I guess you can call this an "item"

[RedLinkWill]

TLDR: a chance of a dead player's carcass to spawn in another player's game save when they die. Whatever they had with them before they died will also be in the carcass.

I think a system should be added to allow others to loot whatever was wasted from some other player who died in the long dark; basically a looting system similar to the game ZombiU. How it works is when a player dies, their corpse is left behind and has a chance to spawn in another player's world. This player can then loot whatever was left before the other player died. I think this will really add the feeling that the player is not alone in the long dark, and will give a chance for players to get extra loot from others and see how they were before they died.

I want to keep this suggestion as loose as possible since I can already see a few problems with this type of looting system(like having a corpse in an inconvenient area or just having them littered everywhere). Theses below are possible limits (and additions) to the system.

-Player carcasses will despawn within a 12 hour period(in-game).

-Only one may spawn at a time.

-Player carcass will have a notebook similar to player, telling them how long they survived(and possibly how they may have died). May also have notes they have taken before they died.

-Players can only leave a carcass if they manage to survive at least five days(to prevent spamming).

-Player carcasses will not spawn for the first X hours of a game save.

-Possibly a discordant sound will play when a player is very close to a player carcass(only when they don't have direct vision).

So what do you guys and girls think about this "item?" I personally would love to see this as a way to interact with other players.

While we're on a post, what would you people like to see in the future of the Long Dark?

[Dirmagnos]

Dont really think its a good idea.

Aside from the fact that Zombi was a garbage, it would promote of hoarding high quality loot and then intentionally die to give "next" player rather significant headstart, at the same time having fully refreshed world.

Not to mention that such "transfer" between different games of different players would require quite a lot of coding and would be opened to severe exploitation and trolling.

[PPartisan]

I love the idea, and tentatively suggested something similar on a separate thread regarding the in-game journal. Instead of having stock dead guys, it would be a nice feature to come across bodies in game that once belonged to other players - they would retain a portion of the loot they had on them when they died, and you could collect their journal for some (perhaps) relevant information about locations they visited etc.

Of course, I'm entirely ignorant to how difficult this would be to actually implement, but I like it as an idea!

[RedLinkWill]

On 2/8/2016 at 3:32 AM, Dirmagnos said:

Aside from the fact that Zombi was a garbage,

Good opinion of another game, but it is not relevant to the topic in terms of what makes the looting system bad.

Even if the game was turd, not all of the mechanics should be considered "bad."  

On 2/8/2016 at 3:32 AM, Dirmagnos said:

it would promote of hoarding high quality loot and then intentionally die to give "next" player rather significant headstart, at the same time having fully refreshed world.

and would be opened to severe exploitation and trolling.

I doubt that you read the entire post thoroughly, try again!

On 2/8/2016 at 3:32 AM, Dirmagnos said:

Not to mention that such "transfer" between different games of different players would require quite a lot of coding

You got me here, but coding isn't my primary concern for the looting system.  I meant others to see this affecting gameplay in general, not in terms of applying it to The Long Dark immediately(or ever for that matter).

[Packet802]

Didn't like the idea at first but after reading it all and thinking about it I like it!  Don't think all of the inventory items should be on it though, that would be too easy.  Maybe just a random 10% selection of items with a journal for trivia purposes possibly with the XB1 name of the person (and steam equivalent if there is one) .  Also if you find and loot one of these then at least a week should pass before the chance of another one happens.

[AverageGatsby]

What Packet says is actually not that bad of an idea, as long as loot gotten is minimized, some stats about the poor fellow and maybe a log (if he wrote one[which would also add aditional incentive to writing logs]) would actually be fun, nevertheless I still think this requires more effort on the developers side than it would be worth. There are other things where resources could be used better :). 

[Raphael van Lierop]

It's an interesting idea and something we've discussed internally (and other ideas along these lines); the issue becomes it involves some online infrastructure to support features like this, which as an "offline" single-player game, we don't really have. But I agree it would be nice to have some sense of what happened to your previous survivors after they die. 

[cekivi]

1 hour ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

It's an interesting idea and something we've discussed internally (and other ideas along these lines); the issue becomes it involves some online infrastructure to support features like this, which as an "offline" single-player game, we don't really have. But I agree it would be nice to have some sense of what happened to your previous survivors after they die. 

Why not have the body spawn then in the next single player sandbox the player begins? Only with randomized or minimized loot to discourage hording. Or a "continuation mode" where you start fresh at a random location with no new item drops. The other survivors (you in a past life or lives) has already picked certain areas clean making survival more challenging.

[cekivi]

1 hour ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

It's an interesting idea and something we've discussed internally (and other ideas along these lines); the issue becomes it involves some online infrastructure to support features like this, which as an "offline" single-player game, we don't really have. But I agree it would be nice to have some sense of what happened to your previous survivors after they die. 

Why not have the body spawn then in the next single player sandbox the player begins? Only with randomized or minimized loot to discourage hording. Or a "continuation mode" where you start fresh at a random location with no new item drops. The other survivors (you in a past life or lives) has already picked certain areas clean making survival more challenging.

[Fuarian]

I love this idea. How about instead of making it other players. Make it be you. Your previous saved games. Since the game isn't an online oriented game it would be easier to incorporate your old character with some of the loot you had before. This would also need for a new model for the corpses. Maybe a few new models. As well as more loot in a corpse than the regular.

[Fuarian]

I love this idea. How about instead of making it other players. Make it be you. Your previous saved games. Since the game isn't an online oriented game it would be easier to incorporate your old character with some of the loot you had before. This would also need for a new model for the corpses. Maybe a few new models. As well as more loot in a corpse than the regular.