Target Practice (DayZ)

This first post impressed me so much I actually logged back in after god knows how many months to give you beans.Good job sir, it's nice to see we're now at the stage where new players are coming in with open minds and actually contributing proper feedback rather than just OMG GAME NOT FINISH!!1 SCAM!!one!. Here's to you sir, and many more like you.

To me, that just sounds like the aggressive end of the 'bandit' scale. A KoSer is someone who doesn't even stop to look at what someone's carrying, what they have and whether it'll be of any use to them - the only thing they're interested in is killing for the sake of killing. If you don't shoot everyone you see, then you're not a KoSer by definition. :)

To be fair, he didn't actually answer the question at all. The question was 'Why does say killing by a headshot ruin a can of spagetti the other one had in his pants pockets?' Frosti's response didn't adequately answer the question at all. Not that Brad's response was much better - Frosti was hardly 'crying about kos', but I guess he used the word 'kos' in his post, so therefore some people's minds automatically equate that with 'OMFG KOS WHINER, MY TIEM TO SHINE!!!1!!1' and start ranting aimlessly. Perhaps if everyone involved actually read people's posts rather than just posting the first words that come into their head, this whole thing would go away. :p

The problem is, in both environments, it's very difficult to be a 'true' bandit (ie holding up/killing players for their gear rather than just shooting them the second you see them regardless of whether they have anything you want/are a threat to you) these days. In SA, the vast majority of armed players you'll encounter will just instinctively shoot at you, regardless of whether they're likely to be killed in doing so. They just want kills, it doesn't matter if they die when getting them. The unarmed ones are likely freshspawns, and therefore not worth holding up, as they don't have anything useful. In the mod, the players that are still playing the mod are generally pretty experienced survivors, so they're tough to find, and generally pretty damned tough to get close enough to rob, too. It's a shame, but I think that the 'true' bandit is in danger of becoming an endangered species, at least for the near future. Perhaps once the SA is a little further along and the more... um... 'transient' section of the community has either gotten bored of deathmatching and started playing a more interesting style or simply moved on altogether, there's going to be more room for playstyles that allow players to be a bit more theatrical and creative.

I tentatively disagree with that. Towards the tail end of the mod, things weren't really an awful lot better than they were in the SA. Granted, there were a lot fewer brand new players who simply didn't know any better, and whose experiences were such that they simply assumed that DayZ = KoS, but there were still a ton of people running round Elektro and Cherno shooting anything that moved and then saying 'LOL I R BANDIT U GUISE'. I can't speak for the very early days of the mod, as that was before my time, but in my experience of playing DayZ, hostile players have always outnumbered non-hostile players by a considerable margin, and the creative work of a few hostile players is always but always copied en masse by hundreds of others who simply don't have the intelligence or desire to come up with their own ideas. For an example, the HUNDREDS of super original 'bandit' (no, you're still not bandits) teams of guys who think it's the cutting edge of originality to handcuff someone and force-feed them disinfectant, or capture two newbies and get them to fight to the death. What starts out as an interesting idea and a novel spin on an established playstyle is rapidly copied and watered down to the point of over-saturation by shitty wannabe letsplayers who don't give a shit about the game, they just want to be 'the next Frankie'.

*runs round an area known for being a KoS/PvP hotspot* *complains about being shot* Seriously, you have some questionable logic going on there, OP. If you don't like being shot at, how about not running straight up to the guy with a weapon you've never seen before? Try taking a little more care with your movement and tactics, you'll find that you get shot a lot less - people have a hard time shooting people they don't see.

Man, I'm so glad it was a surprise ambush. I hate those ambushes where they tell you about it ahead of time.

It's an interesting idea, but I reckon it would take all of thirty seconds before some bright spark uploads a youtube video of himself 'pwning n00bs as a fake medic LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!' It wouldn't take long for it to end up as a microcosm of the DayZ populace in general - a few people doing interesting things and using it as planned, but they're vastly outnumbered by the people who are using it as a way to kill other players. It wouldn't take long before players cottoned on and just ignored it, because they've been shot by people wearing it too many times. (Just to pre-empt the inevitable argument, I'm not suggesting that there's anything morally 'wrong' about using it as a trap, valid tactic and all that, it's just that the mass population of DayZ aren't really huge on original thinking, and once they see one person doing it, suddenly they all want to be that guy. Case in point, the number of 'bandit' (no, you're not bandits) streamers that popped up everywhere after a few popular youtubers adopted the playstyle.)

Sadly, he's not entirely wrong. Unfortunately, most players will shoot you on sight either because they want to (some folks just play that way) or because they don't know whether you're going to shoot them, and don't want to have to make that decision. That's not to say it's impossible to have positive interactions with other players in-game, but I'd very much recommend that you work on the assumption that everyone you come across will be hostile towards you until they prove otherwise. These forums are full of people who seem to think that because they're friendly that it means everyone else is, too. Sadly, it doesn't quite work that way. :p A few tips for interacting with other players: Use your mic to make contact - typing is slow, cumbersome and you can't move while you're doing it.Be very wary of groups, particularly groups roaming in or near towns. They're almost always going to be hostile towards anyone who isn't in their teamspeak channel.If you see someone and decide to make contact, stay hidden. Make sure you're somewhere out of their sight before saying anything - if they don't respond, they're probably going to be hostile.If you're not sure, it's usually better to let someone pass on by, or if that's not an option, shoot first. Your first job is to stay alive.Just because someone seems friendly doesn't mean you should let your guard down. These forums have seen plenty of stories from players who thought they'd made a new buddy, only to be shot/axed in the back the first time they turned away.Some people are just plain assholes. In fact, some days you won't come across anything but assholes. However, don't let that get you down. There's plenty of good players out there. If you're looking to roll with a few people and just have some fun, it might be worth finding a casual group in the 'clan recruitment' forum. Just throw a post up saying what you're looking for - there'll be plenty of people willing to help you out.

Clicked expecting my long-overdue worshipping thread. 0/10, would not click again. :(

I'm not sure why you think anyone would stop to say 'hello' at the airfield. I'm absolutely not a KoS player, but if I come across another player in a high-value loot area, I'm either going to let them pass if possible, or I'm going to shoot first, ask questions later. The odds that the player isn't going to waste me the first chance they get are just too low. Besides, as others have said already, most players expect that if they're careless enough to get spotted in an area as hostile as that, the inevitable will happen. :p

Welcome to the learning experience that is DayZ. Today's lesson was 'don't give some guy you just met a loaded weapon'. Seriously though, it's one of those things. I always say that every time you die in DayZ you learn something that will help you survive a little better next time, and that was what you learned that time - I can guarantee that next time you decide to help someone you'll be a little more careful, and you'll live longer because of it. :)

I love that people spawn in the same place as everyone else, follow the same route as everyone else and then complain that for some mysterious reason all the loot has gone from the route that just about every other player on the server has taken. What a mystery, eh? :)

I would guess that's a fault on the server's end, then. Presumably it's empty because no-one else can connect to it either.

I have to say, sometimes I miss having global chat. As a lone wolf, some of my favourite DayZ experiences have come from just hanging out on a server, doing some light looting and just casually chatting with fellow players. It was also a REALLY handy guide to the type of server you were on - if people were having a laugh and a joke in global, I'd be much more likely to hang around, because you know the players are there for a good time first and foremost. If you join and the first thing you see is two children slinging insults and racial/homophobic slurs, you know that the players are probably going to be super-competitive and be trying to 'win' DayZ, in which case I'd be out of that server in double time. I can understand why it was disabled, but there's a part of me that really wishes it was at least a server-side option.