People's Misconceptions About Their Characters... (And Books)

[Syphax4Ever 15]

I've seen a lot of suggestions now and the milsim faction on this forum is strong. All good suggestions from them when it comes to new weapons and weapon specs, etc. In fact I'm a bit of a gun nut myself and I know some things about them. But here's the thing when translated to DayZ; it's an RP as much as its a survival simulator. I read one weapons expert write the other day;

 

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  The way the character holds the M4 is wrong.

  
  
  
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  I'm far more accurate with the M4 than this.

  
  
  

I am certain he is right, but..., he is not his character. This is what people should keep in mind, you're just a survivor who in his/her previous pre-apocalypse life probably hasn't ever SEEN a real M4 in his life, let alone had training with it. Remember, all the soldiers were called to fight and are now dead; you are not a soldier. So yes, your character can be expected not to hold the rifle in the manner that is 'just right' or compensate for the recoil in the 'right manner'.

 

Likewise there's the thing with medical supplies. It's not that hard to lay a good IV..., if you're a professional nurse or doctor! For you're average office worker or housewife it's probably a lot more challenge. The doctors were probably all trying to help the victims of the outbreak and would now mostly be dead themselves.

 

This is one of the principles of an RP which might be hard to understand for FPS-only gamers; what you know is not the same as what your character knows.

 

Now you could extend this too: they might have trouble operating the weapon, chambering a round, putting it off safety, etc. because it's essentially new equipment to them; that might be too much, but expecting your character to do everything like they're a proffessional soldier-doctor-survivalist is what we call "magical knowledge".

 

Perhaps though..., this can be mended by reading a particular book? Like an M4 manual would lead to decreased reload times, etc.

Edited January 29, 2014 by Syphax4Ever

[Survivor_Sabre 23]

The book idea has been mentioned already with regards too other things, I'm not sure if it has with weapons in mind though. I had a similar idea with vehicle maintenance, and I'm sure others have as-well. Good idea regardless, though the benefit would have too be minimal, otherwise I don't think it would be very fair.

Also, maybe the more you perform a certain action the better you get at it? I'm sure after you'd performed an IV twenty times you'd be able to find a vein quickly and correctly (although probably still not as well as a trained medical professional) and not end up leaving your patient bleeding like a repeatedly stuck pig.  ^^  This would also encourage specialisation within groups.

Edited January 29, 2014 by Survivor_Sabre