The state of humanity

[BC_Hawke 276]

I know that humanity is a hot topic in the DayZmod world, but I wanted to throw out a couple of thoughts I have on the subject in light of some of the changes to the medical system in 1.8.1.  As most of us know, the medical system is more complicated in 1.8.1, which is fantastic, but it also means that it's more difficult to gain humanity while losing humanity is still very easy to do.  This has lead to some discussion on the possibility of changing or even removing humanity from the mod.  Well, this is my plea that whatever is done in the upcoming patches, please please please don't remove the system entirely!  Here's why I think it's important:

 

One of the biggest factors that attracted me to DayZ is persistence.  It's a persistent, realtime world on a 24 hour clock that exists without you when you log out.  Nothing outside of what you carry in your inventory is safe once you log out.  The game provides harsh, and sometimes lasting consequences for the choices you make.  You really have to be careful in this game or it will bite you in the butt later.  Should I venture all the way to NWAF and loot the barracks without finding some morphine first?  Is this really a safe place to hide this car for the night?  Should I ruthlessly shoot this survivor, or risk talking to him and maybe teaming up with him?  In this game death is incredibly harsh.  Some call it permadeath, but it's not really permadeath when you can run back to your body and reclaim your gear.  Even if you can't get to your body, there's always more loot to be found, and vehicles will respawn eventually after you crash or lose them.  The only really two really persistent things in this game is the 24 hour day/night cycle, and...humanity.

 

A lot of people criticize the humanity system for many different reasons.  Sure, it's flawed and can always use some tweaking and changing, but I personally think it adds so much to the core gameplay.  It really makes you think about the consequences of your actions.  It leads to very interesting scenarios, from survivors helping each other out to a hero taking the risk of trusting a bandit and letting him go.  This is an identity that you carry with you.  It's something that stays with you, making the consequences for your actions really matter.  So many people became interested in DayZ because of the social aspects of the game.  The fear of interacting with people that you're not sure if you can trust.  The humanity system put a very base level ruleset into what is mostly a sandbox game that offers just enough guidance to make interactions really intriguing.

 

The humanity system also offers a whole new challenge to the game.  PvP, looting, gathering vehicles, all take a certain amount of skill, but adding the factor of trying to maintain a humanity status makes all of those aspects of the game more challenging.  Simply shooting someone can be very easy.  On the other hand, approaching him and trying to be friendly while maintaining the upper hand is very challenging.  It makes you question whether or not to enter certain situations rather than just saying screw it and going in with guns blazing.  It gives you an incentive to think about situations before you walk into them.  Without the humanity system, people have no incentive to trust or talk to someone, and betraying people brings no consequence with it.

 

This is my plea to the devs to not abandon the system, but rather improve upon it.  You guys have already proven with the 1.8.1 patch that you have the skill and direction to take the game in an amazing direction, one that in my opinion improves upon but stays true to Dean Hall's original idea of a post apocalyptic zombie survival game.  I believe you can do the same with humanity.

 

 

TL;DR: The humanity system certainly has flaws, but I feel it is an integral part of the game and that the devs should develop and improve upon it rather than lose it altogether. 

Edited June 10, 2014 by Bullet_Catcher