Some thoughts side channel.

[spyoon 1]

Okay, I've been playing this game since may, and I absolutley loved it, untill they decided to remove the side channel feature.

I understand this game style is prone toward realism, but getting rid of side channel was just horrible move (my personal opinion, somepeople may disagree).

There is no sense of community anymore, it's chaotic. I know this game is supposed to be chaotic since the setting is zombie apocalyptic world, but it's little too much by my standard.

Survivors just shoot eachother on sight, rather than try to help eachother to survive. I understand there are alot of bandits outthere who would just shoot you on sight and rob you and hide your body just to be an extrordinary asshole. I'm not against bandits, even thou I don't play as a bandit but they make this game more exciting and and suspenseful in my opinion.

The problem is other "nice" players decided not to trust anyone when that kind of stuff happen to them, and turns into hostile player who would kill you just to survive.

This is why we need side channel, so we can communicate from distacne to distinguish friendlies and bandits. This doesn't work all the time but worked most of the times for me.

When I play on an official server with no side channel, people are intense. They will shoot you without saying a word.

I play alone, because my gaming group decied not to get this game untill standalone comes out. When I play alone, it's way harder. Noone can give you blood bag when your blood is low, when you pass out, you are pretty much dead. So when you are playng alone, you need to rely on kindess of a stranger, WHICH NEVER HAPPENS.I don't think there is a one time I got help from a stranger since side channel is gone.

About a week ago, I started to playing on a private hive. Ca1, a toronto server with side channel, and PEOPLE ARE NICE HERE. Not only because they are Canadian but I think it's because of side channel.There are multiple benifits you can get from side channel, you can team up with a stranger, get help from a stranger, warn other strangers when there are snipers around big cities, and complain about how you died!

On the first day of playing on this server I got blood transfusion from a total stranger, and he offered me a ride with his blue van! HOW NICE IS THAT??

If it was an official server he probably shot my legs and ran me over with his van.

anyway, those are my thoughts, comments are welcome.

[Mos1ey 6301]

My memories of side chat are mainly Russians talking incredibly loudly, playing shitty music, and ignoring the frantic cries of STFU from the rest of the server. No side chat plz.

[MoronToTheKore 57]

I think the community aspects you're missing do much will be restored through ingame radio functionality. Trust me, I've got the same feelings as you here, but global chat just was too antithetical to the game's direction.

[Furry_PawstarZ 31]

I think it should be reintroduced to. All people have done is turned to teamspeak and skype and so on for communication so the realism still isn't there either way. I would like to see it back in. communicating with others would improve the gaming experience.

[Minamo 114]

Love how this topic ended..

official server = Leg shot and hit n' run

unofficial server = Kindness and helpfull people

[Womb Raider 92]

There are servers that still run it, look for them.

[Kyzahh 127]

I agree, with side channel it was a lot easier to find friendly players and an overall more enjoyable experience.

(You see someone in the distance, ask over side chat if they're friendly, no reply, you can steer clear. etc.)

But the idea is realism. So there could be a compromise where an item such as a radio (there was an interview where Rocket mentioned something about adding in these to help players communicate or something) or cell phone which would open up side chat.

Obligatory: This is an alpha, they are testing things out to see what works and what doesn't.

[aussiestig 681]

My memories of side chat are mainly Russians talking incredibly loudly, playing shitty music, and ignoring the frantic cries of STFU from the rest of the server. No side chat plz.

There should just be a chat channel, no option for voice chat in side channel.

[Mos1ey 6301]

There should just be a chat channel, no option for voice chat in side channel.

Side text chat would be fine with me. Maybe with a limit to how much it can be used though, x messages per x minutes, so people can't spam it.

[AzVirus 25]

Side chat was good for hunting players lol

[venthos 605]

Another vote for keeping side chat disabled. It degrades the server into a mess of people asking basic questions that they could have had answered in seconds via Google. You also get people whining in game about X and Y "omg you sniped me". It's useless.

It also ruins a major mechanic of the game which is fear of the unknown. Talking in side chat greatly removes the unknown by letting you correspond with other players before you even get into a town.

[Obsolescence 129]

When I play alone, it's way harder. Noone can give you blood bag when your blood is low, when you pass out, you are pretty much dead. So when you are playng alone, you need to rely on kindess of a stranger, WHICH NEVER HAPPENS.

I always play alone, I always shoot on sight, and I always expect to be shot on sight. Despite all of that I've never once needed anyone to administer a blood transfusion. Probably because I refuse to disconnect in battle or when mobbed by zeds, so any encounter either results in my swift death or their swift death but never a lingering so terrible that I can't crawl my way out of there and eat a cow for 6,400 blood.

That said, I do wish there was a side channel. What better way could there be to trick wide-eyed friendlies into revealing themselves? What more entertaining medium could there be for enjoying their stream of conciousness QQing when I deliver the harsh reality of the zombocalypse.