DayZ Standalone PVP realism suggestion

[MoebiuZ 2]

Since DayZ is (or should be) a zombie apocalipse simulator, not a military simulator, here are my suggestions:

Killing other players

PVP is good for the game, but not when it becomes the only point of the game. When you kill another player in a videogame it has no consecuences, and is fun, so becoming a bandit for no reason is the easy option, and like is happening with DayZ mod, the player interaction other than shoot first, then ask becomes almost nullified.

In a real world, killing other person for no reason (or even with a reason) is not as easy, and it has a great psychological impact.

So I think humanity should be used to simulate that situations, and to add a cost for being a bandit:

- A player killing another player for no reason (for example, he isn't very hungry or thirsty with no food on inventory) should get a great humanity decrease.

- Negative humanity should have negative effects on the player. A psychologial effect. First he can start having shakes (adrenaline and guiltyness). Then he can start speaking alone (revealing his position). And with a very negative humanity, he can start becoming mad (similar to random blackouts when low blood, he can start losing character control. Let's say, the character do weird things like starting to run for no reason, or start shooting to air due to madness). Other kind of things could be lack of famine, degrading his health in th same way of eating always the same food.

- Exceptions to these humanity decrease could be things like self-defence, or shooting a "flagged" player.

FLAGS

A flagged player is a player who you can shoot with no (or very low) humanity consecuences:

- A player that robbed you

- A player who shooted you

- A "war declaration". That war declaration should be for groups (so should be a mechanic to make groups). This kind of thing could be used for players willing to play pvp with another group of players, for example defending their camps, without ruining the playstyle of other players, or loners being shooted for no reason at all.

OTHER SUGGESTIONS

- Zombies should be a real threat in the game, not a secondary threat compared with players.

- Military grade weapons like sniper rifles or launchers should be non existant, or extremelly rare (like 1 or 2 in the entire map), and their ammo too. Civilian weapons should be more important for a game like this. A game full of snipers is just gamebreaking like we already experienced on DayZ mod, and the game loses their whole point. I know some pleople likes that kind of playstyle, but there are already tons of games for doing that, and in this game it doesn't make sense.

- Sneaking robbing should be more exciting and rewarding that shoot and rob. Mechanics for that would be cool.

- Overall, the game should be focused on survivalism, adding tons of features for that, and leaving pvp as a feature more, not the most important feature.

SURVIVALISM

- Fishing

- Lockpicking (doors, boxes)

- Cure researching (end game feature)

- Clothing sewing (repair)

- Hunting traps

[Bubbajones 238]

Let's assume for one moment that the person behind the avatar is a law-abiding, morally sound individual who would never take a human life.

Now let's assume he/she were to choose to play a ruthless survivor who places himself first and will not hesitate to kill to prevent threats (both real and potential) to his safety and that of his beans.

Why would a murderer (in-game) go insane? because the avatar has conflicting feelings with the person pulling his strings?

Look at the world atrocities that occur in the world:

• WWII Nazi-occupied Europe and what regular everyday people did to Jews during the round-up,
  
• the blood diamond market of south Africa where villagers are tortured and mutilated by gangs of thugs who protect the diamond mines,
  
• Drug cartels in South america
  
• Gangs in the slums of America
  
• Bikers gangs, mafia, or numerous other groups.
  

People are killed without a fleeting thought and it doesn't phase the murderers one second.

They don't start mumbling or randomly shooting in the air because they are feeling conflicted internally - even though you think they should.

As much as it bothers you, remove police forces, armies, courts and judges, and prisons - and you allow people to do whatever they want with no fear of repercussions.

Without the shadow of imprisonment or death hanging over their heads, many people would behave differently than they do.

That is a fact of life. That is what is happening in this end-of-the-world simulator.

There shouldn't be any artificial "modifiers" to warn you if someone has turned "evil". Make friends and have them watch your back.

i don't think there should be in-game humanity that is kept like a score or a counter - or at least it shouldn't be something visible to players. I say let things happen naturally and watch the social experiment unfold.

Edited April 8, 2013 by Bubbajones

[dutch_miller 159]

- Negative humanity should have negative effects on the player. A psychologial effect. First he can start having shakes (adrenaline and guiltyness). Then he can start speaking alone (revealing his position). And with a very negative humanity, he can start becoming mad (similar to random blackouts when low blood, he can start losing character control. Let's say, the character do weird things like starting to run for no reason, or start shooting to air due to madness). Other kind of things could be lack of famine, degrading his health in th same way of eating always the same food.

Oh god. This again...

Not only has this been suggested hundreds of times, it's also been rejected and shut down every time.

[Fitzkrieg 129]

See, I used to be a huge advocate against KOS PvP, but it adds to the realism... I don't believe artificial punishments are the answer. When I first hunted my first bandit, I caught him, shot him down with my Double Barrel, and left him unconscious until he woke up.. I wanted to let him know that he did wrong against a friendly medic of the server and I waiting to finish him off. When he woke back up he began screaming at me with his 11 year old voice, I put both of my pellets into his head. I have never regretted killing another bandit since. I tend not to snipe them. I stalk them until I get the chance to take out their legs, incapacitate them, and proceed to make their life hell.

-My favorite punishment involves me, my friend, a hatchet, and a whole lot of blood bags for the bandit being dragged.

Then I ask myself, "Maybe now I'm worse than the predators I hunt?" I proceed to say "No, they slaughter bambis for the hell of it, I keep them alive until I teach them their lesson or they Alt-F4"

*Don't feel like reading? No worries just check here*

I believe it is the players who regulate the murderers, not the developers, I will never turn to banditry unless for the sake of a friend, however those bandits out there who kill for the thrill or to prove they have, not making this shit up, as the 11 year old kid said "More swag than my mom" will get to enjoy being turned from hunter to hunted.

[MoebiuZ 2]

Do you really think doing atrocities is the normal status of an human being?

Most of these examples are not as natural as it seems. Soldiers in war actually are psychologically affected for murdering (following orders, by the way).

People working for cartels, or african pirates, etc are dead threaten, or wasted by drugs when doing atrocities.

Yes, there are individuals in the world that totally lack of humanity, but these cases are not the usual, and they are insane in most cases.

My point is that being a player killer in a videogame has no consecuences, and a player (not the character) feels fun "ruining" the progress of another player. And don't take this negativelly, all of us like that sometimes and the most the other player is humilliated or their progress broken, the most we enjoy, don't use the excuse of being "roleplaying" an evil character. But in a game like this that shoulnd't be the objective, but a real survivalism experience. Yes, with it's player vs player, but making sense. Being at a roof for hours to kill some random peeps, or making hunting groups to roam the map looking for players to gank doesn't make any sense on a zombie apocalypse.

And that diesn't self-regulate, never did in any game. Well, perhaps in Eve online, where bandits actually had something to lose. That's the reason I'm suggesting some game mechanics, that perhaps aren't the better, but it's possible to do something to regulate that transparently.

Is not about to make friends a become hunter of bandits, because that is just the same "let's have fun killing other players". (btw, making friends in a game where everybody shoots you in the back or from a roof is almost impossible, and bring them from a forum or other reallife friends is as artificial as imposing some restrictions to regulate the game)

[Bubbajones 238]

My point is that being a player killer in a videogame has no consecuences,

Being a person killer in any sort of apocalypse scenario where law and order are non existent with no chance of it returning will have no consequences either.

[dekartz 315]

A "real" survivalist experience varies. For example, there are some who would be willing to kill only out of self-defense, and there are others who would kill pre-emptively because there's a chance that someone might prove to be a threat.

Also, hunting other people makes perfect sense in an apocalyptic setting. They will almost invariably be carrying supplies and as stated above could potentially pose a threat to you and your own. Sure, plenty of people do it for the sake of "death-matching" but they're ultimately taking a risk in doing so (they can lose all of their equipment if the person they shoot at has back-up or is a better shot)