Bandits, Heroes, Survivors, Zombies and.. Civilians

[SixGunLover 54]

This topic is my attempt to create a better dayz community with my understanding of the currents issues in this dysfunctional family (so yeah, I can be wrong). I personally think that we are really close to achieve something great, a game that reunite thousands of people around the same goal; having fun in their free time with the game they loved. But yeah, I also think that everyone and their grandma have their own idea of what "dayz is" which is really different from one person to another and create a lot of tension and frustration.

We all know what will happen soon enough: private servers. If you think that you know "what the majority want or how dayz should be" private server are often there to prove you wrong. If we don't come up with an idea, most of them will play on private server which is not the best scenario in my opinion. In my opinion, there are 3 main way to play dayz, but of course each person can choice how they wanna play at each logon no matter what they were playing in the last session.

1) the friendly survivor: running around, avoiding people, running when bullets are flying, sometime going berserk and kill someone for an adrenaline rush, etc. Usually do not kos.

2) the player hunter: looking for good sniping spot, ambush the unwary, fighting to the last, torturing the poor soul and sometime going "friendly" for the lol or to feel free. Usually kos.

3) the helpful player: looking for other player to play with, usually talk to unarmed player to propose some help, scout the coastal city to ambush bandit, protect the survivors from zombies, escort players to nice looting location. Usually only kos heavy armed suspicious player.

Of course, everyone can do whatever they want, so, there are a lot more that 3 type of players but I think that this is mostly accurate. There are no rules, that the core of dayz (that and the zombies, the main enemies faction). But I think that one faction is missing, the one that can bring the community together, lets call it "the untrained weakened lucky civilian that still breath here and there on chernarus".

I think that a civilian faction would increase the fun of this game for all the players, no matter if you are a lone unpredictable survivor, a kos player hunter, a bandit looking for some interaction or even an hero. The main idea is that this faction is to create a lot more interaction in the game, a way to bring the kos players and the friendly together. Stay with me, here how it could work:

When you create a char, you have the option to choice this faction, a warning message popup and explain you that this faction is mostly for interaction, you char will be limited, weaker and will be no match for the other hardened survivor.

The civilian cannot equip any military weapons

The civilian cannot equip any backpack

If the civilian shot at any player, he will miss the 3 first time

If the civilian keep shot at a player, the gun will jam and only another survivor can repair it by equip it

The civilian can be shot at but instead of hurting him, your gun will jam for 10 sec and you will receive a message reminding you that this kind of player want some interaction and cannot fight back, be a bandit, rob him, steal 50% of is blood, there are no skill involve since he cant fight back, be nice and fair (maybe an rp message, whatever, something nice).

The civilian will them receive a message telling him that he perceive danger (meaning, if he was a survivor, he will be dead already)

The kos player can then choose to kill this player any way, which is not nice, limit the interaction, but still legal. (Maybe kicking the player for 30min after 2 civil murder but.. I don't think that it will be popular)

The civilian do full dmg on zeds but cant shoot right after 300-600m

It can be something different, but you got the idea (for example, it can be that civilian only do 5% dmg on other survivor because of crappy shooting, gun malfunction, etc). Dayz will then have a lot more interaction, a lot more unlucky civilian will be abused and robed and there will be civilian fighting zeds in every corner.. Civilian can be used to bait another survivor or an hero, be creative ;). I think that the immersion would be greatly increased and everyone will still have the chance to play how they want to play.

Maybe your idea is better than mine, but i think that the solution is somewhere around this one. Another playable faction that is there to create a nice immersion mixed with the zombies, a faction that can be "safely played" for those who dislike pvp and "safely abused" for the bandits who want to play the bad guy but don't want to expose them self when they know that they can simply kos. Even the hardcore kos player may want to just wander around as a civilian and his shotgun sometime.

Edited January 6, 2014 by SixGunLover

[t4nk83 5]

Civilians should not have any limitations on what they can or cannot shoot. Defeats the purpose of a sandbox RPG by giving roles and classes.

[dubghall 36]

I like the effort put into this post but aren't we all civilians on the shore?  When we start out we have nothing... I think as the game progresses new players will become a commodity... more population for your group, strength for your squad.  I can see squads fighting for access to fresh shoreline characters. 

Along these lines Id love to see some encouragement for squads etc. eventually... so that dominating the island becomes something to fight for... otherwise I see the typical server squads emerging that probably would rather pickoff easy pickins than duke it out between themselves.  Like i said though... I think that would be a future interest and not central to the game (something like a guild structure, or armbands you can wear, or spraypaint you can lable your gear with to show you are a member - spraypaint could be a rare enough spawn that only organized groups would have a shot at getting their hands on enough of the right color to be useful). 

I personally dont really like the idea of "factions" choosable at the outset of the game... not unless zombie becomes one in the future... (half-joke)... then we'd need civs to eat for sure.  :D

[doublebrain 255]

Na man... just no.

There are no factions in this game, there are survivours with different ideals and a different sense of morale. One of the big points of DayZ is that we are all the same. We all need to drink, eat, we need clothes and defense. When we start playing we have nothing and we are free to take anything we want.

Also players are civilians, in this game you are supposed to be the average Joe. You are not a trained military, not a survival specialist, not a hero sent by god.

 

By the way, there will be allways a group of people who know what it means to play DayZ the way its ment to be played. And as long as these people are there I dont mind if others fill their maps with 100 new barracks, 500 repaired vehicles and give new spawns an M24 and a two M249s in each hand. Or they ban everyone who kills another player. Or they make cows parachuting everytime someone finds a can of beans.

[SixGunLover 54]

This is hardly a limitation, since it will also be a choice. Zeds have a lot of limitations too and they are playable sometime.

Edit: i will answer soon, for the other questions, time to go home.

Edited January 6, 2014 by SixGunLover

[t4nk83 5]

This is hardly a limitation, since it will also be a choice. Zeds have a lot of limitations too and they are playable sometime.

Edit: i will answer soon, for the other questions, time to go home.

We are all civilians in DayZ standalone, military has been completely destroyed and rendered useless. Only civilians remain, and those are far and few between.

 

All I am saying is seperating the playerbase into classes, is not what a Sandbox (key word there) MMORPG  (or MMOFPS) is about. The point being, you can find a server that prohibits KoS, and "Role-Play" as a civilian. Do not try to change the base of the game, because you "think" it would be better. You can try to mod your customizations for it, but do not try to change the game I play, because you think it would be better.

[SixGunLover 54]

Oh but, this is not about me, I will play with what I have. I currently shot everything that carry a weapon and will continue to play this way as long as this is the best way to survivre within this game (or to not be killed/trolled by someone who is jerking around). Of course if there were these kind of players around, I would be a lot more friendly, talkative and helpful sometime which is what a good part of the player base want. I read a lot of bad feedback these last couple of days (it was the same thing on the mod) and it end up always the same way: "wait for private server pal''. Of course its easy to insult them and call them whiner but the reality is that a succesful game is a loved game by a majority. And yeah, it can still be an hardcore anti-game and loved by a majority.

 

We have zombies, sometime you will even respawn as a zombie (or it was just a bug?), why not have the choice to spawn as a random civilian (hunter, policeman, farmer, fisherman, doctor, etc) that is first purpose is to create a better immersion to all the other players and allow some to play the more peacefully as possible (less pvp for them, or no pvp at all). I suppose that these pc could spawn anywhere on the map and all have their weakness that give them a purpose. Of course you can still customise your char in game and carry/use a lot of stuff but have some limitation to avoid exploits.

 

Still, this is an idea, a lot of details are missing or can be debated. But I still believe that Dayz is lacking something for those people who want an immersive experience (a bit different that your own immersive experience). My main idea was to be able to play as a 5-10 year old child with his logical limitations, usually enough to avoid kos since they can't be so much of a threat if you know how to deal with them. But I dont think that the world is ready for that, maybe in 5-10 years.

Edited January 6, 2014 by SixGunLover

[liquidcactus 719]

and civilians with the.. what ? can and cant do .. whaat ?

 

umm..

 

huh ?

[SixGunLover 54]

Sorry?

As i said, these lesser details are unimportant (in my opinion) since they are examples of how we can achieve a goal and thus can be modified at will. But i suppose that the main question should be:

Do we want to enhance the game to add a lot more interaction for those who would like to play this way.. or not?

If yes: How can we achieve that?

If no: "Just wait for private server pals"

[doublebrain 255]

Which way?.. I dont realy see the way how to play a civilian. You have limited gear options, poor aim and you cant be killed or kill others. It just removes important parts of the game. Also it has no realism at all. The point of DayZ is that you never know if that guy will shoot you or not. If there are civilians you know this guy wont shoot you, you cant kill him. You will most likely just ignore most of them. Plus I see ways to abuse the civilian "faction", because you can troll players or give away their positons easily as you will just receive the message "You would be dead now"

[SixGunLover 54]

Yep, the idea is not perfect but i continue to think that something can be worked around that. And even more if any player have a chance to respawn as a zombie if killed by a zombie, which destroy many counter arguments.

Playable children maybe? Who know.

Edited January 7, 2014 by SixGunLover

[Sawnek 12]

Looking through the stats that the civilian would have, it seems too limiting. You mention that either way, a bandit can still kill a civilian after their gun jams and they are warned that they are trying to kill a civilian, making the feature useless, as most players aren't very forgiving. You mention that the civilian cannot use any military weapons, most players would avoid this 'faction' due to this. I couldn't imagine playing the game and finding a Shovel or a Fire Axe, for example, and then being content with using just that.

 

I could imagine that the civilian could be exploited, a group of normal survivors could use a civilian to bait any snipers or bandits. A bandit will see a player, fire at them, only to find out they're a civilian, the civilian will let their group know of the bandit and perhaps their position.

 

I prefer the 'freedom' of spawning in, then deciding what path you will take: a hero or a bandit. Instead of being restricted to just one faction or class, you can decide your own path. Start off with nothing as a civilian, eventually becoming a hero or a bandit once you've found weapons and gear.

[Roshi (DayZ) 397]

I doubt strongly that these kinds of ideas will get traction with the developers.

[lazyorc 7]

I think it would work better if the game kept record of how many civilians you kill. Then you would be labeled a bandit or civilian, killing bandits would decrease your status back to a civi. Looking at player list you will be able to see how many bandits, civis are on the server along with ability to hover over their name and see what their character looks like. I would also like a server message to show when a new player leaves/joins the server.