Remove the bandit, create the legend

[orbital 10]

Just a thought on the whole bandit uniform issue.

How about removing the bandit penalty, the desert uniform, and adding a couple of uniforms as REWARDS instead?

I like the current humanity system, both +/- side of it but make it a goal instead of a penalty to receive a new uniform. Create a couple of levels that signals trustworthy appearance.

Example:

+5000 unlocks the ‘Friendly’ uniform

+8000 unlocks the ‘Legendary’ uniform

Getting penalized by killing other players should obviously result in loosing your rewarded uniform.

Now, I know this can be exploited in a group but it does require significant effort, to stay positive humanity.

[puppetmasterjjk 3]

This is a great idea. I'm not sure why this alternative hasn't been thought up before. (Or maybe it has and I just never saw)

[orbital 10]

Kind of what the in game chat is always full of; "Are you friendly"

But how to proof it?

Maybe the Legendary Uniform needs to be a little higher on the humanity scale, to be a true Legend.

Actually, the more levels/uniforms, the better :)

[Blitzy 12]

Support. It's ironic because I'm usually against the skinning system (it instantly allows players to judge you and your intentions; this causes difficulty for some players - bandits who want to get to know their victims and betray them, or bandits who want to atone for their sins because they're sick of being killed on first-sight).

However, having only default skins is making it difficult to recognise who is who, nor give much information about the player - and this may be what's causing everyone to take no chances and just shoot on sight.

Having progressive uniforms would quickly identify a brief 'background' to the player, allowing people to guess what their intentions might be without giving the entire game away. A level-1 bandit (say, a hooded hooligan) may have only killed 1-2 people but only out of self-defense or because his victims' presence threatened his life/mission - he could possibly still be trusted, but he still looks capable of killing if he needs to, or he could be a newly-beginning player killer. A level-3 bandit (a baraclava'ed insurgent) kills as he pleases, and his reputation will have certainly gotten around.

Likewise, I'd imagine trustworthy players would take measures to represent themselves as such. Players who've applied many blood transfusions may wear red cross symbols to indicate they're medics, and bandit-killers may look more authorative (soldier, police).

SIDENOTE: If these are too black-and-white, what about uniforms based on individual stats?

- Survival time (representing a survivor's veteran status as they've rummaged and upgraded their gear)

- Total playtime

- Bandits Killed

- Medical Supplies applied.

- Murders (with an added stat for whether the killer examined/looted the corpse or not)

- Distance travelled

- Zombies killed

You'd unlock different uniforms for each stat, and you'd be able to choose one from any - representing your skills, while still allowing some players to hide their hostile intents (or broadcast them to show just how badass they are).

[noisegrrrl 8]

Kind of what the in game chat is always full of; "Are you friendly"

But how to proof it?

Maybe the Legendary Uniform needs to be a little higher on the humanity scale' date=' to be a true Legend.

Actually, the more levels/uniforms, the better :)

[/quote']

Sounds too gamey for me.

Part of the appeal of the game is the tension of not knowing what might happen when trading/etc with someone.

I kinda like the idea of appearance changing with other stats though. It kinda makes sense, someone who's been surviving for a day doesn't look the same as someone who's been surviving for weeks.

[bodycount 83]

Sounds too gamey for me.

Part of the appeal of the game is the tension of not knowing what might happen when trading/etc with someone.

I kinda like the idea of appearance changing with other stats though. It kinda makes sense' date=' someone who's been surviving for a day doesn't look the same as someone who's been surviving for weeks.

[/quote']

Weeks? Shit every hour that I am still alive is a celebration.

I think it is a great idea but why not also give rewards to the gankers with cool skins? The German spec ops. headscarf is pretty BA. Since they are going to PvP anyway why not reward them with cooler skins as well. If they are that dangerous a cool looking skin as a reward shouldn't make them run and cry to momma about sticking out should it?

You kill 50 people you unlock the Taliban skin.

You kill 100 people you unlock the Ghillie suit skin.

Legendary badasses as well as legendary bastards.

[noisegrrrl 8]

Weeks? Shit every hour that I am still alive is a celebration.

T'was a figure of speech.

I really don't like the idea of unlockable skins as achievements personnally.

I don't want this to turn into BF3.

[puppetmasterjjk 3]

New models over time is a pretty good idea I think. Your first couple of hours you get something civilian-like, then after that, you are a bit more tough looking and move into the PMC skins, maybe eventually you can graduate into proper military skins if you're a really excellent survivor. This would give people more reason to stay alive, while it doesn't really dip much into the gameplay. The starting skins could be useful for more experienced survivors, as they will see by the way someone is dressed that they haven't been around very long, and don't have much to lose.

Otherwise, just make is so there are 10 or so models players can just choose from/find.

[noisegrrrl 8]

Weeks? Shit every hour that I am still alive is a celebration.

T'was a figure of speech.

I really don't like the idea of unlockable skins as achievements personnally.

I don't want this to turn into BF3.

The best way to try to balance this out in my opinion is to have a real disadvantage to playing the lone psycho, and that means becoming less human.

The friendly/trusting players are already at disadvantage because they can get f* easily by being too trusty, all we need is something to push people to actually have contacts with other players.

[bodycount 83]

No one wants to look exactly the same as everyone else. Progression and rewards are a great carrot on a stick. DAT FEEL of earning an upgrade or a cosmetic "look at me" is inarguable. You would have to be online gaming abstinent to not see the appeal that it draws.

[noisegrrrl 8]

No one wants to look exactly the same as everyone else. Progression and rewards are a great carrot on a stick. DAT FEEL of earning an upgrade or a cosmetic "look at me" is inarguable. You would have to be online gaming abstinent to not see the appeal that it draws.

Yeah, which explains why Counter Strike is not the most played online multiplayer game and is not played 10 years after its creation...

Seriously unlocks are a bad idea.

I understand not wanting to look the same as everyon else, but that can be achieved in some other way. By having clothes spawning as loot for instance.

[bodycount 83]

And that explains why the highest grossing video game in the history of the human species is World of Warcraft that has thousands of upgrades and customizable features.

I contend that unlocks are a great idea.

*Edited to add that Counter-Strike DOES have unlocks. You are rewarded with money to buy better gear/weapons every round if you survive and are successful individually and more so as a team. You can buy Night Vision Goggles, bomb defusal kits, Helmets, kevlar vests/body armor, flashbangs, grenades, smoke bombs, silenced rifles, sniper rifles shotguns sub machine guns. Every kill is rewarded with money, planting/defusing bombs, rescuing hostages rewards you with money. If your team wins you all get a bonus amount of cash.

[personaljesus69 2]

No one wants to look exactly the same as everyone else. Progression and rewards are a great carrot on a stick. DAT FEEL of earning an upgrade or a cosmetic "look at me" is inarguable. You would have to be online gaming abstinent to not see the appeal that it draws.

Yeah' date=' which explains why Counter Strike is not the most played online multiplayer game and is not played 10 years after its creation...

Seriously unlocks are a bad idea.

I understand not wanting to look the same as everyon else, but that can be achieved in some other way. By having clothes spawning as loot for instance.

[/quote']

How would picking up clothes as loot even work...? Do you know how difficult that may be in order to script correctly without it bugging out?

It COULD be done, I guess. But, unlocking in stages rather than looting seems more practical.

[bodycount 83]

Josh' pid='4221' dateline='1335689734']

How would picking up clothes as loot even work...? Do you know how difficult that may be in order to script correctly without it bugging out?

It COULD be done' date=' I guess. But, unlocking in stages rather than looting seems more practical.

[/quote']

Sorry I didn't mean it like that. I meant the progression/stages like you mentioned. I just meant unlock as in you are unlocking it at that point as a reward until you are at the next skin.

[sgtsnug 26]

Unlocks do encourage a 'goal' in game-play especially if there's a reward in this case a skin.

The skin would also reflect your character's behaviour/intentions and possibly even the gear he carries, say for instance a player is dressed as a medic you'll know immediately he heals people allot so is either friendly or moving in a group, and is likely carrying medical supplies.

This would also encourage specific roles in a groups for people to specialise so one guy IS the medic and carries the meds, while another might be the sniper and appear in a ghillie suit which makes him harder to see and also defines to others what kind of weapon he has and that he uses long-range and so to avoid any ranged engagements.

I think as-long as they avoid the 'stupid' achievements like 'oh wow you logged in? your amazing' and kept it serious and challenging like for a ghillie suit you'd need either so many sniper kills in single life or a tally of 1000 zombie or 100 player sniper kills overall to achieve.

[Freyar 8]

Unlocks would be cool, but I why wouldn't a character that is awesomely high on Humanity not be able to dress as something else? What about a Bandit trying to blend in? This seems really gamey rather than an organic experience of reading how a player acts and whatnot. Instead an arbitrary value is applied and much like the humanity system now, it wouldn't represent the player's intent very well.

[orbital 10]

I think player killing is going to become a even bigger plague, the more servers, the more impatient griefers will gain access.

The suggestion it's defiantly a helping hand to us who take the survival bit serious and a tool to aid finding people to group with - which is very much needed.

Take my case as an example:

I play alone, moving deep into the land requires effort (hours), I am not even going to try contacting other players. Meeting another survivor for grouping/trading purposes, get shot in the face and reset back to beach is currently not a option on that stage of survival (hours) for me.

I don't care about loosing gear and dying, that's how it is (contradiction I know). My game is all single player at the moment, with no tools to group with strangers.

I don't care about bandits uniforms, I avoid players all together, now if there was a way to recognize the lesser psychopathic survivors I would be more curious to contact them.

[fighter139 191]

Definitely would cut down on Player Killing and adds a few more "goals" to the game.

I support this.

[noisegrrrl 8]

Definitely would cut down on Player Killing and adds a few more "goals" to the game.

I support this.

The point of this is to try to "simulate" life in a post apocalyptic setting. Adding goals like this kinda goes against the simulation aspect.

I prefer to see this things as meta-games the player make for themselves personnally, not as game goals.

[{Op4}Mcface 0]

there should be a "bounty hunter" skin for killing X amount of bandits for sure.

[Mojo (DayZ) 66]

reward instead of a penalty...

Who says those of us who enjoy playing as roving bandit hordes are being penalized for playing as bandits?

[orbital 10]

Well, you can keep the bandit uniform if you like, fine with me. Makes it even easier to spot the good and the bad. I just thought it removes the chance of cooporative gameplay with strangers since most people would shoot you on sight.

[sata3d 3]

i support the ideo of when you change your clotes if you kill or not kill players

and i like a lot the idea of use more skins if your grade of killing players is high

this resolve the problem to when you fire in self defense is you have this uniform ( German sks ) maybe your are a bandit or maybe not 50/50 but if you have the another one

you definitely your a bandit

i think you can have the last one bandit uniform like a zombie and the zombies can be your friends

they follow you and you can give they orders to attack people haahha

well is and idea maybe is to difficulty to implement but i support the idea of the changing your skins when you choice be good or evil :)

[ghost_kage 5]

I can see why some people are for this, and others are not. I for one, completely support this. If you watch the TV show or have read the comics, in The Walking Dead, you'll notice that the characters appearances slowly change over time. Rick grows a beard, Shane shaves his head, in the comics Andrea receives a scar on her face, Dale loses his leg, and overall the character begin to look more dangerous, hardened, and look like they've been surviving an apocalypse. Could one argue that changing appearance based on acheivements is unrealistic? Yes, but at the same time you could also argue that its unrealistic for everyone to be wearing the same outfit with the only variation being whether or not the shirt is blue or black. I think this would be a welcome addition to the game, and also, you could give players a choice to wear their cool new outfit they have unlocked, I just don't think that things like ghillie suits and SpecOps gear should be in the choices. Everything should look realistic to the setting, or as someone previously posted, it would start to look like Battlefield 3 out there.

[oktyabr 53]

Could one argue that changing appearance based on acheivements is unrealistic? Yes' date=' but at the same time you could also argue that its unrealistic for everyone to be wearing the same outfit with the only variation being whether or not the shirt is blue or black.

[/quote']

+1 THIS

I had sort of abandoned the multiple skin tied to humanity thing based on the "it's not realistic" argument... Until I read your post. Well said.