Player health & resilient model

[PlatinumGrit 5]

You know you like a game when you go to the effort of signing up to the game's sites' forum because you're that impressed with it, especially when you've been bored with gaming for years.

Firstly, I want to say it's really good to see something fresh and original in the gaming world. I've been a gamer for, what, a little over 20 years? 22 I think. I love 'em. These days I really don't get time to play, but I keep my ear to the ground for the rare gem that comes along every 5 years or so. I reckon DayZ is one of those rare gems, and for the first time in years I've got that feeling about a game I thought I'd never feel again: that genuine enthusiasm for a thing's potential.

However, one aspect of the game puzzles me: The player health/damage system. I don't have much time to write this, so please forgive me if it comes across a little like a smartass. I don't mean it that way, I mean all the respect in the world to the guy who's come up with this mod. He's an absolute visionary legend, and when he ships a product I'm going to shell out my dosh gladly.

OK, my puzzlement:

I watched a mate play for a few hours the other day, and I’ve watched a lot of Youtube vids of playtime since. I’m wondering why the game creators decided to make the players so weak? I ride motorbikes recreationally & get outdoors a lot, on a ride day I often take hits the players in the game die from. I used to play Rugby, train kickboxing, and ride BMX. If the damage system in the game applied to just us Rugby players, everyone would be dead multiple times after a game of footy. I regularly make jumps and falls and stacks on my bike (motocross) that would kill the player in the game? Hell, I even fell off a 12 foot drop blind drunk at a beach party onto some rocks and came away with nothing more than some decent bruising and a badly sprained wrist. A few years ago I stacked it off my roadbike and slid into a tree @ 90kph, then bounced off it down the embankment. Despite all the smashed ribs and epic concussion & internal bleeding, managed to walk up the side of the hill back to the road and drag my bike off the road. (admittedly, I did then collapse and after laying down, start drowning in my own blood, and yeah I did almost die on the way to hospital but still, I damn well walked up a small hill and pulled my bike off the road before I sat down. Shock and adrenaline is an amazing thing.)

One of the blokes at the motocross track I go to borked a backflip and hit the ground after a 20 foot drop, at jump-clearing speeds. Sure, he was wearing motocross armor, helmet & all but apart from a bit of a concussion and a heap of bruises and scrapes, he was walking around half an hour later. My other mate crashed his track bike @ 170-180kph at the track, ragdolled and bounced around for over 200m, got up, walked back to his bike and pushed it halfway back to the pits cursing and swearing. He's 45 years old with a wife and 3 kids working an office job.

When I was doing cadets, laden with a pack, I survived jumps and drops that killed my mates game character. Hell, I’ve bounced off trees in my motorcross armor @ nigh on 60kph and apart from being winded & bruised and pretty aggro, I’ve got back on the bike and ridden the rest of the day out.

My mate had his player hop off a small rock and he broke his legs. I was like “dude, what is your player? Osteogenesis Imperfecta ridden?”

I realise the damage system is buggy, and players have had their legs broken closing doors.

This is the first game in years I am genuinely looking forward to. This game has potential I would really, really hate to see ruined by an unrealistic player health model. I just think the game creators needs to meet people who actually get outside and do exercise and who aren't brittle and weak, to get a realistic understanding of what we guys can take. Hell, even my 13yr old cousin, a little waif of a girl, is tougher than the in game player damage model.

The damage model in the game doesn't do the faintest amount of justice to the brilliant and awesome biological machine that is the human body. And, this idea that you'll die if you don't eat for a day, I dunno where that's from? 2 of my mates from boarding school used to be Commandos supporting our Aussie SAS. They survived in a desert combat scenario for 3 days without food, (OK maybe a bit of grass and a few termites, but that was it!) and they still fought like tigers. I know these guys personally, the story's pretty funny but still, 3 days with nothing but a handful of food. I've done a few water fasts in my life, and the last one - a 14 day water fast - I felt awesome at the end of it. After the 7th day I had so much energy and so much mental clarity, I was doing a full day at Uni and walking to and from Uni (circa 2K's each way). It's the first 3-5 days of a fast where you get the weakness, fatigue, and lethargy. After that you'd be amazed how full of life you feel. Heck, my Mom has done a 20 day water fast, and during the last 10 days of the fast done everything she normally did as Mom and more. I trained kickboxing on the 14th day of my fast just to see what I was capable of. I didn't last the full hour at full throttle but I did 40 mins like a tiger. When I hit the wall, I did get really weak, however my trainer could not believe I'd been water fasting for 14 days.

Obviously with stress and adrenaline etc, you won't feel awesome after only drinking water for 14 days but mates of mine who've seen combat have done days with miniscule sleep on minimal food. The human body is capable of incredible things when in a life threatening situation.

If the creator of this game wants to make a realistic health model, he should align the player's health with realistic human biology and capability. It was really sad to see a human male breaking his legs after walking off a rock, or dropping 5 steps off a set of stairs.

Or, if the current health model remains, perhaps provide an option to choose a player character that's got a reasonable level of fitness and endurance. Or maybe, a player's fitness and strength can increase over time? I'm not fit compared to most of my friends, but I could run rings around the characters in the game, including with my full cadet pack on.

Edited August 27, 2012 by PlatinumGrit

[Twoski 13]

tldr

Because Alpha.

[Gordon Axeman 191]

I agree with the last statement. Training over time is a good idea, so the days of survival won't be just a stupid achievement, but they will help you.

[Dancing.Russian.Man 1631]

tldr

Because Alpha.

I'm also one of the people who keep saying "It's alpha."

But you sir, are an asshole.