Re-implement side chat?

[`Orum 17]

1) Dehydrating while standing in the middle of a pond just because you don't have a canteen is unrealistic.

This is really the only one of your points listed that I agree should be fixed (as in, changed so that you can drink w/o a canteen when in a pond or near a pump/well). The other things may be unrealistic, but the alternative is worse. Can you imagine if breaking a bone kept your leg broken for a week? Everyone would just respawn. While we can't fill whiskey bottles, the point of them being in the game is to distract zombies when thrown, not for storing liquids.

[Anthrax12 46]

Yes i would love to have side chat, Asking a person if there are friendly before blasting them, Teaming up with other's, If i wanted a offline zombie shooter i would just play left for dead offline but it is not and you can mute people who mic spam.

[Spoleto 25]

Yes, I remember. Depressing wasn't it? I never wanted to see side chat disappear and foresaw people missing it if it left. Apparently it improves immersion. Though in a game where most people are communicating with their friends on teamspeak, I fail to see how other players communicating with text on the side of the screen diminishes the immersion to any greater extent.

Exactly. The people who have a organised group who can communicate across the entire map with voice chat don't care that side chat is removed? Well that's suprising, they probably operate on a kill anyone not in our VOIP basis anyway, but for any other players who perhaps don't have a group playing or who *gasp* prefer to play solo most of the time side chat was an invaluable asset that gave us a comparable communication method to the unlimited range third party VOIP that is so widely used. And its a huge stretch to even say it is comparable - any bandits who wanted to spy on side chat had themselves an invaluable resource there to hunt down inexperienced players who were broadcasting their locations like a running commentary :P

I would alternate between answering questions, just chatting over side chat to forgetting that blue text was even there when I was doing high risk activites, so I don't buy that its damaging anyones immersion, either. Sure it would be great to have an option to turn it off for any players who really find it that difficult to ignore but removing it entirely I think has proved to be a disingenious solution to increasing immersion, and has pretty much forced metagaming for coop of any kind.

[ShanefawkdLori 8]

After side chat was removed DayZ became pvp.

[Spoleto 25]

Not only that but made metagaming with VOIP have a clear and distinct advantage, even if you DO meet a friendly with the current direct only system, you are at a huge disadvantage unless you exchange skype/ts3/mumble details as if you go more than 80m from each other you will lose contact and probably end up shooting one another if you bump into each other again. And your voice is heard by anyone also in your area - which im definately not complaining about, this is one of the most compelling parts of the ingame voip and one of the things I have such a problem with groups using third party voice circumventing, you will *never* overhear a organised enemy squad talking in game because they obviously are not broadcasting over direct, wheras people playing the game "properly" using the ingame voice will alert anyone in their radius friend or foe.

It's such a compelling mechanic I don't know why people want to circumvent it...

Bring back sidechat for general server community and making it possible for players to at least try to discover peoples intentions from further than 80m and for your VOIP needs use the ingame system as nothing is more awesome than overhearing another group ingame then tracking them down, for good or ill :lol:

[Anton17 97]

After side chat was removed DayZ became pvp.

That's what I was trying to get across but anything controversial on these forums is usually blown up without really giving consideration to the suggestion and pros/cons. I hope now people have had time to mull over the experience without side chat they might have a more refined opinion on whether it should be left off or added back.

So far this thread has proved promising on both sides of the suggestion.

Edited August 3, 2012 by Anton17

[moofactory 62]

Exactly, side chat reduced pvp A LOT.

If you can talk to everyone... you can make friends, you can orginise groups.

I saw a friend in the player list the other day... as if I could tell him though.

Without side chatt.. the game feels very isolated.

You are more likely to kill someone that you have not talked to.

[Spoleto 25]

Rocket used to get involved in these kinds of discussions on the forums not so long ago, I hope he still reads them occasionaly because I don't see any sign of his radio idea (that was meant to be replacing side chat) being implemented so It kinda feels like he has taken out a big part of the mod without having anything there to replace it in terms of similar functionality, which he acknowledged was needed in the dedicated thread on the removal of side chat.

Too late to go digging through pages to find his quote but Im sure its still there to anyone who can be bothered to look for it.

[Momiji 46]

Never actually saw any bad things when playing on side chat, recall one time running north and saw on there.

"Who just shot me in NW Airfield?"

"That was me, sorry"

"Damn good shot that was, well done"

Everyone seemed more friendly, the conversation was nice to distract from the running simulator, server actually had a community of sorts.

Right now, 3rd Party is all the voip people use, Direct Chat is practically a death wish unless you have the jump on someone. (The sheer amount of idiots i've tracked and killed cause they were using Direct Chat, Proximity based volume is like a homing beacon)

It'd be nice to have it, can live without it though, till it returns, teamspeak is all i use. Immersion isn't a big deal for me anyway.

[Inception. 9443]

Personally, I loved Side Chat. It didn't feel so lonely when playing by myself. I also love watching players spaw the chat with rage messages B)

[Inception. 9443]

I for one would like to see the introduction of illegal drugs... like LSD... hmmm is that zombie real? or am I just trippin' balls?! lol

then again all the "zombies" are just people on bath salts. They need rehab, not a bullet to the dome.

Bath Salts weren't even the cause of the Miami incident.

[Zarathustra (DayZ) 87]

Yes, side chat probably did reduce pvp. Though I don't have any evidence of this, others might recognize the following anecdote from their own Day Z experience:

I am a bandit, and have been since I started playing in May. I admit that I did often use side chat to hunt survivors. Occasionally, though, while listening to people's banter as I made my way to intercept and kill them, I found myself becoming fond of my intended prey - and increasingly reluctant to do them harm!

One evening a couple of fellows were chatting in Elektro, and, being near the dam, I decided to head down and see if I could bag myself two fresh kills. I don't remember anything about what they spoke of, but I remember, after following their conversation for some time, feeling a sense of warm familiarity. As I approached Elektro from the north, they came under fire from another bandit on the hillside opposite the power station. Someone was going to get them before me! I wasn't far away, so it didn't take me long to home in on the sporadic DMR fire. The shooter was lying prone, peering through his binoculars, when I shot a single Enfield round into his back. I spent a minute thinking about what to do next, and decided that I wasn't going to kill the pair in the station beneath. I had been listening to them chatting for almost an hour and had come to rather like them; besides, I had just saved their lives. On side chat, I told the guys that their sniper was dead and, minus the DMR, his loot was now theirs. I turned and headed back north.

[Anton17 97]

I've made quite a few posts and threads on this forum trying to gather opinions about current features, solutions and suggestions and this has by far received more positive reaction than any others any its only on page 2.

I think that is worth noting. Hopefully more people can chime in with their thoughts without de-railing the thread, as generally happens, since so far the response to bringing back side chat has been in overwhelming agreement.

[MDRN Buddha 4]

The few servers ive come across with side chat has been some of the more fun ones ive played on. Not because I used it to stalk people or meet up with randoms to go out and do whatever. Mainly just for the side conversations and if a new player has a legit question people can at least offer some advice.

I know when I first started it was really nice, had some good questions answered for me as well as warned to stay out of the big cities until I had a small grasp of the gameplay and controls.

[moofactory 62]

Yes, side chat probably did reduce pvp. Though I don't have any evidence of this, others might recognize the following anecdote from their own Day Z experience:

I am a bandit, and have been since I started playing in May. I admit that I did often use side chat to hunt survivors. Occasionally, though, while listening to people's banter as I made my way to intercept and kill them, I found myself becoming fond of my intended prey - and increasingly reluctant to do them harm!

This is EXACTLY what im talking about.

Ive been in the exact same position before.

I was prone on a rooftop overlooking the firetower in churno. (the one with the blue roofing)

Instead of killing them, I had more fun scaring them..

"I SEEEEE YOUUUUU!"

YEAH YOU IN THE FIRETOWER!

Watching the reactions from a distance was well rewarding, this went on for about 10 minutes... me repeating their every move.

After a bit of playing with them, We started chatting and while they thought I was scary and creepy... we ran into each other again 6 hours later.

And talked for a while again...

That was a month ago... on a private server.

Now we run together when we can as a group.

Some of the BEST moments in game have all been because of side chat allowed it to happen.

Edited August 3, 2012 by moofactory

[internetTAB (DayZ) 76]

I know what you mean Anton, side chat has plenty of uses. Sure, in real life you won't have a scrolling wall of text in the lower left corner of your vision unless you're the T1000, but love side chat because of all the funny conversations people have. That's how I learned outhouse doors could break legs, from side chat.

Personally I'd prefer it back, but I'm sure there are valid reasons to both put it back in the game and leave it out.

No Way!

obviously the T1000's are advanced enough to have the data sent directly through their neural network. :lol:

[sausagekingofchicago 4711]

As long as I can turn it off then I don't care. Unless it comes with a server performance hit.

Having some dillhole rambling into the mic while I'm trying to sneak through a town completely breaks the immersion.

[AllYoYens 34]

Should be up to admin.

[tacticaljim 28]

I would rather wait for radios, walkie talkies and cb radios to be introduced. Side chat is lame and totally detracts from the immersion of the game...now that's not to say that the game doesn't need more incentives for teamwork...

[Anton17 97]

So far as I can see there's no polarisation in opinions on this, either people want it back or people don't care.

As long as it can be implemented with an option to disable (doubt he has the capability of this unless its a server feature like crosshairs and 3rd person) and for sure, disable the mic usage in side chat, I think re-adding side chat can only please people.

[-AoXo- 24]

As others have said using the "it breaks immersion" excuse can't really fly if people are using Vent, TeamSpeak, Skype, etc to communicate.

[Anton17 97]

Welp, since private hives/servers have received a little backing from Rocket, hopefully side chat can follow suit, or at least allow those running private hives/servers to continue their usage of the great side chat-a-mundo!

[Shotgunned 23]

hey all! im curious, i cant find a side chat enabled server other than CA1 and it wont let me log in to that specific server for some reason. do any of you have a list of servers with side chat on so i can actually enjoy this game again. i miss sc =*(