DayZ is a paradox game - Random thoughts

[bfisher 561]

I only skimmed through some of your OP, but I liked what I saw so far.

 

Assuming the SA is an extension / continuation of the themes started in the Mod.  IMHO, the basic feeling as you wash ashore should essentially be you as Rick Grimes, Jim from 28 Days Later, the bitch from Night of the Living Dead.   Basically your first, second and third thoughts should be "what the fuck am I doing here, what the fuck happened, are those fucking zombies?!!

 

Assuming your aren't killed through your own ignorance and stupidity in the next 1 to 15 minutes, you should gradually seek out weapons, food, water, other supplies as you learn to survive.  Eventually your experience should be either Mad Max, Eli, Columbus from Zombieland, Alice from Resident Evil wandering the wasteland, living by his/her rules of survival.  Or you're Dr Robert Neville fortifying your stronghold and keeping to your schedule of patrolling for supplies and other survivors.

 

At some point, you will encounter a survivor or groups of survivors which should be the most tense and terrifying situation imaginable.  You know what zombies will do.  You can mostly guess what those 5 guys with Payday masks and M4s will do.  That lone guy, you have no idea.

 

And that's basically it.  At some point you will make a mistake.  Agro one zombie too many, trust the wrong player or get tired and not pay attention while wandering past some sniper nest and that's that.

 

IOW, DayZ is long hours of boring, lonely tedium, punctuated by intense moments of tension and fear, followed by elation and relief or frustration and rage.

 

Although, right now it's mostly just wandering around with nothing to do.

[Mr Sinister 167]

 Beans for you, Sir, because when I started and survived for a few days for the first time and got everything I wanted, I did not dare playing any more for fear of losing it all. :D 

One gets a little more relaxed after a while.

So... look at it as a process. Gearing, interacting, dying. Gearing, etc... circle of life. :D

:) very true. :) All the best and if you got it, dont risk for more of the same. :) 

[napalmdog 71]

I'm bumping this because it is a cognitive breath of fresh air...

[alsmir 255]

I've played many MMOs so I can safely say that situation when you meet a random player, you decide to work together and become best friends almost never exists.

Most people don't want to group up with strangers, because they might suck, they migh steal your loot, they might fck up so hard that you will all die.

 

So what do you do?

Look for a guild or ask rl friends to play with you.

It's not that different in DayZ - you look for existing teams, BUT you don't approach those groups in-game, you use forums, TS/Vent to talk with them first and then you decide if you want to try playing with them. I don't know what do you expect when you jump on the random person in-game and ask if they want to travel together.

 

 

When you have people that play with you it's a completly different game. 

In most MMOs death means - respawn and maybe 1 min run to your corpse.

In DayZ - your gear will be gone unless someone grabs it for you + up to 30 mins of running back. That's why only in DayZ I've seen people risking so much to help each other. 

Crawling under fire to save your teammate that run out of bandages and is bleeding, running for 15 mins to give your friend with a broken leg some morphine, sharing your last few rifle rounds, giving away your only can of beans and much more.

 

If you think that this game is anti-social and there's no human interaction, try playing with some friends.

[Ken Bean 175]

@op

Interesting read and I would agree. One thing I'd like to add to the paradox:

DayZ, as it currently is, is an infinite restarting loop. There's nothing to progress but your equipment. And as soon as people reach the state that they consider "well equipped" (could be bare fists), they are going to war, which actually means: losing all the stuff and starting allover again.

At the bottom line, I have the impression that DayZ attracts a bit too much of the shooter audience and doesn't cater it's survival aspirations.

There's nothing really to achieve in this game, no progress of the ingame world or sth like that. All what is positive or negative - what is going beyond the given environment - only can be created by player interaction.

Negative player interaction however by far outweights the positive.

Yes, it seems to be a psychopath's game.

(And maybe the only progression what takes place is feeding and growing the little psychopath in ourselves.)

 

At the end of the day, zombies will never be a threat. Ever. We're not going to have State of Decay zombies in this game. We're going to be stuck with zombies that might stop running through walls, might hit a little harder, might run a little faster. Look at Breaking Point. It's on an updated version of RV and it still can't properly handle swarms of zombies. They teleport and glitch all over the place. The only way "realistic" zombies can ever be a threat in any video game is by their numbers. We're not going to have Screamers or Juggernauts, so individually, they'll never be threatening.

 

If this zombie survival game was actually about surviving zombies and each player started with a particular skill they could apply to a community then we wouldn't be having these discussions. There wouldn't be so many rant threads about other players because we'd actually have a purpose and a common enemy. You'd still have your token assholes, but they'd be few and far between. This game has no consequences and no particular direction. The sandbox label only holds for so long.

 

Who gives a damn about barricading areas and building bases when you're just building them to defend against other players?

 

That's not quite true. Zombies could be many and so hard to fight - while most of the time sitting on the very rare loot - that player would have a very hard time.

But if the game reaches that point, we'll see massive complains from the player base - as seen in the mod with patch  1.7.7.

 

I agree a bit, but honestly no amount of zeds being a threat will force people to band together. If anything, people who bring friends from outside the game will team up and still play deathmatchZ against everyone else. Same if they ever add content that needs groups to achieve. This is probably the loneliest and single-player-ey 'mmo' I've ever played, and nothing that can be added within the realm of reason will change that, sadly.

This currently it is how the survival mechanics boils down:

You want to survive? Avoid other player.

However, there are rare occasions where "positive people" team up, which makes them worthy even more.

By "positve people" I mean folks which basically is not destructive and regressive, as the game seems to attract most.

edit

loads of typos

Edited May 2, 2014 by Ken Bean

[Khanarac 252]

He mentioned that there was no horror aspect to the game, and I couldn't agree more. I always wondered what Dean was doing at those talks about horrorgames, when he doesn't develop a horrorgame (as of now). We need some messy zombiemodels!

Edited May 2, 2014 by Khanarac

[pilgrim* 3514]

In the mod all this stuff was solved by having sidechat

But people now dont want it or think it's unrealistic

 

For a whiIe I suggested text-only sidechat to avoid pains in the neck

Sidechat is a way to meet people without having to buddy-up or shoot them, it means you gradually get to know people on your server

We have the radio in the game now, but nobody-and-nobody uses the radio

So its strictly friends-on-teamspeak or casual-chance-meeting. That's your choice.

 

So many of the comments in this thread say the same thing, same problem

But - no one wants text-only sidechat

 

Cool

Edited May 2, 2014 by pilgrim

[cuddly_rabbit 102]

I've played many MMOs so I can safely say that situation when you meet a random player, you decide to work together and become best friends almost never exists.

Most people don't want to group up with strangers, because they might suck, they migh steal your loot, they might fck up so hard that you will all die.

 

So what do you do?

Look for a guild or ask rl friends to play with you.

It's not that different in DayZ - you look for existing teams, BUT you don't approach those groups in-game, you use forums, TS/Vent to talk with them first and then you decide if you want to try playing with them. I don't know what do you expect when you jump on the random person in-game and ask if they want to travel together.

 

What you say might be true often.

However, the game had its most rewarding moments (at least for me) when a chance encounter resulted in a 4h long trip with a complete stranger around the whole map.

The attitude you describe is kind of boring, yet of course understandable.

 

Still, more courage to go for unplanned interaction would benefit the game.

At least I find "true interaction" (meaning: an interaction where I do not know where it might end) much more rewarding than interacting with my TS mates. The moments when you say: "Okay, we put our axes away now and move on, okay?" and both think: "Damn it. Is this dangerous now?" is priceless and adds a lot. You will never get that thrill of cooperating with someone you do not know with your TS mates.

[Grimey Rick 3417]

That's not quite true. Zombies could be many and so hard to fight - while most of the time sitting on the very rare loot - that player would have a very hard time.

But if the game reaches that point, we'll see massive complains from the player base - as seen in the mod with patch  1.7.7.

 

Yeah, they could be, but this isn't the mod anymore. This is its own product. Stupid, glitchy, clunky zombies are not acceptable in this game. During the alpha, fine, but I'm willing to bet $100 they don't get much better even after release. Breaking Point is a prime example which I already mentioned. They tried to do some zombie hordes and failed miserably on a newer, more polished version of RV.

 

I won't rest until we bully the developers into giving us zombies à la State of Decay!

[Ken Bean 175]

Yeah, they could be, but this isn't the mod anymore. This is its own product. Stupid, glitchy, clunky zombies are not acceptable in this game. During the alpha, fine, but I'm willing to bet $100 they don't get much better even after release. Breaking Point is a prime example which I already mentioned. They tried to do some zombie hordes and failed miserably on a newer, more polished version of RV.

 

I won't rest until we bully the developers into giving us zombies à la State of Decay!

We'll see. It's too early to say that. They are working on it and hopefully they get them nailed. However, I'm glad that they expanded the staff.

Regarding BP, that's a whole different thing. I think they just ripped out some Arma 2, DayZ mod stuff and other content and threw it into Arma 3. You can not really compare that.

Edited May 2, 2014 by Ken Bean

[Grimey Rick 3417]

We'll see. It's too early to say that. They are working on it and hopefully they get them nailed. However, I'm glad that they expanded the staff.

Regarding BP, that's a whole different thing. I think they just ripped out some Arma 2, DayZ mod stuff and other content and threw it into Arma 3. You can not really compare that.

 

Have you played Breaking Point? Aside from the dorky looking animations (thanks to ARMA 3) the game is awesome. DayZ looks better, but functionally I'd take Breaking Point any day (thus far). They've done more with a fraction of the funding (if they even receive any).

 

#excessiveuseofbrackets

[Ken Bean 175]

This is probably because the Real Virtuality 4 Engine looks and feels sexier. But please lets not discuss such mash ups like BP. Didn't play it myself but I'm pretty sure that most stuff they used is somewhat ripped.

(Otherwhise they would have needed more time)

It's a bit like comparing fast food with self-made.

Edited May 2, 2014 by Ken Bean

[stryker007 39]

You can't rejoin any game for 30 mins after you've died.... there's an incentive not to die right there  ;)

[Ken Bean 175]

You can't rejoin any game for 30 mins after you've died.... there's an incentive not to die right there  ;)

Hmm, such suggestions already have been made. I always thought this wouldn't change much. Most likely some folks (including "hacker") would discover thas as awesome tool to troll fresh spawns and streamer.

[stryker007 39]

Hmm, such suggestions already have been made. I always thought this wouldn't change much. Most likely some folks (including "hacker") would discover thas as awesome tool to troll fresh spawns and streamer.

 

People complain about no incentive to *not* shoot fresh spawns so how about this.... when you shoot someone, for each min under 10 mins old that person was you get 10 min added to the 30 min wait next time you die? We getting warmer with this idea?

 

Before you know it one session of trolling cost you hours of gameplay.  We could also have a public leader board showing who has had the highest waits :-)

Edited May 2, 2014 by stryker007

[bfisher 561]

I've played many MMOs so I can safely say that situation when you meet a random player, you decide to work together and become best friends almost never exists.

Most people don't want to group up with strangers, because they might suck, they migh steal your loot, they might fck up so hard that you will all die.

 

Maybe not "best friends" but I've met plenty of people in the Mod who I've teamed up with.

 

People complain about no incentive to *not* shoot fresh spawns so how about this.... when you shoot someone, for each min under 10 mins old that person was you get 10 min added to the 30 min wait next time you die? We getting warmer with this idea?

 

Before you know it one session of trolling cost you hours of gameplay.  We could also have a public leader board showing who has had the highest waits :-)

 

How about every time someone bitches about dying , another year gets added to their wait timer?

 

If you don't hunt new spawn, they don't learn nuttin. 

[acdc_bag 32]

 

 

DayZ has incredible (however unused) potential for intense roleplay (invented characters in the world talking to each other instead of players playing a game), but it is the game where I have yet to meet a roleplayer. 

 

It has a great system of direct ingame communication (doesn't need configuration, works just like that), yet conversation almost never takes place. Most words I hear are spoken to corpses, not to living characters. The general consens seems to be "if it is not on my Teamspeak channel, it is an enemy => kill it". And killing is best done silently. The alternative is: avoid it, and that's also silent.

 

 

 

It is a Zombie apocalypse in which the outward threat does not make the survivors band together to survive. The "unifying threat" is missing, so there is no necessity for players to behave social, as they are not rewarded for the additional risk they take when interacting with other players.

 

The value of an ingame life would be high after a virus wiped out most of the people. Think about the island dilemma with rebuilding population when you have limited females. In DayZ a life has the same value as in ever simple pvp shooter: none. Kill at leisure, npnp, you respawn anyway. 

 

 

 

The game has even more viruses than the Z-virus. They are player created variations:

 

> the long range psychopath virus: he has to kill everything that moves before it gets into interaction range. It doesn't help his survival, he reduces the healthy population, wastes resources, attracts zombies and dies pitifully after a split-second of terror to someone rustling behind him.

> the torture/abuse psychopath virus: it seems to spread once handcuffs are found and extends to slowly killing people by poison "for fun". It totally increases your own survivability and is generally a reasonable way to act in a post-apocalyptic situation. It however is "funny" <irony>

> the sociopath's "fear" virus: "I only trust my Teamspeak mates! The rest is KOS". or: "Sorry, I trust no one". Shooting everything is much safer than talking.

 

No wonder that the few survivors that are really out there have a hard time when the Z-virus is only one of 4 and the most harmless at that. No wonder these viruses spread fast, as every contact teaches the player that taking the risk of interacting for real is punished severely by the permadeath feature. Frustration is the key to infection with the player-created viruses.

 

It is a game that should not be deathmatch by its setting, but also does not reward teamplay/cooperation for real. The only real teamplay that is "rewarded" by ingame mechanism is "save my body, I will be back in 15 min!" corpse overwatch. It's also the worst oorp meta aspect present and the only sort of teamplay that does not deserve to be encouraged.

 

 

At the moment it is a game in which none of the typical zombie-genre effects work (bad odds, forced teamplay of incompatible characters, we [=survivors] vs. them [=zombies] feeling, horror, etc), but in which all danger comes from players, many of them bored lolwuts that add nothing to the immersion and the feeling of the world.

 

So, again: I know many of the issues are being addressed already.

And I know it is an Alpha.

 

This is also not a rant, as I am neither angry nor disappointed. I am going ingame now and will have a great time.

But it really struck me as kind of a really weird, screwed up dysfunctional game that actually works in a really surprisingly strange way and is good fun. :)

Anyway, see you ingame.

Andy

 

 

It is the only multiplayer game I know, in which many people avoid any contact with other players and even when coming into contact, spend a lot of effort on not actually making (visual, physical, communication) contact. An avoided contact is a successful interaction for many.

 

Only the people who think their gear is something worth hanging onto, and that they "earned it".

 

It's the only multiplayer game I know, in which relevant numbers of people prefer empty servers to populated ones. The less players, the better. I do not know a single game that has that.

 

Only for looting said "valuable" gear from above.

 

DayZ spreads few players on such a big map that meeting each other outside of the few hot zones is next to impossible. And: more empty space/villages are being added. Even with 100 players there would not be a chance to fill that map, and I doubt 100 players will happen once zombies work.

 

This was far less true on the mod when the inland areas were actually worth traveling to.  The game was set up a lot different with the only hospitals being in the south, and the best loot in the game being at the NWAF.  That's not the current set up anymore.  You also sound like you've never played on a 100 person server, either.

 

It is a Zombie game in which Zombies do not have any noteworthy impact, nor pose a real danger, nor add horror or atmosphere. I know, it's known. Still, funny somehow.

 

You mean to tell me that the main class of AI, out of the two that have been proposed so far, AREN'T COMPLETELY DONE AND FINISHED YET? NOWAI

 

This game does hardly feature "survivors". I would describe those as normal people dropped into extraordinarily bad situations. It mainly features psychopaths and sociopaths. There have to be other, yet undiscovered viruses. Likely breeding from boredom + lulziness + immaturity.

 

In what way are we "survivng" other than staying alive while we play and keeping some food and water in our backpacks?  When storage is added and players can actually stock up on items, if they die they're not starting from literally scratch, the game will change again.

 

DayZ has an amazingly bad pvp system compared to many shooters, which is no problem because it is not even trying to be a perfect shooter per se. However its main focus at the moment is deathmatching each other, especially in "endgame", or aimless, indiscriminate killing of everything you see "because you can".

 

I love how people call any game with PvP and death included is instantly a "deathmatching" game.  If you don't like the pvp aspect and the fact that NPCs/PvE have NEVER been the focal point of the game, then please stop playing, because that's more than likely not ever going to change.  If DayZ wants to go with a PVE approach and have us banding together to go out to 074,124 on the map every 12 hours to kill NpcBossA for phat lewts, I will go get my fucking money back from steam.  You can just as easily not kill people indiscriminately.  Just because most people don't do that, doesn't make the game broken.

 

Almost all of your points sound like you have very little experience with the game, the mod, and everything about DayZ in general.  I will agree that a character development system is needed (not that you really said that in so many words), in order to promote not insta-KOS and possibly engaging and interacting with other players that aren't on your voice chat already.  However, even if they make a "Master Mechanic" or "Terrific Tailor" classes, players will STILL be just as likely to interact with a player, fix something up for them, and then receive a bullet to the brain the instant they've completed the job.

 

That's the game, get used to it.

Edited May 2, 2014 by acdc_bag

[Ken Bean 175]

Only the people who think their gear is something worth hanging onto, and that they "earned it".

 

Dude, having good equipment makes the difference in extreme situations. Yes, gear is something worth if you think your life is something worth. But as I see, only from that little sentence, you are playing a completely different game. What's worthy gear for you? That Mosin or that M4?

 

However the game claims to be a survival game and this somehow includes tools and really pressing problems you have to solve with said tools.

Edited May 2, 2014 by Ken Bean

[acdc_bag 32]

Dude, having good equipment makes the difference in extreme situations. Yes, gear is something worth if you think your life is something worth. But as I see, only from that little sentence, you are playing a completely different game. What's worthy gear for you? That Mosin or that M4?

 

However the game claims to be a survival game and this somehow includes tools and really pressing problems you have to solve with said tools.

 

Getting gear in this game doesn't take anything more than time and a server/area that hasn't been looted yet.  Gear has no value in this game right now, until there's storage and sub/private hives, it still won't.  Having good equipment can make a difference in any situation, however, plenty of fresh spawn with barefists have gotten the better of completely geared players, stolen a gun, and killed them dead.  What did all that gear do for them then?  Absolutely nothing.  Anyone who thinks that because they logged into a 40 person server as a fresh spawn, and "geared up", all while on the same server and kept playing, whether dying or living at the end of the session is some sort of accomplishment right now, is kidding themselves.  Just because you pulled the White Knight card for yourself doesn't mean anyone else cares, or respects you for it.  I'm sure it's more exciting and dangerous, but 95% of the time I don't get on DayZ to meet new people, roleplay, or make new friends, I get on to play with my buddy and to get into shit. 

 

If I'm geared up with my buddy and we go looking for trouble, and we die, we either try to get back to our bodies for revenge, or call it a night and do the loot-hopping bit next time.  Why?  Because we have lives.  I'm not interested in playing DayZ for 40 hours a week, 4 hours of which involve player engagements, and 30 of which are spent dying/gearing on a 40 person populated server, and 6 hours of running around the map.  No thanks.  Is that what I'll be doing when private hives emerge?  You bet your ass.

 

Is gear going to save you from getting shot at in the open?  No.  Gear may keep your character from seeing a You are dead screen, however, gear can't fix stupidity.  Most often gear becomes ruined in firefights anyway, so yeah, if you're treasuring and holding onto gear right now rather than in-game interactions and gameplay, you are playing a completely different game.

 

I'll use whatever gun is available to me, that said I'm certainly looking to move to a Mosin > M4/SKS as soon as I can.  Why?  Because I prefer semi automatic weapons and run in a two-man group.  We don't really like sitting around sniping.  Either way, I'm not going to be crouching bambi hidden weapon whenever something breaks out and log off to "protect my gear and character", either.  That's not playing the game, that's playing a loot and hiking simulator with guns in it.  Do you carry a gun for all these situations you're avoiding in which you'd use them?  If so, why?  If you're afraid of losing your gear, you're afraid of losing your character, if you're afraid of losing your character, you will surely be the one to die in every engagement you're involved in.

Edited May 2, 2014 by acdc_bag

[Wayze 549]

Getting gear in this game doesn't take anything more than time and a server/area that hasn't been looted yet.  Gear has no value in this game right now, until there's storage and sub/private hives, it still won't.  Having good equipment can make a difference in any situation, however, plenty of fresh spawn with barefists have gotten the better of completely geared players, stolen a gun, and killed them dead.  What did all that gear do for them then?  Absolutely nothing.  Anyone who thinks that because they logged into a 40 person server as a fresh spawn, and "geared up", all while on the same server and kept playing, whether dying or living at the end of the session is some sort of accomplishment right now, is kidding themselves.  Just because you pulled the White Knight card for yourself doesn't mean anyone else cares, or respects you for it.  I'm sure it's more exciting and dangerous, but 95% of the time I don't get on DayZ to meet new people, roleplay, or make new friends, I get on to play with my buddy and to get into shit. 

 

If I'm geared up with my buddy and we go looking for trouble, and we die, we either try to get back to our bodies for revenge, or call it a night and do the loot-hopping bit next time.  Why?  Because we have lives.  I'm not interested in playing DayZ for 40 hours a week, 4 hours of which involve player engagements, and 30 of which are spent dying/gearing on a 40 person populated server, and 6 hours of running around the map.  No thanks.  Is that what I'll be doing when private hives emerge?  You bet your ass.

 

Is gear going to save you from getting shot at in the open?  No.  Gear may keep your character from seeing a You are dead screen, however, gear can't fix stupidity.  Most often gear becomes ruined in firefights anyway, so yeah, if you're treasuring and holding onto gear right now rather than in-game interactions and gameplay, you are playing a completely different game.

 

I'll use whatever gun is available to me, that said I'm certainly looking to move to a Mosin > M4/SKS as soon as I can.  Why?  Because I prefer semi automatic weapons and run in a two-man group.  We don't really like sitting around sniping.  Either way, I'm not going to be crouching bambi hidden weapon whenever something breaks out and log off to "protect my gear and character", either.  That's not playing the game, that's playing a loot and hiking simulator with guns in it.  Do you carry a gun for all these situations you're avoiding in which you'd use them?  If so, why?  If you're afraid of losing your gear, you're afraid of losing your character, if you're afraid of losing your character, you will surely be the one to die in every engagement you're involved in.

Are two equally skilled, intelligent and positioned soldiers fighting against each other, the one with the gear fitting most in the current situation will win. Simple as that buddy. Nobody said that gear prevents stupidity. But if you are not stupid as f*ck, gear can make a real difference. We don't need to discuss this, it's common logic.

 

I think the oppisite of you. At the moment, the only thing that is worth something in this game, is gear and excitement. There is not a single benefit from trying to survive. There is no reward for survival. There is no reason for survival.

Oh well, there is one:

Not to lose the gear I have so I can kill as many players possible.

 

Let's say, there is a player who expects a survival game. A game, where the goal is surviving as long as possible. Well, obviously he could just go on a unpopular server, get food and done. He will survive forever. But it will be boring right? So what is he going to do? Join another server, with more people. Now he has to behave carefully, avoid cities where players could be. Avoid shots. Avoid zombies as much as possible.

But is this really worth it? Why would a person do that? Why would a person try to survive? The player won't gain anything. All the loot is basicly just loot, he can pick it up within minutes after he dies. The loot, no matter how hard it is to find, can be stored anywhere. I die, all my progress is saved. Is there anything else than gear in this game? No, there isn't. You do everything for your gear. You survive, for your gear. ANd for what do you need the gear? Well, to kill players. Obviously zombies are no threat and you can avoid them, but after a time you will get really bored. So what do you do? What everyone does, kill other players. And if there is basebuilding, cars and all that stuff, the only goal is too steal and store gear, which you will then use to kill other players, because there is nothing else to do.

So, basicly, the game is all about killing players. This results in gear being valuable. So, my suggestion would be a system that awards players for surviving. Awards them even more than some gear he finds. The longer he survives, the more his character, not what he is wearing, should be worth. How to achieve that? I don't know, but I know it's a key element for a survival game.

And now there are always players who tell me "DayZ is a sandbox game man! You will just restrict playstyles!". Well, I never saw DayZ as a sandbox game. For me, it was always supposed to be a SURVIVAL game, rather than a game where you do whatever the f*ck you want. There is a BIG difference between those two things. And obviously, if I want to play a survival game, and if I want to have a survival playstyle, then I won't be able to do that in DayZ. I won't enjoy it, because there is NO F*CKING REASON FOR SURVIVAL. I can have a character that is 1000 hours old and if I die the ONLY thing I lose is the gear. And believe me, if you lost your gear thousands of times in this game, you won't give a f*ck anymore. Like, who cares? You said it yourself, expirienced players know how to handle with shitty gear. Just get a pistole or crowbar, search for some guys with good gear and take em out. Done, 1000 hours of "progress" is regained. What the f*ck?

I want to be scared for the life of my character. I want to be encouraged to survive as long as possible. I want there to be a meaning in survival. And don't tell me "Well, you survive to keep your gear", because NO, you survive so you can kill more people. If this game is a survival game, well than Call of Duty Modern Douchebag 6 Search & Destroy is also a f*cking survival game.

 

F*ck it, I guess it's better than nothing. Gotta wait for some modders to create a real survival game and not this killing based deathmatch "GO LOOT TO KILL" bullsh*t.

Edited May 2, 2014 by Wayze

[GodOfGrain 191]

DayZ development is advancing, new stuff is added.

But I have never come across anything from dev side which would adress the fundamental design flaws of DayZ:

 

- Low amount of social interaction ("role playing")

- Low value of a player's life

- Abundance of PvP

- If something requires "teamwork", the good old teamspeak group is all you need

 

 

For a detailed discussion of the problem see the recent thread: DayZ is a paradox game - Random thoughts

(Cuddly_Rabbit, I hope it is ok with you that I stole your title :) )

 

 

DayZ has "game of the decade" potential, but i believe only if they adress these problems successfully.

 

It's a tricky job, as DayZ does not want to employ any arbitrary rules. Also it is not about finding just one system and the problem is solved. It needs a multitude of design elements which in combination influence the average player behavior in the desired way; and that without taking an individual's freedom to do what he wants.

 

 

Do you agree in general that DayZ should adress the abovementioned design flaws? 

 

If yes, what ideas do you think are suitable to push the game in the desired direction?

Edited May 3, 2014 by GodOfGrain

[Irish. 4886]

Are we doing this again? ok.. let me put on my reading glasses here. 

 

Edited May 3, 2014 by lrish

[GodOfGrain 191]

I am posting a couple of ideas I had earlier.

For more detailed information you can access the link.

 

 

Knowledge Exchange: Dynamic bandit / hero recognition

 

 

Hero/Bandit recognition is an old topic, which has nearly come out of fashion.

I dont like it either. But it is necessary.

 

Brief description:

The core idea is to reward player interaction / communication outside of established groups.

Approaching other players, you can agree to "sit down and chat", which increases your information about other players. After talking to like 10, 15 players the character will have a rather reliable indication about another player's past. (Constant killing spree? Pacifist? Indicated an unobstrusive system like hearbeat).

Information declines over time. The system logs with whom you "chat", so doing this repeatedly within your established group will have a limited effect.

 

- Rewards the risk of social interaction

- Rewards a peacful lifestyle, as players are more likely to "chat" with you if they dont get bad indication

- System is logic and not arbitrary. In real world, you could gain information about others in your region by talking with other surviors.

 

 

In general, the idea of knowledge exchange has some potential, even if not used for bandit - hero recognition

Edited May 3, 2014 by GodOfGrain

[GodOfGrain 191]

I am posting a couple of ideas I had earlier.

For more detailed information you can access the link.

 

 

Micro Skills [Link]

 

 

"Progression through equipment" is a core part of DayZ. But it has the inherent flaw that it is not sufficient to ensure player identificaiton with the character ingame. You can pick up where you left within 30 minutes. Also think of organized groups with cars and base building.

 

The skill system worked out in the link above is more or less ungrievable, rather realistic, keeps the level playing field, does not affect combat. It rewards "staying alive", which should reduce PvP.

The system would allow for "specialists" (medics and technicians), which would have a limited positive effect on player interaction. (If its just through meta gaming, e.g. hire an experienced technician over the forums to repair your chopper).

 

Of course, "skills" are a trigger for "WoW", but anyhow, I believe the system would be a positive addition to the DayZ universe.

Edited May 3, 2014 by GodOfGrain

[Irish. 4886]

Im not even sure what is happening anymore.. so many posts. So much to read.

 

Ill go back to drinking.