Immersion

[droznig 20]

Immersion is key to this game and it's character, feeling like you are really there and really have something to lose is important.

 

My suggestion, for the sake of immersion in the stand alone is to keep text pop ups which give you a sitrep on your character and his status, this may sound counter intuitive but hear me out.

 

I've heard Rocket talk about how he wants to remove all text prompts and make it so that you have to glean from how your character is behaving as to his status, for example, if you are sick, you find this out because you hear coughing from your character.

 

Here's my problem with that with regards to immersion, in real life if I am sick, I know I am sick because I feel awful, same with a broken leg, if I break my leg I know about it because, well my leg is broken and it hurts. Since direct neural interface is probably out of the question, we need to come up with something else to replace the pain and body response you would have in real life.

 

Text prompts and or status on the side of the screen work because it's simple and easy to understand, it gives you a direct link to how your character is doing. If however as rocket suggests, those prompts are removed we are left with a situation where your character turns into a sort of tamagachi where you have to kind of guess how your character is feeling or what's wrong with him which completely removes the character from being an extension of self and removes that element of immersion. Simply needing to ask the question "Is he hungry" or "Is he sick" "whats wrong with him" separates you from your character.

 

I'm not saying that it can't be done without using prompts, but it seems like it would be counterproductive to do so.

 

Secondary suggestion: I also think adrenaline should play a role in how often your prompts come up text or otherwise, if you are in a high stress situation how hungry you are goes out the window completely, blood physically moves away from your bowels and into your muscles and brain, same with how hot or cold you are, when skydiving for example it can get extremely cold when you jump but you don't even feel the pain in your hands until a few minutes after you land. This introduces an element of being able to push your body to the point of failure because the adrenaline over rides everything else so over an extended period it can lead to people "forgetting" to eat or drink for example.

 

If there is a way to measure stress or adrenaline, or even just start a timer when you get shot at or hear a shot, or are in a certain proximity or sight of zombies, during the timer no prompts for hunger or exposure occur, but when your character calms down you get a flood of prompts from your body. Same with if you have been shot and are bleeding, you aren't going to think about eating at all for the time being, getting a prompt for food when you are potentially going to die in the next 5 minutes seems somewhat redundant.

 

Not sure how good a suggestion that is, but it's just a suggestion. 

Edited August 7, 2013 by droznig

[GrumpyGat (DayZ) 497]

I can personally attest to this on the few times i opted to jump without gloves on cold days.

 

Watch out! We got a badass over here!

[Dancing.Russian.Man 1631]

I believe Rocket has given several examples as to what he is going to replace the text prompts with.

It's odd how you're (basically) saying "The text prompts add to the immersion! Don't remove them!" while everybody else is saying "Having text pop up on my screen, telling how I'm feeling instantly breaks the immersion."

 

I'm not going to take sides on the matter, but as far as I recall, Rocket is going to make visual and audial indicators as to how your character is doing. Grumbling stomach, etc.

[droznig 20]

But my point is those things are easy to miss, like if you have been cold for a few hours, you might not pick up on the prompt until the second or third, in reality if you are in pain it's not something you can easily ignore.

 

I don't wan't my character to turn into a furby, basically. "what does that noise mean? Does he want me to rub his tummy? Does he want food?" You are introducing a barrier to immersion.  Text prompts for me are non invasive and informative, my character doing things I don't tell him to do, or making strange noises are less informative and more invasive on my experience. Just my opinion.

 

Perhaps having an option to turn text prompts off or on might be a good compromise, if the system rocket comes up with really is more immersive the text prompts will convey no advantage what so ever.

Edited August 7, 2013 by droznig

[Welch (DayZ) 756]

I feel the texts could be easy to miss at times, and maybe you'd miss it and then end up dead because you didn't look at some words.

[Toybasher 27]

I kinda agree.

 

Obviously you shouldn't be told exactly whats wrong "Your left leg is broken!" but something more like space station 13 (a completely unrelated game) would fit better.

 

Like "Your left leg hurts horribly as a sickening crack is heard!" "You feel sick!" etc.

[droznig 20]

In my opinion, a grumbling stomach being heard over the sound of you crawling running or walking is less likely than you missing a text prompt especially if they have their own colour or applet within the game, also simply reading the text "you are hungry" creates an actual brain response in your own head where the neurones remember the last time you felt hunger the same way you can see peoples brains light up during functional MRI's when a word such as "love" or "anger" comes up, just the word lights up the associated part of the brain. Hearing some one being hungry or sick lights up a different part of the brain, just one part of the brain associated with empathy, again creating a division between your character and your real life brain. You aren't meant to feel empathetic towards your character, it's supposed to represent you within the game, that's what immersion is.

 

Surely it's better to get an actual brain response from the correct part of the brain rather than having all your characters needs met because of an empathic impulse which would lead to people caring less about their character as an extension of self and seeing it more as a pet even if it is only on a subconcious level. It's the sort of subtle thing that could ruin a game, people won't notice or be able to put their finger on why it doesn't feel right, but if the only part of the brain that lights up when you play is the part for empathy it could change the way people play and feel about the game.

[OrLoK 16182]

Hello there

 

I dont think im revealing anything that hasn't been seen at GC, suffice to say there are already visual and textual cues in the game.

 

Whether they're final or not is anyone's guess but they're both in there and if they stay i'm sure will be refined over time.

 

Check for the latest vids.

 

Rgds

 

LoK

[droznig 20]

Hello there

 

I dont think im revealing anything that hasn't been seen at GC, suffice to say there are already visual and textual cues in the game.

 

Whether they're final or not is anyone's guess but they're both in there and if they stay i'm sure will be refined over time.

 

Check for the latest vids.

 

Rgds

 

LoK

 

Thank you for the information, it's good to know that there are both included right now, but on numerous occasions over the past year I have heard rocket say something along the lines of "Eventually we want to completely remove text cues all together" Implying that in the finished product there would be none, which is why I made this post. Besides until we get our hands on the game it's impossible to say for certainty one way or the other what works best but I'm just airing my concerns and opinions on the topic and interested to hear what other people have to say about it.

 

It makes sense that people would think that using audible and visual cues would be more immersive, I'm just pointing out that this might not be the case.

[OrLoK 16182]

It makes sense that people would think that using audible and visual cues would be more immersive, I'm just pointing out that this might not be the case.

 

Hello there

 

You do have a point, as you say, we'll be able to see when the Alpha is released.

 

Also, remember though that even if it's implemented with 42 point, pink, strobing comic sans text as its the alpha it will be subject to change/removal  or a revamp.

 

it wiill be interesting to see what method they end up with as there's many different routes one could take for these notification.

 

Rgds

 

LoK