Give me 'dem teeth

[jesquik 75]

Yesterday as I was racking up zombie kills, I realized that the debug window will someday disappear and with it the zombie kill count. This makes me sad, as killing zombies is a favorite pastime and losing track of the amount I have killed is devastating. So while thinking about this I decided that we need to be able to collect something from zombies and the first thing that came to mind was teeth, which got me thinking that teeth should be a lootable token from each zombie kill. If we can loot teeth from zombies, and keep them, when we die or someone kills us there will be a record of how many zombies you killed. But even better would be if people could loot them off your body and people start collecting large amounts of teeth, allowing them to become a commodity.

While there is currently no trading in the game, teeth could become a currency, allowing people to 'mine' the world for teeth and trade them for loot with other players if there ever came a day when trading was provided in game. Additionally, groups like the Freeside Trading company would have a way for people to purchase goods from them, or sell goods to them.

So how do we 'mine' teeth then? With pliers of course! If you have the pliers item, you can creep over to the corpses of slain zombies and extract a tooth, creating additional risk to get this item. Once a tooth is extracted it goes to your tool belt, so it doesn't take up real inventory space.

Hold on there, this may be all well and good, but what about the bandits! Well they should be able to extract human teeth too, one per person. When you kill a bandit you will know because they have human teeth on them. Perhaps they wear the human teeth on a necklace around their neck to proudly show off their trophies. Maybe they hide them deep in their tool belt to avoid suspicion. Either way, they have verifiable proof of a murder. Maybe in order to prove your mettle to a bandit gang you need to get them 5 human teeth or perhaps they want 100 zombie teeth.

Core Idea:

1) Teeth should be lootable from players and zombies.

2) Pliers should be added (or perhaps just require the toolbox) to facilitate the removal.

3) Teeth become a commodity that may be used to trade or for role playing.

Edited July 18, 2012 by jesquik

[SystemiK 366]

Given the amount of effort they seem to be putting into stat generation, I'd imagine they will be tracking such things like that closely, "possibly" even with API support given a post I saw from Ander recently.

Not a bad idea though...

[Brusann 67]

Not a terrible idea!

[uberwolfe 25]

I like the idea..

[giiwedin@live.com 32]

im feelin this

[cannedpeaches 3]

Yeah, this sounds... solid. I don't if I'd depend on a "Fallout Caps" style currency emerging from it, not as long as murder's still an option in the game. But I do definitely like the story that a number of zombie dead on a corpse could tell you.

Maybe a similar souvenir for bandits killed? Collectible "Bandanas"?

Edited July 18, 2012 by cannedpeaches

[jesquik 75]

Given the amount of effort they seem to be putting into stat generation, I'd imagine they will be tracking such things like that closely, "possibly" even with API support given a post I saw from Ander recently.

Not a bad idea though...

I'm not sure what you mean. How would teeth get in the ways of stat tracking? While there will obviously be stat tracking for leaderboards, I don't expect that IN GAME there will be any sort of kill counter.

As with all my suggestions, the most important part of this is atmosphere. This is a horror game. Horror is nothing without atmosphere. Lovecraft knows this, and anyone that reads horror realizes it. Here is a quote of his regarding such things:

“A certain atmosphere of breathless and unexplainable dread of outer, unknown forces must be present; and there must be a hint, expressed with a seriousness and portentousness becoming its subject, of that most terrible conception of the human brain - a malign and particular suspension or defeat of those laws of Nature which are our only safeguard against the assaults of chaos and the daemons of unplumbed space .... Therefore we must judge a weird tale not by the author's intent, or by the mere mechanics of the plot; but by the emotional level which it attains at its least mundane point... The one test of the really weird is simply this - whether or not there be excited in the reader a profound sense of dread, and of contact with unknown spheres and powers; a subtle attitude of awed listening, as if for the beating of black wings or the scratching of outside shapes and entities on the known universe's utmost rim.”

Edited July 18, 2012 by jesquik

[adamtheheretic 106]

+1 for lootable teeth for zombie kills.

My only qualm is that ammo should be more scarce and then become the currency system.

[jesquik 75]

Yeah, this sounds... solid. I don't if I'd depend on a "Fallout Caps" style currency emerging from it, not as long as murder's still an option in the game. But I do definitely like the story that a number of zombie dead on a corpse could tell you.

Maybe a similar souvenir for bandits killed? Collectible "Bandanas"?

Of course I played Fallout, and I cannot say it had nothing to do with my idea ;)

I think you may have missed my point that there are two different teeth, zombie teeth and human teeth. I do not believe that there should be any official currency, but these items could be used for that purpose. They could also be used for games, or testing people. I have no idea how many creative ways they will be used, but putting things like this in the game to facilitate creative playing should be a goal if this is to remain a sandbox. Some things should have no 'survival' use, but instead should be present to provide mood.

Also, I don't think murder is going to ever stop being an option...

Thanks for the suggestions.

[jesquik 75]

Yeah, this sounds... solid. I don't if I'd depend on a "Fallout Caps" style currency emerging from it, not as long as murder's still an option in the game. But I do definitely like the story that a number of zombie dead on a corpse could tell you.

Maybe a similar souvenir for bandits killed? Collectible "Bandanas"?

Hells yes! Collectibles galore plz. :))

I honestly don't care how far this goes, but I do think that keeping the mood focused on horror should be a priority. I love running in the dark with a flashlight. I love flares illuminating undead walkers. I love the idea of ripping out a tooth so you have proof you are fighting the infection or that you have no qualms about killing another person to stay alive.

If you have any other ideas for items that could add to the mood, increase potential sandboxy interactions, or anything like that please post here!

[jesquik 75]

+1 for lootable teeth for zombie kills.

My only qualm is that ammo should be more scarce and then become the currency system.

My opinion on the matter is that weapons should be like this (0 is common 10 is exceedingly rare)

melee - 0

shotgun - 1

handguns - 1/2

hunting rifles - 2/3

Military (Russian) - 5/6

Military (US) -7/8

Sniper Riflles - 7/8/9/10 depending on the gun

NVG, Thermal - 12 :)

Once duping is killed there would be a lot less of the game we see frequently (Hardcore FPS), and more of the game it's meant to be (Immersive social experiment.)

[faku6745@hotmail.com 1]

How about lootable ears for player kills as well?

Edited July 18, 2012 by Ll0yd

[jesquik 75]

How about lootable ears for player kills as well?

Yeah, ears work well too, but there is something I like about teeth that I just can't put my finger on.. maybe that they don't rot? Maybe that you can polish them to be beautiful? Maybe that pulling out a tooth seems more visceral than cutting off an ear? I dunno, but I like ears too :)

[robosheriff 13]

oh guis i don't think that hygienic

[Rotaku 0]

Hmm, this is actually a pretty nice idea. +1 from me.

[adamtheheretic 106]

My opinion on the matter is that weapons should be like this (0 is common 10 is exceedingly rare)

melee - 0

shotgun - 1

handguns - 1/2

hunting rifles - 2/3

Military (Russian) - 5/6

Military (US) -7/8

Sniper Riflles - 7/8/9/10 depending on the gun

NVG, Thermal - 12 :)

Once duping is killed there would be a lot less of the game we see frequently (Hardcore FPS), and more of the game it's meant to be (Immersive social experiment.)

I disagree, going by your system however using 1 as the current hatchet spawn rate.

Melee - 2

Shotgun - 4

Handguns - 4

Hunting Rifles - 5

Military (Russian) - 8

Military (US) - 10

Sniper Riflles - 8-10; depending on the gun

NVG, Thermal - 20

[Disclaimer: All Estimates of current spawn chances.]

Edited July 18, 2012 by FishIsTwonk

[Scerun 227]

Do they have to be dead for me to plier their teeth out?

[Haplo (DayZ) 44]

sickest idea.. i'd like to see the something similar with murders

[SystemiK 366]

Given the amount of effort they seem to be putting into stat generation, I'd imagine they will be tracking such things like that closely, "possibly" even with API support given a post I saw from Ander recently.

Not a bad idea though...

I'm not sure what you mean. How would teeth get in the ways of stat tracking? While there will obviously be stat tracking for leaderboards, I don't expect that IN GAME there will be any sort of kill counter.

Sorry, I didnt mean at all suggest they were not compatible, but you said in the OP that if you lost track of your zombie kills it would be davastating.

All I was suggesting is that with a robust stat tracking system (which is currently being implemented) you will never lose track of those kills, and a myriad of other stats about your individual lives, as well as your overall life time as a DayZ participant. Possibly I have read too much into the dev's words but it seems to be something that they are putting quite a bit of effort and resources into. The amount of data they have already must be staggering. I expect that while in such early development they will keep much of the data under wraps. Later, once they've sussed out system they want to use and development is further along, they could tie that information into an API for third party applications to disseminate (Ander has already suggested that a future API is a possibilty at some point).

Anyhow, back to your idea. I think it has some teeth in it. It's the first time I've heard a suggestion involving a game economy that didn't make me cringe. I'm not 100%, but I'm definitely interested to see where this idea goes...

[mrwwa 2]

I don't like the idea that much due to a few reasons.

Firstly, if you're on the run from a horde of zombies, you'd have NO chance to kill and grab teeth. It's a time blazer, and it would just slow you down.

Secondly, if you collected the teeth for stats, it wouldn't be right. Your stats would be less than reality because you KNOW you've killed dozens, but you were fully incapable of going back to grab teeth. Plus a zombie's dead body respawns to a new zombie every now and then.

If you just wanted to use teeth as a form of TOTAL kill statistics, they could easily make a small player leaderboard that just adds on to your TOTAL kills after killing a zombie and it keeps building continuously after death. It's not that hard considering you could easy add on to the kills you have in your current life by just simply killing them.

[jesquik 75]

Sorry, I didnt mean at all suggest they were not compatible, but you said in the OP that if you lost track of your zombie kills it would be davastating.

All I was suggesting is that with a robust stat tracking system (which is currently being implemented) you will never lose track of those kills, and a myriad of other stats about your individual lives, as well as your overall life time as a DayZ participant. Possibly I have read too much into the dev's words but it seems to be something that they are putting quite a bit of effort and resources into. The amount of data they have already must be staggering. I expect that while in such early development they will keep much of the data under wraps. Later, once they've sussed out system they want to use and development is further along, they could tie that information into an API for third party applications to disseminate (Ander has already suggested that a future API is a possibilty at some point).

Anyhow, back to your idea. I think it has some teeth in it. It's the first time I've heard a suggestion involving a game economy that didn't make me cringe. I'm not 100%, but I'm definitely interested to see where this idea goes...

Awesome, thanks for clarifying. You are right that there will be out of game leaderboards and things of that nature, which will be fantastic, and I wasn't trying to say we could replace it in any way. I just like things that add to the mood, and this just seems right to me. Additionally, when I go into my pack I want to have a reminder of the zombies I killed and spent the time to rip a tooth out. Once the debug window goes away there will be no more reminder of how much ass you have been kicking!

[jesquik 75]

I don't like the idea that much due to a few reasons.

Firstly, if you're on the run from a horde of zombies, you'd have NO chance to kill and grab teeth. It's a time blazer, and it would just slow you down.

Secondly, if you collected the teeth for stats, it wouldn't be right. Your stats would be less than reality because you KNOW you've killed dozens, but you were fully incapable of going back to grab teeth. Plus a zombie's dead body respawns to a new zombie every now and then.

If you just wanted to use teeth as a form of TOTAL kill statistics, they could easily make a small player leaderboard that just adds on to your TOTAL kills after killing a zombie and it keeps building continuously after death. It's not that hard considering you could easy add on to the kills you have in your current life by just simply killing them.

I'm sorry but I feel like you missed the point of the post. There will still be leaderboards. This is completely separate. This is an in-game system. This is not a tracking system. This is a atmosphere / sandbox system. Leaderboards are out-of-game. Leaderboards are so you can stroke your ego while away from the game. This idea is for in-game ego stroking. This is for people who wish to immerse themselves in a deep game.

Regarding your reason for not wanting this... If you run away from a horde of zombies, the zombies have won. Why should you get teeth that you can show off to others? You just let a bunch of zombies beat you. Maybe they should have your teeth instead!

You are absolutely correct that the amount of teeth you collect would be less than the amount of zombies you kill, but if you have 100 teeth that means you killed 100 + zombies AND clearly won because you could pull the teeth out AND you are a certifiable badass... just because.

[jesquik 75]

Do they have to be dead for me to plier their teeth out?

Well if you can chop it out with a hatchet I suppose they could be almost... yes.... They have to be dead :)

[vision1776 42]

If I had to guess that in a post apocalyptic scenario that soon after barter became burdensome a group of traders or merchants could start a fiat currency like paper money or zombie teeth which they would accept as barter among their various trade camps. Sooner or later the fiat currency would start to increase it's influence further and further until almost everyone was accepting it as a means to help in bartering. Whether it be zombie teeth or what have you. Zombie teeth would be cool because it woula also create incentive for people to kill zombies thus helping the general good. But with low population barter would stand for a long time.

[Hiding Zebra 0]

love the idea.

i think it would be great to come across a survivors body and see that he had a large number of bandanas (bandit kills) but say a low amount of human teeth (survivor kills/'murders'), showing that he had been hunting bandits :D or killing a bandit yourself and seeing that he had a lot of murders.

Then also if you killed a guy and when you checked they had very little zombie/bandit/murder kills (low teeth and bandanna numbers) you would feel bad for killing a 'newborn' player.

I think in the leaderboards you should be able to see how many of YOUR OWN teeth have been taken in game i.e how many times you've been murdered.

This would add so much +1