100ftjesus

Agree that 100m sound being fucking outrageous, I suggested 100ft (around 30m) just as a starter, but like the quiet yawn idea. Something that can be missed if you're too busy bollocking around and not paying attention.

Indeed it is. Having no spawn in noise only seems to benefit players trying to exploit it for ghosting or camping purposes. Maybe the weapon reloading sound is not the right sound, but surely some kind of distinct noise within say a 100ft radius would be appropriate? It doesn't have be loud, not asking for a klaxon or anything, (WARNING WARNING, PLAYER SPAWNING) maybe a subtle noise that could be missed if you're not concentrating enough, but something would be good. I don't think a map wide noise is needed, but the loss of any noise has already changed the game in the wrong direction for me. I'm aware of the delay from spawning in to actually being in control of your character, so any noise should occur when you actually get control to avoid any 'ringing the diner bell' criticism. Far from encouraging player interaction, the lack of spawning noise seems to be encouraging campers and ghosting. Fine if all you want to do is kos, less fine if you want a little more from the game. Been killed twice now after clearing a building only to have someone magically and silently appear inside. As if there's not enough to be paranoid about, now we have to worry about murderous geared wizards with ak's too. Hardly a positive feature of a zombie apocalypse survival game...

Indeed, and I do this. Even before doors became randomised. There was a real rush of adrenaline looting a building you thought was untouched only to find interior doors open... There is however nothing whatsoever you can do if a player decides to camp a building and can simply pop into existence nearby without any indication they have done so. The spawning player has the advantage. I think this is wrong.

This is kind of my point. Without any kind of spawning noise the possibility on walking into a freshly spawned player is now luck based. I do not think this is a good thing as it negates the entire point of carefully and patiently scoping a place out before entering as there is literally nothing you can do about a player who wants to camp an area and can come and go as they please without anyone in the immediate vicinity being aware. I'm perfectly aware of server restarts and the fact you can re-spawn in the middle of a dangerous area. That's not what i'm talking about. I'm talking about newly spawned players immediately having the upper hand which I don't think is a positive thing. I'm talking about players being able to abuse the fact there is no longer any kind of indication of them spawning within feet of you. This kind of 'luck' is something the game can do without, in my opinion...

I agree with your approach, it's not kos in my book, you try and communicate and give them a chance to respond. I'm trying the same kind of ROE. Too many times have I hesitated to speak and received a bullet to the face for my troubles. Not doing that anymore.

I'm a self-confessed dayz noob. Was getting a little bored at running around to get loot, only to get a face full of brass from seen / unseen players. The pattern was getting dull... I tried engaging in chat, same result, kos. I was starting to get a little despondent, thinking everyone just wanted to kill me, then it happened, I got my first kill. It was pure self-defence, which made it all the better. I was at the top of some stairs, I thought I heard footsteps but dismissed them as just more random dayz noises, then a figure appeared at the top of the stairs, weapon raised towards me. Once again I thought 'damn, not again' but instinct took over, i hit the space bar as he rushed towards me for some reason. He fired. I fired. I got hit. Immediate blood loss and broken leg messages. Not sure how but I managed to hit my left mouse button to unleash both barrels of my blazer at point blank range. Then my screen blacked out. 'You are unconscious' I waited for what felt like an eternity for the message to change to 'you are dead', convinced he'd got me first. I then woke up. Broken leg, grey screen, but alive. With a bleeding body lying in front of me. I introduced my sawn-off to his face just to make sure he wasn't getting up again, and looted the un-ruined stuff from him. I even took his trousers, mine were ruined when he shot my legs and his were pristine, plus it seemed to demonstrate the correct amount of respect to a kos bandit. I then crawled off to mend myself. It was exhilarating to successfully defend myself and survive. I felt empowered, I wanted more kills. I thought I was ready to go out and pay back some of the kos i'd experienced trying to get to grips with the game. I found myself in a similar situation, top of stairs, footsteps (recognise them now) and a loaded magnum in my hands pointed at head height... A player appeared. For some reason I didn't fire, I pressed mic and said 'hi, i'm friendly'. He was so freaked out he started to run back down, but I said I wouldn't fire and he could come back up and loot the spot if he wanted, nothing there for me, but lots of fresh stuff for others. He came back up and I saw he had no weapon on his back, just an axe, I felt relieved I didn't shoot. I kept my eyes on him in case he pulled a handgun and I legged it at speed, (there was an sks and ammo in the rooms and I didn't want to hang around to find out if he would be so friendly with a gun in his hands...) It just felt wrong to kos. Maybe if he was carrying a weapon I would have shot first and asked questions later. Maybe I won't feel the same way next time. But for my first kill and my first meet that didn't end in death, they was pretty satisfying.

Me too. That's one of the best dayz vids i've ever seen. Although I never knew goats were such cold blooded killers. Will give them a very wide berth in future...

Thanks for all the replies, I enjoyed reading others experiences. Although 1 week on, and i've not killed since... Been killed quite a few times though, which sucks a little bit sometimes. I had the drop on one player who was stalking me. 6 magnum rounds point blank didn't put him down. I got shot. (Was happy to learn more about noises and hearing other players though. Should have used my longhorn on him, magnum obviously isn't so good.) My fault really for not using the right weapon. Never again will I use a magnum. (Most powerful handgun in the world my rosy ass! A sawn off mosin will be my sidearm from now on.) Got dropped by someone who walked into the same room I was in. Didn't hear a thing, he just appeared and shot me in the face. Fairly average kos. Again I think my fault for performing some item tetris in a hot area. Learned that lesson the hardest way... Got the drop on someone who was shooting zombies with a mosin (yeah, subtle!), we spoke, little did I know he was just distracting me for his pal to sneak up and axe me in the back. That was pretty sneaky. Wasn't impressed. Actually tempers my view slightly of 'friendly' players now. Although learned that long silences when trying to chat seems to mean the player is talking elsewhere to someone... I'm now a bit stuck on how to proceed. I don't want to kos, I don't want the game to become like that for me. Would get very dull very fast. But... If you hear / see someone and open comms to try and communicate you give away your position and any advantage. They might reply, you have a chat and move on, (this has happened exactly twice so far.) Or they, more likely than not, will just kill you without saying a word. (Situation boringly normal.) I'm trying to formulate my own ROE. If I come across another player and they're not clocked me, i'll hide / get lost quick. If I see someone not carrying a gun in hand and I can't get away, I'll try and chat first. Will take a risk to see if they're friendly. (Both of my interactions were like this. The players were geared, but not carrying.) If someone is carrying a gun and I can;t get away, then they have to be shot immediately. No chat, no warning. I'm not good enough yet to try and deal with an armed player as, almost 99% of the time in my experience they will shoot first. It's not perfect, but someone carrying is just a space bar and left click away from ending you, so why take the chance? Living by my own rules, I try and limit carrying a weapon in hand, hoping that other players may apply the same logic. Yes it makes you slightly more venerable, but if you creep around all the time (like I do,) you should see others before they spot you. Certainly works for me. Not been surprised for a while, (apart from my example above, but it was weird that I heard nothing till he entered the room.) I also stash now my gear somewhere nearby before looting, and get it after i'm done. If someone's going to go for my stuff, they'll get a little, but not all of it. (I was using rotten fruit in my pockets so I could laugh from beyond the grave at them, but no rotten fruit anymore, so it's ruined stuff now.) I'd rather my stuff got randomly found or reset. I'm determined to not turn all kos, it's just too easy to play like that, but it's tempting to do it to try and get some payback, even though the likelihood of killing the person that killed you is, (I imagine,) very remote. More likely some random player gets shot, therefore enabling the circle of kos... Anyone else have their own personal ROE they follow when encountering other players?

I suppose the actual question is; Is it safe....? :D

They could start by enabling riding cows, deer and pigs? Could be an option to make a pig saddle out of a deer pelt, some rope and sticks. Not sure how you could ride a chicken though... One strapped to each foot maybe? The noise would surely attract zombies though.

Ignoring the many kos incidents (which have taught me to be a hell of a lot more careful when encountering other players, so a good learning experience in the long run really,) my worst death so far has been at a construction site. First one i'd found, hadn't been looted, was pretty excited. Careful recce, silently took out 3 zombies without alerting any more. (A mixture of stealth, my axe and my trusty amphibia.) Carefully crept round looting the hell out that construction site, found some good stuff, was pretty happy with myself. Had one last look around the top to check out my surroundings then planned to head off with my new stuff. Planned out my route, knew exactly where I wanted to go, which cover to sprint for, where to head after that. (I usually assume someones got a bead on me, so I try and cover my tracks, double back, keep checking behind etc...) I thought I had made it to the ground floor, saw grass, started to sprint out to find cover. Only I hadn't made it to the ground, I walked out on the first floor, into fresh air... Fell to my death. Felt pretty stupid. Learned a few things though. It's possible to suicide from the first floor. Reinforced not getting too attached to gear. (Loosing your stuff to a kos can be annoying, loosing it due to your own incompetence, doubly so.) Open sided stairs can be dangerous...