Dynamic Player Tags (making you "remember" your friends/enemies)

[exwoll 252]

DayZ offers a great realistic sandbox world for every playing style out there, be it hostile or friendly. And that's awesome.

But I think that players that have an unfriendly game style have an advantage over the friendly ones, and that advantage is Anonymity: They're 100% anonymous at this stage (well you can recognize them by the outfit and bandages very rarely) and no matter if one see them before they try to kill you (or kill you), in 5 min you will have your doubts. This little factor contributes to the overall paranoia and the golden age of KOS even by players who would otherwise play a more friendly playstyle.

 Friendly interactions  on the otherside are currently very limited: you can't recognize a friend you met a couple of sessions before, you can't form lasting relationships between characters, you can't differentiate between allies or foes. 

Thinking about this stuff, I came up with a little system that could  balance the game a little-bit more improving the social (more than friendly) side: Dynamic Player Tagging

This system would work as follow:

• Every player will have a tag(nick/name) with his current character. He will be able to give away his tag to other players voluntarily (if hostile players would like to know it, they would have to pressure him or torture, etc). Players will be able to also tag on their own people that they "met" (clearly saw their face).
• Once a player gives away his tag, the receiver will be able to see it either above (less realism tho) or in front (chest area) of that player up to around 130-150 feet, only if he's able to see the other player face (around 40-50m), which is the distance where a person can recognize another person (this will also apply if the receiver uses magnified vision that simulates that distance).
• 
• The Tag info will only have server persistence and will last as long as the character is alive. If someone dies, he receive a new random tag that no one else has in that server. This info can be stored in the player files.
• The Tags that weren't used for a long time, will be deleted to simulate the human memory and to free up the tags of the deceased.
• Tags will be only available to the direct receivers of them, other people will not see them. 
• If a person receives a tag, he can or not give away his.
• Masks and bandanas that cover the face will disable the player tag.
• Tags could be made active by default or hidden with a hotkey to activate them temporally or till you press the key again.

This will help the gaming community by:

• Simulating the human social interactions
• Add realism to the game letting you recognize players in other outfits at a realistic range
• Decrease KOS and overall paranoia
• Create a good environment for the development of player relationships
• Add bandit victim interactions and goals for torture (for example, tortured players could give away friends tags, etc)
• Decrease friendly fire deaths. (full geared players use almost always the same kind/color of outfit which in confusing situations lead to friendly fire, even if a player see's the other guy face)
• Newspawns would be less confused when teamed with other players (since everyone has almost the same outfit and equipment)

I only see positive changes with this at this point. So would be glad to hear from you! :)

Edited August 23, 2016 by exwoll

[nl 986]

In principle I like the idea but see no reason why another player would have to agree to make a tag public. In my opinion you could or should be able to add a tag of your own description to any player you meet. In real life you could recognize a player you met before without even speaking to or interact with that person. Like "dude that killed 3 infected" or "asshole that tried to kill me" or simply "friendly" or "hostile". That way if you are with another player you could tell them your experiences with a certain player and they could add their own tag.

On the other hand, a floating tag above a players' head doesn't really help with immersion.

I would much rather prefer we got to see much more variety in players' appearances so you could recognize someone like in real life, based on facial and body type features.

Adding beards, control over hear colour and cut, or even a way to fully customize your character by making a larger nose, wider mouth, bigger lips, eye shape and colour, jaw line, eyebrows and so on.

[exwoll 252]

It would let you call the other player by his nick, a fact that the other player will take in count and not shoot you. Because if you call him like "yo, the guy who killed 3 infected", he might not even remember that and shoot you anyway (if you didn't gave him yours). 

The friendly/hostile would work too I believe. 

And yes, above the head would be too much. I think in the chest will be ok, that way you have to see the face of the player to see his tag.

This also would help a lot with our current friendly fire issue, because even if you see a players face, you don't recognize him and sometimes kill you own team members lol

The thing with facial details, is that they will be quite limited (i think someone said around 40), which will lead to a lot of repeated stuff among players

Edited August 16, 2016 by exwoll

[nl 986]

1 hour ago, exwoll said:

It would let you call the other player by his nick, a fact that the other player will take in count and not shoot you. Because if you call him like "yo, the guy who killed 3 infected", he might not even remember that and shoot you anyway (if you didn't gave him yours). 

The friendly/hostile would work too I believe. 

And yes, above the head would be too much. I think in the chest will be ok, that way you have to see the face of the player to see his tag.

This also would help a lot with our current friendly fire issue, because even if you see a players face, you don't recognize him and sometimes kill you own team members lol

The thing with facial details, is that they will be quite limited (i think someone said around 40), which will lead to a lot of repeated stuff among players

Well if someone gave you his nick you could use that and be able to use his name when you encounter again, just like in RL when someone tells you their name, otherwise you will make up your own description. That is most realistic imo.

I would prefer no hovering tag at all, only a tag that shows up in the chat when you focus on a player and ONLY if there is a clean line of sight.

Did you think about what would happen with your proposal in this scenario: you met a player before, he gave you his nick or you gave him a tag, now you are hunting each other in an area with trees and buildings. What would happen if you came within 50 meters of the other guy who is hiding in a building or foliage, you would see his tag disclose his position?

[exwoll 252]

1.you met a player before, he gave you his nick or you gave him a tag, now you are hunting each other in an area with trees and buildings.

That's the risk you take of saying who you are to anyone. So you would keep it to the people that you do somehow already trust in the game (he helped you, you are with him since you spawned, etc).

2.What would happen if you came within 50 meters of the other guy who is hiding in a building or foliage, you would see his tag disclose his position?

You would only be able to see it if you see the player and his face. Something like this:

A non-intrusive layout that would use a dark transparent text background with a light text of the lightest color of your outfit. 

3. I think would be cool to be able to edit the tags or add comments to them that could appear in a "friend list", like  

exwoll (guy from forum suggesting stupid shit) xD

Edited August 16, 2016 by exwoll