I watched a video on YouTube recently where a survival expert reacted to DayZ: https://youtu.be/tq244OeL8Bk

She mentioned a few things, and it got me thinking about some cool survival aspects that would be welcome additions.

A few ideas I took away from the video, and doing some research myself:

• Pine trees: The inner bark can be eaten raw, boiled or fried (perfect for DayZ). You can also boil the needles to make a tea.

• Birch trees: The twigs and leaves can be boiled to make a tea. They contain a compound similar to aspirin, so this could have a similar effect to codeine.

• Sap/resin: Can be used to seal wounds (could work as quick as bandages to make it useful). Also useful for lighting torches and can even light fires in wet conditions. Can be chewed as a treatment for colds. Finally, sap can be used for repairs in a similar way to duct tape. This substance seems like the perfect thing to add to DayZ!

• Interacting with the piles of hay around the map, could allow us to put some inside our clothing, to provide extra thermal protection. Would make your character itch, meaning you’d only want it as a short term solution.

• Using a shovel to dig a fire pit, so we can make more discreet fires at night.

• Allowing chickens to lay eggs: dynamic egg spawns in chicken shacks, or allowing us to keep chickens in bases. Eggs could be boiled or fried.

• Empty cans: after eating/drinking we either drop these (used to track players) or use them as small cooking pans. Also could be a noise trap for a base.

• Metal walls/sheeting: can be used to cook on, allowing us to cook large amounts of food at once.

• Dead zombies/players: should attract predators like wolves. Lots of dead zombies means there is a player nearby. So this could increase interactions. This could also flush out camping players, and allow us to find hidden bodies and loot. The absolute dream would be to have vultures circling above dead players.

• Unique animal clothing: Warm woollen clothing from sheep, warm clothing from bear fur, etc. Leather clothing from cow, etc.

• Broken glass: used in conjunction with sunlight to start a fire. (We know those god rays are powerful!) Perhaps you get glass by combining a tool with a window.

• Smoke signals: allow us to add certain materials to fires (grass) to create thick smoke signals that can be seen from long distances. Used to help friends find each other, or ambush other players.

That’s about all I can think of for now. I feel like the survival side of DayZ could do with some love. Living off the forest would be a great challenge. This will make the PvE much more interesting. I’m just brainstorming ideas. What do people think?