Bandit/Survivor Class Mechanics Changes

[frostWaffles 36]

I've been playing DayZ for a couple weeks and I'm slowly realizing that there is a pretty big oversight to this game as an RPG. The social aspect to the game is what makes it truly interesting, but I fear that the social aspect has somewhat fallen apart since the game's release. I'm noticing that for every one survivor you meet who means no harm, there are significantly more bandits, and I think the reason for this one-sided gameplay has a lot to do with incentives. As far as I understand, there are two intended classes; bandits and survivors, and both these classes must endure the environment in order to survive. This is fine, but so far, there are no disincentives associated with choosing to be a bandit over being a survivor, and there are no actual incentives associated with choosing to be a survivor over being a bandit. In other words, nothing bad happens if you choose to kill someone, and nothing good happens if you choose not to. This has lead to the current metagame, which is to simply kill-on-sight, or be killed. A lot of players have defaulted to just heading in the opposite direction of the shoreline when they spawn in; just heading north to completely avoid other players. I think this severely damages the social dynamic of this game.

I understand that keeping the game's mechanics the same for both classes is an attempt to maintain the game's realism, however it doesn't work. It's a video game, and there's nothing at stake other than time. So, we need to design arbitrary rules to create a stake for both classes in order to maintain diverse and entertaining gameplay, as well as adequate game balance. My suggested balance change is to simply remove naturally spawned loot for people who choose to be bandits. So, basically if you choose to be a bandit, you lose the privilege of being able to farm the environment for loot, and if you choose to remain a survivor, you cannot kill and loot other players without penalty. This means that a survivor's relation to the environment is the density of naturally spawned loot in any given area, and the bandit's relation to the environment is population density relative to any given area. The hope is that there would be a more reasonable number of bandits on the map, and the bandits that are on the map would be more readily identifiable based on their location.

In short, if you choose to murder another player, you've basically made the admission that you're capable of surviving off of loot only dropped from other players. Whereas if you choose not the kill other players, you're basically making the admission that you don't need the loot from murdering people. I feel that the game's mechanics should reflect these values and decisions.

As it stands, if you walk into any moderately populated area, you're almost guaranteed to get shot regardless of how sneaky you think you're being, and I really think that my idea is a way to remedy this. The two classes need different mechanics and different incentives. Without some sort of penalty or stipulation associated with mass murder, I fear the gameplay will grow increasingly more stale as time goes on. I hope my suggestion is taken under advisement, and I hope others evaluate my suggestion and suggest changes of their own to help develop this idea.

-Nick

[Evan858 3]

Sorry but there cant be penalties for playing a game the way you yourself wants to play. Banditry can be unfair but thats how they play, how alot of people play, so you cant punish them. Survivors may need to kill, so you cant punish them for defense. And you cant take away loot for bandits, because that loot corresponds to the entire server, so if you take away natural loot for bandits you take it away for everyone. BUT im not saying i disagree, i think somthing should happen with all this bandit mess, but its just the penalties

Edited July 17, 2012 by Evan858

[frostWaffles 36]

My intention isn't necessarily to punish one class over the other. In fact, under the changes I suggested, survivors get punished as well. My intention is to keep the metagame from shifting to something that could be extremely boring and stale. If there are no pros or cons to choosing either class, the game will continue on where it is currently headed; kill or be killed. Which isn't really a good thing considering the nature of this particular RPG.

[MinxinG 50]

As Evan858 said, there can't be penalties for who wants to kill, it's a Free Game to do whatever you want to do, the way you want to do and don't get punish for it.

In my opinion the solution of this problem is already being suggested and it's pretty much what it needs:

http://dayzmod.com/forum/index.php?/topic/20112-the-only-realistic-way-to-prevent-deathmatching-make-dayz-a-living-hell/

[frostWaffles 36]

If you simply make the environment more challenging, people will simply complain that soloing is imbalanced.

[quatre 7]

frostWaffles

: If there will be a Zombie Apocalypse in the real world , how do you imagine it will be? Kill or be killed.We as human beings are no diffrent than wild animals , only laws , religions keeps a majority of us not killing eachother ( yeah ofcourse there are wars etc etc but you know what I mean ) . In that case every rule will not apply anymore.And as Rocket said , this is not a Game , its an Anti-Game so deal with it or its not for you ..

Only thing they can do is to add stuff that encourage team-play more than it is now ! So the game is still in alpha , we shall see ...

Edited July 17, 2012 by Quatre

[frostWaffles 36]

lolwut? This is a game, dude. It's an RPG. There are already a plethora of arbitrary rules in place, all I'm suggesting is adding a couple more to help maintain the game's health. If the mechanics remain the way they are now, the game will probably just fade into obscurity.

[xxsheepdoggxx 6]

penalty for being a bandit, the guy you just killed is now pist and probably hell bent on tee bagging your face....

[frostWaffles 36]

Again, the suggestion puts penalties on both bandits and survivors. Try to read the post before adding your thoughts.