Argument for incentivising cooperative group gameplay without nerfing banditry

[Brontez TW 8]

Now before you flip out, I'm not referring top any magical bandit nuking spells or really anything that would hamper the gameplay of any player, quite the opposite in fact.

Incentivising cooperation of any kind promotes survivalist behavior and makes running around like a crazed killer less attractive.

If Arma or DayZ can detect proximity (player to player) OR if we could form proper groups, why not give certain meaningful bonuses for cooperation?

What I mean is, currently there's no incentive to cooperate vs just shooting at everyone you see unless you happen to know them IRL. In the past that's been fine as the playerbase was smaller and more likely to form groups and "play nice", but as the playerbase has grown there are a lot more "action shooter" player types showing up who have no incentive to create or join groups of survivors.

Blah blah blah I could go on for pages about this but ill get to the point :)

In a real scenario where government breaks down, people form groups to survive because there are evident and meaningful advantages to doing so. The purposes of these groups aren't always "good" either, people form groups to survive or gangs to steal, pillage and murder in a position of relative strength & safety. In these groups, whether you consider their goals "good" or "evil" is irrelevant, survival in extreme circumstances becomes a fairly amoral activity. BUT one thing remains constant, those in groups have advantages that loners do not.

Therefore, in the context of DayZ, it just makes sense to give those who form groups a set of meaningful advantages based at least in theory on real life group advantages. This would incentivise group behavior and make being the lone crazed gunman no more difficult than it is now, but certainly less appealing than taking a chance on strangers for mutual advantage.

Some benefits of grouping could be:

lower consumption rate of food/water due to lower individual expenditure of energy

raised MAXIMUM level of "blood" to represent the strength of numbers

much lower rate of temperature loss

basically any benefit that does not make it easier to KILL but makes it easier to live and survive longer term would be fair, maybe even count on the interaction of group skills to create survival items that are otherwise not obtainable through loot spawns like home made sterno to make wilderness fires that don't show the entire northern forests where you are, or 10 use coke can silencers (look it up on the internets) but they require being grouped to create to represent the strength of people with varying skills working together.

All of these effects would be temporary only in groups and within a reasonable proximity to your groupmates so that it doesn't outright discourage one style of gameplay but definitely encourages more cooperation against the zombie apocalypse.

CLIFFS: instead of concentrating on ways to discourage or punish "bandit" behavior, better incentivise grouping and cooperative behavior.

Well anyways, there's my first of many long winded posts. Love it or hate it I look forward to reading and then ignoring most replies :D

Renamed thread for the reading comprehension impaired...

[finland 0]

Oops, I didn't quite understand what this thread was about when I first read it. I actually disagree. I think that being in numbers already represents strength in numbers. You carry more food, weapons, ammo, blood, and just about everything else already. there is no need to buff people's stats for being in numbers.

[Brontez TW 8]

I'm not really referring to getting any bonuses from killing bandits or any other player, just bonuses while grouped, that disappear when you leave. :)

[Leechman 8]

You should check out this thread: http://dayzmod.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=588

[Brontez TW 8]

Oops' date=' I didn't quite understand what this thread was about when I first read it. I actually disagree. I think that being in numbers already represents strength in numbers. You carry more food, weapons, ammo, blood, and just about everything else already. there is no need to buff people's stats for being in numbers.

[/quote']

currently there's so little reason to group that I actually do better surviving up north on my own than I do with a group of friends I already trust, so why should I ever take a chance on cooperating with a stranger?

---

You should check out this thread: http://dayzmod.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=588

just so there'ss no misunderstanding, I'm all for pvp. This is about the incentives to group with strangers rather than shoot them first, not a really a pvp/anti-pvp topic.

[miqueloz 33]

Organized bandit groups are already strong, there's no reason to give them buffs like more max blood, IMO.

[That Lamer 0]

Oops' date=' I didn't quite understand what this thread was about when I first read it. I actually disagree. I think that being in numbers already represents strength in numbers. You carry more food, weapons, ammo, blood, and just about everything else already. there is no need to buff people's stats for being in numbers.

[/quote']

currently there's so little reason to group that I actually do better surviving up north on my own than I do with a group of friends I already trust

Tell your friends to stop being scrub lords who run full tilt near zombies and constantly fire off their weapons to alert bandits. My survival rate has increased three fold since grouping with bandits who play smart. As mcnugga said, the benefit of grouping is shared supplies and additional eyes (and guns) on the target. Not everyone needs to carry 2+ bandages when collectively you have 6. That benefit also disappears when the group breaks up.

[~Ren~ 0]

What I mean is' date=' currently there's no incentive to cooperate vs just shooting at everyone you see unless you happen to know them IRL.[/quote']

That's why the bandit numbers are increasing!

Players pull the trigger first without thinking. Many times I've been face to face with another survivor, both weapons are drawn and pointed at each other yet we both walked away from that.

If everyone goes around thinking the same thing then the survivors will become the minority so you'll have no choice but to band together.

I play alone and I do that for one reason, players are unpredictable and can suddenly start firing at something I might not have seen, rather than warn me they don't think and open fire.

[Brontez TW 8]

I think you guys are missing the point. What's destroying the atmosphere of the game isn't pvp or Banditry, its the influx of people treating the game like quake with zombies because it's simply easier to kill the first person you see rather than group up.

Incentivising group activity promotes cooperation and a more realistic apocalyptic scenario without "nerfing" pvp or solo banditry.

[tolk 7]

Providing temporary buffs for groups is an interesting idea but it overlooks the negative effects of being grouped. In the real world grouping works to increase human longevity but in DayZ zombies add a new dynamic. By being in a group you would instantly become more noticeable:

1) Increased noise levels (cumulative footsteps, need to communicate, ...)

2) Increase visual impact (more thing moving = more noticeable)

3) etc.

Unfortunately I would doubt the Arma engine is capable of modelling this accurately i.e. whether a Zee notices you visually is likely based on range rather than visual interference (i.e. you could have a million players standing around a zombie but outside a certain range and it would still not notice them). Same goes for sound.

So it's probably not a good idea; it's all the advantages without the disadvantages.

[joikd 25]

There are already plenty of real-life incentives to form groups (supplies, security, medical, firepower, etc.). The disadvantages are, again, just like in real-life (backstabber, less concealment, spreading infection, etc.)

IMO DayZ represents real-life in this regard, especially now that there is no way to identify "bandits." The atmosphere is perfect and realistic--trust no one except for family and very close friends. Avoid or attack everyone else.

[Brontez TW 8]

For everybody who says DayZ is already realistic in its player interaction, all I need to say is you don't respawn in real life.

respawn completely breaks the realism argument, since I can be a complete dick in the game with little to no consequence, I go into every situation knowing I'll just pop right back up on the shore with a fresh can of beeenz.

[Taylor (DayZ) 7]

No real ways of incentivising teamwork over banditry, unless perks are added. And I don't want this game to have any COD elements in it.

[joikd 25]

Simple solution to respawn killers--leave the coast. It takes little time, and leaves behind 99.9% of anyone not concerned with dying.

[deadbolt (DayZ) 10]

No real ways of incentivising teamwork over banditry' date=' unless perks are added. And I don't want this game to have any COD elements in it.

[/quote']

teamwork already has a lot more advantages over being a lone bandit

[LastShenanigan 8]

If we really need incentives to group we should make weapons much more rare. Everyone carrying guns being scared and paranoid does not help them make friends. If you're willing to give up your zombie killing boomstick and carry my beans then yes, we can group up. Otherwise you're unknowningly pointing a gun at me everytime you scroll over me, no like.

[That Lamer 0]

For everybody who says DayZ is already realistic in its player interaction' date=' all I need to say is you don't respawn in real life.

respawn completely breaks the realism argument, since I can be a complete dick in the game with little to no consequence, I go into every situation knowing I'll just pop right back up on the shore with a fresh can of beeenz.

[/quote']

This along with your previous statements sounds more like a personal problem. There are plenty of benefits to grouping with people and actually caring about living, you just don't see them because you apparently don't mind running for half an hour to find someone and then charge straight into them until someone is dead. The majority of us though either have valuable gear to care about, or value our time enough that we don't want to throw it away in the manner you apparently do.

[DaPessimist 1]

The risk of grouping for outweighs the rewards. I can live just fine, stacked with everything my heart desires running solo. Grouping up with anyone but RL friends or Guildies offers no rewards, but plenty of risks.

Unless you play with RL friends or guildies, this is a solo game, period.