Declaring Yourself a Bandit

[zanetheinsane 1]

I think a major part of the mod is the unavoidable fact that players are going to kill each other but agree that a lot of the rampant KOS deathmatchiness makes it incredibly hard to actually meet other players (the thing that makes multiplayer gaming "multi").

A good compromise would be a system where you "declare" yourself a bandit which changes your skin to whatever the bandit skin is. As a bandit you can attack and kill any other player but may also be attacked and killed by any other player. You remain a bandit until your current character dies and you respawn, it is irreversible.

Otherwise you are a survivor and shooting other undeclared bandits functions just like as if friendly-fire were turned off.

Whether or not this is accomplishable within an Arma 2 mod I do not know. This seems to be the simplest system that still allows bandits the freedom to kill anyone, allows the "survivors" the ability to identify other "friendlies", and allows survivors to defend themselves against bandits without inadvertently being flagged a bandit themselves.

This also still allows survivors to join up with others and gain their trust and then declare and backstab them. Of course you might have a lot of players suicide to get rid of their bandit status, but with any system you'll always have people using features within that system in inadvertent ways. (For example, players spamming respawn to get a preferential spawn point).

[Uncle Bourbon 15]

I think a major part of the mod is the unavoidable fact that players are going to kill each other but agree that a lot of the rampant KOS deathmatchiness makes it incredibly hard to actually meet other players (the thing that makes multiplayer gaming "multi").

A good compromise would be a system where you "declare" yourself a bandit which changes your skin to whatever the bandit skin is. As a bandit you can attack and kill any other player but may also be attacked and killed by any other player. You remain a bandit until your current character dies and you respawn, it is irreversible.

Otherwise you are a survivor and shooting other undeclared bandits functions just like as if friendly-fire were turned off.

Whether or not this is accomplishable within an Arma 2 mod I do not know. This seems to be the simplest system that still allows bandits the freedom to kill anyone, allows the "survivors" the ability to identify other "friendlies", and allows survivors to defend themselves against bandits without inadvertently being flagged a bandit themselves.

This also still allows survivors to join up with others and gain their trust and then declare and backstab them. Of course you might have a lot of players suicide to get rid of their bandit status, but with any system you'll always have people using features within that system in inadvertent ways. (For example, players spamming respawn to get a preferential spawn point).

<Declares he isn't a bandit

<Goes into your camp

<Steals your things

kbye

[zanetheinsane 1]

Don't invite random people into your camp? Dunno. I mean opposed to the current system of just shooting the guy in the face as a way of saying "Hello", I'd say making it back to camp is a pretty big step.

Possibly taking things from a tent that isn't yours makes you a bandit? Would make it hard for a pal to get something out of your tent without you being online. I doubt Rocket would be able to put in a system to "allow" other players to access "your" tent. A small concession.

Edited August 2, 2012 by zanetheinsane

[Uncle Bourbon 15]

You see, by keeping yourself as a survivor, you'd eliminate any other survivor threats untill they turn bandit to stop you.

Same reason people with NVGs play night servers. The only threats are other people with NVGs. or IR.

anyone else running around blind is incapable of fighting you untill they do something about it, IE Throw a flare at you.

[zanetheinsane 1]

As a survivor, other than another player killing you the only "threat" you ever really face is just someone stealing your goods. That's it. Make it so only bandits can access a tent that isn't theirs.

Of course you also have other issues. What happens if another survivor runs you over in a car? Someone could purposefully crash a vehicle you are riding in, etc. Whenever a "system" like this exists the first thing I (and many people I'm sure) do is look for ways to circumvent the system. I.E. "How can I still cause mayhem despite any safeguards put in the way." "Sure come on, get in the helicopter let's go for a fun ride!" (I know most of you have played Arma and know the joy of looking out the window and seeing your transport pilot parachuting down somewhere).

Of course the easy solution is just to not put any safeguards in the way but you end up with this incredibly hostile and unfriendly game where the only people that end up eventually playing are people who are cheating, hacking, griefing, etc. You end up just trolling an ocean of trolls after all the other people join and realize what a horrible experience the game is.

Edited August 2, 2012 by zanetheinsane

[Uncle Bourbon 15]

As a survivor, other than another player killing you the only "threat" you ever really face is just someone stealing your goods. That's it. Make it so only bandits can access a tent that isn't theirs.

Of course you also have other issues. What happens if another survivor runs you over in a car? Someone could purposefully crash a vehicle you are riding in, etc. Whenever a "system" like this exists the first thing I (and many people I'm sure) do is look for ways to circumvent the system. I.E. "How can I still cause mayhem despite any safeguards put in the way." "Sure come on, get in the helicopter let's go for a fun ride!" (I know most of you have played Arma and know the joy of looking out the window and seeing your transport pilot parachuting down somewhere).

Of course the easy solution is just to not put any safeguards in the way but you end up with this incredibly hostile and unfriendly game where the only people that end up eventually playing are people who are cheating, hacking, griefing, etc. You end up just trolling an ocean of trolls after all the other people join and realize what a horrible experience the game is.

Either way you are stuck up shit creek without a paddle.

[zanetheinsane 1]

I agree. It just seems like we only have extremes at the moment. The entire reason the bandit system was taken out was because you would have bandits purposefully trying to get people to accumulate inhumanity by forcing people to have to defend themselves.

I enjoy most aspects of the game. I think some lone nut sitting on a hillside somewhere outside of Cherno sniping people is exciting. If I didn't want to encounter the possibility of that happening I would not go to the location where snipers have the most targets.

But every single time I spawn I just have to hope and pray I don't see another person, because I know they're just going to immediately shoot and kill me before I even have so much as a hatchet to defend myself with. There's never the thought of "do I use the bullets to kill someone that doesn't even have a weapon or food" because you don't need bullets to kill zombies, you can just run away from all the zombies. And ammo is everywhere. You never have to worry about running out of most ammo. You just join a low-pop server and in 15 minutes you can get 10 clips for almost any weapon.

That of course gets quite a bit off the topic but I guess gets more into the underlying problem and not any proposed remedies.

[Uncle Bourbon 15]

I agree. It just seems like we only have extremes at the moment. The entire reason the bandit system was taken out was because you would have bandits purposefully trying to get people to accumulate inhumanity by forcing people to have to defend themselves.

I enjoy most aspects of the game. I think some lone nut sitting on a hillside somewhere outside of Cherno sniping people is exciting. If I didn't want to encounter the possibility of that happening I would not go to the location where snipers have the most targets.

But every single time I spawn I just have to hope and pray I don't see another person, because I know they're just going to immediately shoot and kill me before I even have so much as a hatchet to defend myself with. There's never the thought of "do I use the bullets to kill someone that doesn't even have a weapon or food" because you don't need bullets to kill zombies, you can just run away from all the zombies. And ammo is everywhere. You never have to worry about running out of most ammo. You just join a low-pop server and in 15 minutes you can get 10 clips for almost any weapon.

That of course gets quite a bit off the topic but I guess gets more into the underlying problem and not any proposed remedies.

I understand where you are coming from.

I dealt with this a lot of the time myself, untill I started playing with a group.

Fortunatly getting killed soon after a respawn doesn't have a lot of impact.

[zanetheinsane 1]

I'm pretty okay with a lot of the "lone wolf" aspects of the game. I originally played Arma first so even if DayZ goes tits up I'm still going to enjoy that and would never feel like it was wasted purchase. The slow-pacing is perfect for me. Anyone who's been stranded miles from anywhere in Arma and had to run 15 minutes only to get shot from somewhere you never saw and die knows what I'm talking about.

I do have a lot of friends who'd love to play a game like DayZ but there are absolutely too many "anti-social" aspects that drive away potential players. I actually have friends that saw videos of DayZ and wanted to buy Arma 2 for it but I talked them out of it. The videos show the 10% fun without the 90% ugly side.

The game does present itself as "zombie apocalypse" but I think that people will be angry to find they were served up "mindless deathmatch with some running away from zombies".

Edited August 2, 2012 by zanetheinsane

[GexAlmighty 54]

This thread already exists (with much better detail) by another user, please use the search function in future.

Also i don't agree with the concept, for basically the exact reasons uncle bourbon has said above.

The way you play this game has 3 options:

1. Play by yourself, shoot EVERYONE else on sight. Live.

2. Play with people you know and form a group, shoot ALL other players on sight. Live.

3. Try and form a group with strangers, get shot on sight. Die

Moral of the story, if you want to play with people that won't shoot you, go make some friends