Bone based damage system (feature vote and debate)

The box thing has always annoyed me as GoldenEye 007 (which did not use hit boxes) was the first FPS I really got into, however I don't really like the idea of specific limb based damage in an arena shooter either. I think if the damage system stayed pretty much the same as it is now (only awarding extra damage for headshots), but had the requirement that you ACTUALLY HIT THE PLAYER MODEL we'd have one really kick ass set up. Only issue I see is that models aren't identical, but if the skeletons in them is what your actually hitting then it wouldn't really be an issue. Hit scan and precision weapons would become more challenging to use as well, but I don't think that would become a balance issue if the shots were given some sort of expanded damage area around them.

For example, if someone is shooting you straight into the back while you're standing still: You might take more damage because your arms are positioned more closely to your side. But if you shoot someone from the same spot and orientation while they're firing, arms take less damage because you brought them more in front. If you were shooting the player in the face instead, the effect would be the opposite (arms would be closer to the blast spot with that animation).

This would ruin the game, but I think you already figured out a solution to that:

On another note, I might also add bone culling. So the closest bone takes more damage, then the further the rest are the lower they are rated (as an addition to existing range checking). This will make it so that being shot in the right arm from the right side will cause your torso to take less damage, because your arm absorbed the shot and covered your torso.

Just set it up so that the closest bone takes ALL of the damage in the event of a nex shot or similar weapon that crosses through you. As for splash damage, just make it to where the closest bone takes most of the damage while others take less. You will still need to figure out how to make hitting multiple targets in a straight line with the nex possible while only one bone per target absorbs damage.