Creating a End-Game for DayZ - How to reduce BanditsS

[gilgamesh333 0]

     Recently, I have been pondering over the question that everyone who has ever played DayZ before has asked: Why are there so many bandits in DayZ? Why is it that most of the players you encounter either try and shoot you or simply run away? Why has DayZ become a game based around fear of players? After thinking about this question for a very long, time I came to two conclusions that I believe are the reason that so many players in DayZ choose "the dark side". These reasons are 1) DayZ has a very weak endgame and 2) there is very little punishment for killing players in the game.

     Now, before I begin my thoughts, I would just like to say that I love DayZ. It's a phenomenal game. It has unbelievable potential, and is getting better every update. However, DayZ is plagued with aggressive players. No one can be trusted, and nothing can be counted on when dealing with other people in the game. While this adds a definite level of excitement to the game, it also encourages players to fear one another and in turn react violently when coming in contact with each other. I have narrowed the source of this problem down to two main reasons, being that DayZ has a very weak endgame and that there is very little punishment for killing players in the game. I believe, that by the implementation of just a few specific points, DayZ can be changed significantly.

     Firstly, the fact that DayZ has weak endgame. We have all been there. You have all the best loot, everything you could ever want, and you say to yourself, "Now what?" Obviously, there is only one option: begin interacting with players. And there are really only two current ways to interact with players in the game at the moment. First, you attempt to befriend them and help, or secondly, you hunt them. An overwhelming amount of players choose the latter. And thus, the bandit is created. Now, instead of trying to come up with a way of stopping the bandit, what if we tried to stop a person from becoming a bandit? And how do we do this? By creating endgame goals. I believe that these endgame goals can be concentrated in two main areas. 1) by adding vehicles, and 2) by implementing rudimentary base building. 

     1) Vehicles are self explanatory. Create a goal that players can strive toward, devoting their attention to the fixing and maintaining of a vehicle, rather than hunting other players. But it has to be done right. And by doing this, you do what DayZ is doing best - by adding layers. Make TONS of different vehicles, from sedans, to trucks, to vans, to SUV's, to ATV's, to bikes, to tricycles! Create a variety so that players do not become bored searching for one type of vehicle. Secondly, make them customizable. It would be awesome to drive around in your little SUV, armored with scrap metal, a custom zombie-crunching bumper and a skull and cross bones painted on the side. By creating vehicles, it gives players with high amounts of loot a goal to obtain. You all remember from the mod, desperately trying to find the right parts across the map with your buddies to fix up that UAZ you just found in a garage, hoping to high heaven that nobody else will find it and take it first. That moment of DayZ was infinitely more entertaining and satisfying than killing a new spawn. 

      2) Base building is another way to draw players attention away from unnecessary PVP. I won't go into detail with this (the imaginations the limit), but all I suggest is that the devs DO NOT make this into another "build to survive" game. We have enough Minecraft clones. Don't make it so that you chop down trees to build a cabin, make it so you find boards to board up windows and combination locks to lock doors. Maybe create barbwire kits to block off larger areas and barricades to block off doorways. The sky is the limit. But, by creating a way for players create a "homebase" and maintain it, it creates yet another large endgame goal.

     Secondly, I believe that the reason there is so much banditing in DayZ is because there is very little punishment for killing players. I mean sure, their gear in their shirt gets damaged, but what does that really do? It's a great first step, but I think that it needs to be taken further than that. I propose creating a way to limit PVP psychologically. Making it so that if a player kills more than, say, 3 or 4 other players, his character goes insane, effectively killing that character. This stops needless violence. Think of it as a meter, that the more people you kill, the more the meter fills. When it fills all the way up, you go insane. Now, you CAN lower that meter. You do that by helping people. By giving them a can of beans, you lower your meter a bit more. Help them a lot, and it cleans up your conscience. This means that for every person a bandit kills, they have to help another, or risk losing all of their gear. There are obvious loopholes and exploits that would have to be cleaned up, but the theory is sound. By killing other players, you are effectively killing yourself. 

But mostly what I ask is that the developers of DayZ keep up the amazing work. You guys are doing great, and I know that you will keep the best thoughts in mind when developing the game. Keep up the great work. Keep working on that V3S, eh?

 

Well, my rant is over. A dev will probably never read this, but it still makes me feel better to have written it. If a dev does see this, and sees any flaws in my plan, I would greatly appreciate it if I could be told what my errors were. Also, if one of you (the community) read this and feel you agree or disagree, please leave a response with your question or comment, and I would love to further explain and expand my theories. Thank you for your time.

 

Edit: I am aware that vehicles and limited base building are already planned. I meant this more as a suggestion to focus more heavily on these two areas of play, due to the fact that the core of the game needs to be further developed. As for the insanity idea, a large amount of people already said that the devs have stated they are not going to implement anything like that. I did not know that, and it is my fault for ignorance. However, I do believe that the killing of players needs to be punished more that it is now. What do you guys think? Yes or no? And if so, how would they do this? I would love to hear what you have to say.  

 

Your friendly Survivor,

Gilgamesh

Edited October 11, 2014 by Gilgamesh333

[Askelon 36]

I have numerous problems with this.

Vehicles are already planned., and will be added whenever they are added.

Limited amounts of building, I believe, is also planned.

 

I strongly disagree with the addition of "insanity". It's been proposed before, and all it does is force players into a playstyle, which goes against the core of what DayZ is.

[nettles 396]

I disagree.  Like society, gaming communities create the kinds of players that it needs.  Without murderous asshole children, there would be no excitement in this game. Players shouldn't be punished for playing how they want to play in a sandbox survival game.  

[DemonGroover 8836]

The problem with your insanity suggestion is that it does something the devs have said they will never do. Tell players how to play the game.

For me I would rather make ammo rare enough so that firing a weapon comes down to a choice of whether it is worth it or not. Secondly firing a weapon should bring a whole heap of trouble your way in the form of shitloads of zombies.

[Askelon 36]

The problem with your insanity suggestion is that it does something the devs have said they will never do. Tell players how to play the game.

For me I would rather make ammo rare enough so that firing a weapon comes down to a choice of whether it is worth it or not. Secondly firing a weapon should bring a whole heap of trouble your way in the form of shitloads of zombies.

Yes. I also believe the best way to bring KoS and banditry down is through having shitloads of Zombies.

[nettles 396]

Demon's got a point. Guns are loud. I mean, really f*cking loud.  Gunshots should bring mounds of zombies.  Maybe a tricky little mechanic to introduce might be, if a gun is fired, zombies spawn within a radius and respond to the call.

 

It's not going to stop kids murdering each other with shovels and crowbars though.  

[General Zod 1114]

Demon's got a point. Guns are loud. I mean, really f*cking loud.  Gunshots should bring mounds of zombies.  Maybe a tricky little mechanic to introduce might be, if a gun is fired, zombies spawn within a radius and respond to the call.

 

It's not going to stop kids murdering each other with shovels and crowbars though.  

They already experimented with spawn, it ended up with infinite number of zeds spawning in waves. Which made it impossible to clear an area from zeds. 

Also more zeds will come, just be patient. 

[liquidcactus 719]

It will change with time buddy.. once infected numbers are high, firing your weapon will actually mean something in the form of alot of zombies running at you. Seriously, I day dream about this regularly. Bandits will have to have a barricaded secure firing position if they want to kill people in the urban areas especially.. cause once they fire that high powered rifle shit loads of zombies will be at their door step and you will know where they are and you could watch there position till they left.. if they ever did.. regardless they would give up there position. You could be waiting a long time I spose har har

 

But in the end the game will get harder with more infected and scarce ammo/weapons/food and infections will be around also.

[General Zod 1114]

Or

Fire your gun

Break the guys leg so he can't run away

Put your gun away

Run as if all hell broke loose 

???

Profit !

[gilgamesh333 0]

I see all of your guy's points and think that they are all solid ideas. I was simply suggesting my own ideas. However, I did not know the devs had already talked about Insanity, so it is my fault for ignorance. That is why they are devs, and can decide what to put in the game. I'll keep playing no matter what. As for vehicles and base building, I am aware that they are already planning on this. They are currently working on a V3S Transport Truck and on the ability to barricade doors. However, I was simply saying that I think more emphasis and time should be put on developing these more core aspects of the game rather than "tangent" developments. For instance, as cool as it is, I believe that throwing was developed way before it should have been. That was a non-necessary part of DayZ that could have been implemented later after the game was a bit more solid.

 

Again with insanity, that was just one of my ideas. You guys have given very good reasons against insanity, and I respect that. I still believe that it should be a bit more of a punishment for killing players in DayZ though. What do you guys think? Keep it as is or try and change it? I would greatly like to know your opinions. 

[gilgamesh333 0]

After exploring the forums for a long time, I realized that all of my suggestions have already been suggested or implemented, therefore making this post completely useless. :P If you guys want me to delete it, I will, but I realize I am just re-voicing previous ideas. Which makes this thread pointless. Anyway, ignore little old me, and happy hunting!

 

Gilgamesh

[Abren 0]

I am going to pose something here I am yet to read in any of the debates about bandits and limiting them. Its great that people are playing them, it creats the drama of is this person going to shoot you or rob you meaning its not just a case of saying Gday to everyone you meet so it has to stay and can't become displayed if you are playing bandit or not.

 

HOWEVER

 

The amount of bandits in game may not be a true representation of how it would be for one main reason, you are not REALLY killing a person so as an individual pushing the mouse button its easy but I hope that in real life it would be a hard choice that would bring with it mental pain. So by saying you don't want to limit peoples 'playing' style, you also want to remove the realism of the game. It is a VERY tricky problem. So I think the OP has posed one way, but maybe not THE way to help, but it might be the ONLY way.

[doctorbadsign 645]

Private shards with whitelisting is all you need.

 

I had a couple of servers I'd play the mod on where everyone was friendly as it was a community and I never once got killed on sight. Once you have those kinds of server available you don't really need any kind of gameplay changes to reduce PVP. Those who want that can play on the servers that promote it. Those who don't can play on servers that discourage it.

 

Nothing needs to change with regards to game mechanics.

[Sleeves 98]

Gah, bandits, my trigger word. Please use 12 year old CoD kiddie in place of it

[DemonGroover 8836]

You know if we didn't have players willing to be bandits this game could get boring pretty quickly.

[General Zod 1114]

Gah, bandits, my trigger word. Please use 12 year old CoD kiddie in place of it

That makes you a 12 year old SIMS kiddie.