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! :)