How can we make a players life more important than his gear?

[Deathlove 2280]

Again a rare explosive device that you can put in your backpack that can destroy gear and hurt players if they go to loot would be fine by me. Would make ppl less KOS. Ppl still will but it will be fare smaller especially if you see a well geared player. There may be a 50% chance he has one on his body when you go to loot.

[knawx 175]

The thing I don't like about a respawn timer is that it punishes the victim. I know it's supposed to be a motivation to not die, but it's also another fuel for the griefing fire. People who enjoy making the game living hell for other people will have even more power to do so.

 

 

This will never change. People are going to kill you because you have gear, or just for fun.

 

The topic of the discussion is how can we add value to the players life beyond his gear so that you will want to stay alive in the event other players steal your things, but choose not to kill you. (Most likely for humanity reasons in the future)

[FroztyReaper 46]

Gaining proficency in making fires. Skinning animals. Chopping wood.. Dunno, idea is good. But then again, will make it a mmorpg

 

*edit: Which this is in a way. But it might give it a twist that many might not be comfortable with. Then again, many of these will be good for base building if they will implement it*

Edited December 19, 2013 by FroztyReaper

[Dasutin 3]

The topic of the discussion is how can we add value to the players life beyond his gear so that you will want to stay alive in the event other players steal your things, but choose not to kill you. (Most likely for humanity reasons in the future)

I think the minor skills will help with making other people see you as more valuable, and something as simple as being able to write a back story, and customize the appearance of your character a little more would also go a long way for making you care more for your character. (it seems silly, but that's a big part of roleplaying, and helps you see  the character as a person, rather than a humanoid peice of data that you control.)

Or heck, even a randomly generated character and backstory, with unique traits based on those things would be cool. You get a cool random character, you're less likely to put yourself in a deadly situation.

[AP_Norris 1017]

The character wipes aren't all that helpful for caring about longevity at this time.

But, I agree with the beard mostly.

I suppose 'some' skills might be okay.

But not by reading them, and not by sitting afk for ages, you should have to be doing them.

Other things are already in place, spawning hungry, blood type(do you know it?), How far north you are (there's much more value up North, why bother running back?)

That one about the North for me is one reason why I think they gotta tone down Balota airfields spawning somehow.

I caught it on a good day and I have endgame loot in ten minutes, meanwhile my first survivor took 6 hours to get similar non military stuff.

[Hetstaine 10852]

You're missing the point. Everyone cares about their character until they are stripped of all their gear. Then you are back to square one, you are no different than a new spawn even though you may have just survived for days before you were robbed of your things.

 

The value of your character should be deeper than just your gear.

 

What are some suggestions you may have that would meet this goal?

 

 For me it is about the time, not the gear. I have crawled for hours to get morph for a guy when up North with max gear and crawled for hours with nothing more than a crossbow and some food. I don't care if my guy has only a torch and can of sardines, i will do what i can to keep that fucker alive. It's a mindset thing. There isn't anything you can do to make people who don't give a toss , suddenly start giving a toss, without making it arcadey.

[AP_Norris 1017]

I think the minor skills will help with making other people see you as more valuable, and something as simple as being able to write a back story, and customize the appearance of your character a little more would also go a long way for making you care more for your character. (it seems silly, but that's a big part of roleplaying, and helps you see  the character as a person, rather than a humanoid peice of data that you control.)

Or heck, even a randomly generated character and backstory, with unique traits based on those things would be cool. You get a cool random character, you're less likely to put yourself in a deadly situation.

Err but the problem with randomly generated backstory is you get people trying to kill & respawn to get the ones they want.

[AP_Norris 1017]

For me it is about the time, not the gear. I have crawled for hours to get morph for a guy when up North with max gear and crawled for hours with nothing more than a crossbow and some food. I don't care if my guy has only a torch and can of sardines, i will do what i can to keep that fucker alive. It's a mindset thing. There isn't anything you can do to make people who don't give a toss , suddenly start giving a toss, without making it arcadey.

Agree, same with KoS without making everybody pissed off.

I made a goal to survive until my friend gets the game, then Rocket killed me XD I suppose my character looks the same :) no one can argue.

[xInfinityx 44]

Skills should never directly effect combat in my opinion.

[Dgenerate 7]

So what about our female players? Be careful with your replies...

Bigger boobs.

[AP_Norris 1017]

Bigger boobs.

I can see you have been very careful and put a well thought out reply.

[MastrBlaster 17]

Adding value to a characters life and ending KoS are completely seperate but related issues.

 

There will ALWAYS be people wanting to just slaughter other players for laughs, but you could discourage some of the KoS by making damage a player takes damage there gear, this could also make falling more realistic. You shoot me across the air field and you put a hole in my M4 making it useless. You fall out a 1st story window your flashlight breaks when you land on it. It may be a little weird when someone handcuffs you and very carefully kills you yet still some how smashes all of your gear but it's a game after all, and some things just have to be balanced to keep it fun. 

 

Adding value to a players life would have to be something you earn over time, and I think simple passive skills are a great idea. But nothing should ever touch physicality or combat related actions, the passive skills shouldn't give anyone the upper hand in an encounter, just make eating/drinking quicker, resistance to disease better, higher endurance things of that nature. The skills you gain would just have to be extremely carefully added to maintain a balance to the game and to keep people from becoming to OP. 

[dgeesio 1034]

what about boxing matches :P

[Stormin_Norman 3]

Here's a bit of a left field idea.

 

Just as drinking from a murky pond has a chance of making you sick...killing has a chance of making you mentally sick.

 

Some may crumble at their first kill. Others may kill over and over before the weight of the actions weighs on their mind.

 

So like getting physically sick, you get mentally sick. Lose your will to live. Mope (slow) speed movement. Needing more food to keep going. The shakes. Hearing noises/voices (like the current 'bug' of global direct messaging, you get random conversations of others played as 'voices'). Going to pull the trigger and instead lowering your weapon. 

 

Like I said, a bit of a left-field idea, but I think its an interesting idea that other's can probably take and develop a lot further than me.

Edited December 20, 2013 by Stormin_Norman

[Hetstaine 10852]

 The above type of idea was mentioned a lot over the time of the mod, it generally degenerated into slenderman and seeing ghosts type bullshit :)  Nervousness maybe, guilt somehow ? random 1 -2 second flashbacks of a killing that make you go wtf ? ptsd ?

[Stormin_Norman 3]

 The above type of idea was mentioned a lot over the time of the mod, it generally degenerated into slenderman and seeing ghosts type bullshit :)  Nervousness maybe, guilt somehow ? random 1 -2 second flashbacks of a killing that make you go wtf ? ptsd ?

 

I think taking the idea that they've put into the SA of physical illness and applying it to mental state. Flashbacks, slendermen are all BS. Simple physical changes are known depression symptoms that are already in the game as physical sickness. 

 

By doing good you can heal your mental side. Offering blood, feeding beans, giving supplies etc. 

 

To me it is the only method whereby there is movement away from loot/equip focus. Already the SA has moved from all about the firepower to all about the beans/health (top top marks) so a similar move from being all about the killing to all about the mental health of a post apocalyptic world where the survival of humanity needs to be balanced with survival of self. Humanity got to its current advancement due to co-operation. It is a core human trait and this discussion on how to involve it in the game is both excellent and core.

[WOLFGEIST 122]

Implement rare books that give skills such as cooking,repairing, etc. Book is destroyed upon use. Easy fix.

[Gwraspe 318]

i agree with beard, but there will be skill growing implemented from what the devs say - so that :)

[liquidcactus 719]

So what about our female players? Be careful with your replies... 

uhh well beards still of course.. women with beards do exist and I'm sure they would flourish in an apocalypse scenario 

[liquidcactus 719]

 For me it is about the time, not the gear. I have crawled for hours to get morph for a guy when up North with max gear and crawled for hours with nothing more than a crossbow and some food. I don't care if my guy has only a torch and can of sardines, i will do what i can to keep that fucker alive. It's a mindset thing. There isn't anything you can do to make people who don't give a toss , suddenly start giving a toss, without making it arcadey.

 

I think exactly the same as what hetstaine sais, Its about the 1st hand experience and the story you endure that makes this game for me. There isnt really much that can happen or should be focused on 2 much to stop players from not giving a shit about there char with or without gear. Basically..... ITS STORY TIME

Edited December 20, 2013 by liquidcactus

[Skyelur 57]

This is an awesome idea which will lead to people surrendering more than fighting for their gear. Maybe not traits but beard and humanity sounds good.. 

[jBrick 116]

If you die you can't play for 24 hours... BOOM done... I expect some beans for this gem of an idea!

[macstanley 3]

 Thats a difficult thing. For me, the life of my character is already the most important thing, because most of the time I walked 30-45 Minutes to reach my friends who are waiting for me. So if I die I need to walk (and find) the way all over again. And thats one of the main reasons I hate to get killed on sight (when I have no weapons) because I wasted a lot of time.

So the strange thing with that is, that the longer I walked, the higher the chance I am willing to kill on sight too when meeting other players, just because I am afraight of getting killed and beeing forced to walk all the way again. So if I always would have the choice to die or give them all my stuff ... there is no question, I would always give them everything. This way I don't need to start all over, but "only" have to find new loot.

[wetspot 11]

Here's a bit of a left field idea.

 

Just as drinking from a murky pond has a chance of making you sick...killing has a chance of making you mentally sick.

 

Some may crumble at their first kill. Others may kill over and over before the weight of the actions weighs on their mind.

 

So like getting physically sick, you get mentally sick. Lose your will to live. Mope (slow) speed movement. Needing more food to keep going. The shakes. Hearing noises/voices (like the current 'bug' of global direct messaging, you get random conversations of others played as 'voices'). Going to pull the trigger and instead lowering your weapon. 

 

Like I said, a bit of a left-field idea, but I think its an interesting idea that other's can probably take and develop a lot further than me.

 

I love this idea but how would the game know a self defense kill from a murder? Or if I tracked down the guy who shot my friend 15 minutes ago? Things like that would just ruin the system's idea.

[iashford 73]

Maybe have it that if you die, you are forced to play a character of the opposite gender for 2 hours. Then you'll have to kill that character to play as the gender you want. Massive inconvenience.

 

Or maybe have your character walk a slugged pace for 20 minutes after respawning. I don't know