Firstly, Ash, are you planning on making this? Also, are we talking FPSMMO? Or like WoW?
No, I'm not planning on making this exactly, though I would jump at the chance.
Secondly, to add a bit of variety, zombies could be different in terms of physical ability. For example, an athetic man in his 20's who only changed recently would probably be faster than most zombies. Also, an obese man in his 40's would be alot slow, but prehaps more resistant to physical attack because his fat would give him slight protection.
I'm considering that people who are newly zombified would be able to run (Based on their build, of course) and after a while, they slow down.
Third, a game based on survial would probably work better than a game based around just killing zombies.
Exactly what I had in mind.
Forth, stealing supplies from other groups of players. You sneak/break in, loot the place, a gun battle may or may not ensue, take their food/weaponry/ammo/fuel/whatever, and run back your your friends. This would also help break up the repetitiveness of just killing zombies.
I thought of this too. The idea of focusing on group dynamics is important. You're more likely to survive with a group of people than alone.
Your idea about stealking brings me to think of the original Dawn of the Dead. Imagine if you grouped up with a bunch of other people and went around looting? Even better, imagine if you were all on motorcycles, and one of the locations in the game was a mall...
Fifth, players who have been bitten able to play as zombies.
I'm considering that. How would that work, though? They would be normal zombies, and they'd be fast at first, and steadily get slower as rigor mortis and decomposition set in (The rigor mortis would only be in effect for a little while, since movement of limbs breaks it out in real life corpses.)
Sixth, the ability to make makeshift weapons. Such as, Bottle+Fuel+Rag = Molotov. Or, gunpowder + tin can + fuse = grenade.
Sounds great! That'd be an awesome aspect for expansion of the game over time.
Another thought I had was that there would be 3 kinds of servers: Class 1, 2, and 3.
On a class 1 server, the player starts near the beginning of the zombie apocalypse, so there would be lots of panicking NPCs leaving the cities and getting attacked by zombies, and there would be a greater frequency of human enemies than in a class 2 or 3 server, but more NPCs to distract zombies with. This is the easiest server, as there are more weapons and supplies and fewer zombies here than in the other two.
On Class 2 servers, the game is at a middle level of difficulty. This is a while into the zombie apocalypse. There are fewer NPC enemies, but still lots of zombies. There would be more weapons, ammunition, and supplies lying around.
Class 3 servers are the most difficult. This takes place far into the zombie apocalypse. There are zombies numbering in the hundreds, or even thousands, but they are at their most decomposed state. There are only a few NPCs, but they're really high-level. Ammunition and supplies are the most scarce, and solo survival is nearly impossible.
The idea is that when a person starts out, they start in a Class 1 server. After a certain period of time, they allowed to move to a Class 2 server if they want, and then after more time, are allowed to move on to Class 3 servers. Once the player unlocks higher-class servers, they can change to any server they want, whenever they want.
