Official 'Friendly' Challenge & Response

[Vexus 25]

This Week's Official Challenge & Response:

CHALLENGE: FREEFALL

RESPONSE: WINTER

For those who aren't familiar, a sign / countersign is an agreed upon set of words that friendly forces use to identify themselves to each other. How it works is when one person sees the other person, he says the Challenge. Upon hearing the Challenge, the other person says the Response to confirm he is a friendly. Don't need to go into sentences and all that stuff, but if you're interested read about the usage here:

http://en.wikipedia....sign_(military)

Another name for this is Challenge / Response which makes a little more sense to most people rather than sign / countersign. Someone challenges your friendly status with a challenge word, and you respond with the response word or else face certain doom.

I am creating this to hopefully reduce the number of bandits who fake being friendly. Of course, they can use it too, but it will cut back on the numbers quite a bit as not everyone reads the forums all the time. If this becomes well received, maybe it can be updated daily to really make it stick. The idea is that you, a friendly player by nature, want to meet other friendly players. By keeping disciplined and checking this thread once per week (daily if you guys like it and think it helps) you will learn the challenge and response to say to players who use it over chat or voice. Also, spread the word to the friendly people you meet to check this out so they too know and keep up to date with this. When you receive a challenge, you immediately type or say the response to identify yourself as friendly. Most likely, if someone is challenging you, they have a bead on you with their weapon, so don't hesitate or look around - just reply with your response first. This will ensure the guy doesn't fire because he feels you are looking around for him trying to shoot him.

The rules are below regarding updating and usage. Hope this helps and please leave any comments. To start it off, this week will be the famed countersign used in WW2.

Rules:

1. The Sign & Countersign will be updated every Sunday night at 11:59pm Pacific Time (UTC-08:00).

2. When hearing the challenge word, respond immediately with the response word.

3. When challenging someone, give them at least 5 seconds to respond - use your own discretion.

4. When hearing the challenge word, do not scan around with your weapon raised looking for the challenger - he will shoot you.

5. Group up with your new friendly partner and SURVIVE!

6. Check this thread every week and make sure you know the proper Challenge / Response!

Updated: 7/15/2012 11:33pm PST

Edited July 16, 2012 by Vexus

[DeltaDog 2]

this is actually pretty good.

[Jackftw 310]

Ahh, the good old Flash, and Thunder.

Don't know why I haven't used this tactic before.

[ratfever 27]

Good idea using codes. Only issue, is it is impossible to let all Friendlies know the code, without Banddits also learning of it.

[EnermaX 59]

Especially when posted on forums.

[ActionManZlt 160]

Isn't this a challenge/response for telling if someone is an active forum member, not a friendly?

[pieflavor 38]

Especially when posted on forums.

yeah, only bandits check the forums, I doubt anyone friendly will ever reach this thread

[KWilt 157]

Been wanting to use this tactic for a while. Too bad nobody would know the code I use. Unless you were a WWII history buff, that is.

[KWilt 157]

yeah, only bandits check the forums, I doubt anyone friendly will ever reach this thread

I think the meaning of that post went right over your head.

[pieflavor 38]

I think the meaning of that post went right over your head.

I read and reread the entire post 9001 times already and can't find the deep thought behind your 12 word post

nobody is going to bother "spread this" (people have better things to do, such as protecting themselves) the best hope is for friendly people to read this thread, and as far as I know most forum lurkers are veteran players, and most veteran players are also bandits (zombies are boring, what's the point to play the game after a while, if not to just hunt down newbies for the sake of it) so the effect of this thread on the community is devoid by a simple barrier: knowledge.

[KWilt 157]

I read and reread the entire post 9001 times already and can't find the deep thought behind your 12 word post

nobody is going to bother "spread this" (people have better things to do, such as protecting themselves) the best hope is for friendly people to read this thread, and as far as I know most forum lurkers are veteran players, and most veteran players are also bandits (zombies are boring, what's the point to play the game after a while, if not to just hunt down newbies for the sake of it) so the effect of this thread on the community is devoid by a simple barrier: knowledge.

So... you weren't being sarcastic then?

Oh. My bad. I thought you were just joking with the whole 'yeah, cause no friendlies are gonna see this!' which I can say is false. We've got a whole sub-forum that's devoted to (what I would qualify as) the friendlies. If this topic had been posted there, I'm pretty sure it would've been picked up by more survivors and spread. Maybe not as quick as things spread back in the day, but it'd spread. Slowly.

[Vexus 25]

Thanks for the response. I will keep it updated weekly and see how it goes. I think once a few people see it in action they will rely on it a little more. Sure bandits can use it but as I stated before, someone calling out the challenge probably has a bead on you with their weapon, so there's a good chance they wouldn't waste the breath if they were not friendly. And someone responding with the response will probably be friendly if not thankful they had some warning coming. The only risk is:

1. Bandits calling out the challenge when they know someone is around to lure them out

2. Bandits responding with the response word to gain your trust

This is why it's updated, and hopefully subtle enough that well... what bandit wants to check this thread once a week to use it once in a thousand encounters with another player? Only the truly dedicated friendlies will like this kind of thing and that's why it's here. Some way of checking. And if you're a 'neutral good' kind of person hey, at least you gave that guy you just killed a chance rather than just blasting him outright.

[Dancingg 27]

Good idea, but it's too bad only a small percentage of people in the game will likely use it.