body while playing it. That would be pretty sick and the game could even determine wether your morale goes up when you're killing :P

*knock knock* Sir! This is the Police! Open Up! We had a very concerning call from the developers of dayZ. Open the door Sir, We need to talk.

[HashSlingingSlasher192 29]

HUH! guitars+people+campfire=C.A.M.P.F.I.R.E.S.O.N.G song!!!!!

Edited April 2, 2013 by HashSlingingSlasher192

[maoiwendell 0]

my idea for morale is like this

Its an icon like blood thirst and hunger like what you said.

Bandits/Hero 75% starting morale (Lowered to 50% overtime)

Survivors 50% starting morale (Default morale)

if morale is more than 50% it starts getting lower until it reaches 50%

if morale is less than 25% it starts getting higher until it reaches 25%

11-25% Morale: Gets Headbob Ranging from 1-100% (Headbob Gets lowered if morale gets Higher)

5-10% morale: Stays in prone position, Can crawl and shoot but can`t run or stand still

1-4% Immobilized: Could be Drag around till its morale reaches 5%(i guess it could last 10-15 seconds)

Only Lethal weapons Can make Morale lower than 11%

Factors that affect morale

1.Location: Buildings, Forest and fields (Staying in buildings offers great morale and staying in fields degrades morale)

2.Weather: Rain and fog. (Rain Degrades morale the most, Fog a bit and normal weather offers nothing)

3.Items: Food, Water (Consuming it Increases morale) Spoiled food/Dirty water (if they ever added it, Offers Hunger/Thirst but decreases Morale)

4.Time: Day(Noting) Night(less morale)

6.Vehicle: Beats walking. (increases morale)

5. Lethal weapons: (Taking Hits or Heavy fire around the player, .50 Cal or Barrage of bullets, Grenades, Smoke Grenades)

the First aid modules in the arma 2 could be used for the 1-10% morale ^^