Fixing the issue with ghosting.

[Talvulris 0]

We've all experienced it, you either find a guy when they least expect it or try to take out some one who's just camping a city in order to be a dick. They vanish and hop to another server to reposition themselves then reappear and attempt to shoot you in the back.

The most voiced solution to this issue that I have seen is to add a delay between when a person logs off and when their character is removed from the game.

I disagree.

I feel that the true issue with ghosting does not lie in the ability to log out. In fact the ability to quickly log out is an important tool for those who wish to avoid conflict. No, the issue really lies in the period where the player repositions on an alternative server. The problem is that there's no penalty to rapidly switching servers, so players will hop from one server to another as it benefits them.

Here's my solution to the problem.

Add timer that prevents a player from logging into a server for ten minutes after they have logged out of a server. This would punish people who attempt to reposition by ghosting as it would effectively take them out of action for almost half an hour, and as an added benefit it also serves to penalize those who server hop loot spots.

I also thought about suggesting that server hopping results in a random spawn location, but that it wouldn't help new players and people looking for a more permanent server to call home.

The main issue with having the delay between player log off and character log off is the scenario where a player logs off one day and comes back to find themselves dead with no idea of how it happened. It just doesn't make for good game play in the end.

I chose ten minutes as a cool down timer because it's a nice balance of being short in terms of RL time and being long in terms of game time.

[zackthazman 23]

The team is already talking about ways to stop it wi not really needed to post unless its to give them different ways.

[HarunDanyal 49]

I think each time you switch servers, you should spawn on the coast again.

[CerebralZombie (DayZ) 151]

The main issue with having the delay between player log off and character log off is the scenario where a player logs off one day and comes back to find themselves dead with no idea of how it happened. It just doesn't make for good game play in the end.

Wha?

[Exenima 45]

I think each time you switch servers, you should spawn on the coast again.

But if you're with friends at a certain vantage point you have to make your way all the way back to the spot you were in. I agree with the idea, there needs to be some sort of cooldown on servers, limiting people fro jumping on and off the same server. Maybe like a 15 minute cooldown til you're able to rejoin the same server, this would make sense.

[Haruto 10]

Why not have it so that if you jump back on a server within the 10 or 15 minute period, it simply puts you right back where you were when you left. Then it changes ghosting to being essentially an alt+F4 putting you right back where you left the server at. If the hive knows where you were last, I'm fairly sure the server should as well.

[Talvulris 0]

But if you're with friends at a certain vantage point you have to make your way all the way back to the spot you were in. I agree with the idea, there needs to be some sort of cooldown on servers, limiting people fro jumping on and off the same server. Maybe like a 15 minute cooldown til you're able to rejoin the same server, this would make sense.

I held the same feeling for a while Harun, but then I realized that you run into an issue were you're screwed if the server you mainly play on goes down and you can't log on to it. You can't join another server and pick up where you left off, and if you do, when your main serve comes back up you're screwed again for the same reason.

Wha?

If you have the 20 second delay between a player log off and a character log off, then the scenario where a player logs in only to find themselves dead for no apparent reason can occur, when in fact they were killed after they had logged off the previous session before. This reduces the credibility of such deaths as possible bugs which can lead to late detection and often very frustrated players. Even if the delay were to be toned down to 5 seconds meaning only those who could actively perceive the player prior them logging off could act upon it, it does not solve the underlying issue of the player using their ability to swap servers to gain an advantage they would not otherwise have.

My suggestion is about reducing the effectiveness of ghosting by locking a player out of any server for a set period of time after they log off. It works because it removes the player from the game for a set period of time thereby increasing the likelihood of any action they were going to take pointless.

Basically it works like this; A logs off in the middle of a fight, they have to wait ten minutes before they can join any server. Once they join a server they can then go and move into a better position, but they have to log off a second times so that's another ten minutes. When they finally do log back into the original server the probability of their new position being of any importance is practically nil as the opposing side is more likely to have already left in the twenty plus minutes the player wasted ghosting.

[colekern 1364]

I have to switch servers because of ping occasionally. This sounds like a bad idea.

[T.G. 48]

OP you lost me when you suggested that a log out timer was bad for players looking to avoid conflict. No player should have the supernatural ability to instantly disappear from the world when encountering another player (or zombies) for any reason. I think in all fairness if you are disconnected (for whatever reason) from a server and reconnect you should be in the same position on that server. If after disconnecting from a server a player chooses to connect to an alternate server they should not be given the ability to exploit the game and should be respawned randomly.

[Talvulris 0]

I have to switch servers because of ping occasionally. This sounds like a bad idea.

The only thing I can suggest really is to find a server which you have steady ping with. I don't claim the solution to be perfect, they never are, but that it solves the problem with the least amount of downsides.

OP you lost me when you suggested that a log out timer was bad for players looking to avoid conflict. No player should have the supernatural ability to instantly disappear from the world when encountering another player (or zombies) for any reason. I think in all fairness if you are disconnected (for whatever reason) from a server and reconnect you should be in the same position on that server. If after disconnecting from a server a player chooses to connect to an alternate server they should not be given the ability to exploit the game and should be respawned randomly.

I didn't suggest that a log out timer is bad for players, it is bad for players no if and or buts about it. Currently it is the most effective tool against griefers as it allows a player to opt not to have their game play so easily infringed upon. It should never be easier to ruin some one else's day than it is to avoid having you're own game play ruined it just leads to a premature death of the game over all.

Also implementing this in a game like Dayz would be disastrous as it would cause an excess flood of wrongful bug reports which could potentially result in a bug with similar characteristics slipping by unnoticed.

The hive already keeps track of where players are when they log off, that's why they can be playing on one server and the switch to another and pick up where they left off. So guess what, if a player logs back into a server they had just left they end up back where they logged off. But I know that's not what you were talking about.

The problem with random spawning on new servers is that it breaks the persistence of the player's character in the world Chernarus. It also hurts those who have to switch servers for various reasons that aren't related to abusing game mechanics like in the case of colekern's ping. While a ten minute cool down would keep him out of the game for a while, it wouldn't affect his progress in the world.

[tigen 0]

I have to switch servers because of ping occasionally. This sounds like a bad idea.

The only thing I can suggest really is to find a server which you have steady ping with. I don't claim the solution to be perfect, they never are, but that it solves the problem with the least amount of downsides.

I don't see a problem... allow them to hop servers but not back to the same server again (until after cooldown).

Edited September 15, 2012 by tigen