Asking people's names

[panque 45]

I know, I know, the title sounds a little stupid, but I'll try to elaborate on an idea that i think that is both original and realistic.

I tend to avoid hundreds of DayZ servers because of one feature: Nameplates. Countless times I've detected survivors and even vehicles by accident with it, and I think it is extremely unrealistic, especially because they work through stuff. The only occasion I'd like to see nameplates is when I see a guy coming to my direction and I don't know if it's my friend who has been traveling with me for the last 3 hours or a random guy who will just shoot me on sight.

In real life, when I see a friend running towards me I know it's him, because I can recognize his clothes, his shape and even his face, since my vision (unlike my monitor) is not limited to 1920x1080 pixels. On this game, I think that different character clothes will be a feature in the distant future, when it goes standalone (It has to eventually), and the other two things I've mentioned aren't very practical ways to recognize folks on a LED screen. To counter these limitations, a simple way to make sure I recognize a guy I know is by seeing his nameplate. But how to determinate whose nameplate I should see? I was thinking about an option that would appear on the mouse wheel menu while pointing to a survivor, something in the line of "Ask survivor's name". That would give the other survivor the option to give his name or refuse to (maybe even lie). After that, the name that he might have given to me would appear like the current nameplates (or over his head all the time, MMORPG style), but only to me and the other players who know his name. That way, I could still ambush other players without having to fear accidental detection, and still prevent accidental and unrealistic friendly fire.

I know it's not an easy feature to implement, and maybe impossible in DayZ's current "ArmA 2 mod" state, but it's an idea that could carry on to when this mod goes standalone or migrates to ArmA 3.

So... What do you guys think?

Edited July 14, 2012 by Panque

[Spartan114 21]

Kind of like how you can say 'Hello' and ask the weather in normal ArmA. I like this idea, a lot. I avoid regular servers like the plague because I've been killed countless times by snipers who just sweep their cursors across the screen until they see a name. This is also similar to an issue which completely nullifies the usefulness of rangefinders, people just use the scroll menu to find an exact distance.

[panque 45]

Kind of like how you can say 'Hello' and ask the weather in normal ArmA.

Exactly like that, great comparison. I feel like that about rangefinders too...

[ajaywork@hotmail.co.uk 1]

Iv had to start avoiding the regular servers as well. Takes the tension out of game a little when i discover people a few hundred metres away by accident , so like the idea of having to ask players names before they appear anywhere.

[herd 69]

agree

[dsi24 227]

I think OP's system is the best implementation, but a temporary "Learn Name" action could stand in for a while.

[imbshappie@gmail.com 22]

I like this idea a lot. Maybe even a sort of 'trusted list' (friends list) could be added. Once added, only players that you are friends with will have their name show. Might be that this is a bit too unrealistic but I do like your idea quite a bit.

Edited July 28, 2012 by Shappie

[Naonak 10]

I support this idea! :D Nicely thought out, and would be awesome!

[whatbadguy 21]

Guess that's why all the badasses play on Vet servers :P

[eldritch (DayZ) 17]

+1 Awesome idea!

Our squad is constantly screaming things like "Oh JE5uS WHO'S THAT COMING UP FROM THE EAST!? SHOULD I KILL HIM?!?!?"....Gets frustrating, but better then playing on a nameplate server...

This would be a perfect fix.

Do et rocket!

Edited July 29, 2012 by eldritch

[Shiro-Austin 8]

I definitely agree with this 100%. It fits into DayZ perfectly, and if done right, could completely transform the game.