Realism or Challenge?

[Frozen (DayZ) 144]

this may have been discussed before or not but i dont actually care. usual stuff for forums anyway.

people say that game should be close to realism and thus providing challenge, but game aspect listed below can be ONLY realistic or challenging. so what should it be?

1 antibiotics.

currently they are extremely rare and thus this aspect is challenging.

if it was realistic they would be common as painkillers - realism.

because this most common thing that you will find in medkits.

2 pain.

curable only be painkillers - challenge.

IRL pain goes off after some time - realism

it would be realistic to have some sort of pain-meter that growths after hit taken, and gradually increase shaking of character. and fade after some time. painkiller resets this meter instantly.

3 barbed wire.

its obstacle that can only be walked around or removed with toolbox - challenge.

its purpose to slow not to block infantry.you can step on the wire and move forward or remove it carefully, without any special tools. just wrap your hands in tissue(own cloth or bandages) and you should be fine - realism

same goes for tank traps - you can just step over them, although you cant remove them without tools

4 bleeding.

bleeding, usually, can only be stopped by bandaging yourself.

bleeding stop AFTER you bandaged yourself - challenge

you can stop bleeding by you own cloth if you dont have bandages but you have risk to catch an infection. or suspend it with your hand untill it will stop naturally. when you start to bandage yourself you suspend bleeding at the BEGINNING of the process - realism.

5 infection

can only be cured by antibiotics - challenge.

goes off on itself after some time that depends on immune system and environment(temperature and humidity) - realism.

also it would realistic and challenging if you have a chance to catch an infection with random chance, that higher at night and under rain, not because of temperature drops.

[L0G!N 9]

The keywords in these kinds of discussions regarding game worlds is 'believability' and 'gameplay' ...

1. In an apocalipse world it is believable that antibiotics are scarce.

2. Pain is a gameplay mechanic, and based upon the wound pain doesn't always go away on it's own. One could suggest having it reduce over a long period of time though...

3. Gameplay mechanic mostly, and it is partly believable that you would more than likely run around such an obstacle then through it (with the risk of cutting yourself)

4. gameplay mechanic, and believable based upon the size of the wound. some wounds just don't stop bleeding without presured bandages. The gameplay mechanic is the bandage item, you could ofcourse suggest adding 'rags' as an item that could be used as bandages, with an added chance on infection.

5. This again depends on the type of infection, viral, bacterial, fungal, etc. some of these will actually kill you before you get better. So in a sense it's believable that only antibiotics can cure them (for sure).

So in my views it's generally best to strive for high believability within the gameplay mechanics. Calling it 'realism' is a mistake that is easily made because 'believable' tends to be close to 'how it is for real' (aka realism), as you noted though, realism can be hard to achief in gameplay, esp. if you are dealing with Zombie infections (realism much ;) :D ). Hence using the 'believable' grade within the context of the game, tends to be an easier way to validate or judge suggestions. And ofcourse whether is possible within the game mechanics...

Last bit, i am not entirely sure where this is a suggestion? as the thread setup is more like a general discussion about the trade off between realism and challenge... hence i responded as such.