Ghost Players - A new way to spectate.

[Macgyverthehero]

Spectating has personally been one of the biggest gripes for me when playing Barotrauma because often times waiting to respawn can be boring or annoying depending on how the game is progressing and if respawns are allowed. So after some thought I figured out a neat feature that could help make spectating slightly more involved and pass the time while not interfering with the match and not boring out the awaiting players.

This is my proposed feature: Ghost Players

Ghosts would be an individual, non-interference class that players automatically join when they have died or have given in that allows them to still walk or swim about without being able to interact directly with living players or the submarine in a matter that encourages trolling or griefing. The ghosts would be able to walk and swim about as if they are a normal player. However, they would have a more transparent appearance and would be locked to the outfit and state they were in when they died. (e.g. If you were crushed by pressure, your ghost body will look like your corpse.)

Living players would not be able to see or hear ghosts most of the time, but ghosts can see and hear living players and other ghosts. There is only two exceptions where living players can have a rare, momentary chance to meet them:

1. If the ship is completely flooded or dark, a living player can catch a glimpse of a ghost.

2. If a living player is under the Psychosis effect, they will have a greater chance to see and even hear ghosts that are in view.

As mentioned before, ghosts would not be able to directly interact with living players or the submarine itself to effect how the match progresses, however they could have small abilities that only suggest their presence, though is rarely shown:

1. If a ghost stands near a lamp, once in a while the lamp can flicker without effecting the power systems of the ship.

2. Creatures have a chance to see and attack ghosts, but only once and will not attack again.

One last thing is that if a ghost player ends up outside a submarine (in case the sub flies off without the ghost) they can teleport back to the submarine or to where they've died and ghosts would not be able to use a static camera to get a bigger view of the map (so they can't find specific locations or objectives easily.)

This is my suggestion so far. Hopefully I've worded this well enough as to suggest that the goal of this ghost class is to help keep players in matches while waiting and to provide a slightly creepier tone to the gameplay that reminds players about failing to keep each other alive.

Thank y'all for reading. If anyone would like to add to my idea or critique my suggestion, feel free to do so!

[Anikyte]

I like this idea. If they ever implement VOIP for the dead, maybe living people could catch a clip of a conversation, muffled of course. You could also go sims style, and have ghosts have different effects depending on how you died. You could have a visual effect on your ghost, sometimes seen by living players, and passive health effects to nearby players. Health effects would be light, severity of maybe one or two, and never lethal on their own.

Cause - Visual - Health
Fire - Cinders and Smoke - Burns
Drowning - Dripping - Oxygen Deprivation
Bleeding - Dripping Blood - Bleeding
Internal Damage - Bruises - Internal Damage
Poison (Lethal) - Coughing - Psychosis
Poison (Radiotoxin) - Geiger Counter Crackle, Dim Glow - Burns
Gunshot - Dripping Blood, Bullet Holes - Bleeding, Quiet Screaming
Husk - Large Husk Stick Thing, Clicking Noises, Uneasyness - Increased Rate of Husk Infection
Overdose - Crackhead Face - Minor Opiate Withdrawl
Electrocution (Not a death but it should be) - Tiny Lightning on Body - Damages Electronics, Electrocutes People
Alchohol Poisoning - Quiet burping, very quiet "drunken sailors" in the background - Drunkness

You could even combine them if they died from multiple things! There is alot of potential in this idea.