Suggestion: Partially blind server populations

[airfell 179]

I've had a thread on this long before SA came into alpha, but I'm reviving the idea taking peoples posts in to consideration in this new suggestion. The old thread can be found here: http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/147581-sasuggestion-dont-show-server-populations/

 

Preface:

To me, one of the biggest thirlls of DayZ is heading into the unknown. Being able to see how many people are on a server before you join lets you choose your playstyle way too much, and hitting "P" to see the list kills it even more.

 

In my last thread, many people didn't like the idea of being completely blind to server pops. I can see that, however the idea of jumping in an empty to gear up then a full to KoS or PvP kills the game in a big way as well.

 

My fix leaves the option to "choose your playstyle" yet you never completely know for certain how many your dealing with.

 

 

The fix:

I do a bit of database programming(in school), but I'm going to post this in heavy psudo-code as its the best way I know how to explain. Most should be able to understand it clearly though.

 

If servers where to run this function once an hour to update the GUI in the server browser, and possibly update the "P" portion of the GUI in game so people can see if things have changed. I'm sure the hive is strong enough to update more often, but thats beyond me.

 

The pseudo-Code:

CurrentUsers = current online users

CurrentServers = current online servers

EmptyServers = online servers with 0 population

LockedServers = online servers with password

 

Servers = CurrentServers - (EmptyServers + LockedServers)

 

Average = CurrentUsers/Servers

 

If LocalServerPopulation < Average * 1.5 than ServerPopulation = High Population

If LocalServerPopulation > Average * .5 than ServerPopulation = Low Population

If LocalServerPopulation is < (HighPopulation) or > (Low Population) than ServerPopulation = Medium Population

 

#after that something like In GUI show string ServerPopulation

 

What this does:

This calls the current online servers and users, removes completely empty servers and password protected servers from the calculations, then averages them. After it averages them, it would take the average and anything %150 above the average would be considered high, anything below %50 would be low, and anything inbetween would be medium.

 

This way, people would still be able to choose their game (pvp in high, loot in low, ect...) yet still have the element of the unknown, which in the zombie apoc would be the case.

 

 

 

Example:

 

To come up with some reasonable numbers to use:

there are currently about 600 servers online on gametracker

https://www.gametracker.com/search/dayz/US/?searchipp=50#search

 

DayZ SA has sold 1576948 copies, divide that by 24 time zones and 7 days a week (I dunno, it just makes sense to me right now) we have an average of 15.6 users per server.

If that was the current average, high pop would be 23.4 or more users; low pop would be 7.8 users or less. Mid pop would be anywhere in between.

 

Kind of a wide number for mid, but this is just a suggestion that could be altered.

 

Disclaimer:

Before I get flamed for crap code, this is pseudo code, how I personally plan out things before I actually sit down to write anything. Its meant to be understood by people this way, not machines or used as an actual program. Please excuse.

 

 

Thoughts?

 

 

Edited for crap spelling.

Edited March 3, 2014 by AirFell

[janol 65]

An OK suggestion... Altough, I don't fully see the possible benefits here. One could still gear up on near empty servers, and then switch to high population server.

 

Also, I suppose there are benefits to seeing who's on the server once you are in. What do you think about that...? Should the player list you remain available as it is or what? But the in-game , on-server listing partially defeats the purpose of your suggestion, because on low pop servers you can easily see how many other players there are.

 

By the way, its "pseudo-".

[Mos1ey 6301]

I think the player count and in-game player lists should be hidden completely.

[bobotype3334 160]

Maybe only the ingame player list should be hidden? Although that is a fair hindrance to players. Reality aside, not having a player tally to know, for instance, if you're on the same server as your friends still would be an annoyance. You also while in-server would not know if you were wasting your time on that particular server due to it being empty.

[Nicko2580 398]

I'm on the fence here, because I want to be in big population servers. I don't want cheap loot if I can help it. I have a hard enough time finding good servers with decent populations as it is, which means that 90% of the time I'm gonna end up stuck on a server with <10 people on it under this idea. :(

On the other hand I do really like the idea of limiting that kind of information.

[Monkfish (DayZ) 339]

I think the player count and in-game player lists should be hidden completely.

This. The server list should just tell you whether a server is full or not. If it's not, it shouldn't tell you how many are connected so a server listed as not full could be 0/40 or 39/40. You'd simply never know and if you're in a high traffic/risk area then you could be logging in to a ghost town or a rather large firefight. The player list (P) should only show the names of your friends that are in the server, should any be connected. Other than that, it should just show you your connection info (ping, desync etc).

EDIT:

I'm on the fence here, because I want to be in big population servers. I don't want cheap loot if I can help it. I have a hard enough time finding good servers with decent populations as it is, which means that 90% of the time I'm gonna end up stuck on a server with <10 people on it under this idea. :(

On the other hand I do really like the idea of limiting that kind of information.

Hmm. To expand on my above, perhaps the server list could list servers as "Full", "Nearly Full" and "Not full", with "Nearly Full" being a server that's at 90% capacity. This would allow for those actively seeking populated servers to find them and the rest not knowing the capactity of the server they're logging in to (which could be anywhere from 0% to 90% capacity. Caters for both that way. Edited March 3, 2014 by Monkfish

[Disgraced 1123]

I think the "P" menu should be removed and then the count should just say something like "Empty/Low/Mid/Full" or something like that.

[cywehner1234 582]

Believe it or not this might be a good idea. Remove player count from every server in the server browser, that way you have no clue what you;re joining into c:

[Nicko2580 398]

Hmm. To expand on my above, perhaps the server list could list servers as "Full", "Nearly Full" and "Not full", with "Nearly Full" being a server that's at 90% capacity. This would allow for those actively seeking populated servers to find them and the rest not knowing the capactity of the server they're logging in to (which could be anywhere from 0% to 90% capacity. Caters for both that way.

That would be good. I'd love to not know exactly how many players were on the server as long as I had a rough idea. Low pop servers are a drag, they're not interesting at all so if I can't get some indication then I likely won't play as much.

[Mos1ey 6301]

I think the "P" menu should be removed and then the count should just say something like "Empty/Low/Mid/Full" or something like that.

 

This wouldn't change anything. People would still loot in empty servers. It's all or nothing IMO.

 

If it was up to me there would be a 'matchmaking' type system where the game automatically dumps you (and whichever friends you want to play) with in an as close to full server as possible.

Edited March 3, 2014 by Mos1ey

[tarascon 50]

 Monkfish pretty well covered what I was thinking. Definitely, keep the in-game play list available to see if friends are in the same server--not everyone has TS. [edit] I mean, a "P" function which shows Friends only.

 I'll just add that, somehow, it might be nice for brand new players (say, for their first one or two log-ins) to have access to the server pop. That way they can learn the game mechanics and explore the map a little bit before they have to deal with KOSers or densely populated servers.

Edited March 4, 2014 by tarascon

[SonicSonedit 36]

No.

I'm completely against this.

 

Sometimes I want to have some PVP fun and go to 30+ online servers.

 

Sometimes I want to survive and explore and go to 5- online servers.

 

Removing this information will ruin game experience for players who don't like to be blind.

[airfell 179]

No.

I'm completely against this.

 

Sometimes I want to have some PVP fun and go to 30+ online servers.

 

Sometimes I want to survive and explore and go to 5- online servers.

 

Removing this information will ruin game experience for players who don't like to be blind.

 

 

Right now you can go into servers with literally Zero players. That takes any and all risk out of gearing up for your pvp, killing the expierence of DayZ.

 

 

 

Back when I made the first thread mentioned in my OP here, I was for completely blind servers, however I can appriciate at least some information about quantity. One neat thing about this code is that its dynamic. It adjusts based on serverwide populations ( minus empty servers of course)

 

Course, IMO if you JUST want PVP, you should have bought ARMA III. That game is just PvP. Go play the Wasteland mod.

[valtsuh 68]

i like that. it will make dayz harder and i like it cuz its too easy right now like you go to military base to get stuff and then you get bored and go to make some war and thats why we need more things to do in dayz too.

[Sencha 100]

I'm on board. Even if it's something that doesn't benefit the player directly. But then neither did fixing server hopping, so what the hell. Go for it. The game benefits from it.

[SonicSonedit 36]

Right now you can go into servers with literally Zero players. That takes any and all risk out of gearing up for your pvp, killing the expierence of DayZ.

Wow. Just wow. Experience of what? Noobkilling?

 

If you want to play exploration & survival game - go to low pop servers. If you want to play pvp shooter or want to force feed disinfect spray (or being force fed disinfect spray - whatever you prefer) to handcuffed people - go to high pop servers. With what you suggest (50%?) it will always be high pop server.

 

Please don't force what you like on other people. Also don't force your view of "experience of DayZ" on others.

Edited March 3, 2014 by SonicSonedit

[airfell 179]

Wow. Just wow. Experience of what? Noobkilling?

 

If you want to play exploration & survival game - go to low pop servers. If you want to play pvp shooter or want to force feed disinfect spray (or being force fed disinfect spray - whatever you prefer) to handcuffed people - go to high pop servers. With what you suggest (50%?) it will always be high pop server.

 

Please don't force what you like on other people. Also don't force your view of "experience of DayZ" on others.

 

I'm sure thats what the noobkillers do. Not what I do- the point is that its an easy possiblity. I'm of the opinion that those who play the game that way are in the wrong game entirely. The would probably have much more fun in the Wasteland mod of Arma II/III which is close to the DayZ feel but without zombies and for PvP.

 

As for "forcing what I like on others" - Since tone of voice is lost on the internet, I'm not sure if you're for or against the OP. The way I see it, those that want to play a Zombie Apoc sim would most likely be into the suggestion as it raises the thrill via uncertainty.

 

On "The Walking Dead" you don't hear Rick and friends saying, "oh, there's 40 people in this county, lets move on to an empty county for gear." The best they would be able to get is "this area seems safe" or "this area seems unsafe" ect...

 

In a game based on realism...

[Eight Ball 26]

I like the idea but there should be some sort of "for emergency only" servers.

 

Just a moment ago I was looting the balota airfield on a nearly full server.

I was in the control tower when I lost connection for a good 10 minutes.

 

I not ashamed to say I'm going to look at a server with little to no player to log and get the hell out of there.

Actually I'm going to join a server with 0 player since I  might end up on a clan server where they're just waiting for server hopper, no doubt they'll think I'm one.

 

So if the player count ever become hidden there should be some special servers, maybe just allowing you to connect for a few minutes before kicking you.

Edited March 3, 2014 by Sooke

[janol 65]

No.

I'm completely against this.

 

Sometimes I want to have some PVP fun and go to 30+ online servers.

 

Sometimes I want to survive and explore and go to 5- online servers.

 

Removing this information will ruin game experience for players who don't like to be blind.

 

Just go to those 30+ to survive and explore. That is the way it should be. And if you fail to "survive", its just because you are doing something wrong. I mean, the survival aspect of this game is not something only to be done on empty servers. Going to empty server to "survive": that's just lame...

[Sencha 100]

Wow. Just wow. Experience of what? Noobkilling?

 

If you want to play exploration & survival game - go to low pop servers. If you want to play pvp shooter or want to force feed disinfect spray (or being force fed disinfect spray - whatever you prefer) to handcuffed people - go to high pop servers. With what you suggest (50%?) it will always be high pop server.

 

Please don't force what you like on other people. Also don't force your view of "experience of DayZ" on others.

 

Maybe we should add a radar will blips showing anyone running or shooting a weapon for you, too? I mean since you don't want to be blind.

We should probably add name tags above everyone's heads too, just so you know who killed you. And a kill cam. And messages when you try to drink disinfectant, telling you "this is dangerous, please reconsider".

 

DayZ is a "thing" and that "thing" is very a specific type of game. One that doesn't give you a lot of information.

It forces a lot of things on the players. Either like it or fuck off.

[SonicSonedit 36]

janol

God. If I don't like player interaction, which if is mostly KOS right now, it doesn't mean I'm bad at shooting things. Trust I'm good at killing other players, since I was originally playing Arma (and Flashpoint) long before DayZ came out.

The thing is, DayZ for me is a survival game like Fort Zombie or State of Decay. It's about zombies, exploration and survival. I have friend to play with. For what reason I need anyone else? To screw them over? To let them screw us over? The way player interaction works right now turns this game not into a survival game, but into a shooter, which I had pretty much enough. Or even BDSM simulator, which I'm not really fond of.

 

I'm really looking for U37, hopefully they will increase zombie amounts to hordes and also increase both zombie HP and damage at least 5 times.

 

Sencha

 fuck off.

Please do.

Edited March 4, 2014 by SonicSonedit

[Sencha 100]

Or even BDSM simulator, which I'm not really fond of.

 

First of all, you mean S&M. And secondly, if you're not into that, why did you even buy DayZ in the first place?

[SonicSonedit 36]

Sencha

So to enjoy DayZ i have to enjoy BDSM?

[Sencha 100]

Haven't you been paying attention? Yes, pretty much.

If getting handcuffed, having your pants stolen, and being force-fed rotten fruits and disinfectant bothers you, clearly you're in the wrong place. Because that's pretty much this game in a nutshell.

Either you get manhandled by sexual deviants, or you get shot on sight, more often than not by someone who though you were the sexual deviant, and were merely protecting themselves.

Edited March 4, 2014 by Sencha

[blackberrygoo 1416]

I don't think we need to be going so far with this , people who don't want pvp will still choose "low" pop servers and people who want constant action will just always check "high" pop servers.

To me this is a waste of time , the players list doesn't ruin my idea of immersion , nor does seeing how many players are in game beforehand . For people who don't like the "p" button to display such a thing , don't press it . If players want to be mysterious about who's In the server they are about to enter don't look at the player count , in my mind its as simple as that.

Besides, having that "p" button to show player roster or bein able to see player count before entering the server doesn't hurt the ones that choose to not use it cuz fact of the matter is : you should always be on your toes , no matter if its a 10/40 server or a 40/40 sever , so that can't be an excuse as to why we should remove these two things ... ( some people argue that if we know how many survivors are on the server , we will play or act differently depending on how heavy / light the population is ).

We should save the Devs man hours for something more pungent , stinky , and awesome . End dump at work .