Alt f4 / dcing / murder system fixes

[serion (DayZ) 0]

EDIT : i shouldnt say fixes in the title i think its currently fine :) just maybe change fixes to changes or thoughts..

Firstly i am OLD , i have been playing games a LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time.. 20+ years :) so i like to think i have a lot of gaming experience so hopefully that comes across in this and this post is not just disregarded.

Alt f4 in pvp (or dcing) - I used to play a game called legend of mir 2 (like a diablo but with amazing pvp) , in this game it had a very CLEAR murder system which dayz could adopt.. firstly if you where "in combat" you had to wait 30 seconds before disconnecting, in dayz you could up that timer say to two minutes or a minute.

I look at the alt f4 issue for dayz and try to think what this would relate to in real life and i guess you could say its going to sleep (logging off) so in theory if you where in combat you would not just goto sleep.. you would NOT just log off so if you where "in combat" then (a bit like wow even?) you could make it so that you can't log out.

So now we have to define in combat and the thing i love about this is that mir2 had it PERFECT.. if you attacked somebody you went "brown" (your name changed from white) and because you where brown they could kill you and not get a murder.. in mir2 this led to a lot of griefing where somebody would try to purposely make you brown so his group could kill you.. this also however allowed the person getting attacked to defend them selves and if they killed the other guy it was not a murder as it was self defence. How can this be implemented in dayz? well i firstly think you should be able to add people to groups..

in real life you know who is in your group you would recognise them.. the problem with dayz is that all characters LOOK the same (not real) so maybe add a group system which would allow your group to glow a colour or something so you could recognise them..you dont have to see them on maps and you could say within X meters they are in your group and otherwise they are not (incase they where far away and in real life you would not recognise them) the reason you would need a group system is for the next part..

Simple fact, peoples aim sucks and some of the guns are in-accurate. so if you attacked somebody and only went brown if you hit them that would make the entire system pointless as you would of likely killed them (FYI i am using brown as the mir2 definition in dayz the player would not have to change skin colour or anything, but he could be labelled by the server as the attacker..) there are two fixes to this.. make you go brown on either of the following conditions (which ever is easier to code)

You go brown if you shoot your gun and ANY person is on your screen (expect group members)

You go brown if you shoot your gun and your cross hair has moved over a person not in your group within the last 30 seconds

Easy now if your brown

People can kill you (as part of self defence, if they kill you then they do not get a murder, this means if somebody attacks your group and you kill them you no longer get a murder.. in law murder is difference than self defence and in this game it should be also)

you can still kill people (as murder)

if you are brown you are in combat and can not disconnect for x amount of time.

the server could also recognise who you ARE attacking and if they got hit (the main problem of Alt f4ing) then they are registered as also in combat.. and they also can not log out for x amount of time..

the con of this system and it did happen is that if you naturally lagged out and you where in combat you would not be able to dc until you where dead. (brutal i know) but i feel this is a brutal game.. i also think if your chara remained in game for 30 seconds after disconnecting then it would assist with this issue.. an alt f4er would die as 30 seconds would mean zombies kill him.. a normal player logging of safely would not die.

A much simpler fix with out the murder system revamp would be if you are in range of x amount of people or zombies then you can not log out (again group members not counting)

TL DR

I feel the alt f4 problem is simply because people can just log on and off.. you could quite easily put in a system to prevent this which basically sums up to if you disconnect at any time your character remains in the game for x amount of time.. a normal player would make sure his chara is safe before dcing.. a alt f4er would die

edit i feel like i went off on a few tangents as there are many ways to fix this issue easily so if some of it seems jibberish sorry :)

Edited July 14, 2012 by serion

[Figs 2]

I don't mind it. Not like the attacker loses anything other than a few bullets

[OW22 21]

Chemlights should be used to keep track of groups. Blue chemlights have the least range of light, and are used in night situations mostly. All you do is give your group chemlights, they turn them on, and you know who's who. Also, if DayZ goes standalone or even in the eventual development of the game, there might be a sort of character customization. DayZ is pretty roleplay demanding, so creating a character that fits you would be advantageous, considering other players could assess you based on appearance initially, and it makes players feel tied to their character.

About the disconnecting, waiting a minute or two is completely ridiculous. Say I was in a town, and a zombie was coming up to me and attacked me while waiting to disconnect? That's not fair. I shouldn't have to secure my location and then go into the forest or something just so I can quit the game. What if I need to leave quickly? Now you're going to say "No you can still fight while you are waiting to log off." That's really unstable and dangerous to the server and game. Waiting maybe 5-15 seconds not-moving might be better. If you are in any other place that will give you detected in 15 seconds, that's your fault. Also, once you are hit, the timer for the log off should go to zero and you are back in the game, and can move (as a safety feature in case you are attacked by a stray zombie). As well, if you see a player or zombie coming, you should be able to press any button or move the mouse to return into the game.

All in all, I do think players disconnecting than facing death is a problem, because it ruins immersion, is unsportsmenlike, and all together is just unfair and can be fixed without too much trouble.

Edited July 14, 2012 by OW22

[LulzGamez 17]

About the disconnecting, waiting a minute or two is completely ridiculous. Say I was in a town, and a zombie was coming up to me and attacked me while waiting to disconnect? That's not fair. I shouldn't have to secure my location and then go into the forest or something just so I can quit the game. What if I need to leave quickly? Now you're going to say "No you can still fight while you are waiting to log off." That's really unstable and dangerous to the server and game. Waiting maybe 5-15 seconds not-moving might be better. If you are in any other place that will give you detected in 15 seconds, that's your fault. Also, once you are hit, the timer for the log off should go to zero and you are back in the game, and can move (as a safety feature in case you are attacked by a stray zombie). As well, if you see a player or zombie coming, you should be able to press any button or move the mouse to return into the game.

All in all, I do think players disconnecting than facing death is a problem, because it ruins immersion, is unsportsmenlike, and all together is just unfair and can be fixed without too much trouble.

That's a great idea. A 15-30 second "log off" timer which stops and keeps them in the game if the person logging off gets hit by a Z or another player. There is an issue with people who's connection drops...if my broadband line failed and I wasn't logging off...what would the game mechanic be to handle this, and once that mechanic is in the game, working and advertised, what's to stop people unplugging their router to "log off" without penalty?

[mixz 0]

The timer could also be tied into maybe something like how you go into shock when being shot at or attacked by zombies. Put a in-combat status effect when you are hit or nearly hit so if you try to alt-f4 the 15-30 second log off timer kicks in. That way the only way you can instantly log off is when your clearly not in-combat. Of course I would not even be sure how to put the in-combat status if you think your being pursued but nothing is perfect.

[{sas}stalker 108]

hard bind ALT+F4 to "drop inventory" :P

[generalginger27 16]

hard bind ALT+F4 to "drop inventory" :P

That would be a good idea!

I forgot about key bindings :P

[hawc 63]

already been discused 100 times, use search next time.