Some of you guys are just downright stupid with how much you think your opinion matters. Get over yourselves and either help the bambies by offering advice or just fuck off on out of here. Looking at you, Atrocity and Walrus. The more people you alienate with your bullshit the less people there will be in the game as it progresses. A game's community has a profound impact on it's multiplayer experience, and I don't give a shit if you think that your 'l33t KoS CoD spinny shoot off' skills or 'sup3r s0phistic4ted grammar' validates you enough to go and shit on another poster. Don't. Do. It. With that out of the way, I'd like to recommend to anyone looking to have a 'friendly' experience on the game to first, yes. Play on 'friendly' or No KoS servers. This is because believe it or not, there ARE people playing on them because of that label, who just like you, would like to have a chance to meet other players and communicate and perhaps trade with them. However, you should also recognize that as other people have said in this thread that bandits and unfriendly players aren't barred from the server. This can be a good thing! Just like bandits (should) have to think and strategize to do well, as do you. I've got a handful of tips that should help you run into more friendly people, regardless of server. First, don't count ANYONE you meet, even if you've been talking to them for a couple minutes as 100% friendly. Be cautious. Be skeptical of them. Above all, be ready to kill them should the situation call for it, because it very well may. If they inexplicably raise their weapon, or go for their weapon, get behind cover and raise yours. It should be fairly obvious if they're trying to kill you. Voice chat them out. Ask them what they're doing. If they don't have a very good answer and don't put their gun away, kill them. Better them than you -- After all, you tried being friendly. That's what matters. Don't get squeamish over that you might accidentally kill someone from a misunderstanding, but at the same time, try not to let it happen. Second, and this ties in with the first point. USE VOICE CHAT ! This cannot be stressed enough! If you spend time typing and standing in one place, you are very likely to die from someone opportunistically killing you. If you don't have voice chat, don't approach other people. HOWEVER, if someone with voice chat approaches you, you should probably respond to them. After all, if they wanted to kill you, they'd have probably shot you in the back without saying anything. Not saying that they -won't- kill you, but you've got a fair chance of surviving an encounter like that, especially if the person who approaches you seems like they know what they're doing. If someone approaches you with voice chat and /then/ kills you, you can bet they're new to the game, and lacked the skill to kill you without gaining your trust and you holding still first. A bandit who's good (or at least, isn't a fresh-of-the-shore bambi) will hold you up, or kill you by surprise. Third, when you approach someone approach them from an advantageous situation! What I mean by this is when you go to make contact with a person, simply make sure you're in a better position to kill them than they are you. For instance, you can run up behind a wall that's near another player and begin speaking to them over voice chat. Personally, I don't ask anyone to drop their weapons, ect ect because it puts them on edge, but that's your prerogative. I normally lead off with "Hello there. Hello, are you friendly? You, guy in the blahblahcolor shirt with the cap?". Hiding behind the wall while I speak to them ensures that they -cannot- kill me, and often times that they don't even know where I am. In third person servers, I could even look over the wall with third person to gauge their reaction. If they raise their weapon immediately at me talking to them and they don't respond, looking around for me, I consider them hostile and thus fair game. But an advantageous situation doesn't have to be from an outlook of terrain or layout. If you see a guy run into a house to loot it and you run up out front and pull out your pistol (note: Not raised, just in your hands) and you surprise him on his way out and say hello, talk to him -- if he doesn't have a gun in his hands, his options are to: A) Talk to you, be friendly, at least until he gets a chance to kill you. Maybe longer if he's genuinely friendly. B) Panic and run, in which case you should get behind cover and watch the surroundings, make sure he's not coming back to kill you. C) Panic and try to draw a weapon. In which case you should raise the weapon in your hands and waste his ass long before he gets a chance to even fire a shot. Finally, remember your roots! If you want to see more friendlies in the future, when you're better at the game, when you're heavily geared. Stock yourself up like a damn pack mule with canteens, bandages, food, and walk your ass down onto the east coast. Find some bambi's. Find some new players. Hand out your goodies like your goddamn santa claus, always keeping an eye out for opportunists and bandits to pop a cap in them should they try to take advantage of your generocity or KoS you. Teach new players that not everyone out there is an asshole. Show people that there is more to the game than KoS.And in summary people; remember. No matter what server you're playing on, no matter how friendly you want to be, always remember. This is a game with guns. This is a game with other people. This game has no rules. Others will try to take advantage of you. Others will try to kill you. Start seeing that as a part of the fun and you will have a much grander time. Learn new tactics and strategies for dealing with people, dealing with traversing terrain. Adapt. Overcome. Being a friendly player or survivor in this game and being a good one is the hardest thing you can possibly do in it. This is literally the game on it's hardest difficulty setting. Bandits who KoS are playing on easy mode, because they don't have to think. Bandits who hold people up are playing on normal, because they have to think but they don't have to feel other people out or figure out who they can trust. However, a survivor who recognizes that there are people out there who want to kill them, and they still have the damn audacity to say to themselves: Fuck it. I'm still going to help people. Not only that, but I'm going to leave no bandit who crosses my path alive. They are the ones who are playing on nightmare mode. Especially if they're lone-wolfing it without a group. I don't hate bandits, and I don't blame them for playing the way they do. I respect them, because without them, I wouldn't have challenge to the game. I wouldn't have rivals -- and some of them, the skilled ones are very worthy rivals at that. We're just on opposite ends of the same spectrum. Love to everyone out there, but some people get canned food and screwdrivers, and some people get bullets.
