Morale

[Pixelgabe]

Hi, this was in my last post, but it focused on other thing more. There should morale because some people die from go insane in survival scenario. The morale can go down(up) by 1.low condition (near death) 2. poor food 3.wolves around you 4. darkness 5. human corps, and other terrible things. However this can be combated with reading,( the more you read a newspaper or book the less interesting it get and less morale is gained. Also the longer the read material is the longer it take to get to that point) being in a lighted building, good tasting foods, sleeping in good condition, and (as an idea) bury corpse (it take a lot of time but give a lot of morale.

Thank you for listening.

[Gaboris]

+1

[Chuckcem]

I actually had a similar thought, but I think morale is harder to interpret in-game because it is also based more on the player's experience, more so than what is happening to the character. I don't think that forcing the player to do a particular action would help with the overall immersion, since every player is different.

That being said I would argue that there should be a Morale bonus/status effect that could affect the other stats. For example eating food or even warm food should definitely be a morale boost. Dropping a character's cold bar to 0 while being at 100% and healthy would be another or even simply creating a fire. Moral could also be affected negatively when the character is low on health or has just been attacked by an animal. Failing at creating a fire could be another. This could then affect how the other stats increase/decrease. Negative morale stat effect could also create hallucinations over time as well.

[phil_greggory]

Good ideas! But my opinion on this is that the game (or any game) should not determine moods and feelings. That is something experienced by the player naturally. Morale is already built into the game if you think about it. You as a human playing the game experience feelings. Are you stuck in a fishing hut due to a blizzard? I was in my last playthrough and began to freeze to death when I let my fire go out and didn't have anything to start it with again. My moral was low and I didn't need the game to tell me that explicitly.

But, I think you have something else interesting like reading books to learn skills or maybe to advance the story. I like the burying of bodies idea too even if it doesn't affect any stats it would be something that could actually improve your moral without a game mechanic to calculate it.

[CountZero]

Hi, this was in my last post, but it focused on other thing more. There should morale because some people die from go insane in survival scenario. The morale can go down(up) by 1.low condition (near death) 2. poor food 3.wolves around you 4. darkness 5. human corps, and other terrible things. However this can be combated with reading,( the more you read a newspaper or book the less interesting it get and less morale is gained. Also the longer the read material is the longer it take to get to that point) being in a lighted building, good tasting foods, sleeping in good condition, and (as an idea) bury corpse (it take a lot of time but give a lot of morale.

Thank you for listening.

yeah we talked about it in another post....my idea was not to fix the mood...but just keeping your chances of cooking, repairing and crafting up to par with reading books....

+2 for the lighted building and bury corpse....great idea...

someone mentioned something about getting bunker directions from books (dairy), learning to build the diffrent stuff ( maybe the more complex like the bow and cloth, even just learning to cure, tanning can be quite difficult), learning of the fauna and by reading about it being able to track. (tracking is kinda missing, and if it's not put in the game, reading about the fauna could let you track a blood trail for longer distance or slowing the animal down as it's game mechanic)

tracking: I like to find paw prints...I think I found one once...but it could just be graphic....when a deer runs from me I like to be able to find sporatic tracks of it, and the more game I kill following it the better I would become, no need for stats, just suddenly a better visual display of the tracksl. Rabbit tracks to place snares by, and getting a better chance to trap...(though enough traps makes it kinda pointless I guess )

[wolfstriked]

My morale drops all the time in TLD as I get feelings of actually just giving up the character and starting anew where all is a struggle again.Why should I struggle to survive when everyone is dead?LOL thats real morale!

[TH3 H3G3MON]

I think morale is a huge missing piece of the survival sandbox.

Successfully starting a fire in a blizzard, or finding shelter, food, or select items that will save your life when you're in the danger zone could give you a morale boost that, like fallouts "Luck" attribute effects everything, but does nothing. Both the most important factor and the least.

So maybe a high morale lets you move X% faster, or just simply reduces the speed at which you mr stats degrade.

Also, it would be cool to see alcohol added as an item. Multiple uses, as in starting a fire, crafting a lower powered makeshift lantern. (Since none of these damn candles work!) also, you could sip on it to boost morale for a short time, as well as your warmth, but since that's actually going to DROP your temp, you'd have a negative effect following the positive. A hangover if you will, where your temp will drop faster than usual for a short time. Maybe even use it as a defense against the wolves and bears...FIRE SPITTING!!

[HyperMoon]

This idea of morale was discussed in the Day Z forums as well at one point and I don't believe it's a good idea. I think morale should be felt naturally by the player and not as stat points that your character gets.

I agree with Phil, the game already does a good job with it's amazing atmosphere to instill low or high morale depending on your circumstances. I really don't see a need for a stat.

[TH3 H3G3MON]

You're probably right. Because when I had a high luck skill in fallout I was just mad when I got a crappy roll. So my REAL morale would go down. This game definitely does that enough.

4 hours was my first play thru on hard. I spawned beside 3 wolves. I snuck around for a few seconds... And got ran up on and attacked with nothing to heal myself. Great first impression.

[Combat_Jack]

I absolutely agree that I should have the option to bury a corpse; or even carry it out of my house (Camp Office) and drop it somewhere else.

[CountZero]

I absolutely agree that I should have the option to bury a corpse; or even carry it out of my house (Camp Office) and drop it somewhere else.

just a thought...how about when you clean up a house, debris (knocked over chairs a.s.o) bury corpses....the building starts to light up more...easier to see and your own moral will raise...mine will I know...giving the building a warmer fell without the use of lantern...just a bit??

[dornenfeld]

+1 but would call it sanity. If you are alone for too long you will just get insane and speak with yourself. Could add crafting option for Wilson or something like that :mrgreen:

[Pixelgabe]

I guess you guys are right. Morale is the players experience.

[Best_Leopard]

I just wanted to put together my own thoughts on the subject and put them out there, though I’m sure we all have different preferences.

The reason I’d like to see some kind of psychological element in TLD is that this is a huge part of survival from what I’ve heard, especially solo survival. It would also add another interesting element to balance in the game, create many new activities for us (especially when blizzards keep us cooped up), and make it much less possible to hibernate all the time.

Here are a few of the new activities that I think could be used to maintain or raise mental health:

- Reading books.

- Making or finding a small musical instrument (this sounds a bit wacky at first, but think of Les Stroud and his harmonica).

- Whittling or otherwise crafting small decorative items.

- Playing solitaire (we could find a pack of cards somewhere)

I guess some people might say that one wouldn’t really waste time and resources on these things in a survival situation, but I’m not sure about that. I think once you’ve got shelter, food, water, etc. and are faced with long-term survival (especially alone), these are the things a person might do. It would also give us something more interesting to do besides sleep all day when a blizzard is going outside.

Anyway, in the end I’m sure these ideas don’t appeal to everyone, and that’s ok. I’m also pretty sure that the devs have something else in mind that they’re already implementing for story mode, so I look forward to seeing what comes in the future. Thanks for reading my ideas!

[Boston123]

In real life, "morale" or more poetically, "the will to survive", is probably the MOST IMPORTANT aspect of survival.

People have died before with good tools, good shelter, and plenty of food and water. They just gave up.

Having "good morale" is far more important than having tools , or really, even skills. With a will to survive, you can make tools and improvise on skills, while lacking said will will kill you, even with tools and the proper skills

[Best_Leopard]

I agree with you, Boston123, but I think a lot of people in this thread are saying that they'd prefer morale to remain in the players' minds/imaginations and not be represented in the game mechanics. I respect this point of view, but I also think it would make the game more complex and interesting to have it included somehow.

[illanthropist]

In real life, "morale" or more poetically, "the will to survive", is probably the MOST IMPORTANT aspect of survival.

People have died before with good tools, good shelter, and plenty of food and water. They just gave up.

Having "good morale" is far more important than having tools , or really, even skills. With a will to survive, you can make tools and improvise on skills, while lacking said will will kill you, even with tools and the proper skills

+1

Indeed, I thought of survival psychology which brought me to this post. Probably far too late in the development stage but some kind of willpower meter topped up as others have said by reading books, newspapers etc eating chocolate even boiling water and having a hot rag wash, catching a whopper fish, successful crafting of new gear could all contribute.

As it stands now I could just run out for an hour or two a day to collect sticks and boil water in the petrol station for at least a month with near 50 kilo's of cooked meat and canned/dry goods to hand.

[MAGI]

+1 but would call it sanity. If you are alone for too long you will just get insane and speak with yourself. Could add crafting option for Wilson or something like that :mrgreen:

U'VE MADE MY DAY!!!

[SteveP]

AFAIK this is something that was mentioned in the teaser for the Story Mode or one of the official videos. Mention is made of a faded photograph that fades with each use.

Morale is a significant factor in survival in real life. It would make an interesting addition to the game but not sure how it would work. Obviously keeping busy and crafting non-essential items improves moral and improves the player's overall condition