Discussion | Online Zombie Survival games almost extinct. Why?

Hello Everyone, @Piroct here with a new kind of post for all of you! Today I want to open a discussion for a certain type of issue inside the gaming world that's been messing in my head for too long now. All of you are welcome to give their opinions, so please do feel free to leave a comment and contribute to the discussion!

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Right to it then!

Zombie-Themed games on Decline.

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DayZ - Source

So, we have been seeing less of this kind of games, especially in the Online-Survival department, and that's the one I want to focus because I think it's the one with more potential.

My Online Zombie Survival experience began with DayZ. It didn't last long though, thanks to its clumsy interface, delayed animations, slow paced shooting, and zombies walking through doors and walls... That last one was a real pain.

Although, there were some things that DayZ made really well, like its atmosphere. The sounds and the look of it made it easy for me to immersed myself into that world, specially while being in First-Person perspective. I remember enjoying just running around in the world, scavenging and avoiding zombies, just because of the feeling of immersion... But immersion wasn't enough to maintain me entertained for a long time. So, with the hope of finding a better gameplay experience I started looking for some other Online Zombie Survival game.

DayZ - Source

By that time "The War Z" had just been released, so I tried it right away. This time, a cleaner interface and fast-paced shooting made my gameplay experience quite enjoyable, until I realize that the game world felt empty and zombies were dumb and weak. You could take out a small horde of walkers with a frying pan if you knew how to handle them.

As I continued playing I found myself just going out of the safe zones to scavenge for equipment and then going back to store everything in the bank with the only fear of encountering other players that could kill me and take all my stuff. And that's it. That's the best thing the game could made me feel, fear for other players.

The War Z - Source

Shouldn't Zombies be the focus?

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If I would have wanted to feel fear or be intimidated by other players then I'd have gone to Rust, or some other PvP focused Survival Game. But I was asking for a Zombie Survival experience, that I could share with real people.

That seems to be the problem with this kind of games, all of them end up being trapped in a PvP Loop where the Zombies are only obstacles and the real monsters are the players, which is not a bad concept, but it would be better if zombies could be "real monsters" too.

The War Z - Source

Stronger and smarter zombies that could get you in any place, follow you to the end of the world, and that one bite from them could mean a Game Over, that seems like a fun a terrorific idea. Specially in games that let you build bases and outposts. In those cases, the game shouldn't let the player feel invincible inside a base. Swarms of zombies that could invade and break through the base's walls could make the whole game much more active!

Having a game where the zombies are a real threat to all players and safe zones in the game could lead to a feeling of "Hostile Survival" where settling down is not a safe option.

7 Days to Die - Source

Although I would strongly like to see that kind of behavior in a Zombie Survival game right away, I do know that that's not the only thing necessary to achieve the experience I'm looking for.

Every Zombie Survival Game that has been release has something unique and useful to the feeling of a real Zombie Apocalypse. Base building, crafting, missions, and so on and so on! This features could fit well in they're developed correctly. But as our focus is to see zombies on the top of the food chain, let's talk about how some games tried to nerf the "Bandit Player" Apocalypse.

H1Z1 - Source

The War Z had a nice feature which was a Bounty Mechanic. You could post bounties and offer money or equipment so other people hunt the one that killed you and stole your stuff... But it didn't last long until people started abusing this feature and it was removed from the game.

Usually in this type of games, people kill other players for fun or to annoy. A right way to deal with this kind of issue is to implement a "Moral Mechanic" in which killing innocent player could mean gameplay-changing consequences. A Bandit player shouldn't be allowed to use a safe zone, or maybe with each innocent kill a stat like "Sanity" could decrease, leading to changes of the character of the player.

I find appealing and entertaining to imagine a game world where players are more scared of zombies than to be killed by other players. A game world so well design that you can explore every inch of a city and it's outskirts, and none of it it's fully safe for you to settle down. And a game world in which players have to think twice before shooting on sight and be force to take other means to deal with other players. That seems like a really fun and interesting Zombie Survival experience.

DayZ - Source

Do you think Zombie Survival games should have any other change or feature? Please let me now by commenting!

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