Do we want a reward for surviving?

[louist 163]

Did you miss the numerous posts where people said that the point of survival is to stay alive? Similar to the point in real life.

Similar? Not really. I won't wake up sans a few trinkets after I die. Survival, in life, is it's own reward. In game... It's just there. It doesn't really matter one way or another.

In that respect, the game, as it stands, is no survival sim.

[skyline-gtr 130]

Similar? Not really. I won't wake up sans a few trinkets after I die. Survival, in life, is it's own reward. In game... It's just there. It doesn't really matter one way or another.

In that respect, the game, as it stands, is no survival sim.

 

Now you are comparing death and not survival...

 

 

Are you suggesting that death in game doesnt matter ?

[fundan@gmx.de 82]

That`s the problem with modern society. Reward-based systems should be obsolete when you start to think on your own. The later seems to happen less often nowadays?

 

Please gimme a zombie apocalypse to help curing this!

Edited February 7, 2014 by bonsai

[louist 163]

Now you are comparing death and not survival...

Are you suggesting that death in game doesnt matter ?

Survival and death are interrelated. Survival is continuing to exist, that is, /not/ dying. The entire purpose of survival is continue /not/ dying. You cant make a comment about one without commenting on the other. With me so far?

In reality, not dying is its own reward. Survival is it's own reward, because to cease to survive is to die. That's it, game over, no continues. Who wants to die? That shit is just the worst.

In game, it is, at it's absolute worst, a minor inconvenience, and one that happens to be rather fun, as exploring and gearing up is quite enjoyable in it's own right. So survival isn't much of a motivation. Survival isn't its own reward. It's simply that period of time between spawning and someone pulling your reset trigger.

Nothing you "achieve" during a your character's life can't be very easily replicated. You will just perform the same actions over and over, with nothing meaningful to distinguish your lives. In this regard, it's essentially no different from any multiplayer shooter out there, only with longer rounds.

Back to your question: I am saying that death in game is an extremely minor setback, and one that returns the player to one of the game's better modes: looting and scavenging.

Now, if death doesn't really matter, survival loses it's urgency and necessity. We've seen in often in the mod, and I've seen it in SA as well. People do some truly moronic things, go around blasting away at everyone, pick stupid fights (like one guy who kept trying to kill me with a shovel, just... over and over. I finally grew bored and shot him). In part, we see these actions because there isn't a meaningful reason not to. These people know that they can be geared up again in as little at 15 minutes, with a lucky spawn location. And, I would wager, in less than 40 or 45.

I, certainly, would like some reason for people to become attached to their characters, not just their loot.

[skyline-gtr 130]

Did you miss the numerous posts where people said that the point of survival is to stay alive? Similar to the point in real life.

[Jack Dant 158]

Two easy ideas that wouldn't be game breaking.

 

Once stamina is ingame, character fitness could affect it. Running long distances in game could give you stamina and the ability to sprint/jog slightly longer. Make it a logarithmic function so you improve quickly in your first few hours then only a little.

 

Second, long term healthy status could tie in with infections and sickness. Someone who has been well fed and hydrated for a while is less susceptible to infections than someone who is starving. Could even add some viral infections you only can have once per character.

 

You can make these two connected, so surviving, and surving well, is what improves your character.

[Uutgrunnen 96]

I voted yes just because I want a beard after surviving a couple of days ;)

[over9000nukez 199]

the longer you survive you grow a mean beard, and some longer hair, and youll start to look all rough like rick grimes in the comic book when he has his beard fully grown.
or even how he is in the TV show

 

longer you survive =more apocalypse hit you look. no benefit, just look cooler, that's enough of a reward for me.

 

like this kind of

 

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/3d/d4/e9/3dd4e9f72ce9dacb06e0b8ce47f62f83.jpg

or this

Edited February 7, 2014 by over9000nukez

[irl-calibre 744]

the ability to wear peoples faces would be nice, or craft an necklace out of ears maybe... no? oh ok, i'll just get me coat..

[sonnyevil 4]

well some thing like a diary  where you can see how meany zombes you have killed  how long you have been alive and things like that  wood be nice

[Fry76 23]

I voted for NO to rewards but I would like to see counter in servers player list. Counter like hours survived with same character, days played and different servers used. Something like this     Fry 16h/4d/3s. or other players like serverhoppersam 10h/7d/28s or legendluke 200h/60d/4s. 

Imo this game is about avoiding death what will come at some point. Btw I watched Romeros Survival of the dead yesterday and its quite similar to this game, and there was only those who had survived long, good movie watch it.

[Quix_otic 11]

No to "rewards"

Yes to beards!

No to skilltree

I could see a slight increase in say cooking/hunting/repair when it comes along but not in, stamina (running longer/faster) and weapon handeling (aiming). Just minor things that dont really give you an upper hand over others. But most def beards. That you can cut off. Which requiers scissors.

[hypermoon 75]

This game absolutely has to have something beyond gear. 

 

There is absolutely no reason not to do this. Having a character that you value is far better than just having equipment that you value. It makes sense from a game perspective, you should care about yourself more than your equipment. Also, characters will mean more to players and that will discourage all this random haphazard killing. This will change the dynamic of the game so much more if you put the emphasis of survival on the player, and not the gear. Also, this will prevent the game from getting stale or boring after you get all the gear.

 

It only makes sense, you should care about your life in this game more than the things you acquire. If some sort of skill system not intrusive to combat that adds value to your characters life and is slow learning it would really take this game to another level I think.

[skyline-gtr 130]

"This game absolutely has to have something beyond gear. "

As many people have pointed out, surviving is its own reward.

 

 

 

"There is absolutely no reason not to do this."

1 reason, is personal choice, e.g. I do not want to do this.

[napalmdog 71]

please no. this is not an RPG

 

Well, yes it IS a role playing game. Right now characters just accumulate stuff (VERY American, btw) and people bitch about losing their stuff. Make their life worth more than their stuff.

[HumanDecency 3]

I think there should be beards, longer hair for females, and perhaps scars for both, that progressively appear over time alive. I think there should also be items like scissors to give yourself a hair/beard cut, or like Weedz just mentioned, give someone else a haircut. There should also be an item, Vitamin E gel or something, to apply to scars if you want them to go away.

Edit: Perhaps the hair/beards could be time-based and scars appear after a combat session in which damage is taken?

Edited February 7, 2014 by HumanDecency

[Jolunn 54]

the reward for surviving is not dying. i mean, really....

 

 

once cars and item storage are implemented, there will be more drive to survive, as you can store gear to make your next life easier. 

 

I'm a little confused by this, if you have all the gear stored wouldn't there be less need to survive as you can just re-equip much easier.  Not knocking you just wondering about the logic of that scenario.

[l mandrake 61]

No major rewards, just very subtle, scaleable benefits which increase automatically with each extra day of survival:

You can hear slightly better, approaching footsteps etc - you've trained your senses over time

You can get a little more meat off an animal, when hunting's back in

You can maintain weapons slightly better, condition stays pristine a little longer

You take slightly less damage off Zeds, as you know how to handle them

You need slightly less equipment to repair vehicles, when vehicles are back in

You can last slightly longer on a given amount of food/water

[Bulk 5]

I would like to see rewards myself. Active ones that will make a HUGE impact on gameplay. 

 

1. You can only have one skill.

 

2. The skill is random.

 

3. The action the skill is related to, unless it's a "luck" based action , will go faster/use less material and cannot be used on ones self.

 

That's it.

 

You have a medical skill? Well then you can stabilize someone ELSE faster!

 

You have a car repair skill? Nascar speed tire changes!

 

Your skill repairing guns? Well then you can fix this gun, or optic, and not use up all the spare parts in your inventory. 

 

Maybe your a good cook? Now ruined food can be cooked! 

 

Technicians can repair ruined/damaged electrical gear.

 

Handymen can fix multiple bags with a single Roll of tape.  (badly damaged clothing/bags randomly loose stuff)

 

 

There's loads of utility perks that people could attain. But nothing should be a skill that could be used to help a person in combat directly, and in an offensive manner. (Argue medical skill being a leg up in combat here) 

[Wiggin Miller 21]

People who complain that they don't want cosmetic upgrades because we shouldn't need rewards: the whole point of a game is to have fun.

If you don't want a cosmetic change, fine, you enjoy that warm fuzzy feeling for staying alive.

However, I, and it seems like 50% of the pop, do want something, and a compromise would not effect your gameplay whatsoever.

[Gerandar 212]

People who complain that they don't want cosmetic upgrades because we shouldn't need rewards: the whole point of a game is to have fun.

If you don't want a cosmetic change, fine, you enjoy that warm fuzzy feeling for staying alive.

However, I, and it seems like 50% of the pop, do want something, and a compromise would not effect your gameplay whatsoever.

 

Do you really have faith in the devs to code this in? They can't even keep respawn working, or make the game check for all the files befor you load so you can just delete objects and see through walls. good luck with anysort of time spent alive = longer beard.

[Window Licker 504]

I want a boom box my character can carry on their shoulder that only plays "Staying alive"

[napalmdog 71]

How would it be implemented though? It would provide unfair balance for all the new players going up those who have lived longer and started way earlier. 

 

Again, this is a survival game.. If we're ever going to have a rewards system, it will absolutely critical to keep and maintain balance between survival and necessity. If we don't, everything will become disproportionate and out of place. We don't -need- a rewards system. However, I can see some sort of cosmetic "rewards" system for gaining a highly competitive & hard-to-gain achievement of some sort. That's something I can see being done.

 

The problem is, there's not enough sustainable balance keeping all the logical components of what makes a survival game all about.

I think implementation would just be based off your actions, no much different than humanity was applied in the mod. If you repair something it takes a tenth less second to do it next time. That kind of subtlety builds the character's abilities, nothing else. I believe this was in practice and people have characters that could reload guns or apply medical aid one to two second faster would lend value to their character's life...

[knoCC (DayZ) 211]

I want a boom box my character can carry on their shoulder that only plays "Staying alive"

I would like one that plays "Boombox"

 

A boombox can change the world,

But you gotta know your limits with a boom box.

And this was a cautionary tale,

A BOOMBOX IS NOT A TOY!

Edited February 7, 2014 by knoCC

[Capo 323]

Cosmetic things like beards, scars. aaaaaand i guess minor skills like firemaking, woodcutting, if you reaaalllyyy need them, but eh. 

 

I liked the way it was in the mod, where it was so deep and confusing you had to research how to do things yourself and then you got better as a player, rather than as a character. That way the population becomes realistic in that you have people with knowledge of how to do things from the get go, like doctors, hunters, soldiers. The new players are like the majority of the population would be, civilians whose minds are melting from watching the world collapse.