FRIEND/FOE IDENTIFCATION

[UltimateGentleman 355]

Maybe just offer different statures, faces and maybe even walking animations then? People say:

 

"Survivors all have the same height, stature and only a small number of different faces - so identification is difficult."

 

which is true. But then they are like:

 

"I want to identify surviors - so we need friendlists and floating icons because there is no other way!"

 

Errm... no! Go back to the first statement! Read it! Again! Instead of adding artifical features to replace/simulate natural features why not just implement those natural features instead? Its also more realistic because you have to look for the same things as in real life, don't have a 100% success rate (thats what some people really want here - something that makes KoS much easier) and makes the game look more diverse and thus more immersive.

 

Could they really add that much variety to the animations? That would take a lot of work, it's doubtful they would do that indicators are an easy option.

 

The way I mean it is like what comes up on the screen for "open door" or whatever rather than your friends having their name floating above them.

So you need direct line of sight and to aim at them to see if it's your friend.

 

Most people meeting up use phones or whatever in real life, Skype even to say "I'm the guy running down the road don't shoot" but in a heated moment they can't really communicate so well and can end up shooting each other, which wouldn't happen in real life because one look and you know that's your friend.

 

Can't see how it helps KoS at all only for the occasional accidental shooting of a friend that might happen now, it wouldn't make KoS worse or better...

[Evil Minion 943]

Could they really add that much variety to the animations?

They could - but they probably won't. However, even a wide variety of faces and a few different body shapes (made a suggestion about this - see my signature) as well as variable body height* might be enough - most identification work in real life comes from recogising faces.

If thats not detailed enough you can add one of those textlines akin to "I am hungry." that says "I recognise XY." under some (pretty harsh) coonditions:

(1) He/she is facing you.

(2) He/she is quite close and the face is visible (no mask).

(3) You met this character before without getting killed in the meantime (just because death should matter, maybe only on hardcore servers).

(4) You are aiming at the face (maybe even zooming) for a few moments.

Saving survivors by memorizing their faces should work in a similar way (but might take a little longer than recognizing). As the according message will give you the player name (e.g. "I memorize XYs face.") it also works as player identification.

And friendly fire is pretty common in real life especially if you shoot first and ask questions later. You might also meet people that look pretty similar to a person you know. And in real life you would not spot (or even identify) people who are hiding because some floating sign is giving them away.

As for masks: The whole point is to hide your face. It would be silly if you could still recognise those people with 100% accuracy. You can however exclude someone ("This masked man is not Ed because Ed is skinny but this one is fat.") - thats why different body shapes would be a nice thing.

[UltimateGentleman 355]

They could - but they probably won't. However, even a wide variety of faces and a few different body shapes (made a suggestion about this - see my signature) as well as variable body height* might be enough - most identification work in real life comes from recogising faces.

If thats not detailed enough you can add one of those textlines akin to "I am hungry." that says "I recognise XY." under some (pretty harsh) coonditions:

(1) He/she is facing you.

(2) He/she is quite close and the face is visible (no mask).

(3) You met this character before without getting killed in the meantime (just because death should matter, maybe only on hardcore servers).

(4) You are aiming at the face (maybe even zooming) for a few moments.

Saving survivors by memorizing their faces should work in a similar way (but might take a little longer than recognizing). As the according message will give you the player name (e.g. "I memorize XYs face.") it also works as player identification.

And friendly fire is pretty common in real life especially if you shoot first and ask questions later. You might also meet people that look pretty similar to a person you know. And in real life you would not spot (or even identify) people who are hiding because some floating sign is giving them away.

As for masks: The whole point is to hide your face. It would be silly if you could still recognise those people with 100% accuracy. You can however exclude someone ("This masked man is not Ed because Ed is skinny but this one is fat.") - thats why different body shapes would be a nice thing.

 

I like the memorizing thing but it assumes you get close enough to memorize their face, if it's someone wearing the standard set or brown/green and a hunting backpack as like 50% of the people I find do, who looks exactly like your friend then the logical thing to do is walk over all friendly.

Then get shot because it's not actually your friend, they're not going to let you have a good look at them. Especially if that was a feature in the game.

 

A textline is basically what I mean over floating indicator, perhaps you could memorize someone's outfit and/or face and then when you look at them for a couple of seconds it says who it is in the bottom left corner, at reasonable distances.

It would be great for snipers covering their buddies while they go search for loot or whatever because if people steps out wearing virtually the same clothes currently the sniper becomes useless because they have no way to differentiate between them.

So it could come up saying "That's Tom" when you look at your friend Tom.

 

And then if you memorize someone's set if you look at them again at a distance it could say "I think that's Tom but I'm not sure" so there's still some guesswork in it if things change.

[doctorbadsign 645]

Rocket has already announced faction/party identification. I simply want this on an individual level to encourage grouping among randoms. It is the one that that I really appreciate when playing Arma 3 missions like Breaking Point. KoS and PvP both exist but it is also much easier to find a random group of friendlies due to their faction system and "Add to group" feature.

 

I assumed Rocket intended it to be something along the lines of clothing items...

 

I think there are several good things about the Arma series and DayZ these include things such as no indication of whether or not you are firing on friendlies or whether you have got a kill.

 

I'd like to see it stay that way.

[scriptfactory 620]

I think there are several good things about the Arma series and DayZ these include things such as no indication of whether or not you are firing on friendlies or whether you have got a kill.

 

Doesn't vanilla Arma 3 have 3D hex markers? Every mission I play on Arma 3 has them.

Edit: The white hex markers like this. They are in, literally, every mission I play. It is impossible to keep track of friendlies without it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYTg2XqO8k0

Edited May 26, 2014 by scriptfactory

[boxman61 14]

I've read a lot of post that preferr facial changes or arm bands and my question is how long are you actually looking at a potential hostile that you have time to go over facial identity or search for a bit of cloth? I've been in a lot of fire fights (with great squad comms luckily) and never had the oppurtunity to get so up close and personal that I could see the shape of their nose, color of eyes, or width of their jaw. When operating as a squad you learn to move with each other, you familuraise yourself with those around you, and memorize small details without even realizing you did this. It's easy to see a friend from 100yrds off because of these memories and that is realistic. DayZ will never match that area of realism so there needs to be a method of in game identification.

This could be easily done by checking someone's pulse which familiarizes you with them and being able to mark them friendly. I'm personally in favor of name tags in game to help with all the unavoidable banditry. If I know your a bandit then I shouldn't have to wonder who this person I'm talking to is or get so close you could bite me but giving the option to mark individuals is a fare trade in my opinion.

[way455 40]

Indicators or chevrons, even if only you can see them are not for this game. It's about realism. You need to work as a group and know how disperse and cover things. Spreading out or forming a line when facing foes will decrease friendly fire, stuff like that. You need to learn it if you don't know it. Maybe it will make you a better COD or BFer when you play hardcore. ;)

To identify yourself in a group, make an effort to find the same clothes/uniforms or wear the same hat/helmet. It might not be a bad idea to add "tear into arm bands" or being able to dye or wear rags as arm bands.

You could always run around with no pants together. :-D

[AlphaDogMeat . 493]

Bananas.  In 500+ hours, I've never died at the hands of someone holding a banana.  Ergo, people without bananas are legitimate targets.

[Airfield 50]

My squad usually wears very distinct uniforms like Police attire or OREC. Another good indicator is to have your team dress all in black. It looks kick ass and rarely anyone dresses like that,

[tomtom123 0]

Reality is by far more detailed than DayZ ever will. The lack of perception has to be replaced. I am pro a friend/foe identification system.

 

I would like:

• Only through direct interaction with a group member I can add me to the group(s)
• Both (all group?) players must accept
• There should be no icons or names floating around. If you look around ~3 seconds at someone a status should appear left with something like "You look at PlayerX"...

[skully172 33]

they talked about a way to identify friends in one of their Q&As, i think they are going to add something that you`ll put on your arm and you can add a logo or something, or maybe just different collors

[mike10019314@yahoo.ca 3]

Strips of reflective tape or beta lights could be used as id markers for members in your group , the beta lights are probably the best option as they are hard to see outside of close range but stand out well in close combat, idealy each player model could have one hooked onto there shirt and one on there belt or backpack.

[caxton gibbet 4]

^{Break downs in communications during  military operations can, and have, resulted in friendly fire. I guess its no different in DayZ. I would hate to see a name or buddy tag system introduced. Seems to me that playing in a group is a big enough advantage all on its own, the more organised the group the better they will do, and that's as it should be. Introducing a name or buddy tag system would also remove a possible tactical tool, infiltration, from all players.}

Edited July 22, 2014 by Caxton Gibbet

[Mark Darkers 151]

There are gonna be arm bands and other stuff to put on your player as recognition, me and my buddies wear different clothes, but each has a very recognizable hat. One has a green or red barret, I mostly have a cammo boonie hat and the third one mostly has a cap. Every one without those gets shot (on airfields or high risk areas) if some one has te same hat and they have not seen us, simply ask verification to your friends. If the person instantly aims at you, then its not your friend, shoot.

[chekovp 89]

The only thing that should be added in is arm bands and you should have to actually find and equip them. Probably made from tearing up a shirt or something and should be able to get a few from one shirt. This doesn't stop other people from being able to wear them, which is how it should be.