A case against random weapons/loot

[PointAndClick 6]

A case against random weapons/loot.

Even though this has been proposed before, i'll go into more depth. This post covers enough ground to warrant it's own topic. I wanted to explore the idea of having fixed spawn locations for items, with a fixed spawn-time. To think this through and find out what the consequences of this change might bring to the game. Turns out that these a pretty severe, however, also extremely attractive. You'll find out that there is a lot of emergent game play coming out of fixed loot spawns vs random loot.

Who am I to say all this? I'm a writer. Writers put different people in different scenarios and have them react. I'm pretty adept at doing this, but of course there will always be things I failed to think of. It's up to you to remain critical and skeptical.

Why?

Let me first answer the question of "why" shortly. I'll expand on this further in the post. Why would you want to get rid of random loot spawns? Well, first and foremost because it breaks my immersion. Figuring out where what is in the world would be part of building a relationship with the world.

Secondly, randomness will always be a source for exploitation and frustration. I know that some people enjoy the gamble. For me (and I won't be alone) it's more a source of frustration, as I am not a gambler. I have no problems hopping over a few servers to see if there is better loot where I'm currently at.

Lastly: strategies. Real simple, when you know where what is, you can build plans around it and execute them. You know what the reward is and you can choose your own reward.This not only includes acquiring items, but preventing others from acquiring them as well, among other strategies.

Spawn mechanics.

So a little more specific on the spawn mechanics I'm thinking about. Keeping it really simple and intuitive, and as expected. Common items respawn faster, rare items respawn slower. Without going into timing details to nit-pick over, It might be interesting to have really rare items spawn as slow as once a day. Furthermore logically, common items should have more spawnpoints than rare items. The loot respawns even when you stay on top of the loot spot.

I have also been thinking about how it might be if this non-random system was random or partly random for every server. This will create a knowledge gap between veteran players and new players. And it renders the help of 3rd party maps partly useless. It creates secrets known to few. It creates incentive to roam around and acquire knowledge, keep notes. etc. It will connect you to a server based community and create a deeper sense of connection with the map you are playing. I'm highly positive about this idea of having per-server non random spawns. This might even go as far as letting server owners decide where what is found, although there are big problems coming out of this in terms of persistent characters and hopping server admins. That aside, you might become the only person who knows that in a little toilet behind a house in Shakhovla there is the only ghilliesuit spawn in the game, or the only anti-biotics spawn. The emerging gameplay possibilities coming out of such a scenario is like gaming gold.

There still is an even more extreme system, where once loot is taken it will simply never respawn again. I thought about this and it is also an interesting brain excersise. Because in that case things like trading might start to emerge. And even though this feels like the most authentic thing, it won't work simply because there is a central database and your character is persistent. Serverhopping for loot will become the norm, servers deplete. There will also be no incentive for new players to join since you can't actually make you own weapons and gear. It might become interesting again with seperate servers with 1000 players and extremely large maps (like entire countries). So that's more a project for another time and age in computing where these extremes might become possible.

Moving on to what the effects on gameplay will be.

In gaming terms: the desirable loot spawns will turn areas of the map into multiplayer zones, with a 'king of the hill' kind of situation.

In dayZ terms: You will be rewarded for keeping control over a certain point in the game. For example, if you are able to hold the supermarket with a fireteam for an hour, you will have enough food and drinks to continue on your journey. If you are able to avoid zombies, you might encounter another group of players with the same intentions. They might wait until you are gone, because they don't want to aggro, or they might engage, or pull one of many scenarios. You are bunkered in, have enough food to survive, ammo might become a problem. They might need food, ammo might be less of a problem for them. Negotiation and trading agreements might become profitable for both parties.

If you want to equip your fireteam with AK's and stock up on ammo, you might have to hold a firestation for 3 or 4 hours or maybe even more. It will get increasingly easier as at some point you'll all have combat rifles. But you'll get hungry and thirsty. The game will force you to leave at some point, unless ofcourse you can find people to restock you. Building supply lines, etc. But in that case, you might want to go for an even better spot with even better weapons... at which point you give other people the chance to go for the ak's to fight you for your new gun spot. This creates a sense of progression in the game. It still leaves open the ability to skip certain weapons and be free in your choice of weapon.

There is another aspect that becomes more important and that is getting out of a situation. Getting in and out alive might prove to be very difficult, require planning and teamwork. People will be waiting outside, as is already often the case. You are definately still safest in the woods.

If you work alone, bunkering down might not be the best idea. And you're probably safest when you make it a quick operation. Unless you want to troll some players and you feel suicidal, please, go ahead and camp alone. At least you can try and figure out where what is and make a plan.

This is a completely different thing than we have now, where you or your team can just say, "oh i'll just go to the other barracks, or firestation," etc. The consequences of this choice don't change currently, you might even turn out to be even luckier than the guy you just evaded. However with fixed spawns you potentially actually miss out on some great loot that you can't get anywhere else.Without removing the actual choice, it makes the consequences of leaving and going somewhere else completely different, dare i say: more authentic.

Some thoughts.

Partly we already have this 'king of the hill' situation in place. There are certain spots where you can find certain items. These attract the attention of players and are already creating 'zones' on the map. But there is a great source of frustration when you know where to find something but it just doesn't show up. You can't do anything about it, you can't wait, hold perimeter and dig in. I also feel that it's unfair that it is 'the world' who does this to me, instead of knowing that a player went before me and got it earlier. I think that these events and these feelings should be brought on by other players and never by the game world itself. I rather feel not being in time or outgunned, than being unlucky. One is skill or better choices , the other is completely random.

That randomnes is exactly the thing that makes me hop around servers until I get what I came for. Under my hypothetical system I would rather dig in on the server i'm on, as I know that it's 'safe'. Other servers might have people on guard and I might die. I rather wait on location at the server i'm on. The gamblers and impatient among us might still want to go try a different server however.

I am aware that my solution is a bit of a nerd solution. As not everybody will be able to dig in for an hour. And this might be extremely uncomfortable for some players. These people actually will benefit from being social more under the system I propose.

I predict that pretty quickly it will be the best players who walk around with the best guns. Instead of lucky people randomly dispersed with hardly any skill level attached to it.

I'm also very aware that it opens up the possibility of finding a house with a food and drink spawn, staying there infinitely. To the players who want to do that, I say: Have fun. Bring sandbags and guard the doors.

"But, bandits will camp all the cool gear spots!" Jup. They will. Good luck with that. If you want my advice: be careful around cool gear spots (Just as you are now).

"But people can fill up their entire inventory with ak ammo by camping!" Yes, they can. Unless you stop them. It's only limited by the amount of inventory slots and time available.

"But they'll fill up tents with beans!" Yes, most certainly will there be players who do this. In my world they call those people smart. But tents can be destroyed and players killed. They probably aren't camping at the safest spot on the map to begin with.

What's so bad about the current system?

The current randomized system is a cause for frustration, the bad kind of frustration. It is frustration of the 'falling of a ladder because of glitches' category. Instead of the 'I failed to go prone' frustration. One is brought on by the world/game the other is your own damn fault. One makes you say: "This game is wank" The other makes you say: "I should avoid that in the future."

In case of the current loot system this frustration is a bit more subtle. But as you'll notice while playing, you'll gravitate towards places with the highest value. Why? Because you are almost sure that there is something of value there. You want to be as close to sure as possible. You plan to get there, you put a lot of work in getting there, travel miles, avoid zombies, survive gunfights and than the game says "nope". And not because you were to slow, not because you are a newbie bad at the game, or because a player got there before you, but because of you running towards a slot machine. I don't see players with big guns as skillful players that I need to watch out for, I see them as lucky bitches. I don't feel proud when I wear a ghillie suit, I feel lucky. As of right now, there is no skill connected to the gear you see someone wear.

Another consequence of the current system is that it's not desirable to help a new player get a certain item, since you can't know where you'll find something. There might be a gun and he might kill you. The best loot-pile in the game is still a player. But If you can lead him to some food and drink and bandages first, than say, "there is a weapon in there, good luck and bye." Oportunities open up. You know where stuff is as veteran versus a newbie.

Knowledge could keep you alive and get you back on your feet pretty fast. Knowledge about the game world starts conversations. Creates intrigues. Spies. Makes people want to kill you / keep you alive. Secrets create groups of people knowing that secret, guarding it. There is just so much social interaction surrounding knowledge and secrets versus randomness. There is nothing of this in the game now, except maybe knowing where a helicopter crash site is.

If non-random is so fucking awesome, why are we not having this in the game yet?

Very, simply put: I think it's because of the hive. You have a persistent character that loses everything when you die. This character is stored centrally, so that you can take it with you accross servers. But it means that the loot you take should not have an effect on the seperate server. The thing that is able to do this effectively is randomisation of loot spawns. I imagine that getting certain gear was just supposed to be difficult, the original philosophy was all about survival and surviving in an apocalypse. And it works, let's not forget that. I believe that it never was meant to be about the gear. And maybe Rocket thought that randomisation didn't put limits on the original philosophy of being a survivor in an apocalypse. Whatever he thought, I'm just saying that it does put limits on what can be experienced as survivor. And it might even be that because there is a persistent character in place, you are actually missing out on some interesting and intruiging experiences.

I don't see anything wrong with building a character on a server of my choosing. A character that I can't take with me to other servers. This classic mmorpg model works, it has been tested, people stick to their character because they have put work into it. It opens up the idea of deathban servers. So that when you lose your character, you actually really lose all your work and in the case of per server loot, alot of your knowledge. Non random loot could give you a connection to your character on a server, instead of the connection to a server being a vehicle that you found (I love my bicycle). It also makes creating server communities so much easier. I would definately think about this more classic mmorpg server approach for a stand alone game.

I do actually have high hopes for the recently proposed anti-spawn zone mechanics. Because this will make it much easier to implement a non-random loot spawn system together with the hive. Keeping the current structure intact. So that cool things that emerged (like http://nl.reddit.com...ditRescueForce/ ) can remain to exist.

There is another thing preventing this from being in the game and that is that you have to 'build' a map. Figuring out where certain gear should go is not the easiest of tasks, I reckon it will take quite a bit of time in a big map like this. On the other hand, it gives a developer much more control over what situations players encounter and as such be able to balance the game better.

Thanks for reading, I hope that I gave you some new ideas on how the game might improve on its current system by changing the spawn system into a non-random event. Have a nice day and feel free to think about it. I would love to see this game get richer with experiences that other games fail to deliver.

End note, I'm having an extremely good time playing DayZ. And I just want to mention that it is the most awesome gaming experience I have had. Even topping the things I experienced in 1992 making my own maps in wolfenstein with too many Hitlers to survive. So, please don't think that I'm not throughly enjoying this nice little mod. I want to explore the experience of being a survivor, random loot is putting a lid on this experience.

Tl;dr: If you just scrolled down just to see if there was a tl;dr: Read the whole thing before you post your garbling, or leave. People that only care about opinions that can be fitted in tweets, please throw yourself in a fire, thank you. Get of this thread, close the door behind you, delete your account.

[ZedsDeadBaby 2287]

I just don't like the type of game play this encourages. "Sit on the egg until it hatches" or "Camp the egg from afar until someone foolishly tries to take it."

Neither strike me as particularly compelling advances for DayZ.

I like the uncertainty of random loot. The fact that I can finally make it to that grocery store and find nothing but tin cans and suffering, or the flip side where the first one I walk into has an ALICE Pack and an M16+M203 w/ ammo.

It seems like your idea just introduces far too much certainty, predictability, and therefore repetitive go-here-then-go-there type strategies. It harkens back to camping the rocket launcher or rail gun spawns in Quake. Not exactly the feeling I want to get from DayZ.

Edited July 13, 2012 by ZedsDeadBaby

[Scerun 227]

I agree with Zed. I find it bad enough that I'm steered from going to NWAF / Stary - because there's a whole bunch of military spawns, and subsequently far too many bush-sniper-bandits.

You'd think it'd be fun to have higher risk areas with higher rewards, but it seems to take away from my enjoyment.

[thorgold 91]

I just don't like the type of game play this encourages. "Sit on the egg until it hatches" or "Camp the egg from afar until someone foolishly tries to take it."

Neither strike me as particularly compelling advances for DayZ.

I like the uncertainty of random loot. The fact that I can finally make it to that grocery store and find nothing but tin cans and suffering, or the flip side where the first one I walk into has an ALICE Pack and an M16+M203 w/ ammo.

It seems like your idea just introduces far too much certainty, predictability, and therefore repetitive go-here-then-go-there type strategies. It harkens back to camping the rocket launcher or rail gun spawns in Quake. Not exactly the feeling I want to get from DayZ.

I feel this precisely communicates my feeling on the idea. The randomness of spawns prevents stagnant gameplay - you talk of strategies to secure certain loot at certain times when those strategies already exist with the random spawn mechanic. You want an M4 SD? Better plan on how to loot cycle NWA without getting shot. With a static spawn mechanic, it would become less of a dynamic, flowing game and more of a "Everyone to NWA at 20:00 to camp the FN FAL spawn."

As a result, the game would become even more deathmatch-ey. Why go to NWA when you know the M24 won't spawn for another 24 hours? Why risk a supermarket run in Cherno when you know someone else already nabbed the tent spawn? Static spawn rates would only create hot times. What we have now are hot zones, where people congregate for long periods of time in order to play the random spawn system. Your proposition would only make those zones hot for 30 minutes a day, after which nobody would bother to loot.

The current system is fine as is - the chance of finding something is random, but there ARE static spawn locations that allow for planning. You can't just server hop a cabin in hopes of finding a M24, you have to go to one of the areas where there is a chance to spawn a weapon. The randomness not only makes the game more authentic, but also more tense and emotionally impactful.

[PointAndClick 6]

It seems like your idea just introduces far too much certainty, predictability, and therefore repetitive go-here-then-go-there type strategies. It harkens back to camping the rocket launcher or rail gun spawns in Quake. Not exactly the feeling I want to get from DayZ.

So you rather avoid the frustration of not being able to get what you want. You don't want to be better skilled, or be smarter, or faster. You want to be equal.

Is that it?

[PointAndClick 6]

As a result, the game would become even more deathmatch-ey. Why go to NWA when you know the M24 won't spawn for another 24 hours? Why risk a supermarket run in Cherno when you know someone else already nabbed the tent spawn? Static spawn rates would only create hot times. What we have now are hot zones, where people congregate for long periods of time in order to play the random spawn system. Your proposition would only make those zones hot for 30 minutes a day, after which nobody would bother to loot.

That's a good point.

The randomness not only makes the game more authentic, but also more tense and emotionally impactful.

But I don't really get that, can you explain this? Why is it more tense and has a bigger impact? edit, why would it be more tense than for instance not knowing if you'll walk into a trap.

Edited July 13, 2012 by PointAndClick

[PointAndClick 6]

I agree with Zed. I find it bad enough that I'm steered from going to NWAF / Stary - because there's a whole bunch of military spawns, and subsequently far too many bush-sniper-bandits.

You'd think it'd be fun to have higher risk areas with higher rewards, but it seems to take away from my enjoyment.

So how do you solve this now? What do you do ingame to combat this? Do you go anyway, or...? what's your playstyle.

[ecksdee 6]

I entered this thread with a smirk on my face, thinking "The fuck is this lunatic thinking"

After reading I now support your idea wholeheartedly.

Though maybe a simple addition could be made. Have spots/areas where certain items will definitely spawn over X amount of time, but make it so the more players a server has, the more likely it is for an object to spawn there. This is so people can't just do a run through an empty server and get all the gear they want, then go to a more populous one.

Also, maybe non-spawn zones should be added, like the immediate area around the NW airfield.

Good post man, good post.

[ecksdee 6]

I just don't like the type of game play this encourages. "Sit on the egg until it hatches" or "Camp the egg from afar until someone foolishly tries to take it."

Neither strike me as particularly compelling advances for DayZ.

I like the uncertainty of random loot. The fact that I can finally make it to that grocery store and find nothing but tin cans and suffering, or the flip side where the first one I walk into has an ALICE Pack and an M16+M203 w/ ammo.

It seems like your idea just introduces far too much certainty, predictability, and therefore repetitive go-here-then-go-there type strategies. It harkens back to camping the rocket launcher or rail gun spawns in Quake. Not exactly the feeling I want to get from DayZ.

While I do enjoy the game in its current state, running around looking for helicopter sites in the hopes that something would be there, I think sitting on the egg, so to speak, would be more beneficial to gameplay.

Players taking a defensive position in an area with good loot would encounter more players who also want the same shit, which opens the door to either negotiations or gunfights. I'm guessing this boils down to what kind of a game you want from Dayz. Do you want wandering survival, hoping you find good loot to help you survive, or do you want to dig in somewhere, talk to other players and actually make deals with them for shit instead of them shooting you instantly.

[aversionfx 63]

I just don't like the type of game play this encourages. "Sit on the egg until it hatches" or "Camp the egg from afar until someone foolishly tries to take it."

Bingo. Fixed item spawns would mean that everyone would have the same (ie: the best) gear. Server hopping would be just as bad (if not worse) if there were fixed spawns.

Also, way too much TL;DR. You can call yourself a writer when you're actually published. Nobody needs a wall of text for what amounts to be a fairly simple concept.

[L0G!N (DayZ) 149]

I agree with you, and i strongly disagree with you, and i am slightly amazed this comes from a writer...

I will start with the writer part, why does it amaze me? because how does a writer, 'write' that scenario without the reader putting the book away...

Tommy finally saw the barn, he managed to distract the zombie by throwing the last empty can into a pile or rubble, he was glad he hung onto that can even though he ate hours ago and he can hear his stomach rubling already. While the zombies stubled towards the pile of rubble to investigate the noise, Tommy quickly made it into the barn. And it felt like christmas, food, a riffle w/ ammo, a hatched. Tommy quickly picked everything up and made his way up into the barn, the higher the better, that way he could see the zombies comming. Being relatively save Tommy started to eat, it's amazing how a cold can of beans can taste so good, if you are so hungry. Being satisfied and a bit more at ease, Tommy decides to search around the barn some more, hey another riffle with ammo, more food, more hatcheds, Tommy quickly grabs the ammo, the more the better, these riffles tend to be more trouble then they are worth at times, attrackting ever more zombie to the noise, so a lot of ammo comes in handy... Sofar so good, but then, he finds another rifle + ammo, and another and another and another, what sort of barn is this, is this even a barn? feels more like a friggin shotgun manufacturing plant, Tommy 'gathered' all the shotguns, enough for a small army! ... ok that totally didn't make sense, did it? at this moment 'as a reader' i may still read on, perhaps this farmer was a gun collector, but if Tommy comes across this in every situation, n/m i'll go read something else...

So that is why i strongly disagree with you, having fixed spawns would start to become rediculous realy fast, esp. if Tommy decides to hang out in the barn for a few nights. Why do i still agree, well this has to do with the items you find 'in the barn' it would hardly make sense for Tommy to find an MP5, AK74, Buffle, etc. in the barn or even a rocket launcher. So yes, having a somewhat fixed item list per location does make a lot of sense (btw. this is how the game is set up allready)...

So what would make for a compelling story, and while i do not know if Rocket meant 'Tiers' the way i am going to explain them, i think 'Tiers' for spawn locations would create good scenario's, together with randomness, and some 'limited' item list per location. So how do these tiers work, well every location starts off at a random tier, and every drop cycle the location is 'upped' one tier (or perhaps even this can be randomized, so that at server start the location rolls a 3 sided dice, and sets 1, 2 or 3 for the amount of cycles it takes to up this location 1 tier, then when the location is 'upped' a tier, it rolls that dice again, this roll also happens after a player loots that location). So if no player loots that location, it eventually spawns items from the highest tier for that location, this is still a list of random drops, but 'lowest' items are not on there and some good viable options have a high chance of spawning. So now a player comes by and he loots this location, this then drops the location's tier by 1 to 3 (can be random, and will depend on the amount of tiers etc). Which may mean that the exact same items may drop again, but now with entirely different chances, highest value items may now have a very slim chance, while the 'medium' value items get a high chance. If this player stays in this location the following happens, he slowly reduces the buildings 'tier' to tier0 at which time only empty stuff spawns with a very slim chance of finding a tin of food or drink. Torches & chemlights etc. spawn.

So now back to that story for Timmy: This farmer must have been a hunter as well, two rifles, to bad tommy didn't come across a living sole yet, and he can only shoot one at a time, so better leave this for some other surviving sole to come across it, if there even IS another living sole. Tommy notices that now that he ate and drank, and night is starting to fall, he feels tired. It must be the relative safety of this barn, and the nice straw. Tommy barricades the barn doors, and piles up some garbage infront of the door to act as a makeshift alarm system. Then makes it up back high into the barn, and falls asleep. (snips out some exciting stuff) Tommy wakes up, that was hardly a nights sleep, but still he feels good non the less, still the best sleep in days, or was it weeks, time passes unnoticed and the only thing that realy matters is whether it's day or night anyways. Tommy drinks his last can of coke, realizing that yesterday afternoon when he made it into the barn he hardly even searched around, he just saw the food, the rifles and it was soon to dark to realy look, and other things took priority... Tommy removes the alarm from the barn doors, everytime he mistakenly makes a loud noise his heartrate goes up and he stops to listen carefully for a few minutes, though they seem like hours at times with a heart beating high up his throat. No sound of zombies though. Tommy opens the barn doors and the light of day shines into the barn. A quick look around outside, makes Tommy feel save enough to start to 'tear this barn appart'. Tommy quickly spots another tin of food, breakfast! And sure enough, this farmer must have been a hunter, it doesn't take long for tommy to find some more rounds, a hunting knife and a canteen. The rest seems to be rubble, or no there behind those bales of hay, more food and drinks. This will last him through the day. Tommy decides to stay in the barn for another day to rest and regain his strength a bit, sitting in the sun with the barndoors open, it almost feels like a holiday at the farm with granny, a tear roles down from Tommy's eyes quickly turning into a smile, Granny hadn't died to long ago but atleast she died before 'it' happened, there was no way she would ever be able to turn into one of 'them'... Tommy spends the rest of the day reinforcing one of the barn doors, and making his bed comfy. The other door will be less enforced but have that emptycan alarm set up again, that worked very well last night. A can of food and a coke, dinner, being fairly rested this cold can of sardines doesn't taste half as good as that cold can of beans last night, but it's food. Tommy then quickly doses off into the night, tomorrow will be the day he moves on.

Tommy sits up straight in his comfy bed, A loud bang woke him up. WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT, he hears the reinforced door making sounds, followed by a soft 'grrrr', then food steps around the barn. Tommy grabs his shot gun and points it at the other door, This better be no zombie, because w/e it is, it is smarter than the zombies Tommy encountered sofar, a drop of sweat drops from Tommy's forehead, his hands are sweaty. Another loud 'bang' and the reinforcements break, the tin cans fly around the barn. It takes all of Tommy's restraints not to shoot. "SHIT! it sounds in a high pitch voice", the barn door is quickly shut again, then fast footsteps inside the barn then nothing but heavy breathing. Tommy sits quiet aswell, both knowing that that sound likely allerted any zombie nearby, and in shock hearing a human voice. His heart beat slowly sinks back into his chest, but keeps pounding fast. Humans pose their own risk, as Tommy knows far to well. He is from Electro and he lost a good companion there, to a bandit non the less. Who would have thought that in something that can only be described as the Zombie Apocolypse people would kill others over a can of beans...

After what must have been atleast 20minutes of silence, Tommy finally decides to call out into the dark, apparently there were no zombies near. "WHO ARE YOU! ARE YOU FRIENDLY ?! I AM ARMED!!" ... "Shh, are you crazy !! Yes i am friendly" a female voice wispers through the barn. "Who are you?!", "I'm Anna, whom are you?"... "Move into the center of the barn so i can see you, and decide if you live or die, if you have any weapons 'if only a toothpick' i would advice you to drop them infront of you" ... "Wait are you a bandit, i don't want to die?" ... "Just do as you are told, I will just start shooting and you'll die for sure, so give yourself a chance" ... Anna moves to the center of the barn, the sound of something metal hitting the floor follows shortly after. "Don't kill me please, or maybe, no wait, for some reason i'm still glad to be alive even though i am not sure why". Tommy slowly but surely makes it down from his hiding place up in the barn, never loosing aim or pulling his finger off the trigger. "Back away", Anna back away, and Tommy kicks w/e that metal is away, then slowly walk in it's direction, still keeping the gun aimed at Anna. He picks up the hunting knife. "That all you got?" ... well no anna replies, "but you said any weapons, i have some painkiller and a can of coke, but you will have to kill me to get those." Anna felt her throat choke up, she couldn't believe she just said that, she saw people killing eachother over beans in Cherno. "So are you going to shoot me? If not can you please put that gun away, i am loosing the feeling in my arms"... "are you hurt?" ... "no but having them up in the air isn't realy doing them any good" ... Tommy lowers his gun, and Anna lowers her arms. Don't worry i wont hurt you, I am Tommy, i'm from Electro, is there anything you need? I have 'some' supplies. And there are likely still some tools left in this barn. But we will have to look tomorrow, can't see a thing now... I'll hang onto this knife for now, you can sleep on the opposite side of the barn, just grab some straw and make yourself comfortable, i'll restore my zombie alarm. "you don't trust me?" Anna asks. "No ofcourse not, well not now anyways, i have seen people kill eachother over the smallest things, so if you don't mind i will be weary of you for a while" ... "well i can be on my own way tomorrow morning, i will even leave now if you want me to, i guess you can even keep the knife" ... "Well lets sleep for now, far from eachother so we can both evaluate what we want, and do so in the morning."

Anna walks up the stairs and grabs a bale of straw, way up in the barn she spreads it all out and lays down. 'Auch, she thinks, i laid don't on something hard'. She feels in the straw and grabs what feels like a branch. She slowly pulls it from underneath her, it's an Axe. She quickly puts it down, what if Tommy thinks i lied, should i tell him i just found this Axe b4 he shoots me.. He didn't tell me what stuff he got on him, besides the gun ofcourse, well and he got my knife... What if i just kill him in his sleep, take his stuff and move on. Anna felt her stomach turn at that thought. That may not be a good idea, but it's nice to have this axe with me, what if this Tommy isn't so friendly and decides to cut my throat with my own knife while I am sleeping. I'll tell him about the Axe when we wake up, so he doesn't shoot me when i walk down the stairs... Anna and Tommy both ponder their new situation, and it takes quite some time for both of them to fall asleep...

As Anna wakes up and sits up, she sees the barn doors open and light shining in, it's raining. As she looks around the barn she sees Tommy sit on the first floor across the barn, with the rifle in his hands. 'Have some breakfast' Tommy says, as he points at the first floor directly below her. As Anna repositions her hand to help herself get up she put her hand on the Axe, the drowsyness of waking up had not made her realise about it straight away. "I... I found this Axe yesterday evening, it was up her" ... "that's ok, put it in your bag though and enjoy your meal" ... Anna makes it down to the first floor on her side, a can of frank&beans is sitting there, with her knive pried in the wooden floor. "Tnx, don't you need this knife?". "Well this farmer used to be a hunter, i found one yesterday, and besides, it's your knife". Anna pries the can open with her knife and eats the beans, then grabs her bag. "HO, there missy, what are we planning", Tommy has raised his gun and is pointing it straight at Anna. "Relax i'm just grabbing my last can of coke, i need something to wash this down"... "ok, ok, sorry, i'm a bit itchy, you are the first human being i have seen in weeks, maybe months, since i left Electro, and humans were exactly the reason i left, they killed eachother over what ever they could find!" ... "I know what you mean, says Anna, that's why I left Cherno as well" ... a moment of silence follows as Anna drinks her coke ... "Soo, is there anything left in this barn, besides this axe, or did you strip it clean already?"... "Well i went through it yesterday, but perhaps there is some more laying around, i thought i saw another gun when i first got here, but i haven't been able to refind it, i must have been halucinating somewhat, as this barn was a good find at first" ... "Ok then, well lets both search our own side again then shall we? finders keepers.." Anna suggests. "Good plan!, but i'll keep my eyes on you" ... "is it that long since you seen a female then, should i be worried?" ... Tommy eyes up Anna, she looks pretty, with her brown hair and well he can't make out her eye color from across the barn.. "Don't you worry, i'm not like that" ... "since when are men not like that" anna replies. They eye eachother and start to laugh! ... "Ok, enough with the chit chat, lets try and find some more things and move, i just have one can of food and an empty canteen, so we can't realy stay here for another night, best we move when we can still see those 'things' from afar." Anna agrees and the both start looking around 'their side' of the barn...

"I FOUND ANOTHER CAN OF FOOD!", Anna shouts. "SHHHH, are you crazy, shouting like that" ... "Ohw my, you are right, this whole situation is sort of new to me, I never had to tell anyone anything for the last few weeks." ... "its ok, just keep your voice down" ... Both are quiet for a minute or two, listening very carefully for any noice of infected ... then they start their search. Tommy finds another canteen, Anna finds a dirty first aid box, with 2 bandages in it, and some rounds of ammo. After they made sure there is absolutely nothing usefull left they both move towards the center of the barn, it's the first time they see eachother up close. Her eyes are blue and the sparkle in the light comming from outside. He is half a head talled then me, dark hair and brown eyes, and it looks like he could do with a shave... "Found anything usefull?" Anna asks... "finders keepers right?" Tommy replies... "Well i found these gunshot rounds and untill i find a gun they won't do me no good, perhaps we can trade, if you have something in return.. Tommy ponders for a moment whether to suggest just handing over the ammo, because she doesn't have a gun to use them, or just point the gun at her and take them. instead he asks: "found anything else?" ... "yes i also found two bandages, i guess i could add one, IF you have something usefull." ... Tommy grabs the second canteen he found, "it's empty, but ill trade it for the ammo and a bandage" ... "sounds fair enough" anna replies... "where shall we go now?"

ok done typing, but the story obviously continues. I hope you realize that with a tier system this situation could actually happen in game. Tommy entered the barn at top tier, and reduced it 2x. Then him and Anna looted it for a 3rd time, where esp. Tommy was lucky to find that canteen. Now that the barn is reduced to tier0-1 it's fairly unlikely they will find anything realy good in there. Sure they could stick around, and wait for the barn to grow up in tier again, but there is no telling how long it takes before they get something good again. And the whole system makes sense, if you or somebody else take the 'best' stuff that is in a spawn, its very 'authentic' or 'believable' that you would find the left over scraps... and Anna and Tommy would not be in the situation that the longer they hang around, the more riffles they find, upto rediculous amounts ;)

'tnx for reading all of this, i had great fun writing it!'

Edited July 15, 2012 by L0GIN

[aversionfx 63]

That was a great read, said nobody ever.