Dead players turning to zombies

[Lights Out 141]

Original Concept: Not really going to add anything to game play but if Rocket gave the ability to customize your player in the game, it would be cool if your character became a zombie in that server if/when you die.

I don't mean that the player would become a zombie but so that your player now roams the server as an A.I. controlled zombie.Would kind of be cool to come across one of your old characters in the game as a zombie. That would add to the realism.

9/8/2012 update: Feature refinements and explaining the depth this will add: I'd love to see this virus be contagious through attacks by the infected/zombies. Say you have an X% chance of contracting the virus during attacks by the infected. If infected, you would have X amount of time to get antibiotics to stop the virus. The body temperature mechanic can be put to use here. As the virus takes over, you get a fever and your body temperature increases. Maybe some visuals? Dizzyness? Blurred vision? Time until the virus takes over varies a bit so you don't know when you'll turn. Just an idea. Finally without notice you get a "you died" screen pop up.

However it's not over for your group. Your body now turned into a reanimated infected NPC and without notice. Did you even tell your friends that you were running a fever and might be infected? You're reanimated infected body will attack them without notice. They may now also be infected.

Do you trust a group member if he says he hasnt been infected after an attack from an infected or cast him out from the group? Would you tell your group you're infected? They may shoot you in the head for their own safety. Then you lose everything you've worked for with your character. You could suggest looting a hospital "for fun" hoping you'll find antibiotics and avoid the whole situation. They may find your request suspicious though.

This will give your team an extra decision to make. A decision that really drags you into the game. you're making a decision that matters. If you know someones contracted the virus, how long do you wait and scavenge for antibiotics until you put a bullet in their head for your own safety. Maybe you have antibiotics. However you may need them later if you get the virus. Do you give your only bottle of antibiotics up? You just got attacked by a bunch of zombies, is someone infected and not telling you. This adds so much more depth to the game.

Edited September 19, 2012 by Lights Out

[HardCoreNinja7 24]

I kinda like the idea but not every dead body in a zombie apocalypse turns into a zombie.. Plus if I die I would like to find my dead body to get my supplies back.

[Spunkmire 36]

It would also add to the confusion of pvp identity.

So ....... not a bad idea, maybe.

[sgtcuddles 24]

This could possibly be a good idea to somewhat limit the ability to respawn and run and get your stuff back, there could be a time period where there is a chance for the dead players corpse to reanimate and become a zombie.

[Womb Raider 92]

Been suggested before, numerous times.

Personally I like the idea in theory, but I wouldn't like to see it in something like Day Z which is a hardcore survival mod.

[Lights Out 141]

I would like to see it in the stand alone. Like mentioned above it can be used in various ways to help certain problems many complain about. I like the reanimation within a certain amount of time.

If it's an airborne type infection, yes every dead body would reanimate. If not, maybe just those killed by zombie attacks. That would be up to the dev's I guess.

Whether it's just added for realism ( this would really happen in a real zombie apocalypse ) or it's added to help minimize people retrieving their weapons (not realistic to get your items back) and adding confusion with pvp as mentioned above, it seems like it would be a cool feature that would fit the game.

[Lights Out 141]

It would also add to the confusion of pvp identity.

So ....... not a bad idea, maybe.

Interesting, how so?

[Yatagan 62]

It wouldn't make sense since all the people are infected. They aren't undead, they're sick. If you get murdered no illness is going to bring you back to life.

Edited August 12, 2012 by Yatagan

[Lights Out 141]

Zombies have been portrayed in multiple ways which is why I think it would be up to the devs which route they'd want to take it.

Look at the walking dead for an example, everyone in that show is infected and once you die, you'll become a zombie. The disease makes a certain part of your brain reanimate after death along with your nervous system which only makes you have a mindless need to feed on flesh and nothing more. Nothing else is needed for a zombie to live, not even the heart which is why a zombies' bodies rot. The only way to truly kill someone is a shot to the head.

However I know what you're saying if the devs decide to go with a 28 days later/I am legend type "zombie". As they are not undead but sick/infected. These type zombies would not feed on flesh, are not undead, and could die by conventional means. So in that aspect you would be right and my idea wouldn't work.

But again, I don't know what route Rocket is taking. He has been pretty limited with his ideas with trying to work around the ARMA II game. However with the stand alone on the horizon, now is the time he can get creative.

Edited August 12, 2012 by Lights Out

[ragequit (DayZ) 11]

why should you be able to get your gear back if its HARDCORE survival? you should have to start from scratch.

Best of all.. people have a chance of being infected when attacked anyway, why not have a infected player get to play as a zombie temporarily after they die? you can maybe kill the bastard that shot you... then finally succumb completely to the virus and watch yourself involuntarily eat your mates face off as well.. sweet..

[Rigor Mortis (DayZ) 141]

How about this: if you are killed by zombies then you reanimate and roam that area as a Walker for a while with a percentage of your gear still on you. This would avoid players looting their own bodies, but it would allow others to kill a freshly animated player and take their stuff, which I think is rather realistic.

[zombiejun 13]

there is no doubt that not all dead playerbodies should be.... if you get killed by a player, logic is that your corpse will remain human and dead.

but is it zombies that kills you, then player corpses should rise and roam the land of charnarus untill slain :D

- maybe player-corpse-zombies should wear some kind of melee weapon like a hatchet/axe ^^?

[Cysquatch 5]

Indeed, it would be a nice touch if player bodies killed by zombies eventually became zombies themselves and roamed around with the rest of them. However, this talk of playing as a zombie after being killed is just silly and ruins the authenticity of the game. Zombies don't think, players think, therefore players should not be able to play as zombies. Otherwise you'll have zombie players sprinting to the beaches to kill freshly spawned human players and other such nonsense.

[Rigor Mortis (DayZ) 141]

I completely agree with Cysquatch. Becoming a zombie that you control is silly and against everything we know about zombies...I mean, the whole point is that they can no longer control themselves and must sate their hunger via their basest instincts (ie by grabbing nearby tasty people and munching on them).

Not to mention that this game is really about survival. If you want a zombie vs human pvp, play left 4 dead.

[Nasuko 2]

Lights Out, a friend and I were actually discussing this last night. The way we figured it should work, if it ever made it into DayZ, would be when you die, your body would reanimate in 10 to 15 minutes unless they were killed from a shot to the head. When the body would get back up, it would wander around the entire map without respawning, still containing all the gear and the backpack that the person had before they died. However, the equippped weapons would drop wherever the zombie had risen from. I haven't seen a zombie outside of Dead Island that uses a weapon. :)

Now, while it does sound like a good idea, one has to think about the possible consequences. If a zombie rises and wanders around and never despawns, we have a potential for immense lag due to hundreds of zombies wandering around on a single server, never despawning until killed and the body hidden. If there were a way to work it in, I'd certainly love to see it so long as the servers don't suffer. Perhaps it could be a chance thing? A corpse could have a 10% chance to rise if not shot in the head.

And yes, there are quite a few different types of zombies that have been written about. We have the traditional Undead, which have risen through either supernatural or biological (The Walking Dead) reasons. Then we have "Rage Zombies", which is what you get from 28 Days/Weeks Later and, I feel, in this game. They're not really dead, but their higher functions are gone. All that's known to them is rage. There are mutant zombies, which you can see in games like Resident Evil and Left 4 Dead. Of course Necromorphs from Dead Space are fun. I suppose that would be considered a Parasitic Zombie. They're a little unique since they don't actually need a head. :P

[koze 113]

the infection is OVER, so you cant get infected, technically. also if you killed someone and you want to take their shit they are still trying to attack you ahaha.

Pretty much, if you can get turned into a zombie when you die, then you'd be a zombie in the first place. but the virus is gone, remember you came into chernarus in the aftermath.

[Lights Out 141]

Maybe you could play around with the whole "immune thing" to limit the number of zombies on servers. As stated above by Nasuko, there is only a chance of a player's body becomes reanimated. Basically the way this would be calculated is by calculating the current number of zombies within the server.

And I agree with not being able to control zombies which is why I said it in my OP, players should not be able to control zombies. It wouldn't be realistic and you would be taking away from the main point of the game which is post apocalyptic zombie survival. Dying should not be fun or rewarding in any way.

If you want that I suggest playing Left 4 dead as mentioned, great multiplayer game.

[Cysquatch 5]

the infection is OVER, so you cant get infected, technically. also if you killed someone and you want to take their shit they are still trying to attack you ahaha.

Pretty much, if you can get turned into a zombie when you die, then you'd be a zombie in the first place. but the virus is gone, remember you came into chernarus in the aftermath.

Says who? Why couldn't the infection be like the walking dead where it requires a dead host in order to become active but can remain dormant until death in a living host?

[pandadragonthing 11]

Think about it, having to hunt down your own walking corpse to recover your loot. The lolz. +1

[Lights Out 141]

Think about it, having to hunt down your own walking corpse to recover your loot. The lolz. +1

That's what I was thinking, as discussed it can add and help so many elements within the game. But even just going back into the server and encountering your old character would be great lol

Edited August 13, 2012 by Lights Out

[ESDeadmond 7]

It's an infection, not zombies as in the dead getting back up. These were people that got sick with an infection and became extremely aggresive, such as in 28 Days Later or I Am Legend. Not zombies from The Walking Dead or Night of the Living Dead which were people killed who got back up.

[Lights Out 141]

It's an infection, not zombies as in the dead getting back up. These were people that got sick with an infection and became extremely aggresive, such as in 28 Days Later or I Am Legend. Not zombies from The Walking Dead or Night of the Living Dead which were people killed who got back up.

It would make more sense the other way though no? If its just people that were sick then technically you can kill them all off and be done with it. If it's an undead type zombie, it would be never ending which would fit in with the spawning of new zombies or as I suggested reanimation of dead players.

[wtfosaurus 30]

Yeah I like this idea, being able to loot your own corpse is broken in a hardcore survival sim anyway, I think this is something that could be implemented well into the standalone. Also, the fact that the zombie would look like a player with a bag and such may scare other players quite a bit.

[Kra 151]

I love the idea of players becoming zombies, but I'd like to see it more hardcore than that. I -would- like to see you turn into a mindless zombie AI.

Think about it, there is the infection mechanic already in game. Modify this slightly so that blood doesn't cap, but just keep dropping. This forces an insatiable "hunger", if you're not constantly eating meat, you're fucked. And if you hit 0 blood while infected after being unable to find antibiotics, you do turn into a zombie AI. I know this is already possible in the engine, I've seen scripters apply soldier AI to live players.

No respawn button, only thing to get you back in game is being killed as a zombie. All you can do is watch and wait, ultimate penance for dying. If any degree of control is given to the player, its should be just to "guide" the zombie in a general direction, like the jockey controls players in L4D.

This being limited to the infection mechanic will make it rather rare, which in turn makes it a more feared turn of events. It should hardly happen ever, but when it does, it should be devastating.

Things need to be scarier in DayZ. Succumbing to the infection should be rancid panic. And what would any zombie survival story be without a close friend turning into one of the infected?

Edited August 13, 2012 by Kra

[Lights Out 141]

It could work, I just don't know if any player should have control of a zombie. Having to disinfect yourself after a zombie bite before turning into an AI zombie seems like it could work. I'm iffy about it though cus in every zombie book/movie, when you get bitten, its just a matter of time before you turn and theres nothing you can do.

As I think about it more though this would encourage team play though as you would want to have a partner to help you heal or at least be able to put a bullet in your head when theres no going back and you've turned into a zombie. Maybe, maybe. Could work.

I would definitely like to see the zombies as more of a threat too. It would add to difficulty, add to the scare factor, and make you second guess whether it's worth shooting your gun and attracting every zombie within a certain radius.

Edited August 13, 2012 by Lights Out