the player character

[amaterarerasu 15]

I am thinking if maybe at the beginning of each game you could chose out of a couple of "classes" of characters, a bit like in an rpg.

Maybe there'd b almost no visual clues as to what class you chose. but he'd be more effective with certain things and less so with others.

Having fired a few weapons IRL, It is very evident how well the character handles weapons: snaps right back to target after a shot, handles recoil, super fast reloads, etc. he obviously has crazy endurance too… what I mean is, you're evidently playing a person with extensive military training. more varity in the abilities of characters would produce more varied roleplaying and even more replay value, as, if you have a less trained character, you might pass by heavier weapons because you know he will become tired very fast and be very inaccurate with it, prioritize other things. a zombie apocalypse will have all sorts of survivors!

Imagine playing a 10 year old kid: very little stamina, great difficulty in handling recoil, maybe he can be more agile( run under fences, jump thru windows?). would a bandit feel good about killing a kid, knowing the player is purposefully handicapping himself in the combat aspect?

older guys(/gals), not-so-fit guys there could be a lot of variety

[synesthesia 4]

this is a great post and you should feel good. Here are my beans.

Variability of playstyle would be amazing, i think most people here would see it as a "class", and gamifying dayz more, but i believe it can be done as a simple set of abilities, or ways of interfacing with the gameworld. The example you mentioned of the 10 year old is excellent for that. None is better, each is playing is own game, and how would a bandit react to a non-threat? Would he do things differently in cherno or in the wilderness? It brings up cool questions.