Survivor Stories: Authentic Leader Boards

[ZedsDeadBaby 2287]

There was a brief period back in the days of the mod where Dean put up a few leader boards. They were partially functional, periodically unavailable, and eventually overcome by hackers and taken down.

 

While ill-fated in execution, I think the concept was a good one. Give players a record of survivors against which to compare their own survival abilities and accomplishments. I think it's a step toward making the game feel like a larger community rather than isolated and temporary pockets of 40 anonymous people.

 

Unlike the mod leader boards which tracked all survivors, I think that Standalone boards should be limited to dead survivors. I don't think any of these stats should be visible or published while someone is still alive and in game. It begins to feel too much like a "score" at that point, and I don't think that feels right for DayZ.

 

If, however, when you die you are presented with the option to "Save & Publish" your survivor's stats, I feel like the leader boards become more of a history of survivors passed. A collection of "Survivor Stories" that you can imagine being passed around by word-of-mouth, journal entries, graffiti tags or notes scrawled on paper. A sense builds of legends being passed on from one generation of survivors to the next - of great heroes, infamous killers or renowned explorers who have made their mark on Chernarus. This feels more authentic to me and more appropriate for DayZ.

 

In order to keep leader boards from being overly influential on what people choose to do in the game, a huge variety should be included covering many aspects of the game and ensuring that, practically irrespective of your play style, there's at least one leader board upon which your character might be ranked at the end of your life.

 

Some examples of leader boards might be (some assume future functionality):

 

Trailblazer [Total Distance Traveled on Foot]

Wheelman [Total Distance Traveled by Car/Truck/Motorcycle]

Seaworthy [Total Distance Traveled by Boat]

Paperboy [Total Distance Traveled by Bicycle]

Test Driver [Total Unique Vehicles Entered]

Field Medic [Total Bandages Applied to Wounds Not Your Own]

Doctor [Total Blood Healed Not Your Own]

Zombie Killer [Total Zombies Killed]

Zombie Rifleman [Total Zombies Killed by Rifle]

Zombie Shotgunner [Total Zombies Killed by Shotgun]

Zombie Shooter [Total Zombies Killed by Pistol]

Zombie Archer [Total Zombies Killed by Arrow/Bolt]

Zombie Marksman [Total Zombies Killed by Headshot]

Zombie Brawler [Total Zombies Killed by Melee]

Glutton [Total Calories Consumed]

Survivor [Hours Alive in Game]

Wartorn [Total Damage Sustained]

Kidnapper [Total Handcuffs Applied to Unique Survivors]

Sadist [Total Force Feedings on Unique Survivors]

Killer [Total Players Killed]

Rifleman [Total Players Killed by Rifle]

Shotgunner [Total Players Killed by Shotgun]

Shooter [Total Players Killed by Pistol]

Archer [Total Players Killed by Arrow/Bolt]

Marksman [Total Players Killed by Headshot]

Brawler [Total Players Killed by Melee]

Celebrity [Total Unique Survivors Encountered]

Sniper [Longest Range Confirmed Kill]

Zombie Sniper [Longest Range Confirmed Zombie Kill]

Demolition Man [Most Vehicles Destroyed]

Hunter [Total Animals Killed]

Chef [Total Calories Cooked/Prepared]

Burglar [Total Residential Houses Visited]

Bean King [Total Beans Eaten]

Looter [Total Weight of All Items Picked Up]

Comrade [Total Time Spent w/in 10m of Another Survivor In Game]

Nightowl [Total Time Spent In Game After Sunset]

Repairman [Total Vehicle Parts Attached]

Hero Survivor [Longest Time in Game, No Player Kills]

Hero Zombie Killer [Most Zombie Kills, No Player Kills]

Hero Explorer [Longest Distance Traveled, No Player Kills]

Hero Medic [Most Wounds Bandaged, No Player Kills]

Hero Doctor [Most Blood Transfused, No Player Kills]

 

Some care would need to be taken to avoid explotation in some of these - i.e., repeatedly shooting your friend over and over again in order to bandage his wounds or replace his blood. In most cases, this is solved simply by including "unique" in the evaluation, or by ignoring repeated usages on the same person in a short period of time.

 

I think with some thought, the team could probably make a list twice this long by release, especially given all the new features they're sure to bring online.

 

There's a reddit thread with a similar suggestion which includes an excellent screenshot.

 

Credit to user jellypawn for this post which motivated me to write this up.  :thumbsup: 

Edited January 17, 2014 by ZedsDeadBaby

[byrgesen 1341]

Have to admit im loving the reddit screenshot of the full statistic page. :)

But having global leaderboards could, and most likely will, have a negative impact on the game.
Yes there might be many different ones, but we all know where the focus will be, Player and Zombie kills basicly.

This could then encourage even more KOS and take this game down a dirty arcade road, which we will never come back from :)

Keep it local only, no realtime tracking (obviously) and give us the option to save our statistic upon death.
Perhaps you can have a maximum of 3-5 different statistics saved.

Just my 2 cents :)

[ZedsDeadBaby 2287]

But having global leaderboards could, and most likely will, have a negative impact on the game.

Yes there might be many different ones, but we all know where the focus will be, Player and Zombie kills basicly.

 

I think it's a perfectly valid concern, but I honestly don't see it happening. At least not often enough to have a negative impact on the game.

 

I think players will play the way the want, public boards or no. People who want to be friendly in the game generally take a lot of pride in what they do already. I don't see them turning around and becoming sadistic killers just to land on a leader board - especially when there are plenty for them to get on by playing their way.

 

If there is some affect on players' behavior, I think it will swing both ways. Some friendly folk might decide to try to score on the killer boards, but I think some killers might see the variety of boards and decide on a new goal in the game besides just shooting everything with a heartbeat.

 

If you feel strongly there's not enough motivation here for heroic play, how about these additional boards, specifically designed for people who manage to survive without taking a life?

 

Hero Survivor [Longest Time in Game, No Player Kills]

Hero Zombie Killer [Most Zombie Kills, No Player Kills]

Hero Explorer [Longest Distance Traveled, No Player Kills]

Hero Medic [Most Wounds Bandaged, No Player Kills]

Hero Doctor [Most Blood Transfused, No Player Kills]

 

I think you have to admit these would be hugely sought after. Look around these forums and reddit; I think it's clear that players able to make it on to these boards would be treated like legends and showered with accolades and admiration. I can imagine popular streamers going on "Hero marathons" in publicized attempts to score a spot on these boards and make a name for themselves in the annals of Chernarus.

Edited January 17, 2014 by ZedsDeadBaby

[ZedsDeadBaby 2287]

Weekly Friday bump (24 JAN).

[JuX 72]

Not good idea to implement scoreboard on a survival game.

 

Half of the scoring encourage extreme bandit behavior that results in massive fresh spawn slaughers

and the other half is unreliable competition where you can play dirty, for example. Damaging your friends

and healing them afterwards and repeat.

[ZedsDeadBaby 2287]

Not good idea to implement scoreboard on a survival game.

 

Half of the scoring encourage extreme bandit behavior that results in massive fresh spawn slaughers

 

I would politely ask you to read the list again. Only 8 of the proposed 43 leader boards have anything to do with player kills. That's slightly less than half. Nearly as many (5) require zero kills.

 

 

 

Damaging your friends and healing them afterwards and repeat.

 

You will notice the word "unique" attached to most of these leader boards, which means you cannot simply "repeat." Healing the same person over and over again confers no benefits.

[Shodex 15]

The last thing you want is to give incentive for people to get the most kills.

Leaderboards are fun in a competitive environment, but I don't think of DayZ as competitive.

In a competitive game like Call of Duty or Battlefield your objective is directly counter to the enemy's. But in DayZ every player has the exact same objective, survival. What makes people hostile is not competition, it's the simple fact that you can't complete your objective without destroying somebody else's.

 

DayZ should not be competitive. The deathmatch mentality is the worst part of the game, killing should be out of necessity and nothing else.

[JuX 72]

I would politely ask you to read the list again. Only 8 of the proposed 43 leader boards have anything to do with player kills. That's slightly less than half. Nearly as many (5) require zero kills.

 

 

 

Could you pronounce the beginning without making yourself appear such a douche?

 

I am aware of the math, but i am not wasting time counting each category on that list, which if implemented could contain

more scoring opportunities then the list currently holds. For example. players driven over, swimming players killed or players blown up and so on...

[Hethwill_Khan 233]

You have a good argument but, in my opinion, falls short and void on a "survivalist and full of human interaction" as opposed to the more conservative military sandbox Arma.

 

A leaderboard built on sterile mathematics with no concern for human interaction will never reflect anything correctly in this kind of sandbox.

 

In  DayZ Reputation is all, and in that only humans can give or take points to award or penalize your actions.

 

I'd keep it no scoreboard, or simply reliant on a simple reputation system.

[ZedsDeadBaby 2287]

Weekly Friday bump (31 JAN).

[sacrdandprofne 100]

There was a brief period back in the days of the mod where Dean put up a few leader boards. They were partially functional, periodically unavailable, and eventually overcome by hackers and taken down.

While ill-fated in execution, I think the concept was a good one. Give players a record of survivors against which to compare their own survival abilities and accomplishments. I think it's a step toward making the game feel like a larger community rather than isolated and temporary pockets of 40 anonymous people.

Unlike the mod leader boards which tracked all survivors, I think that Standalone boards should be limited to dead survivors. I don't think any of these stats should be visible or published while someone is still alive and in game. It begins to feel too much like a "score" at that point, and I don't think that feels right for DayZ.

If, however, when you die you are presented with the option to "Save & Publish" your survivor's stats, I feel like the leader boards become more of a history of survivors passed. A collection of "Survivor Stories" that you can imagine being passed around by word-of-mouth, journal entries, graffiti tags or notes scrawled on paper. A sense builds of legends being passed on from one generation of survivors to the next - of great heroes, infamous killers or renowned explorers who have made their mark on Chernarus. This feels more authentic to me and more appropriate for DayZ.

In order to keep leader boards from being overly influential on what people choose to do in the game, a huge variety should be included covering many aspects of the game and ensuring that, practically irrespective of your play style, there's at least one leader board upon which your character might be ranked at the end of your life.

Some examples of leader boards might be (some assume future functionality):

Trailblazer [Total Distance Traveled on Foot]

Wheelman [Total Distance Traveled by Car/Truck/Motorcycle]

Seaworthy [Total Distance Traveled by Boat]

Paperboy [Total Distance Traveled by Bicycle]

Test Driver [Total Unique Vehicles Entered]

Field Medic [Total Bandages Applied to Wounds Not Your Own]

Doctor [Total Blood Healed Not Your Own]

Zombie Killer [Total Zombies Killed]

Zombie Rifleman [Total Zombies Killed by Rifle]

Zombie Shotgunner [Total Zombies Killed by Shotgun]

Zombie Shooter [Total Zombies Killed by Pistol]

Zombie Archer [Total Zombies Killed by Arrow/Bolt]

Zombie Marksman [Total Zombies Killed by Headshot]

Zombie Brawler [Total Zombies Killed by Melee]

Glutton [Total Calories Consumed]

Survivor [Hours Alive in Game]

Wartorn [Total Damage Sustained]

Kidnapper [Total Handcuffs Applied to Unique Survivors]

Sadist [Total Force Feedings on Unique Survivors]

Killer [Total Players Killed]

Rifleman [Total Players Killed by Rifle]

Shotgunner [Total Players Killed by Shotgun]

Shooter [Total Players Killed by Pistol]

Archer [Total Players Killed by Arrow/Bolt]

Marksman [Total Players Killed by Headshot]

Brawler [Total Players Killed by Melee]

Celebrity [Total Unique Survivors Encountered]

Sniper [Longest Range Confirmed Kill]

Zombie Sniper [Longest Range Confirmed Zombie Kill]

Demolition Man [Most Vehicles Destroyed]

Hunter [Total Animals Killed]

Chef [Total Calories Cooked/Prepared]

Burglar [Total Residential Houses Visited]

Bean King [Total Beans Eaten]

Looter [Total Weight of All Items Picked Up]

Comrade [Total Time Spent w/in 10m of Another Survivor In Game]

Nightowl [Total Time Spent In Game After Sunset]

Repairman [Total Vehicle Parts Attached]

Hero Survivor [Longest Time in Game, No Player Kills]

Hero Zombie Killer [Most Zombie Kills, No Player Kills]

Hero Explorer [Longest Distance Traveled, No Player Kills]

Hero Medic [Most Wounds Bandaged, No Player Kills]

Hero Doctor [Most Blood Transfused, No Player Kills]

Some care would need to be taken to avoid explotation in some of these - i.e., repeatedly shooting your friend over and over again in order to bandage his wounds or replace his blood. In most cases, this is solved simply by including "unique" in the evaluation, or by ignoring repeated usages on the same person in a short period of time.

I think with some thought, the team could probably make a list twice this long by release, especially given all the new features they're sure to bring online.

There's a reddit thread with a similar suggestion which includes an excellent screenshot.

Credit to user jellypawn for this post which motivated me to write this up. :thumbsup:

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY BEANS!

[skyline-gtr 130]

I feel something like this may detract from the essence of the game. As some users feel the need to Platinum games on playstation, a similar thing could also happen with this. Meaning that the game would not be played but simply used as a tool to increase leaderboard stats.