Advanced note system & diaries

[fisheye 21]

Hello! Please vote only after reading this post.

While playing today I decided to pick up a pen and a sheet of paper somewhere to put a note, and obviously to check how does it work. After doing so I have noticed a bug regarding to it and I eventually started thinking about advancing the entire note system.

THE BUG:

When you are writing a note you don't actually see what have been written before on that particular sheet of paper. And your note will be added at the end of the first one, which is realistic (because you can't erase something with a pen), but looks awful. For example, when someone already wrote "Hello" and you write "Bye" after that, the note will look like this: "HelloBye". I believe this bug would be easy to fix.

THE ADVANCED SYSTEM:

Currently, creating a note opens up a window where you can type anything using your keyboard. I know it may be a placeholder but I think that it would be better if you could only draw something (like in paint). That way every note would be original (because every person has different handwriting), thus realistic. And imagine what fun would that be when you could draw just about anything: a funny picture or meme, or maybe a small map with hidden loot you just left (which obviously could be a trap) and many, many more. But I guess it would be more resource-expensive compared to the current system.

THE DIARY:

I think that every player should start the game with a diary. It would work in the same way as a sheet of paper but with some differences: player wouldn't be able to drop it (it would not use any inventory space) and it would contain several pages (10 for example). On the first page though it could track various statistics. And upon death, everyone could loot (or just read) the dead guy's diary. You could see how many days he survived, how many players has he killed and his personal notes. Imagine the feeling when you stumble across some guy, kill him and while looting his gear, you read that he survived 6 days and had 5 pages of personal notes regarding his journey in Chernarus, how he has helped other survivors, barely survived an encounter with armored bandits yesterday, etc. You would feel regret. And that is called immersion.

What do you guys think?

Edited February 9, 2014 by fisheye

[basinox 300]

I am pro Diaries as a item you can write but it should take up a space in my opinion.

[savini 587]

That stat tracking idea is pretty interesting. I could get into that.

 

Based on your idea, would you have the diary only track the stats of the player during that life, or would you have an "overall" stat page as well?

 

Maybe two pages dedicated to "this life" and "overall"?

[hypermoon 75]

are you saying that you would have to "draw" your message on the paper? I'm definitely down for drawing pictures and things but i think you should be able to type out your message.

 

Diaries are a fantastic idea, especially with the idea of having your stats on one of the pages. I still think dead bodies should stay a bit longer than just 10 minutes or whatever they are currently at though.

[fisheye 21]

Based on your idea, would you have the diary only track the stats of the player during that life, or would you have an "overall" stat page as well?

 

Maybe two pages dedicated to "this life" and "overall"?

 

Yeah, seems good, though I think that "overall" page should be visible only to the owner of such a diary.

Diaries are a fantastic idea, especially with the idea of having your stats on one of the pages. I still think dead bodies should stay a bit longer than just 10 minutes or whatever they are currently at though.

They shortened the time so that you can't die and run to your body to get back your gear (especially when playing with friends).

[hypermoon 75]

 

Yeah, seems good, though I think that "overall" page should be visible only to the owner of such a diary.

They shortened the time so that you can't die and run to your body to get back your gear (especially when playing with friends).

couldn't they make it so the body stayed around for a while but was unlootable but it would give you the option to read diary or something. I think that would be cool. I just like the idea of seeing dead dudes, especially lots of them. Nothing like seeing a bunch of naked corpses when you walk into  village.

Edited February 9, 2014 by TripX7

[Death_Dealer 3155]

Drawing on notes would turn out horribly, lots of male genitalia and racism

 

I like the diary suggestion however, so +beans for that :) Would be really neat to read other survivors' diaries 

[fisheye 21]

It would be cool if the bodies stayed on the ground forever, without the ability to loot them all this time of course.

And I'm sure that penises and racist pictures would only be drawn for some time just after implementing such a system. Then people would get bored of it and start creating something more interesting.

[RockEye (DayZ) 3]

Stat tracking was something I was going to suggest. It would be cool to see how long each one of your characters survived and what all he accomplished in his life span. Human kills, zombie kills, time alive, miles traveled on foot, etc. 

[carcinovich 156]

Penises. Penises everywhere.

 

I'm totally down with text-based diaries. But actual drawings? I cannot think of one example where that would be desirable, other than the lawls. And that would get old quick after the 100th crude drawing of a penis.

 

Screenshots as Polaroid inserts, however, I could get behind.

Edited February 15, 2014 by carcinovich

[- Karma - 75]

Love this idea, just agreed with something similar to it in another post.  I was asking for a keybinding which would make a short automatic entry based off of immediately recent events, such as "Entered Chernogorsk today, <date>." "Met another group of survivors, <player name> and <player name>, <date>." "Was shot by another survivor, wounded badly, near <landmark/town name>, <date>."  You could edit these if you wanted, they would either just serve as placeholders until you did or simply for tracking progress if you like that idea but didn't want to commit a tonne of time making notes.

 

I also said I think every character should spawn with it, including an attached pen - the whole item takes up one inventory spot.  You could ditch it right away for inventory space if you wanted, so it would be possible to loot another one.  Also have the option to tear a page out incase you needed to leave a note or needed paper to start a fire or something, so that seems to say the page count should be fixed.

 

Good, yes, no?

[StekWAR 4]

 

I wish it were possible, interacting with books, tear off the white pages that can be used as a paper to write.

[Robotic Insecurity 13]

 They shortened the time so that you can't die and run to your body to get back your gear (especially when playing with friends).

 

What they should do if they implement this guy's suggestion is maybe make it so either all the person's stuff after ten minutes degrades to "ruined" quality except for the diary or all the gear on them, save for the diary, despawns.  That way, the bodies could linger for a slightly longer period giving people time to read the diary should they stumble upon the body without bringing back corpse-retrieving.

[thelonelyone 103]

inb4 penises everywhere

[fisheye 21]

Stat tracking was something I was going to suggest. It would be cool to see how long each one of your characters survived and what all he accomplished in his life span. Human kills, zombie kills, time alive, miles traveled on foot, etc.

Yeah, I think that it's a must-have feature in a game like this. People love to see their progress, statistics, they could easily compare theirs with their friends'. And I think that developers should implement some kind of stats page available in Steam Community (like in Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead, etc.).

Edited February 18, 2014 by fisheye

[Nicko2580 398]

For the drawing - no. It will just be penises every-fucking-where. 

For the diary yes, definitely. But I don't think that everyone should automatically get one. I think you should need to find at least a pen first, even if it automatically records events after that. And I don't think it should be mandatory. You didn't put that option in your poll so I didn't vote.

[TIC 1050]

I'd like to see the notes being more dynamic.

 

Such as:

 

• Having different font styles to represent a character that's unique with their own hand-writing; something like how everyone has a different blood type.
• While writing out your note, you'd be able to hear yourself writing on that piece of paper and once you've reached the end of the page, the page will be turned for a continuation for your writing. This would be perfect for writing in notebooks, journals and such.
• Using notes for other things than writing; Tinder for fire, toilet paper, filtering water particles, crafting playing cards.

[theswedishcathead 59]

I think diares should be found not spawned as in you first spawn in the game.

[fisheye 21]

But I don't think that everyone should automatically get one. I think you should need to find at least a pen first, even if it automatically records events after that. And I don't think it should be mandatory.

Good point. Otherwise people would spam notes after spawning.

[dethsupport 110]

I think notes are just fine the way they are and I use them all the time. If I want to reuse a piece of paper that already has writing I'll just hold space for a bit before I start typing, that ensures there is an obvious break in the note. I am against the diary idea, I prefer finding crumpled up notes in peoples pockets, which not many players carry. I think something like 20% of the people I've found dead have a note attached to them, which is a real treat since it is rather uncommon. If every single person had a diary it would take away from the magic of finding that random note on one of five bodies, especially if it records certain player stats, of which are really no one else's business.

 

Say you killed someone because you saw someone firing on someone else. You open their diary to find out they are a murderer, so you feel justified in the killing. Right now you don't have that kind of approval and are left to wonder - maybe he was firing on someone else out of self defense and you murdered them. Maybe he was a hero trying to save a bambi from a bandit or maybe it was a bandit trying to down a hero. Either way you have no approval and are simply left to wonder - I'd like to keep it this way.

[fisheye 21]

I don't think that every single statistic should be available to everyone else. That way, a looted diary would show only some of them. Or maybe the player could choose which would be available to be seen upon his death.

[dethsupport 110]

I don't think that every single statistic should be available to everyone else. That way, a looted diary would show only some of them. Or maybe the player could choose which would be available to be seen upon his death.

I saw no stats and the only information someone would be able to read is what you've written.

 

But we already have this in the form of notes - I see no reason to fix what isn't broken.

[fisheye 21]

I saw no stats and the only information someone would be able to read is what you've written.

Apparently, my friend, you haven't read the entire topic.

[pale1776 375]

Id like to see something akin to a former life. Like a license, dogtag, passport, permit, some form of ID. Choose it in the customization screen. And add your own stuff. But I still want journals

[AP_Norris 1017]

What if you could read a persons diary when you tie a person up?

Then the people that think they're killing bandits can actually inspect what the person has done, before killing them too.