Here is my "Peaceful" alternative to KOS

[THEDirtySanchez 0]

Here is my idea to alleviate what otherwise would be a normal peaceful person from killing on sight in order to be "on the safe" side. It could also be used by Bandits to do what bandits do and that would be rob at gunpoint. A bandit shouldn't have to be a murderer too, unless they want to.

This idea does not penalize the bandit or the psychotic murderers in the game that want to kill for fun. Your choices are still your own.

What the idea does do is offer another option for all to choose to use or not use.

Here goes. Simply, the idea is to be able to issue a "freeze" command to someone else, kind of like how a cop tells a bad guy to freeze when he puts his gun on him...

What would happen is that the "victim" (being told to freeze), would "freeze" and get a prompt asking if they wanted to willingly freeze or not. If they willingly accept the command, they drop all of their inventory (including bag) on the ground and pass out for 3 or so minutes. The one who issued the freeze then could either retreat without looting, loot, kill, or do whatever they want before the other one wakes up.... or doesn't.

How? -- Well, one wouldn't be able to successfully tell someone to freeze unless they had a weapon. So I'm suggesting that with all guns, there could be a new unlimited ammo type that comes with it which basically acts as a "freeze" bullet. Making it silenced for that type of bullet may be a problem, not sure...

The reason for the prompt to the "victim" on whether or not they accepted the freeze, is that just because one has a gun doesn't mean they are a threat with live ammo, so it would give the one being told to freeze a choice on if they wanted to risk running, fighting, or being shot. Would you risk calling a bluff? Maybe.

I think it's a fairly simple approach that doesn't penalize or take choices out of the players hands. It simply adds a new choice and would offer an alternative to KOS or Kill for loot.

Thoughts?

[Sumdum 29]

90% of the reason behind not trying the robbery thing has to do with the threat of another player or friend of the victim coming in and killing you. This is just time consuming. Cool, but not very practical. The idea of a choice to become unconcious is a step in the right direction but still not sure if it really will stop the KoS.

Maybe adding a knockout feature for close range encounters would work better? This would also add the ability to betray someone without them knowing first and make those random groupings a little less deadly at least.

Edited July 16, 2012 by Sumdum

[kavcav 3]

Sounds like a good idea but the mechanics would be hard to work out.

[Senrain 148]

Sounds like it could be easily abused.

[Pander Beers 21]

I don't want to be dismissive. You've put effort into your post, and it's really not a bad idea. However, I just don't think it's the right idea for this Zombie-survival simulation. This is obviously not a regular game you'd pull off the shelf, and because of that, it has a lot of mechanics that exist, or don't exist, in other games.

For example, there aren't nameplates, map markers, or icons identifying your "team." Why? because it doesn't simulate a real life situation.

There's not a "freeze" mechanic in place, because part of the fun in the game is deciding how to deal with that conflict as you would in real life.

If you don't want to fight with other players, that's totally awesome. Go for it. You'll find other like-minded individuals out there! Many players are just as scared as you are that you'll kill them first. The interesting part is conveying your friendly intentions and getting the other person to believe you.

DayZ doesn't have kill-on-sight coded into it. The players have made it that way. It's so interesting because look at how the community started out relatively friendly at the beginning, but over time, fear and the fight for survival has turned us all into bandits and fearful "friendlies" who don't want to kill, but do it to live another day.

TL;DR - not for DayZ

[THEDirtySanchez 0]

Sounds like it could be easily abused.

In what ways?

As long as the range associated with it was short, I don't see it being too big of a deal but I may not be thinking outside the box here. If you could "freeze" someone over 300 meters away with a pistol, yeah that would suck.

Freezing someone in order to walk up and shoot them? If they wanted to shoot them, they could have just done that to begin with.

Maybe another abuse would be to freeze someone with a gun, then go up and cut them up silently with your hatchet, but that could happen for real, so....

[psylnz 34]

No on the magic unlimited ammo freeze bullets.

Right now, apparently if you have chat set to direct communication and use either your mic or text, it can be heard only by someone close by. But granted, when I see or hear chatter, most people won't know that someone was talking to them until its too late. I've been killed several times like this by guys asking if I was friendly, and me not respoding.

I counter suggest this. Have a key bind, say the letter H, to issue a "HALT!!" command. Player one, spots player 2. It doesn't matter if player one has a weapon or not; Instead as long as player one is within direct communication range with player 2, and he lines player two up in his sites, or in the middle of his screen, and holds down H at the same time, Player 2 receives the message HALT, via an audio file, or an unusual color in text in the middle of the screen - something you can't miss. Then player 1 can speak to player 2 via direct communication, and player two can react however he wants - shoot out, run, negotiate with beans, etc.

Altenatively, I have an easier suggestion. We used to be able to line our crosshairs up on another player and get their name and range. Now this was bad because you could track a player who was hiding in the distance just by moving your crosshairs around, weather or not you actually saw him. Make it so if you hold down the H key (or whatever key), and line your crosshairs up on a player, and if you are in direct communication range, and if there are no obstacles in your line of site to him, that you get to see his name. From there you can go into direct communication mic or chat, and tell him whatever you want to.

[foamy_d_squirrel 10]

What would keep a player from prompt spamming you just for the lulz?

Edited July 17, 2012 by foamy

[THEDirtySanchez 0]

I counter suggest this. Have a key bind, say the letter H, to issue a "HALT!!" command. Player one, spots player 2. It doesn't matter if player one has a weapon or not; Instead as long as player one is within direct communication range with player 2, and he lines player two up in his sites, or in the middle of his screen, and holds down H at the same time, Player 2 receives the message HALT, via an audio file, or an unusual color in text in the middle of the screen - something you can't miss. Then player 1 can speak to player 2 via direct communication, and player two can react however he wants - shoot out, run, negotiate with beans, etc.

I'd be happy with this suggestion. This also wouldn't be nearly as cumbersome as my idea with the "magic" bullet. To accompany this, and I think this was suggested elsewhere on the forum, include another hot button animation of surrender, such as putting hands up and/or dropping your weapon.