PDA tool - map-wide chat, discoverable on/off, name display, logbook, notes

[tomfin 25]

A partial repost from a side chat discussion and expansion on some ideas for a PDA tool.

Would it be possible to disable voice over side chat, and pop a PDA as a special tool item in every survivor's inventory that allows basic text chat?

When you don't want to see side chat, turn it off by right clicking the PDA in your inventory. You'll still have text and voice available in direct comms for dealing with close encounters, and will no longer have to put up with all that annoying irrelevant text if you don't care for it.

The PDA could also give a decent rationale for character names to be displayed within the gameworld, again with the possibility of disabling or enabling that functionality at the player's discretion. Walking back into your group hideout? Enable PDA IDs and avoid getting shot up on the way in. Don't want to be "hand-scanned" and identified in the treeline or along a ridge? Turn them off. (I spotted an excellent suggestion of tagging players as recognised when close and some NFC-enabled PDAs could rationalise that capability).

Since a PDA would probably make sense for the already-mooted "Diary of a Survivor" logbook I recall reading about a few weeks back, the item could serve a couple of functional requirements at once in a single tool slot. Perhaps it could replace the player list currently shown with the 'P' key, and in that list show only players who have elected to make their PDAs 'discoverable'.

Much of this suggestion is "inspired" by the STALKER series where text messages and side missions were broadcast over an ad-hoc wireless PDA network blanketing the Zone. Information from PDAs of deceased stalkers you had discovered was downloadable to your own PDA; stash locations, interesting map coordinates, and notable helpers or bandit names were discoverable. The opportunities for disinformation from beyond the grave might also prove enticing for all kinds of players.

In fact I'm sure you must have played the STALKER series, so I'm also quite sure this kind of suggestion must have been made and debunked a hundred times already (I've already spotted threads about cellphones and radios). Regardless, I'm in favour of mechanics that enable player agency and add choices and some of these abilities could add interesting outcomes.

Whether all of this could be implemented in the engine is another question - one I'm glad I don't have to answer myself.

However I really like the idea of leaving co-ords for a honeypot trap in my PDA for the bandit that will inevitable kill me, and the chance to broker discovered information with other players without risking my neck to collect the loot myself. I never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line.

And yes, I did play a lot of STALKER. If I ever find a VSS Vintorez in DayZ I'll be a very happy man.