Clan/group/friend recognition

[UltimateGentleman 355]

So here's the dream, you form a group with some people and decide to take over a village, set up some fences, make a farm, have scav/hunter teams, patrols, scouts, guards etc

 

You claim that territory and ally with those people.

 

What I suggest is a visual recognition system, you see your friend a couple hundred meters away, you know it's them right? Sometimes it might be someone that looks like your friend but in the DayZ world besides the fact that currently all models of the same gender and race look identical, that would be a damn rare event.

So what I'm suggesting is if you zoom in on someone 100m(this could be a different range) that you've grouped with, perhaps by handshake, you get a message like "That's definitely Paul"

 

Further away they get or how much their clothing changes since you last saw them up close the message changes "I'm confident that's Paul"  "That sort of looks like Paul"  "I'm not sure who that is at all"

 

 

This way you're not going to see Paul coming back from a hunting trip with a new jacket and immediately put down the poor bastard, doing your job as a guard.

And it's Paul, he's not going to be aiming his gun at you so you don't have to shoot on sight to avoid risking your home, you wait until you can confirm who it is.

 

So at distance you zoom in and get a message but distances less than say 10m you don't have to zoom in just look at a person for a couple of seconds and thus confirm who they are if you see their face, if you don't perhaps it could take up to 5 seconds.

 

 

Now to counter inevitable negative responses.

 

"People can just use team speak/Skype you fool!"

Sure they can, wouldn't it be nice to not have to rely on mystical telepathy though? You don't have to be linked telepathically in real life to know your friend is walking towards you.

 

"It makes it impossible to misidentify someone! That makes it too easy!"

It doesn't though. Because Paul went off hunting and you, you evil person you killed him.

What can you do now?

Wear Paul's clothes.

Guards are just going to get "I'm pretty sure that's Paul" when you're fairly close, to far to talk to and maybe the message says that because he picked up a new set of boots. If you walk through the village some people might not even realize they'll see you 20m and not give a shit because you must be Paul right?

 

 

I think this would be great, it would improve co-operative gameplay a huge deal but also open up opportunities for epic infiltrations, kill a guy and wear his gear or just find similar gear to someone, sneak in and steal their stuff or just kill everyone, whatever you want. Perhaps you could even burn their farm or poison their animals.

 

The strictest of groups wouldn't fall prey to infiltration of course but not every group is going to be perfectly co-ordinated, the ones that are deserve to take you down for being good players anyway.

[Mor (DayZ) 57]

Its a nice idea, but how would it work?

So what I'm suggesting is if you zoom in on someone 100m(this could be a different range) that you've grouped with, perhaps by handshake, you get a message like "That's definitely Paul"

This might work, if we have some kind of in-game team management. Although if you care about realism such team management mechanics can be a project on its own e.g. how it would update between teams who are spread apart.

Further away they get or how much their clothing changes since you last saw them up close the message changes "I'm confident that's Paul"  "That sort of looks like Paul"  "I'm not sure who that is at all"

How would this identification work i.e. how can one be "sort of looks like Paul"?

[TulaNoyes 5]

that's a pretty good idea.. they will have to put in a lot more clothing options in the game with every geared person wearing camo you will get a lot of the "i think that's paul" messages.

[DMentMan 707]

no bad idea, also suggested 100 times before. too lazy to leave a link. 

[sachad 1016]

Meh. Since your main reasoning for this idea is 'all models look pretty much the same', you've kinda defeated the purpose of your suggestion already. The finished game will have a much greater variety in character models so recognition should be easier. Also, more clothes will be added so you can dress up in a pretty unique fashion. It might help in the alpha, but it won't do much in the finished game. 

 

Even so, you should just use your eyes and common sense. You know what Paul was wearing when he left, surely you wouldn't need game text to confirm?

[General Zod 1118]

The finished game will have a much greater variety in character models so recognition should be easier. 

Actually it won't, can't be bothered to find the post but we most likely won't have a lot of different models. 

[UltimateGentleman 355]

no bad idea, also suggested 100 times before. too lazy to leave a link. 

Well I looked and it hasn't exactly.

 

 

Meh. Since your main reasoning for this idea is 'all models look pretty much the same', you've kinda defeated the purpose of your suggestion already. The finished game will have a much greater variety in character models so recognition should be easier. Also, more clothes will be added so you can dress up in a pretty unique fashion. It might help in the alpha, but it won't do much in the finished game. 

 

Even so, you should just use your eyes and common sense. You know what Paul was wearing when he left, surely you wouldn't need game text to confirm?

That's not what I meant I said "besides the fact" that they look identical, as in when character variation is added there realistically wouldn't be so little variation that you'd see multiple people who look like your bro Paul since there's barely any people alive.

 

Because Paul left to scavenge stuff, maybe he found a cool jacket and trousers? Perhaps he even found a new backpack and gun too. In real life just by the way he walks and how tall he is you'd probably recognize him, not perfectly at any distance since he's most likely just some random guy you met after the collapse.

In game there's never going to be that kind of realistic depth to avatar design.

I mean I doubt we're going to get midget or obese models for instance if height will be adjustable at all it will be in minimal fashion.

 

 

Its a nice idea, but how would it work?

This might work, if we have some kind of in-game team management. Although if you care about realism such team management mechanics can be a project on its own e.g. how it would update between teams who are spread apart.

How would this identification work i.e. how can one be "sort of looks like Paul"?

It would update when you get close to them again so say Paul is wearing a red tracksuit top and pants with a red beret but then he comes back with blue pants and a yellow beret, there are a lot less items Paul had on him when he left on this person but the red tracksuit suggests it could be.

 

Basically if they're wearing similar items to Paul and have a similar body type to Paul there's a percent out of 100 you recognize him(game doesn't tell you) so if there's just the red tracksuit top you'd only be 40% sure it's Paul meaning you should be cautious and try to identify, instead of just shoot because it might really be him.

A large part of that percent accounts for the realistic detail to a person the game will never have which in real life you would recognize. So if someone comes along, wearing nothing Paul had on before that looks nothing like Paul's body(since character models won't change much it'd be impossible to tell in game) it's obvious it's not the dude you know.

 

And then when they get within 10m you can tell for sure who it is, or isn't if you see their face or study them long enough.

 

 

It'd be great for taking out bases or clearing areas too and it would make it viable even without voice chat, Shaun, David and Chrissie are recognizable coming round from the side of the wall to close in on an airfield building. Not everyone's going to have to be like "IS THAT YOU GUYS?" and alert people or not because they're on team speak which makes them silent in game and is stupid due to that.

 

In real life your group of survivors would be completely different, some fat, some skinny, tall, short but the game won't have that kind of detail ever so there needs to be something to account for it, you shouldn't have to see someone's face right up close and their skin colour to know who they are. Since in reality even if a group did all have the same set of gear on they'd be distinguishable by which ones fat, short etc etc

[DMentMan 707]

no bad idea, also suggested 100 times before. too lazy to leave a link. 

 

 

Well I looked and it hasn't exactly.

 

http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/200768-a-way-to-make-groups-and-not-break-immersionmaybe/?hl=recognition#entry2019296

 

http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/196391-realistic-player-identification/?hl=recognition

 

http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/175401-identification-system/?hl=recognition#entry1793739

 

http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/173884-sugestion-teammate-recognitions/?hl=recognition#entry1775600

 

http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/162324-player-identification-and-classification-system/?hl=recognition#entry1663989

 

http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/162758-identifying-other-players/page-3?hl=recognition#entry1659380

 

Really?

 

Edit: one more:

 http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/162494-squad-identification/

Edited October 30, 2014 by DMentMan

[sachad 1016]

What's wrong with just announcing yourself? Making up some kind of signal? Who says Paul didn't get murdered on his foraging trip and his killer is now using his clothes to try and sneak in? You think other survivors might not look like one of your buddies from a distance? 

[General Zod 1118]

What's wrong with just announcing yourself? Making up some kind of signal? Who says Paul didn't get murdered on his foraging trip and his killer is now using his clothes to try and sneak in? You think other survivors might not look like one of your buddies from a distance? 

He addressed that. 

He said it's possible and can be used for deception / infiltration. 

[UltimateGentleman 355]

http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/200768-a-way-to-make-groups-and-not-break-immersionmaybe/?hl=recognition#entry2019296

 

http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/196391-realistic-player-identification/?hl=recognition

 

http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/175401-identification-system/?hl=recognition#entry1793739

 

http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/173884-sugestion-teammate-recognitions/?hl=recognition#entry1775600

 

http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/162324-player-identification-and-classification-system/?hl=recognition#entry1663989

 

http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/162758-identifying-other-players/page-3?hl=recognition#entry1659380

 

Really?

 

Edit: one more:

 http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/162494-squad-identification/

Yes really, did you read those?

 

The titles are about recognition but their ideas aren't the same is mine.

 

What's wrong with just announcing yourself? Making up some kind of signal? Who says Paul didn't get murdered on his foraging trip and his killer is now using his clothes to try and sneak in? You think other survivors might not look like one of your buddies from a distance? 

If you're within announcing distance you can just shoot whoever is looking at you.

It'd be lame if there was no way to break in to a camp most people would complain about that, if people want to be super organized and have some kind of signal they can and they'll definitely be safer but not everyone will be that organized.

 

Wouldn't it be epic to steal someone's clothes after killing them and raid their camp? Not to mention if you took your time you could probably work out their signal, if you sit in a bush and watch people coming back waving then that's obviously the signal.

 

But in real life some fat dude coming along wearing your skinny friends clothes waving at you...well, it'd be easy to tell it's not your friend :P

 

 

It would act as a line of defence but if you're careless could work against you which is how it needs to be it'd suck if you were perfectly safe with your friend group.

[sachad 1016]

Right so why do we need another means of recognition? If you need the game telling you 'that's definitely Paul' then really you're not playing it smart. Grab some walkie-talkies and use them. If it's dark, use flashlights to signal. Hell, many people use Teamspeak anyway so then Paul could just tell you 'hey guys, don't shoot the guy in the red hat, that's me'.

[DMentMan 707]

The titles are about recognition but their ideas aren't the same is mine.

 

its basically the same 

[UltimateGentleman 355]

Right so why do we need another means of recognition? If you need the game telling you 'that's definitely Paul' then really you're not playing it smart. Grab some walkie-talkies and use them. If it's dark, use flashlights to signal. Hell, many people use Teamspeak anyway so then Paul could just tell you 'hey guys, don't shoot the guy in the red hat, that's me'.

How can a group of noobs play it smart? Not everyone is a tactical badass with formations and whatever the crap else we shouldn't have to act like we're soldiers just to know who's part of the group and who's not, why shouldn't pedestrian level recognition be available? Being tactical is better and improves security, if people want to do that they can, if they don't then they shouldn't have to.

 

Also that's assuming you find enough walkie talkies, or any at all it's not really a good battle plan to just "find something that will be randomly placed around the world as means of communication"

Plus team speak is pretty lame, people can't talk to each other from miles away in real life without technology, is it not more fun to use what the game gives you? Most people here go on and on about "immersion breaking" but team speak doesn't qualify?

It'd be much more rewarding to survive without a helping hand from a source outside the game.

 

its basically the same 

Not really.

[sachad 1016]

You're right, they shouldn't have to play it smart, but then they should suffer the consequences. DayZ is supposed to be an unforgiving ordeal where only those who adapt will survive, and those who don't will not last very long. If you want to play squad, you best be ready. Can't find enough walkie-talkies? Keep looking until you have enough. They're not that hard to find if you know where to look.

 

You're basically saying that the game should be made easier. I vehemently disagree.

[Evil Minion 943]

Lets see if I got this right:

Upon meeting a player you have the option to "group" with him just like you would check pulse. Then his current state is saved and used for further recognition. The confidence is then determined by actually being this person, having the same character model , wearing the same clothes and distance?

 

Good thing of this suggestion is that it is (contrary to what the title suggests) pretty unbiased - it does not give you some definite friend/foe, hero/bandit or a priori (like recognising your steam friends etc.) information.

 

However, I think this would require quite a robust algorithm working in the background with the final result being something you could also achieve by actually giving people the tools to make themselves distinguishable and letting the players own brains do the actual job. This would probably be a little more challenging as you have to use your own memory instead of the algorithm telling you that you should know something - I think thats a good thing as it adds another layer of skill (and gives players more customization options).

 

Other thoughts:

1. Teamspeak/Skype: Its not the same as ingame recognition as you still have no clue who is who unless told. And telling can be harder than you think. You would need your own mental skills and some discipline here as well.
2. Risk of misidentification: Thats actually a good thing because it makes you hesitate to shoot or just take the risk. You have a choice to make and live with the consequences. Social and mental skills help doing the right thing - again something the PC should not do for you.
3. Clothes: Thats only temporary - great for firefights and other group actions but not enough on the long run. If stripped of everything there should be enough clues to identify a player in most cases ("clone probability" should be below a certain percentage). Here you need things like face, skin tone, body shape, eye color and even hair color and length or tatoos. Something that allows for "thats definitely not Paul" (we probably won't get "thats definitely Paul" - because thats not even that easy in reality).

[Obtuse 5]

How about a loot item (armband or hat) that can be customisable (like paper notes) with a pen or marker? much easier on the developers, still allows for the infiltration/deception mechinism and allows clans to creat unifying symbols.

[Evil Minion 943]

Thats temporary - for many social applications you would need permanent or semi-permanent elements as well.

[UltimateGentleman 355]

You're right, they shouldn't have to play it smart, but then they should suffer the consequences. DayZ is supposed to be an unforgiving ordeal where only those who adapt will survive, and those who don't will not last very long. If you want to play squad, you best be ready. Can't find enough walkie-talkies? Keep looking until you have enough. They're not that hard to find if you know where to look.

 

You're basically saying that the game should be made easier. I vehemently disagree.

But why should you have to pretend you're some kind of military? People just wouldn't do that, walkie talkies would be for emergencies not just to talk to each other casually that's a waste of an extremely finite resource.

 

How does it make it easier? It makes it more realistic, easy in some ways and difficult in others.

 

How about a loot item (armband or hat) that can be customisable (like paper notes) with a pen or marker? much easier on the developers, still allows for the infiltration/deception mechinism and allows clans to creat unifying symbols.

Only going to be good at a distance though isn't it? For that to work we'd have to be carrying around banners with emblems on them and...well that's just silly isn't it?

You'd have to get up close to know it was one of your guys plus an item like that should be lootable so that'd make infiltration wayyy too easy.

 

Also people like that would no doubt be on team speak or whatever anyway which would ruin it, the system I describe caters to just random people who met each other in game, not part of an existing group.

 

 

 

Lets see if I got this right:

Upon meeting a player you have the option to "group" with him just like you would check pulse. Then his current state is saved and used for further recognition. The confidence is then determined by actually being this person, having the same character model , wearing the same clothes and distance?

 

Good thing of this suggestion is that it is (contrary to what the title suggests) pretty unbiased - it does not give you some definite friend/foe, hero/bandit or a priori (like recognising your steam friends etc.) information.

 

However, I think this would require quite a robust algorithm working in the background with the final result being something you could also achieve by actually giving people the tools to make themselves distinguishable and letting the players own brains do the actual job. This would probably be a little more challenging as you have to use your own memory instead of the algorithm telling you that you should know something - I think thats a good thing as it adds another layer of skill (and gives players more customization options).

 

Other thoughts:

1. Teamspeak/Skype: Its not the same as ingame recognition as you still have no clue who is who unless told. And telling can be harder than you think. You would need your own mental skills and some discipline here as well.
2. Risk of misidentification: Thats actually a good thing because it makes you hesitate to shoot or just take the risk. You have a choice to make and live with the consequences. Social and mental skills help doing the right thing - again something the PC should not do for you.
3. Clothes: Thats only temporary - great for firefights and other group actions but not enough on the long run. If stripped of everything there should be enough clues to identify a player in most cases ("clone probability" should be below a certain percentage). Here you need things like face, skin tone, body shape, eye color and even hair color and length or tatoos. Something that allows for "thats definitely not Paul" (we probably won't get "thats definitely Paul" - because thats not even that easy in reality).

 

Yeah but the algorithm just makes up for what you wouldn't be able to tell in the game that you would in real life, maybe the guy you're surviving with in real life has a fat head. In DayZ character models probably won't have fat heads, the variation is only going to be noticable up close and if it's not your bro...up close is within sawn off shotgun range for sure.

 

Team speak/Skype make it way too easy though you can easily tell who it is coming out of the treeline 300m away, unless for some reason they decide not to respond. Have you ever tried to have a conversation with someone that far away? Just doesn't happen.

People wouldn't have to rely on walkie talkies because practically everyone would be distinguishable, wouldn't think twice about Boris coming down the road after going to look for meds, unless he totally changed what gear he was wearing and was running down the road with a motorcycle helmet on.

 

Team speak or whatever is cool for playing with friends, it'd be shit "playing" with a friend miles away from you who you can't talk to but at the same time it's cheating, you see someone running up behind your friend 400m you can tell him instantly when in reality that person would get the drop on them unless you shot them there and then.

Team speak definitely makes it easier than what I'm suggesting anyway, so I don't see what would be so bad about recognition.

 

It beats having a buddy system where you all spawn in holding hands and see each others name tags.

 

Your second thought is covered there really people can still be wrongly identified and wreak havoc or if they changed their set might get shot because they look 20% or less like Paul, 80% is a big risk.

 

Thirdly clothes recognition I mostly mean for at a distance, in game you can't really tell if someone is black, white or Asian at all without seeing their hands or face, if they're not obscured by a mask or gloves. The best you can tell is male or female.

Course if your bro goes out for supplies and you see a woman walking down the road, not your bro, unless he met a superbly skilled surgeon.

 

So yeah up close you need a good look or to see their face to recognize them not their clothes so much, skin shouldn't factor in too much because if a black guy went out and a white guy came in...well you have a problem, that much should be up to your own perception.

 

 

I just think it'd be nice if there was a mechanic that let EVERYONE play together, not just people with headsets. People without, people to shy, new people, people that just want company, people that want to hunt for some food, people that want to hunt other people, whatever.

You can share a goal and help each other out without having to become best friends on Steam, if you want to that's cool but I for one don't really only use Steam for DayZ and The Forest I don't need another friend list. But it would be great to actually play with people and co-operate in DayZ, I don't want to have to join a clan just to have some community it'd be nice to just team up with like-minded people in game for however long a time.

[snwh 24]

 "I'm pretty sure that's Paul" 

"It says: 'Hi Paul!'" Anyone who knows what that's a reference from gets beans ^^ 

 

 

 

That's  pretty good sized follow up post, you get beans from that.

 

 

I've been thinking about stuff like player recognition and teamwork as well. Especially between players that just met and aren't on teamspeak together.

 

For starters I think that the armbands are actually a very good idea, and should be implemented, at least in basic form, as quickly as possible. Everyone on your team putting on a red armband would eliminate a lot of friendly fire, and as long as you swap armband colors every few play sessions, there's not a huge chance of being super infiltrated. You can see them from longer distances by using a High powered scope or Binocs.

 

But really it goes deeper than that. 

 

This thread is about being able to recognize people. In the game, there doesn't seem a way to do it as well as you could in real life. Everyone's faces are the same, and screens are too small to to see them anyway. I really cannot think of any immersive way for there to be realistic recognition of other people in this game. So I think our best bet is to go with a slightly less immersive but much more functional way.

 

It's actually quite similar to parts of your idea op. I would say something along the lines of, if you look at someone and press a certain button, you 'recognize' them. You get a recognition quality from 0-100% based on how good of a look you got of them. That would include factors like, seeing their face up close, or only seeing their back. You get the idea. Should be able to do this through binoculars and scopes as well.

 

If you press that button over someone you have already done it to, it would compare how good of a look you've gotten of them and how good of a look you have at them now, and if you pass the check, it would display their name. In fact, it would be best if it displayed the name of everyone you have a good look at in your view radius, while the button is held down.

 

 

I would hope that would only break immersion as much as opening up your inventory, and it would work well for recognizing players.

 

I just made it off the top of my head, so its actually not that great of an idea, but its something for people to chew on.

[UltimateGentleman 355]

-snip-

Yeah I think armbands or something are a good idea but as well as something similar to what I've described here, armbands are more suited to clans it creates an identity for them, especially if they have custom emblems but they need to be lootable.

 

Likewise I'm not sure a name tag kind of thing works because at distance it shouldn't be definite who you're looking at, least not if you've not seen them for a while.

It'd be cool if you recognized Paul up close and then the system sort of tracked him so it didn't keep spamming messages at the side questioning if it's Paul or not, you're on a hill watching over him inspect a building it's obviously the same dude.

A name tag at distance though makes it a bit easy both to identify and misidentify.

 

If someone kills your friend in a house, lets just say no TS was being used, then wears their stuff either it's going to not come up with the name tag and you know instantly what happened, or it is going to come up with it and infiltration will be a walk in the park.

 

 

I think the best thing about the way I describe it is that it encourages people to think before they should, if that could be their friend they should wait and identify.

If you've watched YouTube videos of DayZ whenever there's a group of people there's a heck of a lot of confusion about who is who, friend or foe half the time.

 

Since most people go for pretty much the same gear set it's hard to co-ordinate as a group to take out another group because they're probably wearing the same damn set >.<

So currently the only option is to use TS which is unfair or have everyone wear something signifying like a green mountain backpack, but then the issue same as with armbands is the bright colours running around give you away.

 

There definitely needs to be something to help out in the game you shouldn't be forced to use TS and make everything easy.

Just so long as it doesn't go all casual FPS and have people spawning in together or see each others name tags anywhere on a HUD.

[CJFlint 357]

I know 1st hand how confused things can get in the heat of pvp. You really have to com well with each other or you could shoot one of your own team mates. I know the costs of not having it together on team speak. Thigs can quickly turn into a train wreck. It happens all the time. But one could say this is what makes DayZ SA pvp so raw and un scripted. Adding tags would take away some of the raw unscripted feel of the SA.  It adds confusion and choas one would expect in a post apoc type world.

 

So Im kind of tworn on this one.

Edited October 31, 2014 by CJFlint

[UltimateGentleman 355]

I know 1st hand how confused things can get in the heat of pvp. You really have to com well with each other or you could shoot one of your own team mates. I know the costs of not having it together on team speak. Thigs can quickly turn into a train wreck. It happens all the time. But one could say this is what makes DayZ SA pvp so raw and un scripted. Adding tags would take away some of the raw unscripted feel of the SA.  It adds confusion and choas one would expect in a post apoc type world.

 

So Im kind of tworn on this one.

So if you got in a fight you might accidentally hit your friend over the head with an axe?

 

I'm not saying it can't happen but everyone knows their friends it'd be pretty hard to make such a big mistake and with a recognition system it could still happen if you just click without thinking or if they get in the way even, it wouldn't be the holy grail of team work it'd just help everyone in a way that doesn't require team speak.

[Karmaterror 982]

This COULD be exploitable like the old thing from the mod where you hover your crosshair and "survivor" pops up next to it, or "uh-1h" out in the woods. I could find a bush couple hundred meters from town, slowly move my cursor over the town, and when I get the message "I have no idea who that is" I know someone is down there. Kind of a spotting aid.

 

I liked the idea of a handshake to establish a team, just don't know what would be good benefits of being in one that wouldn't interfere with gameplay much. Friendly fire should always be a big concern IMO,  something you have to manage by knowing where your teammates are and planning/communicating well

 

These moments need to stay ingame....

"hes dead....im going to loot the body"......"hes getting back up".....*you are dead*...."oh was that you?" :facepalm:

[Obtuse 5]

 

Ultimate Gentleman:

Only going to be good at a distance though isn't it? For that to work we'd have to be carrying around banners with emblems on them and...well that's just silly isn't it?

You'd have to get up close to know it was one of your guys plus an item like that should be lootable so that'd make infiltration wayyy too easy.

 

Also people like that would no doubt be on team speak or whatever anyway which would ruin it, the system I describe caters to just random people who met each other in game, not part of an existing group.

Yes, we don't want a system that will tell you across the map who is who, having to need a scope or binoculars (which is already a must for most players trying to scout areas without blindly charging into an area) will solve the need for running into shotgun (hopefully range slightly nerfed by the time this could be implemented) range to make an affirmative ID. Also the coding could easily be modified to have the armband or hat render at slightly greater distances than say someones face or gun attachment details. And making it to easy for infiltration? As compared to the current system where everyone dresses and looks the same regardless? Smart player groups and clans will rotate colors and symbols on a regular basis to prevent this. All in all it would make identification somewhat easier without breaking the hardcore survival system vs other players since you will have the option to scout out other people's identifying armband/hats and try to copy them, and yes you can use skype or ts, ect to clarify, though in my experience we still have the occasional freindly fire incident even though we are all communicating and have solid ideas of where our clanmates are, if anything it adds to the possibilty of confusion in the heat of battle if someone tries to infiltrate making a more realistic experience for pvp.

 

edit* In regards of the armbands or hats being too brightly colored like the mountain backpacks theres no reason why they cannot be spray painted or just have them coded in all color spectrums (i.e. pale green, dark green, brown, black, purple, blue, light blue, dark blue, ect.) I personally dont want them neon pink or red. We just need them to standout enough to show theres an armband or hat with a symbol on it at a medium range, not a complete dead giveaway at 300+ yards.

Edited November 5, 2014 by Obtuse