Universal server time

[specfreq 2]

I like to play at night, some times i want to play at night, other times i want to play at daytime, i like to be able to choose with the servers all around the world

it would suck if i could'nt choose that

btw, you think about the people that would be +10 hours from the country that have the universal day z servers time, they would be forced to play at night unless they play instead of sleeping ?

No, they wouldn't. Please read the original suggestion.

[duddbudda 33]

"This server restarts every 4 hours for ultimate performance" which can be translated into "This server is always running daytime"

you couldn't be more wrong

- servers that do this are more likely to keep everyone on the same time - ARMA's time system is designed for simultaneous start missions, so clients are told 'the time is XXXX hours' when they log in and each counts their own time

in dayz that means I can join at 6pm, play for three hours, keep playing through evening into the pitch dark and get killed by a recently joined player who's living in the lovely and bright land of 6pm

by restarting every few hours, servers ensure that everyone is on roughly the same time

my tribe's most commonly played server reboots at 8am, 2pm, 8pm and 2am, meaning it's always a time-appropriate environment for everyone

- servers can be told to update their time from the system clock, the only servers I know that have 'we will auto reboot in intervals of X' do this - to be clear, I have never been on an auto rebooting server, in 300 hours of DayZ, that reboots so it can avoid nighttime

as for OP's suggestion, hells no

lock all timezones to one clock = bad, even with the caveat 'but time is faster' because faster time is gorram idiotic

also, because nighttime is nighttime and we diurnal creatures, so why the hump should there be dozens of people running around Chernarus at night? Low player count, whatever the reason for it, aught be expected at night because humans gorram sleep then

Edited July 17, 2012 by Sandy

[yogyog 1]

as for OP's suggestion, hells no

lock all timezones to one clock = bad, even with the caveat 'but time is faster' because faster time is gorram idiotic

also, because nighttime is nighttime and we diurnal creatures, so why the hump should there be dozens of people running around Chernarus at night? Low player count, whatever the reason for it, aught be expected at night because humans gorram sleep then

You're saying that you wouldn't see survivors at night because humans sleep then? hasn't stopped me in the past.

And if you're trying to cater to an authentic standpoint, that's likely going to be exactly when most survivors scavenge.

Can you give a better reason than "diurnal creatures"?

[specfreq 2]

you couldn't be more wrong

- servers that do this are more likely to keep everyone on the same time - ARMA's time system is designed for simultaneous start missions, so clients are told 'the time is XXXX hours' when they log in and each counts their own time

in dayz that means I can join at 6pm, play for three hours, keep playing through evening into the pitch dark and get killed by a recently joined player who's living in the lovely and bright land of 6pm

by restarting every few hours, servers ensure that everyone is on roughly the same time

my tribe's most commonly played server reboots at 8am, 2pm, 8pm and 2am, meaning it's always a time-appropriate environment for everyone

It seems this would fit well with my suggestion.

as for OP's suggestion, hells no

lock all timezones to one clock = bad, even with the caveat 'but time is faster' because faster time is gorram idiotic

also, because nighttime is nighttime and we diurnal creatures, so why the hump should there be dozens of people running around Chernarus at night? Low player count, whatever the reason for it, aught be expected at night because humans gorram sleep then

Is that the only reason you think this idea is bad?

[aversionfx 63]

The problem would be that there are people in a huge range of timezones across the world, and all servers being locked to 1 region's time zone is a terrible idea.

Good job thinking this one through.

[specfreq 2]

The problem would be that there are people in a huge range of timezones across the world, and all servers being locked to 1 region's time zone is a terrible idea.

Good job thinking this one through.

That one region's time is 19 hours per day, not 24.

Edited July 17, 2012 by specfreq

[duddbudda 33]

@yogscat

I'm not saying noone, I'm saying not many

not many being the number we have now - because people have the choice (just as they do irl) when to be active, they choose to be active during the day (when y'know, they can see and shit) just as we have done, by and large, for several hundred thousand years

why should a game striving for authenticity force its inhabitants to observe unnatural activity cycles?

[aversionfx 63]

That one region's time is 19 hours per day, not 24.

I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, but this is still an awful suggestion.

[specfreq 2]

I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, but this is still an awful suggestion.

Read the original suggestion. Then explain why it's awful.

[aversionfx 63]

Read the original suggestion. Then explain why it's awful.

What would be the harm in locking all the servers to the same time, but then make time move at 1.2x speed?

This is a horrible idea because: When I get home from work, it's day time. Which means, for most servers in my timezone, it will be daytime. With your horrible idea, it is possible that, despite it being daytime for me, if the servers are running (for example) GMT, I will be forced to play in night time. When it's day, I want to play in daytime servers.

So again, this idea is horrible. I want to play in my own timezone, and specifically, I want consistent server times, not universal. If you don't understand the difference then you're wasting my time.

[specfreq 2]

@yogscat

I'm not saying noone, I'm saying not many

not many being the number we have now - because people have the choice (just as they do irl) when to be active, they choose to be active during the day (when y'know, they can see and shit) just as we have done, by and large, for several hundred thousand years

why should a game striving for authenticity force its inhabitants to observe unnatural activity cycles?

I don't normally carry around car engines in my backpack, or find rifles and ammo laying around.

I'm starting to think that you're so against this because you wouldn't personally go and scavenge at night if this were a real scenario.

I'm aware of human sleeping patterns, and i'm also aware some people sleep in the day and work at night.

Your argument is that going out at night in a zombie apocalypse isn't something many people would do.

I agree it does take away some authenticity by reducing your choice when to go and scavenge, but i believe it is a trade off at least worth investigating, and not just for server population.

[specfreq 2]

This is a horrible idea because: When I get home from work, it's day time. Which means, for most servers in my timezone, it will be daytime. With your horrible idea, it is possible that, despite it being daytime for me, if the servers are running (for example) GMT, I will be forced to play in night time. When it's day, I want to play in daytime servers.

So again, this idea is horrible. I want to play in my own timezone, and specifically, I want consistent server times, not universal. If you don't understand the difference then you're wasting my time.

That's correct, if you were to play at the same time every day when you got home you would play ~exactly 50% in the day and 50% at night

I do understand the difference between consistent and universal, you would consistently be playing on a universal time.

I hope you understand why i am suggesting this.

[aversionfx 63]

You don't get it. For roughly half of the people in the world playing, it will be daytime where they are, and yet the server (because of a universal time), will be in night time.

Again, bad idea. When it is daytime where I live, I want to play on a daytime server.

Edited July 17, 2012 by aversionfx

[nydoc 0]

This is a horrible idea because: When I get home from work, it's day time. Which means, for most servers in my timezone, it will be daytime. With your horrible idea, it is possible that, despite it being daytime for me, if the servers are running (for example) GMT, I will be forced to play in night time. When it's day, I want to play in daytime servers.

As I understand the OP's suggestion, if you played at a consistent time after you got off work, you'd only be forced to play at night during half of a RL week. The other half of the week you'd be forced to play during the day.

[specfreq 2]

You don't get it. For roughly half of the people in the world playing, it will be daytime where they are, and yet the server (because of a universal time), will be in night time.

Again, bad idea. When it is daytime where I live, I want to play on a daytime server.

It's not that hard:

You come home at 5:00pm on Monday, it's 5:00pm in game

You come home at 5:00pm on Tuesday, it's ~10:00pm in game

You come home at 5:00pm on Wednesday, it's ~3:00am in game

ect...

This time is for all the servers

All i got out of that post is "I want to play only in the day.".

Edited July 17, 2012 by specfreq

[aversionfx 63]

When I come home at 5:00 PM, it is not 5:00 pm everywhere else in the world.

Why is that so hard for you to understand? The only way right now to consistently get a daytime server is: A) play on the most populated servers (they're always daytime), B) play during the day

What your idea means, is that people will not be able to get a server consistent with their local time. Which is awful.

[specfreq 2]

When I come home at 5:00 PM, it is not 5:00 pm everywhere else in the world.

Why is that so hard for you to understand? The only way right now to consistently get a daytime server is: A) play on the most populated servers (they're always daytime), B) play during the day

What your idea means, is that people will not be able to get a server consistent with their local time. Which is awful.

I've considered that, and that is exactly what i see as a problem. When the populated servers are almost always daytime what happens to the servers that are going into night? They are all dead.

Yes, my idea will mean that once every 5 days it will be the same time as it is locally. I wasn't expecting loyalty to your own time zone to be a splitting point, and i guess this is were we disagree on what is and isn't awful.

I think you just want to play in the day and are calling the entire idea horrible because of it.

Doesn't a full 100 pop server at night interest you?

Edited July 17, 2012 by specfreq

[aversionfx 63]

Yes, my idea will mean that once every 10 days it will be the same time as it is locally. I wasn't expecting loyalty to your own time zone to be a splitting point, and i guess this is were we disagree on what is and isn't awful.

So why bother dicking around with a universal time in the first place? Let servers across the world have their server time set to be consistent with their local timezone. That seems to be a much easier and more logical choice. Since DayZ's night/day cycle is close enough to 1:1 (as far as I know), having a universal server time just wouldn't be fun for people who prefer to play at a specific time of day. If an in-game day were significantly shorter and not based on real-time, I wouldn't care, because the days wouldn't be long enough to actually matter.

[specfreq 2]

So why bother dicking around with a universal time in the first place? Let servers across the world have their server time set to be consistent with their local timezone.

I've explained why - empty servers at night

If an in-game day were significantly shorter and not based on real-time, I wouldn't care, because the days wouldn't be long enough to actually matter.

So you agree with me, or at least with a 1.5-2x(+) speed.

[aversionfx 63]

Servers are hardly empty during night time. You must not play a whole lot. There are always plenty of people playing on night time servers. It's just that there are always more people playing on daytime servers. But saying that X is true does not inherently make Y false. ;)

As for actual length of daytime, I would say that a "full" day would be around 6 - 8 hours, to correspond to how quickly your hunger and thirst meters drain. You can live for days without food, yet in DayZ, you couldn't survive a single night, let alone an entire day.

Edited July 17, 2012 by aversionfx

[duddbudda 33]

It seems this would fit well with my suggestion

so what if it fits your suggestion? it fits the current model perfectly

I'm starting to think that you're so against this because you wouldn't personally go and scavenge at night if this were a real scenario

what on earth gave you that idea? I haven't said, or thought, anything hypothesisng about a 'DayZ is real' scenario

some people sleep in the day and work at night

indeed, a minority do do so, and probably have done so (for various reasons) through human history

in DayZ that minority is represented, why should the game turn things on their head?

Your argument is that going out at night isn't something the overwhelming majority of people would do

just to be clear, I have fixed that for you

I don't normally carry around car engines in my backpack, or find rifles and ammo laying around

completely unrelated topics, particularly irrelevant when the discussion doesn't even consider mechanical conceits like carry capacity or stamina, instead focusing on environmental/atmospheric authenticity and their impact on the game

I agree it does take away some authenticity by reducing your choice when to go and scavenge, but i believe it is a trade off at least worth investigating, and not just for server population

it's not worth investigating, because it doesn't matter why people don't play on night servers, the key consideration being that this is a legitimate behaviour for a diurnal mammal

you suggested a thing, didn't give any real reasons for it ('because I've seen empty night servers' is not a reason, that's an observation; argue why night time play aught be enforced. 'reduce server hopping to the people that want to play with buddies and double looters' is a complete non sequitur and is also unreasoned), and you have not once, anywhere in this thread, given a single coherent reason for forcing night time play on anyone, let alone everyone.

Truth is, noone can argue for enforced night play, because it is a senseless idea, no matter how elegant your mechanic for implementing it might appear

Edited July 17, 2012 by Sandy

[specfreq 2]

Does anyone else see consistently full servers at night?

[duddbudda 33]

Does anyone else see consistently full servers at night?

I, and everyone who has played DayZ, acknowledges the truth of your observation,

so explain why it matters? why should there be precisely as many people running around at night as there are during the day?

[DemonGroover 8836]

I actually like playing at night at the moment. What i would like is ALL servers to have their GMT on their name so we can all quickly tell what time a server is.

Not a hard request is it?

[specfreq 2]

I, and everyone who has played DayZ, acknowledges the truth of your observation,

so explain why it matters? why should there be precisely as many people running around at night as there are during the day?

I think that people should be forced into a night-time scenario because it causes people to step out of a comfort zone and can lead to unique situations you just can't get in the day. I believe that this goes in line with what the mod was intended for, a social experiment.

You have some valid points i need to think about, i apologize for the cheap shot earlier.

I can answer one now; i brought up carrying car engines around because it shows that the game isn't as authentic as i think you implied. I don't see how it is irrelevant when on the subject of authenticity. Why not one more less-than authentic mechanic?