Suggestion: Safetown

[LondonHyena 7]

I've been thinking about this idea a fair bit, for a number of different reasons.

What if we were to have a 'safe town' somewhere towards the middle of the map? The mod is extremely popular now, we have thousands of players so from a storyline standpoint it would make sense there would be at least one town that is zombie free and 'safe'.

People want to promote team work but at the moment one of the biggest issues is meeting up with people in order to do so, or setting up a group in the first place from the randomers who would want to do a bit of groupwork.

So my proposal:

1) Have one town somewhere towards the middle of a map, a small one, declared as a universal safe zone/neutral area.

2) No zombies would spawn in this town, as it would be assumed since it's a popular place the population of them would be constantly decimated.

3) Weapons fire within the towns limits would issue a warning to the player, similar to some other mods that give 3 strikes before kicking a player. If this is viewed as too harsh, is there a way to simply disable weapons in the limits?

4) I appreciate that there is nothing really to stop people from shooting with long range rifles from beyond the limits, that cannot be helped. However, if the town does have high traffic of players, such a strategy would be extremely risky and probably lead to that snipers death.

5) There would be no loot spawn within the town, however a fairly safe area that is neutral to bandits/survivors may actually start a barter system, so people would be encouraged to take spare maps and compasses to perhaps trade for ammunition and other supplies.

6) I don't want this to be seen as trying to be a 'carebear' thing, but survivors want a place to group up and explore the world, and even bandits may need to trade for supplies. Not just that, having the ability to trade with players would add a new survival dynamic encouraging hoarding of essentials for the possibility of aquiring something more useful.

7) I would not like to see the use of NPC guards or anything of the sort, it should keep to the games current tradition of letting the players look after themselves without intervention save for something enforcing a no shooting policy in order to facilitate group play.

I am hoping such an idea is a middle ground for the people who want to really play just for the survival, without being detrimental to the people who are happy with the PVP situation.

Of course, the flipside is going to this town would probably make the surrounded area infested with bandits, but in the spirit of DayZ, high rish=high reward.

[Leechman 8]

Many other people have had this suggestion before.

Please use the search function before posting.

[_Profile_Shame 37]

the great thing about this game is that groups of people are holding towns for this purpose without the need for scripted elements, its a sandbox

[LondonHyena 7]

People have posted similar ideas yes, but not this specific idea. If we just searched for similar idea's all the time and added to that there wouldn't be very many threads at all :p

[Leechman 8]

People have posted similar ideas yes' date=' but not this specific idea. If we just searched for similar idea's all the time and added to that there wouldn't be very many threads at all :p

[/quote']

That's kinda the point lol :D

[dale 11]

A DMZ zone would be kind of nice, one you couldn't fire into or out of, and would encourage player trade etc but I think it would be a prime place for bandits to sit outside of waiting for players to come out.

But overall a good idea as something like this needs to be implemented, but everything in it should be player driven, I don't like the idea of NPC's selling stuff.

[LondonHyena 7]

Dale' pid='52912' dateline='1337764019']

But overall a good idea as something like this needs to be implemented' date=' but everything in it should be player driven, I don't like the idea of NPC's selling stuff.

[/quote']

In full agreement, no NPC's should be used.

[landstriker 9]

You would need a solid trade system in order to make it work.

[Leechman 8]

Ok, I'll respond to the thread.

Any suggestion like this is unnecessary.

You already have the tools in the game to set up something like this. Barricades aren't that rare if you know where to look. There are plenty of locations where you could safely set up something like this, and with the right players you could easily enforce it. You'd easily be able to set up a base trading currency if you so wished, even taxes and any other random law you see fit.

Instead of having it made for you, take the initiative and use the tools already at your disposal to create something like this.

[LondonHyena 7]

But that would be a very server-specific system. What about other servers where people are not so organised, or what if you simply cannot get on to play with your friends? Besides which, barricades can be removed by people, servers reset etc etc.

[Leechman 8]

Yes it is entirely server specific. And there are issues, but they are completely related to servers (alpha issues) or player commitment.

The server related issues will go with time as barricades become permanent, characters become bound to a single server etc.

Player commitment stuff is entirely up to you, much like if you tried setting up such a place in a real-life scenario.

You still already have the tools to create such a location. I see no need to demand the devs devote time to creating something that you already can do.

[LondonHyena 7]

It's not a demand, it is a suggestion, the purpose of this forum is to 'suggest' things.

You are entitled to your opinion and thank you for it, I personally disagree but that is my right too. Lets see what other people think :)

[Leechman 8]

Demand was the wrong word.

Apologies.

[Stinglock 1]

It seems after a closer read you're only requesting three changes

+ safezone area

+ weapon fire warning system

+ no loot in area

Now given that the first and the last are already well and truly in this game as noticed by everyone posting here, It seems you only need one change to occur for your suggestion to happen, for some kind of weapon firing system to autokick when triggered by ff and determined by a zone.

I guess what I'd rather see is an area enforced by players, setup by players, and run by players than a predetermined area setup and locked to the game for everyone.

[LondonHyena 7]

Believe me it would be nice, but while some servers are very well organised, a lot of servers simply arn't. A lot of people play solo for example, or simply don't know people well enough to be part of a good outfit.

It's just an idea that might level the playing field for those who either cannot or do not want to be part of a specific team while not forcing them to be forever alone.

[TeaLeaf 5]

I think if it is possible in the long term to make the server situation less weird then these ideas are unnecessary. If not, I think we should get some kind of "safe" hub zone but I believe it should be less forced than what you suggested.

Just use NPCs as guards, they execute people that fire weapons inside the town and retaliate against external attack (counter snipers) but they can be killed and players can still attempt to player kill inside the town. They respawn eventually unless they are all wiped out and bandits take over, in which case they start spawning again once the bandits are all killed/leave.

I think something like this would create a "safe zone" more in line with the feel of the mod IE it's still a little unsafe.

[LondonHyena 7]

One of the major problems with the AI in Arma is it only has two settings:

1) Helen Keller mode, standing around doing nothing and basically useless.

2) T-800 mode, where they are a laser accurate force of killing machines.

I dont trust the AI one bit, besides, they could flid out and target everyone from the main game faction (which everyone is in)

[TeaLeaf 5]

Meh, it's worth a shot imo. They won't attack you unless you actually do something wrong so I'm fine with the t-8000 mode.

[~Ren~ 0]

I like the idea but as someone else mentioned you could have bandits sitting outside the area picking people off, one possible solution to that is a survivor message sent out each time you join a server:

Your designated safe zone will be x

You then give the player a choice, depending on the distance, they could go to the safe zone knowing bandits have no idea where it is or just carry on regardless.

[jason.jblackman@gmail.com 3]

Eh, it's a difficult thing really.

On one hand, you could have an NPC-enforced safe-centre, which would be nice to have, but would take away control from the players.

On the other hand, a completely player-run place like this would be entirely unenforceable, and would lead to mass amounts of griefing.

[prospekt 8]

I don't like this idea. I think it should be up to the players to create & destroy this kind of place. However, adding more tool to help creating them could be nice

[dale 11]

one of the main reasons why this is a good idea is because with a player driven area you are looking at 24/7 operation for this to be successful + server restarts/crashes (in which case you lose all placed items), how is that going to help a player driven operation?

You need an area where everyday no matter night time or day time, there is a place you can go and just meet people and trade, without the addition of other players influence.

Im sorry but if you want to stand guard and set up (after every server restart) an area where players can come and go and trade without any shots fired etc you are going to have to have a lot of time on your hands and no problems with being shot every few minutes and having to move back to that particular area all day to protect and nurture it.

If a say a clan does it, it will mean everyone there will be on one side.

I tell you now im not knowingly walking into a clans camp, their rules, their policies, I break something and im shot dead and all my loot gone, no thanks :).

I am for maybe player controlled areas (so a place which can be capped and controlled) so you clear out the zombies and hold against several waves of zombies untill the end, then you get control of the place and can set up stuff (i.e. tents etc).

And when you take control of the area torch lights and flares start popping up around the area at night so that its lit up.

Once again changing the thread but it just occurred to me.

[resident emil 1]

Servers that are unorganized probably doesn't want this, as they would otherwise organize to do it. Servers that are organized should be able to accomplish this without implementing safe zones in the game.

I agree that there are issues that make this hard, or at least hard to uphold such a safe location. However, the beauty and originality of DayZ is 100% due to the fact that it is exceptionally player driven. If players can't trust each other and work together well enough to create such a place, I guess they don't deserve it.

[dale 11]

Servers that are unorganized probably doesn't want this' date=' as they would otherwise organize to do it. Servers that are organized should be able to accomplish this without implementing safe zones in the game.

I agree that there are issues that make this hard, or at least hard to uphold such a safe location. However, the beauty and originality of DayZ is 100% due to the fact that it is exceptionally player driven. If players can't trust each other and work together well enough to create such a place, I guess they don't deserve it.

[/quote']

Well the thing is servers are organised and disorganised according to who plays on there etc, now unless those servers are full of that same people 100% of the time your idea falls through the floor, also why should a group of people stand around in an town(which might be empty half the time) just to ensure it isn't dismantled etc.

I would much rather have a common area on all servers where you know you can trade, make new friends etc without having to dedicate myself to one server because "they are organised".

Also its the unorganised bit that makes DayZ interesting, the organised bit is purely in your imagination.