THE OP (WITH SOME EDITS) The overall concept was developed to make each players life in DayZ have a clear value. This idea lays on the proviso that there is a HIGHLY DYNAMIC LOOT DROPING SYSTEM (as well as many others :P) The system will work by giving players the ability to directly infuence both the quality and quantity of loot in game simply by the actions that they take - and by influencing resources it can also affect both the difficulty of the game and the cultural behavior of the players. So here is the proposition: *Each server keeps a log of the no. of deaths (by PvP) that occur. It also logs the total number of players. Dividing No. of Deaths against players gets an average player death count. (This indicates co-operative behaviour) *Each server also logs players average lifespan. (This indicates survivalist behaviour) *These two data sets can then be assigned to a value on a scale that will determin loot density and value (which, of course, is the difficult part) (edit) I will clarify what I mean by 'loot value'. In this idea I divide all items into two groups - Essentails and Exotics. Beans, matches, civilian grade weapons, etc = Essentials Nvgs, GPS, miltary grade weapons, etc = Exotics I know that items value are subjective (objective??) to the situation, but for this idea to work there will have to be a definate 'artificial' distinction. Here is an example: Lowest End of Scale - (Very High Death Count/Low Average Lifespan) - Loot Density = 100% - Exotic Loot Chance = 2% Highest End of Scale - (Very Low Death Count/High Average Lifespan) - Loot Density = 2% - Exoticy Loot Chance = 100% And everything inbetween...and it is this "inbetween" where all the intrest lies. The dynamic scenarios that would naturaly occur are very exciting as well as being very logical. (edit) A possible issue is that of players skipping from server to server in hope of exploiting servers with better chances of Exotic loot: But this assumes that determining the current state of server wil be easy - it wont! There will be no visual indicator (on the hud) to allow a quick analysis of the game world. So... players will have to search and explore (and by extention interact with the game world) for some time before a judgement could be made on the state of a server - and heres the good bit - simply by do this they will actually be helping to shape the state of any given server!! Therefore even those that try to 'skirt' the system are inevitably drawn into it. THE 'CYCLE' (edit) This part is just where I can theoretically see this type of 'global causality' system going, like I said before, it does rely on a lot of other additional content to flesh it out - as it is mearly the basis on which a dynamic DayZ could be built. At the low end of the scale - with plentiful food supplys and low level weapons - there will be a tendancey for chaos and violence. But as groups organise, setup basecamps, restore vehicles and develop culturally acceptable behaviour, naturally the average lifespan will rise and the death count will go down. But this in turn will lower the amount of available resources while better arming the community. If the community continues to work in pure co-operation, their technology advances whilest resourse deminish further and further. The average death count plummets while the Life expectancy rises till it leeds to a tension point where resource become so limited the only way to survive will be to turn on eachother - the death count sky-rockets, life expectancy plumets - and it all begins again! "This is key. The cyclic nature of this dynamic is very important..." - Malleovic How it may effect culture and give value to life in DayZ I hope it is obvious how this (could) influence decision making when it comes to killing other players. It will not discourage or penalise player decisions persay, but will make their decisions have a conciquence - a non-imediate one, one that is only negative or positive depending on your standpoint, with no moral concequence other than those imposed by your fellow survivours. Prehaps outright murder will become some what of a social taboo (looked down on, but unstopable) because life is now directly linked to the quantity and quality of loot - to better your chances co-operate, or at the least rob someone rather than murder them. I know that even this level of, "guidence" lets call it, is too much for some people. So i see this as an option that can be implemented on a server by server basis - with the severity of influnce a player has over the loot density/quality of items being fully adjustable by admins. Of course this will directly influence the "worth" of other players to eachother. I'll stop here because i can go on and on, but will conclude by saying that in my mind the most important role a system like this could take is to act as a catalyst for cultural behaviour within the game. "My only "fear" is that most of people, specially in an apocalyptic world, are selfish and don't give a damn about the long term." - Mikyjax (edit) The 'selfish' outcomes of this idea are just as valid as the 'humane' ones - all I ask is for the players to be more aware of the impact of their actions, and their possible outcomes. Then give everyone tools to allow them to enforce direct concequences on individuals that act outside any groups 'norms'. "The particulars are hidden from the player well enough, it could enhance without being a distraction." - Malleovic