A collection of my ideas/suggestions.

[calle 100]

I myself is a survival-fanatic and love everything that involves survivalism.
I'm an employed soldier and know a fair amount about survival in the wild.
Of course this is a game and things should be as Rocket says "authentic" and not "realistic".
I think DayZ should make use of all those "tiny tricks" that make surviving easier.
Simple things like making tea of pinetree's.

Socks.
Finding new or washing socks to prevent injuries and infections to the feet.
Wet socks = injuries if traveling too long.
In DayZ we travel ALOT and a simple thing like having to change socks every now and then (not so often to not ruin gameplay) would create another thing to take in consideration when planning to travel a long distance.
Make socks and shoes be a two layer thing.
The socks is put in the shoes and the shoes put on the player or something like that.
Need to cross a river? Remove shoes, put in hands, cross, put on shoes = problem solved.
i dont know, maybe this would be too hardcore.

Make food stackable to a degree, like being able to stack 2 or 3 food cans.
This makes more room for different clothing that you need to carry.

I would also love if there were more fog "closer to the player". Maybe not to thick, but it would create a really good atmosphere.
thin or thick fog in the valleys.

Some kind of whisper, so that when talking in direct chat not always reveals your position.
Being within 1m or 2m could make whispering be heard.

Being able to show map to friend(s).
Make us able to show the map to a friend within 1m and being able to show each other where to move and make notes.

More radios.
Maybe this would make more players play together without Teamspeak or Skype.
Looking forward to be playing with my friends, grouping up in the woods outside a town, whispering and planning on map about what to do and where to regroup if shit hits the fan(s).
Talking over the radios to syncronize movement, cover and information.

Thermos to store warm water - Keeping warm in cold weather without having to stay by a fire (to a certain degree).


That's all I can come up with at the moment.
More to come.

[blackberrygoo 1416]

I agree with everything except stacking , in my opinion limited inventory space is what makes for more of a survival feel , like old resident evil games . But you got some good ideas I've always thought about socks but notes on maps is something I've never thought about , also sharing like you said would be ideal especially with such low spawn rates.

[ld-airgrafix 403]

Agree on socks completely, it would make it much more realistic, your choice, carry a wrong bullet calibre or dry pair of shoes, can of food or dry shoes

[RedPhantomX4 26]

I really like the sock idea

[warrenpeace 38]

Different types of socks would also be a thing. Stuff like wool socks would do better in wet weather and so on.

[haven923 65]

Spot on, battle buddy!  I think running is eventually supposed to make your clothes damp, so an advanced rate for socks and a slower drying rate for them would be an awesome little bit of immersion added in!  When campfires are fixed and added in, could add a "dry socks" action that has a fairly long initiating animation and matching concluding animation and it greatly increases the drying rate.  My buddy went to Special Forces Selection School a while back and was telling me about how he had two pairs of boots with him.  One pair on his feet, and the other attached to his bag.  There was a lot of rain when he was there and he had to cross a few lakes/flooded areas so he would cross them, then change boots.  This allowed the boots on his back time to dry so that his feet didn't get destroyed during land nav.

 

Perhaps some items could become stackable in limited items, but I think a lot of things should stay how they are.  Is it realistic?  Probably not.  Is it better for the game?  Probably.

 

Fog goes hand in hand with a zombie game like brains and shotguns.  Needs to happen ;)

 

The larger spawn rate of radios would be awesome!  When they have them working, I have a feeling that they will be crucial in letting players link up with others on the map.  The ability to share a map would be phenomenal, as well!  I currently have a completed map on my normal character that I reference almost as much as I reference the wiki map.  The ability to add markers to it is even already in the game!  Now if you could just have waypoints...

 

Also, to add on to your thermos idea.  They have cooking now, so that shouldn't be too hard to make.  Maybe boil the water in a pot then pour it into a thermos?  They could add a system to the water like with items and clothing where it degrades over time.  Just have it able to be boiling, hot, warm, lukewarm, cold, freezing, and frozen.  Using existing mechanics, you could "repair" the water by heating it and it would degrade at different rates depending on what it is stored in.

[Roshi (DayZ) 396]

Beans for showing maps to friends idea.