Solution for Alt-F4 and Server Hopping

[Jack Booted Thug 4]

Three Main Problems.

1. Players disconnect when under threat to avoid dying and losing their gear.

2. Some players will disconnect when ambushed, switch servers and flank their ambushers and then go back to the original server.

3. Players server hop the more valuable loot areas.

4. Server hoppers frequently spawm inside secured zones set up by other players who are working together.

The above four problems destroy the immersive gameplay dynamic of Dayz.

Solutions.

1. Players wishing to disconnect within 800 metres of cities or valuable loot areas have to endure a 10 minute countdown timer before their disconnection takes effect. Players can leave the game but their character remains in the server until the countdown is complete. Players who have to rush off and do something in real life just need to find a quite corner and lie down and hope that they are not killed.

2. Players cannot spawn their characters within 500-800m of primary loot locations, ie. cities. This would prevent server hopping to flank and players infiltrating a secure area set up by a team of players. Most combat occurs within an estimated 500-800m of primary loot locations.

3. A 2 to 5 minute disconnect option without a timer would be enabled for players when they "first" join a particular server in case they have a bad ping or server issues. This would facilitiate groups of players who are seeking a decent server to play on together avoiding a penalty for server hopping for this purpose.

The above disconnect timer would also hinder a lot of the quick item/weapon duping many players are doing regularly.

The above two solutions would eliminate the 4 main problems I listed initially. Server hoppers would have to actually infiltrate each new location rather than just spawn in 30m away. This would make setting up a secure perimeter for farming operations very worthwhile for teams, and players would no longer be able to disconnect and flank other players when ambushed.

In regards to Respawn being deactivated in 7.2.4, I think respawn should only be disabled for the first 15 minutes of a new characters life thus hackers/griefers would not be able to take advantage of a disabled respawn and cause havoc by breaking the legs of players in order to destroy the playability of said players.

Constructive thoughts?

[novarecon@yahoo.com 4]

I think there should be a wait time but nothing to crazy and if your spawning in near someone you get moved a little bit so you cannot sneak attack and for loot well i dont know abou that!

[Frozen (DayZ) 144]

will you people just die? seriously, its just fucking annoying.

Rocket said thats hes working on the system to prevent al+f4, and if you dont like server hoping, you can play on server thats is connected to the hive, meaning its have local database, making server hoping impossible.

[Jack Booted Thug 4]

will you people just die? seriously, its just fucking annoying.

Rocket said thats hes working on the system to prevent al+f4, and if you dont like server hoping, you can play on server thats is connected to the hive, meaning its have local database, making server hoping impossible.

No-one is forcing you to read the post. This is an area for suggestions and after some careful consideration I decided to make one.

If a group of players want to farm the north or south barracks at the airfield they may go about it via setting up a secure overwatch perimeter and designate a few players to do the farming. When players can just teleport right into the barracks themselves or just outside it is hardly the immersive gameplay that Dayz is attempting to create, tis more like Beam Me Up Scotty in such a scenario.

You may enjoy server hopping directly to loot locations one server after another but that is closer to a "grinding" mechanic than a simulation. If that is your preference then fine fell free to make your own suggestions but to call those who have a differing view to "die" in the sense that they ought to just piss off and shut their clapper paints you as an insecure fool. :)

Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

[MostUnholy (DayZ) 0]

will you people just die? seriously, its just fucking annoying.

Rocket said thats hes working on the system to prevent al+f4, and if you dont like server hoping, you can play on server thats is connected to the hive, meaning its have local database, making server hoping impossible.

Of course it's the league of legends player with the negative attitude.

[Frozen (DayZ) 144]

Of course it's the league of legends player with the negative attitude.

its a standard attitude that you get after spending some time on particular forum: same shit repeated over and over again, just piss you off.

No-one is forcing you to read the post. This is an area for suggestions and after some careful consideration I decided to make one.

If a group of players want to farm the north or south barracks at the airfield they may go about it via setting up a secure overwatch perimeter and designate a few players to do the farming. When players can just teleport right into the barracks themselves or just outside it is hardly the immersive gameplay that Dayz is attempting to create, tis more like Beam Me Up Scotty in such a scenario.

You may enjoy server hopping directly to loot locations one server after another but that is closer to a "grinding" mechanic than a simulation. If that is your preference then fine fell free to make your own suggestions but to call those who have a differing view to "die" in the sense that they ought to just piss off and shut their clapper paints you as an insecure fool. :)

Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

as is said, there are server with local database that dont suffer from serverhopers, and currently i`m playing on one of them, so you are wrong

[kyle939 20]

Alt+F4 does not work.

I've presses and no luck. Tried a lot and doesn't work.

Also I spawned in early and someone sniped me with 2 seconds. Aimbot or something because it was sooo fast it was impossible.

Server hoping? Sometimes I get to a safe spot that has a good set of stuff. I'll drop out and join a different to see if it has anything there. I will leave if someone shoots at me very fast. Why complain? You bandits don't get he kill boohoo piss of back to cod then.

[dev0 19]

As Dean himself stated multiple times on interviews, server hopping, ghosting and Alt+F4'ing are serious disruptions to the DayZ game play. They neither add to the authenticity of the game nor do they help building emergent game play. And in fact Dean is going to try fix those problems in an upcoming patch most likely using cool downs on server switching and maybe even killing players who repeatedly server hop, ghost or Alt+F4. The OP has a point here and telling him to "die" is certainly not good manner.

While I agree with the OP and Dean, that there is a problem, I do not agree if either of their solutions. In my eyes the OP's solution is much too technical. Specifying different log out rules based on radius on loot locations is neither easily understandable nor does it tie into the "No Rules" theme of the game.

Dean's cooldown solution suffers from a similar problem. Introducing cool downs and maybe even killing player characters when hopping servers also introduces rules, which again is a contradiction to what Dean repeatedly stated he was trying to aim for with DayZ. Also, adding a reconnection cooldown will not really help fixing Alt+F4 scenarios.

So I would like to provide a counter proposal to these solutions which I believe ties better into the golden rule of "There are no rules", as well as providing an authentic mechanism which is believeable and fixes all of the listed problems. I propose to introduce a log out "ritual".

Log out rituals are very common in MMOs and help preventing similar scenarios in other games. A log out ritual requires a player to undertake a certain "ritual" or activity which will then allow him to seamlessly log out. For example, in World of Warcraft you have to sit down and wait for a timer of a couple of seconds to elapse before you can log out seamlessly. In other games you might have to do a prayer, visit a tavern, sleep in a bed or similar. If the player does not undertake the ritual and drops out of the game by e.g. either Alt+F4 or loosing the connection, then he his character will remain in-game for a couple of minutes before he actually disappears. During this time, he is especially prone to PVE and PVP attacks. While a player is still able to Alt+F4, he will most likely not want to do it, because he will leave his avatar helpless.

How could such a ritual be implemented in DayZ? There are two aspects to it. First there is a technical aspect and second there is a roleplay / authenticity aspect to it. From a technical standpoint an implementation could look like follows. Numbers are suggestion and can and probably should be adjusted:

To log out seamlessly a player needs to perform a log out ritual. The ritual should take between 10 and 20 seconds, require a certain amount of space and maybe a special tool or item, be clearly visible when performing, and should only be possible in the outside. The actual ritual implementation should reflect these "rules" in an authentic way, so they do not appear as rules, but as a limitation coming from the nature of the ritual. If a player logs out using the ritual, he is free to reconnect to any server at any time.

If a player fails to perform the ritual, when disconnecting, his character will drop unconscious for about 2 to 5 minutes. He will remain lying helplessly at the spot until a) either the time passes at which he will despawn and finally be disconnected or the player reconnects on the same server, which will bring the character back immediately or c) the character dies. For as long as the unconscious avatar remains present in the world, the player will not be able to connect to any other server than the one with his unconscious avatar. Only when his avatar despawns or dies he will be able to connect to another server (or the same sever again, for that matter). If the character dies while lying unconscious the player will get the death message the next time he connects and will be prompted to create a new character from there.

There are several options for a ritual implementation in DayZ. Two I think are especially compelling, because they provide a authentic reason for the rules I setup for the ritual before. Both are simply suggestions and the form of the ritual actually isn't very important as long as it provides authentic reason for the specified rules set. So take these as suggestions. Maybe you can come up with your own ideas.

Sleep in a tent

To be able to log out seamlessly you will have to sleep in a tent. This requires you to either find a tent already setup or to find a tent yourself and set it up on the server you which to log out from seamlessly. Setting up a tent takes some time, requires space and is not possible inside of buildings. Also, since tents are rather rare and bound to the server where they are setup you will most likely not be willing to carry one around with you and use it to log out whenever you feel like it. Note though, that you will be able to disassemble it and take it with you again, if you log into the same server again. Setting up a tent in a combat situation is not really feasible and since it is bound to the server you log out from, you cannot use it for server hopping. While ghosting you could setup a tent, sleep in it, log in to another server, flank an opponent, log out there without a tent, receive the unconsciousness penalty, wait a couple of minutes to reconnect to your original server and then flank your opponent. This however will take some time. Also, while you are ghosting, your opponent will have the chance to spot the tent and figure out what is going on. While you are setting up the tent and while you are unconscious on the other server, you expose yourself to great risk, making this strategy basically unprofitable.

Sitting at a camp fire

The other scenario I would like to propose is sitting at a camp fire. To able to log out seamlessly, you would have to set up and light up a camp fire and sit at it for 10 to 20 seconds. When disconnected, the camp fire will burn out, but the fire place itself will remain. To do this you will require matches as well as either an already prepared camp fire, some logs of wood in your backpack or a hatchet and a forest. Setting up a camp fire takes some time and depending on if you have logs with you or not, it will require you to travel to the next forest. However, a camp fire is much more accessible than a tent, much more flexible in where and when you can set it up. As a camp fire is easily spotable from afar, it is not really feasible using it to flank somebody. Also, setting up a camp fire and sitting at it for 10 to 20 seconds is not really doable in a general combat situation. Using a campfire to hop from server to server however is possible to a certain degree. If you pack your bagpack with enough logs or are close to a forest, you can still rather easily hop from server to server. It will require a certain effort though.

Q&A

Since I anticipate a couple of questions or critique I want to elaborate upfront:

Q: This is really uncomfortable. Players will hate it, I certainly already do.

A: Most players hate most aspects about DayZ. In fact the game is tailored around pissing you of and showing you how much it can kick you in your balls. This ties in well in my eyes.

Q: When requiring a tent or matches and a hatchet to logout, I will not be able to log out seamlessly the most time!

A: Yes, but to some degree this is the point. Making the process of log out more cumbersome, to prevent it from being abused. Also, since tents are so rare, players will start using other player's tents to log out, providing another opportunity for emergent gameplay to evolve.

Q: But if a tent and the fireplace will remain at the location where I logged out, then other players will know where I logged out and maybe even camp the location!

A: Camping out in front of Elektro in a post apocalyptic world with bandits waiting to slit your throat and take your valuables isn't a good idea, correct. Find a saver spot to set up your camp.

Q: This is technically not implementable. Get lost you moron!

A: I do not know what exactly is possible for DayZ as a ArmA II Modification, I am pretty sure that this functionality is implementable. I think Dean or whoever would implement such a functionality in the end, would have to decide if this is technically possible.

Q: I love this suggestion! You are a genius! I want to marry you!

A: You may send in female marriage proposals by direct message. Please include a picture of you. ;)

Edited July 27, 2012 by dev0

[chipdemon@yahoo.com 57]

I thought a good way to stop ghosting might be to give servers a 15-20 minute "memory" of every player who leaves, and their last location. If a player rejoins within that deadline and their location from the hive doesnt match the server record then that player is forced to spawn in that last known location, which is then updated back to the hive again. After the deadline has passed the record of the player is deleted.

[b1gry4n 0]

i like your logout ritual idea. Though i think simplifying it even more so than a campfire or a tent would be the best option, as starting as a new player you will not have access to these things.

Take out the tent/campfire and give every player a new "tool" item you start with to allow them to sleep. treat it like the hatchet where you can only activate it in the woods. you can log out seamlessly in the woods after a 5 second (or so) animation to lay down. Lets be real...you can walk 5 min or less to a forest in this game.

Any player who disconnects while playing or alt f4s should stay in the game for a couple minutes...sorry but it isnt the games fault your internet crapped out or your comp crashed. I think a user friendly approach to non-intentional disconnects could still include zombies despawning.

[SniperFodder 0]

Any player who disconnects while playing or alt f4s should stay in the game for a couple minutes...sorry but it isnt the games fault your internet crapped out or your comp crashed. I think a user friendly approach to non-intentional disconnects could still include zombies despawning.

And that attitude is exactly why I don't play LoL, because I can't guarantee that I can stay in-game, especially when LoL likes to drop my connection, even though I'm fine on every other game. Not because my connection is actually crappy, but because leaving is marked against me when the servers are overburdened, or the node my packets are routing through happens to drop out leaving my packets to try and find an alternate route, or any number of reasons that can be ENACTED on ME by third parties, although most of the time unintentionally. And the kicker being that I get my account banned because I have X ammount of leaves and the system bans me. Not that It's actually been banned. I don't actually play the game for that to happen.

But that's not why I want to reply to your post. This is dayZ, not an LoL rant thread. I think, if something like this is implemented, it needs to take it's cues from battle eye as well. If battle eye is kicking me for excessive ping, or some other reason due to limits set by the server, I should not be punished for that right off the bat. On the flip side I can understand players abusing such a system by causing massive ping during a firefight that they want out of.

On Final note, While I actually like the comments about a ritual like system, I would like to point out that this game is magnitudes different than let's say, World of Warcraft, simply because it is roguelike. In WoW, disconnecting without completing the ritual, at most, means that you have to run back to your body, and repair gear that has taken durability dammage. This can be said about most games that implement a logout timer. In DayZ however? You die. Permantly. You have to roll a new toon. But, at the end of the day, that's just the nature of the game. Does it suck? Yea. Do I like it? Hell yea. That's half the appeal of the game. Is it fair? Hell if I know.

TL;DR

I shouldn't be punished by the logout ritual if the server is enacting a kick on me.