Stress - Not just an anti-bandit meassure.

[Deathcall 101]

I would like to see stress (and its effects) implemented in Day Z.

Stress has been suggested in previous threads, though not as many as I expected (did a quick search and found only a handful of them that argued the point in extent), so I decided to bring it up again and add to the idea.

I'm not suggesting this as a consequence of the current KoS tendency, or the over-abundance of bandits or untrusting survivors. Those problems (if they are problems at all, it would depend on how you see/play this mod) are a separate matter which I do not wish to adress on this particular thread.

Now the formalities are out of the way, I'll try to explain my idea.

Stress (source: http://en.wikipedia....tress_(biology))

"In psychology, stress is a concept about condition that can be described as: feeling of strain and pressure, feeling of anxiety and being overwhelmed, overall irritability, feeling of insecure, nervousness, social withdrawal, loss of appetite, depression, panic attacks, exhaustion, high or low blood pressure, skin problems, insomnia, lack of sexual desire (sexual dysfunction), migraine, gastrointestinal problems (constipation or diarrhea), and for women menstrual problems, may cause more serious conditions like heart problems."

I'll spare you further copy-paste for now (though I strongly suggest reading the whole article, it's very interesting). But I believe that with that short introduction, you can see where my idea is going.

Having a "stress-meter" could affect the game in various ways.

Here's another link which can illustrate this point: http://en.wikipedia....e_immune_system (sorry for all the external sources, but I think it's better than copy-pasting everything).

In short, and just as an example, high stress could force you to eat more or prevent you from eating at all. It could also make "bleeding" more common, or make it keep going for a while even after you bandage. It could also have more "social" effects, for example, someone who has high-stress could grow so distrusting that it wouldn't allow other people to give him/her a blood-transfusion or other medical-aid. Panic attacks are also a possibility.

Now the idea is "seeded", we have to figure out how it can be implemented with game-mechanics.

How do we gain or lose stress in-game?

Gaining stress by klling people or zombies is a possibility. Though the mere-fact that we are in a zombie-apocalypse could already be enough. Stress could be gained at different rates depending on the "stressor". Losing stress could be related to new medical supplies or social behaviour options such as a new "talk" mechanic. It could be situational (can only be done near a fire-place) or something completely different. Losing stress by just sitting around and doing nothing should also be possible, though at a diminished rate.

How does stress affect the player?

Already mentioned a couple things, you are welcome to add more.

Do we want stress in the game?

Major point. I would gladly welcome it. I think it'd improve the community by requiring further social-interaction between players.

Can it be done?

Sadly I know little about modding or the ARMA 2 engine, so here I am of little help.

Well, that's my idea at it's current state. The only thing I ask of my fellow forum-members is that they read what I posted and the pertinent parts of the links I provided before posting since I believe the background information is vital to this suggestion.