A Buddy System

[Gumber 0]

Hey this suggestion is simple in my head dont know about how you will see it but here goes.

when you spawn and you start a fresh game you often just run around not caring much for what happens UNTIL you bump into somebody 1 of 3 things happens 1 you get killed, 2 you kill them, but i often try for the third option and that's teaming up, i try my best to signal im a friendly and stuff and we tag along for a while but we lose sight of each other and bang they are gone.

my suggestion is when you first bump into somebody and you want to "buddy up" or w/e you want to name it. the two people will shake hands and in this time will " become acquainted " doing so will allow you to notice that particular person more easily, so for example the friendly person you shook hands with will now glow a faint green hue around them. you even in the corner of your eye you can spot where your friend is.

if you wanted to take this 1 step further you could then add a faint trail left but your companion so you can see which way they went. now this would be most helpful at night time so you can tell the difference between friend and zombie when you try to take that shot to save his life.

Now i understand that this is heavily a realistic game that is why im asking for this to be implemented if i was to group with survivors in this scenario i would STUDY and i mean STUDY what cloths they were wearing the color of hair, shoe type anything i could so i would KNOW without doubt that , that person was indeed on my side.

TL;DR cant tell difference between friend and foe after teaming up with someone, give visual que to denote who has teamed up with you, shake hand animation to signify agreement.

[Robert Shannon 27]

I really think the system for all players is good the way it is, it is more realistic, but on the other hand you can recognize your own friends. So I think it could use some tweeking, but not too much.

[ApeToe 3]

A buddy system is cool and I'm sure will be added by the time beta comes around, but a L4D style glow around the player isn't possible as far as I know with ARMA's engine. If anything it'd be the squares you see for your squad mates already in the game (assuming you've taken the time to check out what else ARMA has to offer).

DayZ is not by any means, a "heavily realistic game"

[pazuzu 9]

I made a similar suggestion recently for having the option to group up with another person.

The option would appear in your action menu when you get close enough to another player and there would also be the option to leave group.

By grouping up you would see the square icon for members of your group and would also allow for using group channel for chat.

This is a feature already built into Arma 2.

[duddbudda 33]

what's to stop buddies now? why do we need a mechanic to do something that is already entirely possible?

take note of friendly faces, clothing, weapons, packs and set a 'not sure if friendly' action

it's possible to makes mistakes irl, why should DayZ hold your hand?

shit, if you're totally incapable then get on a wallhacking crosshair server that hands out names at 500m