Will DayZ strive to be realistic, or simply difficult?

[HoboWithAGlock 25]

As of the temperature update, I can't help but get a little worried about the future of the game and the path that rocket may or may not want to take it. It's his game, and by no means am I saying that the results he may want are "wrong," but I am a little curious as to whether or not he wants the game to become realistic in its mechanics, or hard.

Temperature, as it is implemented now, is unrealistic and simply presents the player with another challenge to overcome rather than giving him or her a realistic goal to achieve. You don't lose temperature simply by standing outside, night or otherwise, and you don't magically catch a cold when you reach a certain temperature or stand out in the rain. Additionally, food and drink levels decrease at an incredibly unbelievable rate. The in-game characters require nourishment constantly and have done so since I have been playing in April. No word, as far as I know, has been given on a mechanic change yet, and I am unsure that one may ever take place.

Regardless, these are not the points that makes me worried the most; rather, it's the community's response to the issues that perturb me. When people discuss the issue on losing food and drink levels while logged off, plenty of people (rocket included) answered by explaining that the game is hard, should remain hard, and will not cater to those who disagree. While I myself am not entirely sure of my own standing on the issue, the response worries me.

Rocket, how are you going to continue with development? I see plenty sentiments on DayZ being an "anti-game," and in many ways I understand and respect that title, but life is not as difficult as many people may seem to think it is. I get why food and drink go down so quickly - without this system, a lot of the survival would be severely lessened - and I get why you want the game to be difficult, but how much is enough? This is not a rant or tirade against rocket; it's simply a question, one that I think the community deserves to have answered.

[jorgamun 2]

Interesting points.

I think a thermometer would be a useful item to loot with an overhauled temperature system. Core temperature could affect overall performance and different stages of possible ailments at different levels. There's a lot more realistic things you can do with such a system, but your question does need to be answered first...

Where on the scale of difficulty versus true realism does the aim of DayZ stand?

[deadbolt (DayZ) 10]

food and hunger arent that bad considering how much and how far you run

[css_god@yahoo.com 543]

Having one person at the reins of a mod is a scary thing to happen and can be disastrous. I'm not saying rocket will destroy this game but he is in a position to do so as no one has a say in what he does or does not do with the mod.

If anyone is familiar with Minh Le you will know exactly what I am talking about, he is the creator of Counter-Strike. The mod started out one way and mostly stayed that way with constant refinements over time making it better but the way the game was was not his intention or the way he wanted to keep it.

He wanted to add attack dogs, crazy items and abilities, things which would have basically destroyed the game as it is known now. What happened though is before this could take place; Valve Corporation stepped in and bought all the rights to the mod. They refined it and fixed it instead of constantly trying to change and evolve the gameplay.

Without them the game would have surely became a huge mess and no one would be playing it, so right now this mod could either turn out great or rocket will destroy it. It would be nice to see Bohemia actually step in and buy partial rights to it so there is no chance of things going completely overboard on the opinion of one person.

[BomboFlash 0]

Well its supposed to be a zombie survival game. If food and water would not decrese at a very slow rate the player would never have any troubles. Its already quite easy surviving out there, if you die its normally from a player.

I actually don't even have any problems with the weather. Okay i don't like that you get a cold instnatly when your temp meter is low. that is kinda silly.

But the temperature isn't a big issue for me now. I have been crawling around at night for hours and still had about 60-70 in temp val.

We have to remember that we aren't exactley running around in a tropical landscape, by the looks of it its even Autum. So freezing would make sense.

I do however think we need a solution to the wood issue. Its silly that a player needs to gather wood in barns. There has to be a way to gather it in the forrest.

[UbiquitousBadGuy 846]

Realism before difficulty I say. Or rather, difficulty because of realism.

[JohnnyDerp 4]

It get's cold at night. And since this is sorta a "survival" game, temperature sorta makes sense. Yeah it's all condensed time-wise, but most people aren't gonna live logged in, so I can see the point. Adds another variable and makes it more interesting.

[Gibbonici 9]

I'd say that surviving a zombie apocalypse being difficult *is* realistic.

[MR DELICIOUS 297]

I'm happy for difficulty because of realism. That said, if I'm in a full anorak, in hiking boots, and I'm catching a cold in the middle of the day? I'm assuming my survivor knew it was Russia before he set out, so I'm wondering why the sickness is so punishing. Sure, rain and nighttime could drop it a bit but I'm finding a hit frustrating to have to lie in a fire, set behind the bush where I'm camping.

[RaymondThorne 0]

I do however think we need a solution to the wood issue. Its silly that a player needs to gather wood in barns. There has to be a way to gather it in the forrest.

Update 1.5.9 includes a hatchet that can be found, to get wood from forests.

[CalUKGR 4]

Having one person at the reins of a mod is a scary thing to happen and can be disastrous.

This. I tend to agree. I haven't been playing DayZ for over a week now. I didn't like what 1.5.7 did to zombie numbers and I'm even less enthused by the temperature mechanic. Just seems to me all Rocket has done is make what had been (in 1.5.6) a thoroughly enjoyable game now impossibly difficult - for no other reason than that he could.

I appreciate there will always be a chorus of players prepared to back Rocket no matter what; they'll accept no criticism of their hero and they'll resist any attempt to (as they would see it) 'dumb-down' DayZ to make it more accessible' date=' more fun, for the rest of us. Still, I counsel against hubris on the part of Rocket - calling a sizeable section of your players 'carebears', as happened in the changelog notes for 1.5.8, simply because they voiced concern over the very high (in solo unmanageable) numbers of zombies in 1.5.7, was thoroughly uncalled for.

In the end, Rocket can (I suppose) do whatever he likes with DayZ: it's his baby, after all. But he should be careful; he should absolutely listen to the [i']greater majority of his player base; those who might not make as much noise as the clamorous minority vocalising their insistence that the game remain unchanged, that it should remain hard just for the sake of being hard. Players like myself feel powerless to influence the mod as we see it drifting out of range; what was fun, is now a chore, hijacked by the 'hardcore' who want to keep it all for themselves, and it seems, increasingly, that the developer doesn't want to hear us. If he does hear us at all, he just wants to insult us, defended at all times by legions of uncritical fanboys.

Hubris is a terrible thing. Ask any Roman Emperor.

[griffinz 2816]

Remember these guys are wearing shirts...no warm clothing here. After experiencing a cold day today in tshirt and hoodie, i know id catch a cold at night or in the rain.

IMO, the temperature mechanic is very well done.

What I want to see is the HUD gone, and the status of your avatar displayed through more subtle, realistic signs

[williamkenny-101@hotmail.co.uk 0]

Remember these guys are wearing shirts...no warm clothing here. After experiencing a cold day today in tshirt and hoodie' date=' i know id catch a cold at night or in the rain.

[/quote']

But here's the issue- you don't catch a cold from being cold. There is literally no link between the two things besides the name. That's why making you catch one just by having your temperature drop is just an arbitrary difficulty setting.

Now, that's not to say that disease couldn't be worked into DayZ. For example, close contact/looting of dead bodies could give a small % chance of catching disease. But not being cold, it's not realistic!

[griffinz 2816]

No, but your immune system is lowered and increases your chance of getting sick...thats why theres only a CHANCE youll get an infection when your temp drops in game

[thedoubled 10]

Remember these guys are wearing shirts...no warm clothing here. After experiencing a cold day today in tshirt and hoodie' date=' i know id catch a cold at night or in the rain.

[/quote']

So you need to become a bandit to get good clothes so you won't get sick?

And I just love how often people use the word "realism". Seriously let's play on a treadmill with real pepsi and beans.

[Malaclypse 3]

Rocket made the game impossibly difficult? News to me. My number one cause of death is still hackers and bugs, not any game mechanics, zombies, or other players even. Hunger and thirst levels and the manner in which they decrease or increase could use some work, sure, but the game right now is still incredibly playable and enjoyable. Fire wood is prevalent, matches aren't too hard to find, food is all over the place and I usually have an overabundance in my pack to the point where I am seeking out injuries just to scarf down five cans of anchovies.

[HoboWithAGlock 25]

Rocket made the game impossibly difficult? News to me. My number one cause of death is still hackers and bugs' date=' not any game mechanics, zombies, or other players even. Hunger and thirst levels and the manner in which they decrease or increase could use some work, sure, but the game right now is still incredibly playable and enjoyable. Fire wood is prevalent, matches aren't too hard to find, food is all over the place and I usually have an overabundance in my pack to the point where I am seeking out injuries just to scarf down five cans of anchovies.

[/quote']

I never said that the game is impossibly difficult. I've died only twice in my entire time playing, and my character has almost 30 days on him now.

I'm worried about the future of the game's difficulty and the reasons behind the possible changes.

[melanko 0]

Additionally' date=' food and drink levels decrease at an incredibly unbelievable rate. The in-game characters require nourishment constantly and have done so since

[/quote']

That does confuse me because the game takes place on a 24-hour scale, so you should be able to eat on a 24-hour scale realistically. Maybe if they move the day/night cycle to something more like 8 real hours it will make sense.

[Horr1d 7]

I thought the temp thing was a little brutal, even running around outside does not increase my temp and I used to do that IRL in Winter when going back home from town on a Friday night to avoid rip off taxi fares!

The only way I can see this system being realistic is to make only staying in the Rain give you a chance of catching a cold at a point 30 mins to 2h into the future, this chance increases the colder and more wet you get. Catching a cold allows zeds and other players to hear you sneeze.

There is no need for it to be so brutal at right now that is unrealistic, you can just make it shake the x-hair to simulate shivering, that is punishment enough for being cold!

Also I'd love a fatigue meter that, when reaching empty from sprinting, drains your water level rapidly. Make the zombies a little slower to compensate too and if possible, make animations such as using pack, throwing a flare etc all usable while moving or sped up if you are panicked. Having to watch the painfully slow animations usually stops me from any other actions apart from sprint and shoot.

[SDE Bellisarius 1]

Having one person at the reins of a mod is a scary thing to happen and can be disastrous. I'm not saying rocket will destroy this game but he is in a position to do so as no one has a say in what he does or does not do with the mod.

If anyone is familiar with Minh Le you will know exactly what I am talking about' date=' he is the creator of Counter-Strike. The mod started out one way and mostly stayed that way with constant refinements over time making it better but the way the game was was not his intention or the way he wanted to keep it.

He wanted to add attack dogs, crazy items and abilities, things which would have basically destroyed the game as it is known now. What happened though is before this could take place; Valve Corporation stepped in and bought all the rights to the mod. They refined it and fixed it instead of constantly trying to change and evolve the gameplay.

Without them the game would have surely became a huge mess and no one would be playing it, so right now this mod could either turn out great or rocket will destroy it. It would be nice to see Bohemia actually step in and buy partial rights to it so there is no chance of things going completely overboard on the opinion of one person.

[/quote']

you know how fucking ridiculous this sounds right? and you use an example that never became an example.

Basically, let someone create somethign and then let some random people that could NOT come up with this in the first place pick it up to prevent its demise at the hand of the one person who actually came up with it....

Sound logic, very sound. Now let me write a book about this before you do cuz you obviously will fuck it up AND i get it better than you do too.

and i know this for sure cuz you will try and add a variable somewhere and mess it all up, so ill just take it over before that happens (i got a time machine i know)

[TeaLeaf 5]

Having one person at the reins of a mod is a scary thing to happen and can be disastrous. I'm not saying rocket will destroy this game but he is in a position to do so as no one has a say in what he does or does not do with the mod.

If anyone is familiar with Minh Le you will know exactly what I am talking about' date=' he is the creator of Counter-Strike. The mod started out one way and mostly stayed that way with constant refinements over time making it better but the way the game was was not his intention or the way he wanted to keep it.

He wanted to add attack dogs, crazy items and abilities, things which would have basically destroyed the game as it is known now. What happened though is before this could take place; Valve Corporation stepped in and bought all the rights to the mod. They refined it and fixed it instead of constantly trying to change and evolve the gameplay.

Without them the game would have surely became a huge mess and no one would be playing it, so right now this mod could either turn out great or rocket will destroy it. It would be nice to see Bohemia actually step in and buy partial rights to it so there is no chance of things going completely overboard on the opinion of one person.

[/quote']

I'd rather have one guy in charge of everything than the game be a total mess of conflicting ideas.

[Koot (DayZ) 5]

He wanted to add attack dogs' date=' crazy items and abilities, things which would have basically destroyed the game as it is known now.

[/quote']

So basically he would have created COD Modern Warfare before it was even a glimmer in the heads of its creators.

This could very well have reshaped the FPS gaming scene at whole, so not too sure on the "failing it" part.