Bandits: Law and Order.

[vulfy 55]

I've heard Rocket talking about this game, and how he wants to give payers the tools and overall world, but let players create situations in this world, not restrict gameplay to scripted sequences or hard coded rules.

Banditry is exactly that. It is a very common occurrence, but its something that is driven solely by players, and is not a hard coded rule of the game. We have the tools (guns, loot, other players) and we make this decision if we want to be a Bandit or not.

Unfortunately, right now, the consequences for being a bandit are nill. So lets take a page from real life and see if we can apply something similar in the game.

Banditry in real life is limited because:

A: consequences, such as imprisonment or death

B: there are special people that uphold these consequences, ei police

So here is my suggestion. Instead of making silliness, such as bandit skins, or even making their faces more "bandit-y" or making their hands be in blood, or anything of this sort, lets just have a simple virtual sheriff and player posse mechanic.

Lets say a bandit killed his victim. He is now flagged as a "bandit".

Each bandit has a "Wanted" level, depending on the number of murders.

A virtual detective / sheriff is now assigned to this bandit. The sole purpose of this entity is to track bandit's movement and further murders, as well as provide Intel to the posse made out of players who wish to track this bandit.

Server provides two ways for you to participate in upholding the law. Passive and active.

Passive is simply having a list of bandits on the server, and the name of the city where their last murder has occurred.

A sort of "Most Wanted" wall. You can view it, but what you do next, is up to you. No further info or intell is provided.

Active, is actually accepting a mission, to become a part of the posse, and track the bandit.

It would give you a waypoint to the the exact location of the latest murder, NOT exact bandit's whereabouts. If his is still hanging out at the spot you are lucky, if not, you have to figure out where he is, or what his next move could be.

It could potentially give you a heading in which bandit moved to, after the murder. A general idea of the direction. That way you can figure out what next city / town he could be moving to.

After that it would update your waypoints when bandit reveals himself.

Bandit can reveal and update his latest location via the following:

Killing another player - instant waypoint to the murder scene, NOT the bandit.

Firing a shot but not hitting a player, ei killing a zombie - waypoint to general "Shots fired, city / town".

Random sighting in a city. Lets say a Bandit is looting a town. There is a random chance that he can be spotted, and his location

updated.

If shots are fired in the wilderness without any real players present within of a certain distance (can be based on loudness of the shot, ei type of weapon), then these shots would go un-witnessed and would not be reported to the posse.

Any shots fired within city / village limits, will instantly ping the location to the posse.

Bandit obviously does not receive any info on what posse is doing. He is kept completely in the dark. This would really push paranoia, as the Bandit could be thinking that the entire server is after him, especially the high level Bandits.

Rewards: Simple, bandit's loot, as well as the fact that you've upheld the law. A high level bandit is most likely to have good gear. Also a high level bandit is most probably a skilled player, so the challenge is worth it to some people.

If you are a bandit you can lower your wanted level by participating in a posse, and killing a bandit that is higher level than you.

Killing a lower level bandit, would not count as a murder, but would not lower your wanted level either.

After death, bandit's identity is cleared and he is starting as a Survivor once again.

Bandit's wanted level goes with him from server to server. As soon as he joins, he is posted on the Wanted wall of the current server.

This should be a pretty simple mechanic to implement, and it gives players all the control in the actions and decisions.

[Priceless 154]

Play GTA much? Dont think a virtual cop is adding to the realism.

[vulfy 55]

This mechanic could also be implemented for "gangs".

Lets say three bandits are playing together. They move together, ei somewhat close distance to each other for prolonged periods of time.

So a "Gang" could be declared by simple association with a bandit. If you are moving together for some time, and only one of you kills another player,

the position of the "Gang" could now be updated, and same mechanics would apply to that, as they would to a single Bandit.

[vulfy 55]

How is it not adding to a realism? Right now we have no tools to track bandits, even if we want to punish them. This just gives us the ability to get an idea where they are so we can decide on further actions, even if those actions are just to avoid a certain town where latest murder has occured, or general direction where bandit has moved to afterwards.

[vulfy 55]

And its not a "virtual cop". Players are cops IF they decide to be. A virtual detective simply updates the position of the bandit.

[Shatter_Dreamz 1]

There is no law & order in this game. Period...There is no Ordinances, Writ-in Law,Parliament, Circuit Judge, Jury, Lawyer, Police...You Cant enforce law in a lawless land.

[spamjabber 12]

I don't think the idea is very realistic. The ability to kill someone is a million times to easy in Dayz for sure, but the solution to the problem I think is not Vigilante mode Dayz style. There would be no real way to tell a bandit in real life, unless they're dragging a corpse or you stalk them like a wolf. Think that needs to stay in dayz, although it will develop over time I'm sure.

[vulfy 55]

Somehow cops manage to identify and track if not all but at least some of the bandits, in real life. Be that via informants, detective work, witnesses, etc. etc.

This is just a simplified mechanic to get to the Intel of Bandit's whereabouts right away.

Bandits in real life do not wear specialized clothing, or have "Bandit" face, or have their arms covered in blood. So "realistic" is a very stretchable word.

[spamjabber 12]

Somehow cops manage to identify and track if not all but at least some of the bandits, in real life. Be that via informants, detective work, witnesses, etc. etc.

This is just a simplified mechanic to get to the Intel of Bandit's whereabouts right away.

Bandits in real life do not wear specialized clothing, or have "Bandit" face, or have their arms covered in blood. So "realistic" is a very stretchable word.

In real life though they have a working police station with internet, databases etc etc this is dayz and I know realistic is a loose term for this game, but I would imagine very few players would have the ray mears or native tracker abilities to properly follow bandits trials and nail them for a "crime".

Also consider, this is a new world. All the old laws are irrelevant, there are no government warrants going out for arrest for a bandit who killed this guy by the coast for his can of beans. Many players concerns are for survival and that alone. Bandits are a pain in the ass, but I don't think any wanted level will add to the game in the way its designed to be played.

[deadlyslob (DayZ) 42]

I thought how awesome it would be if there was a certain set amount of players inside of a city at a time, Zombies would cease to spawn after they've been killed allowing squads and gangs to control spawn locations and allow the start of server societies and trade.

I think trade is something that needs to be implemented some how. It basically means that a currency would have to be implemented.

Obviously, I don't know what would count for currency.. maybe zombies could have money of them possibly but there really isn't a GOOD way to implement a currency with the current structure.

Ghosting and Alt-F4 would ruin any chance for societies to exist in this game. As soon as those are fixed I am sure we will see something come out of this.

And the only way to fix Ghosting would be to have everyone re spawn back at the coast when they log out... but again, I can see this being exploited as well.

[shadowtank754 0]

its a good idea if this was a real life simulator like you just had to live your life out and then cops could get thieves and murderers, but this is a world that has gone to shit the military has been destroyed along with any form of upholding government so it would not make sense

I do like the idea of adding trade etc being able to setup bases and no zombies could spawn after you have cleared them out in you r area. also in the future in arma 3 when this mod is added onto that i hope they make it so our character is restricted to the server and you cannot just hop from one to the next

Edited July 22, 2012 by shadowtank754

[DryGulch 32]

If you took five minutes to look through old posts , you'd know this was a terrible idea.Or maybe you wouldn't , maybe I'm giving you too much credit.

[Ada069 0]

this i

In real life though they have a working police station with internet, databases etc etc this is dayz and I know realistic is a loose term for this game, but I would imagine very few players would have the ray mears or native tracker abilities to properly follow bandits trials and nail them for a "crime".

Also consider, this is a new world. All the old laws are irrelevant, there are no government warrants going out for arrest for a bandit who killed this guy by the coast for his can of beans. Many players concerns are for survival and that alone. Bandits are a pain in the ass, but I don't think any wanted level will add to the game in the way its designed to be played.

This is what Dayz is currently in.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchy

I think that people should just learn to survive better. I ahve seen people running in the open between cherno and elektro, seen them running across the NW airfield. If your not cautious, you will die. Arma 2 isn't designed for a BF3 or a MW3 player. Run and Gun won't work.

Plus, I like beans.

Edited July 22, 2012 by Ada069

[spamjabber 12]

this i

This is what Dayz is currently in.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchy

I think that people should just learn to survive better. I ahve seen people running in the open between cherno and elektro, seen them running across the NW airfield. If your not cautious, you will die. Arma 2 isn't designed for a BF3 or a MW3 player. Run and Gun won't work.

Plus, I like beans.

Anarchy is a good word for it. Beans are lovely