DREAM GAME: Zombie MMO
Death of Rats
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I have an idea for the best MMO possible, a Zombie Apocalypse MMO. So, lets talk about how such a game would work:
Zones:
Every area in the game is called a Zone. Zones have 3 types, Countryside, Military, and City. Zones are completely different and unique. There are 96 zones in total; 48 Countryside, 12 Military, and 36 City. Both Zombies and Players can move between zones.
Countryside Zones:
There are 48 countryside zones, one for each of the continental united states. Each zone is around 20-30 square miles. Each contains a city or military zone. Safe Havens are located only in these zones. The landscape for each zone is based on the state it's based and roughly the same shape of it's real life counterpart. However, due to the variety of shapes and sizes of the various states the boarders won't match up entirely. All zones will be roughly the same size. Various real life landmarks will be represented in the Countryside zones. 2-3 small towns are located in countryside zones and are a good place to pick up supplies before heading towards city zones.
While Zombies do not spawn in countryside zones, they will migrate to them from City and Military zones.
City Zones:
City Zones are named after the biggest city in the state that contains them. The style of architecture and any landmarks will be represented in city zones. All city zones will be around 20-40 square city block.
City zones are the main spawning point of NPC zombies. Zombies spawned in city zones are mainly of the brainless wondering variety, with a few fast ones mixed in for good fun. Each block has at least one enterable building. These buildings might contain supplies, weapons, armor, gas, or scraps for building up Safe Havens. Cities also may contain a few working vehicles.
Military Zones:
Military Zones are military bases scattered throughout the country. They are very dangerous. Zombies spawned at military zones can use weapons and may have armor. Military zones, however, also contain the best weapons, missions, and vehicles.
Safe Havens:
Safe Havens are humanity's last hope. There is one safe haven per countryside zone. Players always spawn at safe havens. Safe havens are player built and defended. Zombies are naturally drawn towards safe havens. When a safe haven falls to zombies, a new safe haven is started in the least zombie infested part of the countryside zone furthest away from the city. Every player in the countryside and city zone is notified.
Safe havens start out as a single medical tent from which players spawn. Players add to the safe haven by getting supplies to build barricades, set up bartering tents, player-manned turrets, and campfires. Better supplies build safer safe havens. Time spent building on a safe haven is added to a player's dogtag.
A safe haven falls if zombies are attacking it with no one defending. Zombies can enter safe havens.
Players:
Players start off with very basic supplies. A pistol, a baseball bat, a box of ammo, and a med kit. The player's goal is to survive as long as possible and collect dog tags off of zombified players. The player is aided in this by doing missions and gaining skill points.
The player controls the game in a first person perspective when using a gun, much like STALKER or Deus Ex. When using a gun, the size of the cross hairs show how good of a shot they have. If the cross hair is large, more than likely the player will miss their target. If the cross hair is very small, they more than likely will hit their target. As players kill zombies with a weapon their skill points with that weapon goes up. Once they reach a certain number of skill points their aim gets better.
The player controls the game in a third person perspective when using melee weapons. Being a melee player is like being a psychotic ninja. The player still gains skill points, but instead of aiming better as they level, they can use larger objects. At level 1 they may only be able to use knives, bats, and the like. At later levels they may be able to use chainsaws, large concrete poles, and almost any large blunt object. Larger melee weapons cause more damage.
Players can't attack other players unless in Zombie Rage Mode. If you want a deathmatch game, counterstrike is a much better alternative. If a player is “killed†by a Zombie Rage Mode player, they respawn at the nearest Safe Haven without losing any skill points or items. “ZRM'd†is added to their dog tag.
When players die they lose all of their dogtags and their survival time resets.
Dogtags:
Each player has a dogtag. Every time they die they get a new dogtag. The dogtag levels up with the player. Every mission they have completed is noted on their dogtag. The total time they have spent defending and building Safe Havens is on their dogtag. Every Zombie killed adds points to their dogtag. The more accomplishments on their dogtag, the more points it's worth when tallied up each cycle.
NPC Zombified Players:
When a player dies his/her corpse becomes a zombie. The zombified player is more intelligent and stronger than a typical zombie. Where regular zombies can almost always be taken down with a shot to the head, zombified players must take much more damage to die. The zombified player's level is completely dependent on the level of the player's dogtag. If a player was very high leveled in pistols, the zombie can wield pistols. If the player could set traps, the zombie can avoid traps. If the zombified player had a high health the zombie would have high health. So on and so forth. The zombified player is drawn towards areas the player regularly traversed. It moves independently of regular zombie mobs, and is much more aggressive. Players must be careful in dealing with a zombified player. While still mindless, the zombified player can use weapons and might use cover. Zombified players can not starve to death.
Zombie Rage Mode:
When players die they go into a 10 minute long Zombie Rage Mode. In Zombie Rage Mode players are given a chance to keep up to three fourths of their skill points on their respawn character. Players can opt out of Zombie Rage Mode, but by doing so they only keep one third of their skill points on their next respawn.
Zombie Rage Mode is controlled in the third person perspective. The player is unarmed, invincible to zombie attacks, and must take out as many zombies as possible. The point of rage mode is to kill as many zombies as possible, up to 75. Each zombie killed counts as one skill point. As the 10 minutes count down the player will become stronger, faster, and their on screen avatar will grow pail and start deteriorating. This mode also gives the player a chance to hide any loot that they have on them before turning into a zombie. While raging out PVP is also possible (to stop other players from getting the dogtag of your newly created Zombie self or following you to your stash of goodies).
NPC Zombies:
NPC Zombies spawn at a preset rate in City and Military zones. Around 25% of zombies are automatically drawn toward players and safe havens. 25% wonder around randomly and 50% stay within a few meters of where they spawned. Zombies attack players on sight, but can be hidden from easily. Only zombies from military zones can use weapons. Some zombies are fast zombies. While zombies can lose limbs and still be alive they do have a maximum amount of damage they can take. Shooting them in the head almost always automatically kills them, but they can be killed if enough damage is done to their body. Zombies come in a variety of strength and species. Birds, dogs, and cats can all be zombies.
Missions:
Missions are special jobs handed out from the President of the United States from a secret bunker located on the moon (or something like that). Missions take place in any type of zone, but always involve danger. While on a mission players (alone or in a group) enter into spawned areas (complexes, buildings). A mission can be as varied as collecting art from a museum, clearing the space needle of zombies, or shutting of nuclear power plants that are about to meltdown. If a player dies while on a mission they start Zombie Rage Mode outside of the spawned area. Zombified players can't enter Missions. Neither can NPC Zombies. Each mission contains a boss zombie. Whether he has to be killed depends entirely on the mission's instructions.
Players do missions to raise their overall hit points, get unique items, or just say they're a bad ass zombie killing mother fucker.
Cycles and The Leader board:
The length of a cycle depends entirely on what type of server you're playing on. Some servers may have cycles that last a predetermined amount of time, while other more hardcore cycles will last until only one player remains (on these hardcore servers players can't respawn). When a cycle ends the final Leader board is tallied for that server.
The Leader board is a constantly updating tracker of each player's survival time and dogtag points gained (This includes their own dogtag and half of the points of their collected zombified player dogtags). The top 48 players of a cycle have their names used as the names of safe havens in the next cycle. On some servers real life prizes might be awarded.
The whole point of this thread is to discuss this as much as possible and try to come up with a workable and realistic design for a game like this at some point, so throw any ideas or suggestions out and lets discuss this. I may rework and add to the OP at a later time if this really takes off.
Zones:
Every area in the game is called a Zone. Zones have 3 types, Countryside, Military, and City. Zones are completely different and unique. There are 96 zones in total; 48 Countryside, 12 Military, and 36 City. Both Zombies and Players can move between zones.
Countryside Zones:
There are 48 countryside zones, one for each of the continental united states. Each zone is around 20-30 square miles. Each contains a city or military zone. Safe Havens are located only in these zones. The landscape for each zone is based on the state it's based and roughly the same shape of it's real life counterpart. However, due to the variety of shapes and sizes of the various states the boarders won't match up entirely. All zones will be roughly the same size. Various real life landmarks will be represented in the Countryside zones. 2-3 small towns are located in countryside zones and are a good place to pick up supplies before heading towards city zones.
While Zombies do not spawn in countryside zones, they will migrate to them from City and Military zones.
City Zones:
City Zones are named after the biggest city in the state that contains them. The style of architecture and any landmarks will be represented in city zones. All city zones will be around 20-40 square city block.
City zones are the main spawning point of NPC zombies. Zombies spawned in city zones are mainly of the brainless wondering variety, with a few fast ones mixed in for good fun. Each block has at least one enterable building. These buildings might contain supplies, weapons, armor, gas, or scraps for building up Safe Havens. Cities also may contain a few working vehicles.
Military Zones:
Military Zones are military bases scattered throughout the country. They are very dangerous. Zombies spawned at military zones can use weapons and may have armor. Military zones, however, also contain the best weapons, missions, and vehicles.
Safe Havens:
Safe Havens are humanity's last hope. There is one safe haven per countryside zone. Players always spawn at safe havens. Safe havens are player built and defended. Zombies are naturally drawn towards safe havens. When a safe haven falls to zombies, a new safe haven is started in the least zombie infested part of the countryside zone furthest away from the city. Every player in the countryside and city zone is notified.
Safe havens start out as a single medical tent from which players spawn. Players add to the safe haven by getting supplies to build barricades, set up bartering tents, player-manned turrets, and campfires. Better supplies build safer safe havens. Time spent building on a safe haven is added to a player's dogtag.
A safe haven falls if zombies are attacking it with no one defending. Zombies can enter safe havens.
Players:
Players start off with very basic supplies. A pistol, a baseball bat, a box of ammo, and a med kit. The player's goal is to survive as long as possible and collect dog tags off of zombified players. The player is aided in this by doing missions and gaining skill points.
The player controls the game in a first person perspective when using a gun, much like STALKER or Deus Ex. When using a gun, the size of the cross hairs show how good of a shot they have. If the cross hair is large, more than likely the player will miss their target. If the cross hair is very small, they more than likely will hit their target. As players kill zombies with a weapon their skill points with that weapon goes up. Once they reach a certain number of skill points their aim gets better.
The player controls the game in a third person perspective when using melee weapons. Being a melee player is like being a psychotic ninja. The player still gains skill points, but instead of aiming better as they level, they can use larger objects. At level 1 they may only be able to use knives, bats, and the like. At later levels they may be able to use chainsaws, large concrete poles, and almost any large blunt object. Larger melee weapons cause more damage.
Players can't attack other players unless in Zombie Rage Mode. If you want a deathmatch game, counterstrike is a much better alternative. If a player is “killed†by a Zombie Rage Mode player, they respawn at the nearest Safe Haven without losing any skill points or items. “ZRM'd†is added to their dog tag.
When players die they lose all of their dogtags and their survival time resets.
Dogtags:
Each player has a dogtag. Every time they die they get a new dogtag. The dogtag levels up with the player. Every mission they have completed is noted on their dogtag. The total time they have spent defending and building Safe Havens is on their dogtag. Every Zombie killed adds points to their dogtag. The more accomplishments on their dogtag, the more points it's worth when tallied up each cycle.
NPC Zombified Players:
When a player dies his/her corpse becomes a zombie. The zombified player is more intelligent and stronger than a typical zombie. Where regular zombies can almost always be taken down with a shot to the head, zombified players must take much more damage to die. The zombified player's level is completely dependent on the level of the player's dogtag. If a player was very high leveled in pistols, the zombie can wield pistols. If the player could set traps, the zombie can avoid traps. If the zombified player had a high health the zombie would have high health. So on and so forth. The zombified player is drawn towards areas the player regularly traversed. It moves independently of regular zombie mobs, and is much more aggressive. Players must be careful in dealing with a zombified player. While still mindless, the zombified player can use weapons and might use cover. Zombified players can not starve to death.
Zombie Rage Mode:
When players die they go into a 10 minute long Zombie Rage Mode. In Zombie Rage Mode players are given a chance to keep up to three fourths of their skill points on their respawn character. Players can opt out of Zombie Rage Mode, but by doing so they only keep one third of their skill points on their next respawn.
Zombie Rage Mode is controlled in the third person perspective. The player is unarmed, invincible to zombie attacks, and must take out as many zombies as possible. The point of rage mode is to kill as many zombies as possible, up to 75. Each zombie killed counts as one skill point. As the 10 minutes count down the player will become stronger, faster, and their on screen avatar will grow pail and start deteriorating. This mode also gives the player a chance to hide any loot that they have on them before turning into a zombie. While raging out PVP is also possible (to stop other players from getting the dogtag of your newly created Zombie self or following you to your stash of goodies).
NPC Zombies:
NPC Zombies spawn at a preset rate in City and Military zones. Around 25% of zombies are automatically drawn toward players and safe havens. 25% wonder around randomly and 50% stay within a few meters of where they spawned. Zombies attack players on sight, but can be hidden from easily. Only zombies from military zones can use weapons. Some zombies are fast zombies. While zombies can lose limbs and still be alive they do have a maximum amount of damage they can take. Shooting them in the head almost always automatically kills them, but they can be killed if enough damage is done to their body. Zombies come in a variety of strength and species. Birds, dogs, and cats can all be zombies.
Missions:
Missions are special jobs handed out from the President of the United States from a secret bunker located on the moon (or something like that). Missions take place in any type of zone, but always involve danger. While on a mission players (alone or in a group) enter into spawned areas (complexes, buildings). A mission can be as varied as collecting art from a museum, clearing the space needle of zombies, or shutting of nuclear power plants that are about to meltdown. If a player dies while on a mission they start Zombie Rage Mode outside of the spawned area. Zombified players can't enter Missions. Neither can NPC Zombies. Each mission contains a boss zombie. Whether he has to be killed depends entirely on the mission's instructions.
Players do missions to raise their overall hit points, get unique items, or just say they're a bad ass zombie killing mother fucker.
Cycles and The Leader board:
The length of a cycle depends entirely on what type of server you're playing on. Some servers may have cycles that last a predetermined amount of time, while other more hardcore cycles will last until only one player remains (on these hardcore servers players can't respawn). When a cycle ends the final Leader board is tallied for that server.
The Leader board is a constantly updating tracker of each player's survival time and dogtag points gained (This includes their own dogtag and half of the points of their collected zombified player dogtags). The top 48 players of a cycle have their names used as the names of safe havens in the next cycle. On some servers real life prizes might be awarded.
The whole point of this thread is to discuss this as much as possible and try to come up with a workable and realistic design for a game like this at some point, so throw any ideas or suggestions out and lets discuss this. I may rework and add to the OP at a later time if this really takes off.
No I don't.
Death of Rats on
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As for the starting over, I like the idea but you should keep something, maybe some skills or traits to apply to the new character.
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
My idea for stuff like mounts and weaponry would be bit different then in current MMO's, you would have cars and motorcycles, but gasoline would be worth it's weight in gold, o if you got a working car and gas, you'd be really well-off. Weaponry would be real-life weaponry, like in Dead Rising. Baseball bats, chairs, axes, chainsaws, different types of guns...if you found something from the street, chances are that you can use it as a weapon.
I also had this idea that if your character dies, you could choose to be Zombie for given amount of time (few hours) and then you could hunt other players. This would give the game some sort of PVP aspect too. Zombies would be much more durable then human player characters, but would also be lot slowers and could not handle weapons, so you would need to creep around cities and sneak attack unsuspecting players.
Zombie Survival MMO would be so fun. Taken the appeal of the idea, and the face that so many people love zombies...I wonder why MMO about this hasn't been made yet.
no like hardcore squad tactics, but aimless shambling or making a beeline for the players every time would lead to all-dead zombies really fast
Q: How do you see aiming becoming easier with experience when it's played as a FPS?
Play Deus Ex. I'm writing out a more detailed and better structured explenation for the whole thing. It'll be up sometime in the next 12 hours.
But without the imbalance.
If we're keeping it to the players being human, something along the lines of Stalker, but with Vampire: Bloodlines beach house level atmosphere.
Well, any half-decent zombie game would have resources being so scarce that "farming" zombies would not be an option. IMO the zombies should drop no loot, and direct confrontation with them should be the last resort.
Some ideas I had for a more general post apocalyptic MMO would be rather suited to this kind of game. For example, semi-instanced gameplay would allow for some realism and sense of the size of the cities. Entering a part of a city for loot would mean joining a decently sized randomly created city part, with loot spread around in the form of cigarettes, booze, food and weapons/ammo. A random number of other players and player groups will enter the same area, and it becomes a race to find the most stuff which would climax in the players either deciding to help each other or to blow one anothers heads off for the treasure.
This kind of gameplay would make several things seem more realistic: No respawning loot would be needed, thus no farming. No respawning zombies would be needed, new ones can just walk into the zone. And finally player resurrection, while still unrealistic, could be explained with "someone found you lying in the ruins, you must have tasted bad" and that player is cut off from that particular instance.
Like Oregon Trail with zombies.
wrong
wrong
wrong
wrong
boring city
MMO is the way to go
it rhymes it must be true
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Kinda like the first village in RE4, but the zombies never stop!
I prefer being able to play both sides. Essentially, the longer you manage to stay alive as a human the more points you have for customization/tougher you are if you do die.
Like I said earlier, you have periods every 3 months or so where the game status resets itself and then everyone chooses to go zombie/human again and another round starts.
Basically anything that comes even close to the defense of Giddings in MMO form makes my pants tight.
The periodical restart idea is awesome.
You spawn as one of the NPC zombies that another player killed earlier. The longer you managed to stay alive over the 3 month period the more skills you would earn/customize/gain upon dying. If, say, you'd managed to scavenge a Kevlar vest while you were a human, you'll be wearing it when you die.
Also, depending on why kind of zombies we're taking about here we may need packs.
If we're talking about your regular run of the mill slow ass moaning zombie the player gets a pack of them to control.
If we're talking about your Crimson Head/7 Days later variety, I don't think theres a need to have a pack if you can act fairly quickly.
My one change would be that after a safe haven is lost, it's LOST. A new one doesn't just respawn. Players would respawn in a safe haven outside that particular zone and have to work together to get through the infested zone and clear it of zombies before it became a safe haven again. Make it a back-and-forth power struggle.
The downside to doing this, the more of the world that is controlled by players, the more zombies spawn and attack. So not only do players get spread out, they become overwhelmed much quicker.
I think it would be better if the game was about survival time, you will lose, but will you be the last? I'm talking 1 life per person, everyone starts at the same time mayhem. The less people there are alive the more zombies there are making it increasingly harder and forcing you to work as a team.
Players successfully completing various missions to stop zombies and discover where they came from can speed this time up.
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
Also just play Left4Dead when it comes out. My balls ache for it.
Actually, I rather like this idea better than mine.
The main problem I see with the 1 life per player thing is that it really wouldn't work well in an MMO's terms. However, I do like your other ideas. My whole thing with safe havens is that they would be like the equivalent of bases in Battlezone (the remake). Make that part of the game so indepth that some people might actually choose to just work on the bases instead of doing missions or scouting for supplies.
Really the more I think about it the more I think shorter cycles and less Zones would be better. Maybe have 3-4 countryside zones with 2 big cities and a military base. That way maybe the cities could be more realistically represented.
This indeed is the only way to make a zombie MMORPG.
The game gets progressively harder and harder as more players die and get converted to zombies, eventually coming down to the last 2 or 3 players who get killed. Pretty awesome.
But, one thing has to be changed from current MMOs. When you log out your character must stay in the world, visible at all times for people to see. Your character defends itself with an NPC AI if you get attacked by a zombie or something, otherwise it sleeps in a bed or on the ground in a corner or something. And if your a zombie and you log out your zombie self just keeps walking around being a zombie.
Walkers-The most common type of zombie, slow and weak, individually they present no harm but in vast unending swarms even the most hardened survivor will be dragged down. If survivor is spotted, zombies let out a horrible moan and attracts nearby zombies who in turn moan and drag more zombies towards their next victims.
Ghouls-Those who have been taken recently and rigor mortis has not set in as rigidly, these zombies are fast and voracious, and possess enough instinct to perform simple tasks such as leaping or climbing.
Hell Hounds-Not even man's best friend proved immune to the effects of zombification, these unholy beasts prove to be faster than even the ghouls with a deadly bite.
Fatso-While technically still walkers, it seems that people who are weighty are much more resistant to damage and may take several bullets to take down
Enflamed Zombies-Whenever engulfed in fire or explosions, zombies are caught in flames and will burn up in a short amount of time. However, survivors must be aware that flaming zombies are extremely dangerous and do great deals of damage before they turn to ash
Spitters-Spitters are actually zombies who have consumed a great deal many hapless humans and as a result bare a great amount of rotting flesh in their stomachs which turns into disguesting and hazardous sludge that these "spitters" can vomit out. While no where near the capabilities of firearms or even thrown weapons, many an arrogant survivor have been sprayed with a wall of puke at a distance they thought "was safe"
SWAT/Military Zombies-Whilst they provided many heroic rescues and desperate last stands, SWAT and military members who had been turned possess perhaps the greatest danger to survivors because these zombies are fitted with heavy kevlar and helmets which ironically makes most weapons ineffective against most of the body.
Great thread, and btw
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/375622
Its a zombie defense game and really fun
Aspects of Safe Havens
The two key purposes of safe havens are:
a) To provide a safe refuge
b) To organize survivors into meaningful parties to scavenge for valuable resources or look for survivors
Safe Havens can be constructed in either of two ways, either automatic when an existing one is destroyed in a countryside or built by a group of enterprising players. Safe havens are usually located in areas that tries to provide the best combination of defense, seclusion and accessibility. Typical havens include churches, prisons, civic buildings such as schools or police departments, gated communities, caves, or shopping malls.
Detection:
It is only a matter of time before the zombie horde finds out about a safe haven because not even the most careful and stealthy survivors can avoid detection forever, however careful survivors can delay the inevitable confrontation that buys valuable time to build up the base, attract survivors and stock up on supplies. Such actions include: Making killing sweeps around the hideout, making sure zombies don't spot you while returning to even the same area as your base,use unconventional routes to may imply the location of a haven in a completely different direction.
There are 5 levels of zombie detection
Lvl 1- Zombies are unaware of haven location, there may be the odd zombie that wanders close by but survivors can typically move unmolested into and out of their base
Lvl 2- As survivors make more treks to and fro the haven, the undead will start to appear in greater numbers near the haven and may move together in small groups but these movements will be random and largely not a threat
Lvl 3- As the concentration of people and supplies increases, the undead have begun to take notice of the general travel paths of survivors and started a movement from urban areas into the general direction of the safe haven. travel becomes dangerous as mobs of zombies shambles near the base, they are aggressive and being located by even a solitary zombie can lead to a swarm chasing after you. The base may come under attack by isolated groups of zombies.
Lvl 4- Somebody messed up big time, the zombies now know where your sanctuary is and have begun a march of the damned. Your hideout will be attacked daily by waves of undead monstrosities. Every attempt must be taken to lessen the undead horde before they come crashing upon sanctuary defenses or else the base will come under siege and a zombie siege is a very difficult thing to exterminate.
Lvl 5-This is it, the last stand. The base is surrounded and the defenses are being attacked almost constantly every hour. While you may take down a few hundred, there is an ocean of rotting flesh throwing themselves onto you. The only way to come out of this alive is to whether the storm or perhaps make a hasty escape.
Components of the Base
Inn
Not exactly an inn but serves the same function as providing beds for survivors weary after a hard day of zombie killing. This location also provides players a place to log off with relative safety within the sanctuary base. Players who are logged off in an inn area receive gain experience faster, this only applies if there are enough beds provided by players.
Medical Area
Another basic part of a haven, this area is where players can treat their wounds, cure any disease or poison they may have received on the outside and purchase valuable medical supplies.
Requires NPC with medical qualifications
Pub
Even in a post apocalyptic future mankind has an inbedded desire to kick back, relax and hang out with friends and strangers alike. This area has no official use, but can be useful in hosting a meeting, or finding a much needed party member.
Storage Area
Simply an area to store resources and supplies both personal and that which belongs to the Haven
Armoury
An area where weapons and ammunition can receive proper maintenance by specialists so that they don't fail or malfunction in the heat of combat. Also a good place to purchase ammo and weapons.
Requires NPC that has knowledge on firearms
Manufacturing Sector
Rather than having people build and construct equipment and parts by themselves, having a specialized team can achieve far better efficiency and production value. They can be put to production many objects and parts that have many different uses.
Requires NPCs with different skill set
Library
In a world full of killer flesh eating zombies, learning new skills and gathering knowledge greatly enhances the chances of survival. The easiest and sometimes quickest method of attaining new skills is through books, texts, CDs and manuals. And this is where the Library comes in, a place to store and categorize helpful knowledge.
Yes!!
No!!
League of Legends (your friendly neighborhood support): PAPRPL8
They should have armor, and weapons, but they can't actually use them.
Yeah that works. It pissed me off in Land of the Dead when the zombies learned how to "think." It takes away from what a zombie is...mindless! Granted I might be able to agree with zombies doing what they were doing last when they changed but come on!
League of Legends (your friendly neighborhood support): PAPRPL8
The zombies in the Living Dead series have never been mindless, and it pretty much pioneered the genre, so zombie aren't "supposed" to be mindless. Plus, in Land of The Dead, zombies have been around for years. Eventually they start to evolve.
Many different theories on how zombies should act.
I kinda like this one idea I heard for explaining how zombies exist and act. Basically in some third world country a couple people die and their heads get dug into by some insect shit out of the jungle and they lay larva eggs in their brain. And when the larvas hatch a few days later they restart the motion control parts of the brain and the insects take control of the body. So the zombie can "think", but it's processing power is basically limited to multiple larva insect brains working in parallel. And I guess the longer the zombie is alive the smarter it will be, which I guess is a useful way to explain how zombies get tougher over time.
Ah here is an actual article on an insect that does this, a proof of concept:
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/02/03/wasp_performs_roachb.html
a video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEwaHPQfBpQ
...
We need to burn its natural environment down before they take over