[quote=@Therealslayer]
For a zombie RP to really work, there needs to be diverse characters. They can't all be the badass ex-military who can head shot a zombie from a mile away with a pistol. There also needs to be a real element of danger when fighting zombies, when moving around looking for food or shelter. People have to make shitty decisions to stay alive, and that needs to also be an important part of it. Hence, the characters will have to rely on themselves as each other to survive. I also think there can't be one leader, but many leaders. Each bringing their own skill to the table to help the whole group survive. 

That's where I see most zombie RP's have failed and those are honestly the most crucial parts. The pathogen, however it started, isn't important. Because if the survivor's goal is finding out what happened then it will stray away from the survival aspect. TWD has done this in season 4-5, then gone back to just survival in the last season which honestly made it better.  
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I agree with this, however I think that in a standard kind of zombie story the zombies never end up being the real threat, it turns out to be people so unless you intend to have a lot of human adversaries the infection would have to be akin to the Rage virus or something like the virus from Warm Bodies.