mikerunk2011@gmail.com

Here are my thoughts on the subject. I don't think a humanity system is really needed. There just needs to be elements in place that make bandits pay a consequence for being a bandit. One thing that I think the game needs badly above all else is a safe zone for players to trade and meet up with other players. While you could still kill other players at this safe zone it would just cause the guards to kill you. For players that are bandits they would be KoS by guards at the safe zone. This would have a big impact on players that are bandits because it would limit there resources to what they find in the world or what communities that crop up that are willing to trade with them. Also if bandit sit on roof top on building inside city shooting players he/she should attract a lot of zombies to there location thus trap them in the building if the stay to long. The bottom line is the humanity system will only carry you so far. There is only so far you can go as far as realism in a game. Hand the game over to players and letting them decided what happens how things work is a walking disaster waiting to happen. Eve Online is the best sandbox game out there and even it doesn't just hand the galaxy over to players and say do whatever you want. There are rules and things that still apply. You can go in to Empire sector shooting other players but you will still die to the patrol ships. There has to be consequence for everything and being a bandit means you alienate you're self from other players. In so doing so you loose access to resources that would be far easier to come by. However the balance is that you can take whatever you want. However balance is you will be hated and people will kill you if they can, there will be no safe haven for you. That is just my opinion.

Dude you're a retard. First how do you know he wouldn't extend a hand of friendship. Just because their are some who would kill, rape and steal for what they need doesn't mean every one. There is also a little thing called Safety in numbers. Also if you really want to be honest people would band together more then some people think. Lets look at the human population, there 64 billion people on this planet. Now in a Zombie apocalypse almost the vast majority of the population would become Zombies. In short the few who mange to stay alive are going to be out man and out gun. So the more people you have beside you the better you're odds are of surviving. Also you're not going to get assholes sitting on a fucking roof top in middle of a fucking city full of Zombies wasting ammo just to kill people for sport. It would be a complete waste of ammo that will be hard to come by. Not to mention that If you start shooting at some one in middle of the city your going to do nothing but draw down a horde of Zombies on you're sorry ass and get you're self killed.

Any one who thinks this game will get a stand alone title by the end of the years is seriously deluding themselves. Let me be blunt here, the Arma 2 engine works great for DayZ as a mod. However it would be massively stupid to use the engine for a stand alone game. The engine was designed for Arma 2 and no matter how flexible the engine is it still gives limitations as to what DayZ can and can not do. The only way DayZ can survive is by it design a whole new engine (even if they use the idea behind the Arma 2 engine) specifically for DayZ. Now in order for him to do this it will take lots of time and man power and more to point money, money he does not have. Yea he could go in and use the Arma 3 engine but again that engine was designed for Arma 3 not DayZ so while it might give him a little more flexibility then he does in Arma 2 he will eventually still run in to a brick wall. He needs to break from Arma all together and design his own engine in order for it to be it's own title. Till he get some capital together he can't do that. O and by the way he can't make money off of DayZ while he using Arma 2 or even Arma 3. He could sell DayZ idea to Bohemia Interactive and together they could design a new engine but Rocket would loose out on profits he would make from it. His best bet would be to find a publisher and strike out on his own.

While I don't agree with the OP on everything I do think he has a lot of good points. This game really has no depth to it. While I realize the game still has a long way to go till it's finished, what it does have isn't enough to keep me interested in game. I think the game should be a stand alone game. I believe it should break from the Arma 2 engine and develop its own engine. I believe there needs to be more consequences for ganking other players. I think the infected count should be higher. I also believe the infected should be way harder then they are. The bottom line is that DayZ has what it takes to be a truely good sandbox game. However an it be that is hard to tell at the moment. My own personal opinion is DayZ will never be more then what it is, a Mod. To turn DayZ in to a standalone game is going to cost a lot of money and Rocket refuses to find a publisher, and some ways I don't disagree with him in other ways I do. The truth is no one knows what the future has in store for DayZ. I hope DayZ can move from being a mod to its own title. I just think it's to early to tell one way or another.

Actually yes because Minecraft was done from scratch they were able to build the game from the ground up. However DayZ has to work around the Arma 2 engine. This means figuring out what you can add or work around to make what you want. This means going through those scripts and stuff to design a Mod. DayZ is probably one of the most complicated mods I have ever seen. I can tell you doing so takes a lot of time and is massively more difficult then developing Minecraft. You're right Notch didn't get a publisher or a developer but then again I never said he did. I said he went out and got funding, which by selling the game he is getting his funding to continue to work on Minecraft. Also just to cover this, that won't work with DayZ. Because DayZ utilize better graphics and more complicated game engine then Minecraft does it will be harder and more people to develop the game to its full capabilities. He can't just bring on a few people and design a title game for DayZ because of the nature of the game. You're right Rocket could go out and gain Support but he won't because he has to many negative feelings towards publishers and a lot of the Developers out there to do so. Let me be blunt in order to successfully develop DayZ right he needs to have enough money to start is one developing company, and then to publish the game. DayZ has a lot of great things about it. I think it would make a great MMO but not in it's current form, nor as a Mod. There to many limitations to the Arma 2 Engine, and there will be just as many limitations with Arma 3. Bohemia Interactive did not design Arma 2 nor Arma 3 for DayZ specifically. They designed the game so that mods could be developed but that's the extent of it. In order for DayZ to be it's own title (which is what it needs to be. Even Rocket as admitted this.) it needs to be designed from the ground up for DayZ specifically. The only way that can happen is if Rocket can get some serious funding. However he will never do this because that means loosen his grip on the game. Mods like Counter Strike and Team Fortress don't even begin to have the complexity that DayZ has. I'm sorry if that upsets you hardcore players but till Rocket loosens his grip on the game and get some serious funding the game will never be more then what you see in front of you. It might be more polished but eventually he will hit a break wall in which he can't do anything because of the limitations on the Arma 2 engine and it will be no better for Arma 3. However I'm predicting that DayZ will have a hardcore following but it will eventually fade away as more developers make Zombie MMO's. I think those developers are going rape the crap out of DayZ and will reap the rewards while Rocket doesn't see jack. DayZ will fade in to the background as that cool mod that could have been but never was.

Actually you're right Minecraft was offered to public for free, but I wouldn't call that Alpha it doesn't fit the conditions as to what Alpha is. Also keep in mind that Minecraft is a whole lot more simple compared to DayZ to make. O and by the way the developers took Minecraft as far as they could and then went out and found funding for it so they could take Minecraft to next level.

Those are also mods that eventually got funding and were developed in to there own titles. So far DayZ is just a mod and has no funding behind it. He can develop the mod all day long but you will never see it go beyond just it being a mod till it gets funding behind it. You're right Counter Strike and Team fortress did start off as mods. However later they got funding and were given there own titles. Rocket want's DayZ to be it's own title but he refuse to get funding which means finding a publisher. With out funding everything he has planned for DayZ will happen very slowly if at all.

In software development, your alpha test, will be a test among yourselves (the teams) to confirm that your product works. Originally, the term alpha test meant the first phase of testing in a software development process. The first phase includes unit testing, component testing, and system testing. During this time you will compress files, edit for misspelled words and unclear directions, broken links, and sync audio and video. You will also test your product on the lowest common denominator machines to make sure download times are acceptable and preloaders work. In software development, a beta test is the second phase of software testing in which a sampling of the intended audience tries the product out. Beta testing can be considered "pre-release testing." Beta test versions of software are now distributed to curriculum specialists and teachers to give the program a "real-world" test and partly to provide a preview of the next release. nuff said.

You people don't seem to understand what alpha means. Games that are in alpha is first stage of testing which is done internally by the developers. Closed beta is when a few people from the public are selected to play a game to help test the game as well as testing continue to be done internally. Open Beta is open to the entire public to test as well as continued internal testing. Now sense the game is open to the public it can't be an alpha. I wish players and Rocket would quite saying it's in alpha that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. The game is more in open beta then it is in alpha. Also you will never see a finished product because Rocket has no funding behind it. He doing it on his own dime with the help of some people from the communitie who are helping out on there own time. They are not working on this full time like a normal game would be if it were being developed by a actually game company.

Actually there needs to be way more zombies and they need to be more of a threat especially in the cities. I'm sorry but you can't call this a zombie survival simulator and then have assholes sitting on top of a roof top waxing players for the fun of it with little to no fear from the zombies or even the fear of wasting resources. Let me explain further one of the major flaws in this game with the way bandits work. For starters no one in a Zombie Apocalypse world is going to sit on a roof top and shoot people for fun, that would be a complete waste of friggen resources. Another reason there would be no reason for bandits to do it would be that even if they killed people for there resources would be far more dangerous then go for people outside the cities. The second problem with bandits do this is that the second they start shooting at some one they draw the attention of the zombies. In all cases of Zombies when they are attracted to a location they will pound there way in. In cities you're not going to have a hand full of Zombies, you're probably going to have thousands of Zombies all trying to push there way in to that building and the building will be completely surrounded by them, which means the bandits would more then likely be trapped on the roof with no way off. This means there only hope for survival is to kill enough of the Zombies to make it out of the building and to safety. Now in every case of zombie movies I have seen including it takes a headshot to kill a zombie. Now were going to go with the wimpy 28 days version of zombies which you have to make a head shot to kill them as well. Now these bandits are only going to have so much ammo. Now they might and I stress might have just enough ammo that they could kill every single zombie if they don't miss once and all are headshots. However there is no way that they would be able to hold off a horde of zombies eventually they will run out of luck. I would also say they will not make headshots every single time. Want me to prove my point, well I'll be happy to. Go read the book to black hawk down, two snipers landed at one crash sites There were like 25 of somalis and several that were wounded. Now keep in mind there position were being over run and they were trained snipers and they could only hold the mob off for a certain amount of time before they were over run. Now with Zombies it's going to be far worse because you can only kill them with headshots, Now there is very little to no chance at all that bandits on a roof to killing people for sport or for resources would have any shot at surviving. Now if Rocket want's to make the game more real he needs to up the amount of zombies, make them only kill able with headshots. Then it needs to be set so once they center on a location they will eventually beat down doors windows in to a building and make there way up to the top of a building. In short Zombies or Infected which ever you want need to be in greater numbers and need to be way more of a threat then they are. To such a point that even a group of bandits are not going to waste there time and resource killing players in cities. That is just my opinion.

First things first this is not in Alpha, that is the most retarded thing I have ever heard. When a game is in Alpha it is going through internal and is not handed out to the public. It can't be alpha if every one and there grandmother can play it. If anything I would say it is in open beta. This means it's open to every one to test, which is exactly what Rocket is doing. Second DayZ is a piss poor example of a sandbox game. I can't believe I'm about to say this because I dislike this game but Eve is a perfect example of a sandbox game. The game is controlled by the players them selves. When you jump in you have all these things you can do but the game doesn't tell you what you have to do to progress through the game, that is for you to decide. The reason Eve is perfect Sandbox game is because the driving force of the game is in it's economics. Everything revolves around the economics. Corps try to secure certain areas of space for the resources, which thus effects the economy. If you take out the economy you have basically a free for all. DayZ will never be more then what it is as long as Rocket refuse to go get real funding to develop the game. It will take him years to complete DayZ because he doesn't have the capital nor the man power to work on it exclusively. Mean while the whole time he farts around with DayZ and letting the public have access to it other developers are taking his ideas and running with them and guess what they will reap the rewards for it. The Developers for War Z have all ready flat out admitted that they have taken ideas from DayZ and ran with them. They won't be the only ones either. I am sure company developing Class 3 has taken note of DayZ and pulled ideas from it as well. I'm not saying this to be mean I'm saying it cause it's true. Game developers are like vultures they take each others ideas and perfect upon them. Now normally its not big deal because those companys make money off the game they publish and the turn around and do the same thing. However Rocket isn't making any money off of it and he is handing it over to them for free. Now to the original poster comments, while I laughed at the fact that he died from the door swing inward and hitting him, he is right about the problems with the game. You can say it's alpha but as I all ready pointed out it's not really alpha if every one is playing it, its open beta. It's not really a sandbox if the only two things driving the game is gathering supplies or grief other players. I'm sorry but WoW is more of a sandbox game then DayZ. While yea it leads you by the hand but there tons of options as to what you can do. DayZ not so much it's hunt for food, weapons, and medical supplies once geared up grief other players. There is nothing beyond that in DayZ. The game has absolutely no depth to it what so ever. I give Rocket high fives for creating a very paranoid game but that alone is not enough to give it the depth that it needs to be a true sandbox game. Like said the game has lot of good ideas and things that work but I just don't see it going beyond it be what we see now unless he gets real funding and it becomes its own title and not Arma 2 little $$%. One other thing, Rocket wants this to be simulation but here the thing players are never going to react the way they would in real life because it is just a game. If the game where real most of the players would be scared out of the living minds. You spend days weeks alone in world full of Zombies you're first action upon see another living person isn't to blow there brains out, in fact its going to be get information. Second while some people while turn to lawlessness not every one will and those that do won't survive long and I'll tell you why. When Zombie outbreak occurs society will break down and there will be lot of discord. People will turn to killing and stealing to survive. However groups of people will begin pulling together and working with one another to survive. This will make it harder for lone bandits to kill and steal what they need, so they to will begin to pull together to survive. Ask you're self this if you were suddenly in zombie apocalypse do you right now have enough knowledge to go out hunt game, clean that game and make a meal. Do you have enough medical knowledge to fix you're self up if you're hurt or sick. Do you have the skills to make cloths or build shelter. Fact is most people in world lack at least a few if not all basic skills to survive long term, so there only chance of survival is to do one of two things, either work with others to survive that can make up for your lack of skills, this also provides protection from Zombies and raiders and bandits. The other is to be a bandit, but eventually as people begin to pull together killing stealing will be much risker then it would be to work with others. Also eventually you're weapons will no longer work because no one makes ammo any more and because of this you have no bullets for you're weapons. You might find it the cities but that is more then likely were all the friggen zombies will be and that means even greater risk then raiding small to larger community of people. Dasein808 is right civility does fade when resource are scarce and people are afraid. However some people will pull together and use skills they have or at least work to help themselves and others survive. What Dasein808 is wrong about is that resources are all around use. You don't need to go to the store to buy food cause you can find food in nature, you just have to have the skills to get it. You can make cloths you just need to have the skills to know how to make them. The smart people will realize this and while there guard might be up there going to pull together to share resources and to take skills they posses to help themselves and others survive, and guess what that is how societies are started and built off of, many people pull skills and resources for the common good. The problem is most people lack the skills need for basic survival. I would say about 90% of the people here would not make it in a zombie apolcalypse not because of the Zombies but because the have no real skills to bank on in order to survive. So as I said that leaves you two choice work with others or kill and steal but that will only work for so long. So Rocket should think about that a bit when working on DayZ. That is just my opinion any way.

Look like said DayZ will have it's following but it will never be more then what it is. As long as Rocket holds the game close to his chest it will never be more then just a mod. The whole time he is making it he is giving all these developers that are making stand alone games ideas on what works and doesn't work. By time he gets it off the ground and as a stand alone game there will be a dozen Zombie Survival game out there and thus it will get lost in the shuffle. Like it or not War Z will have more players then DayZ. I don't know which will be better, DayZ or War Z. A lot of what I have read about War Z mirror that of DayZ. However till I play the game I can't say if it will be better or worse then DayZ. Only time will tell. However as I said unless he gets funding the game will never move beyond just being a mod. The whole time other developers will reap the rewards for the work he has done because they will use the thing's he has developed. War Z has flat out admited they have used some of the ideas that were in DayZ to help them with War Z. I think at the end of the day though DayZ will always have a following. I don't think it's going to die. I just don't think it will ever be anything other then a mod and that is not because the game sucks but because Rocket is holding it to close to his chest.

Here is my thoughts on this. I think a Zombie MMO has been need for a while. What DayZ has done has shown other developers that their is an interest in Zombie MMO. O and just so you know War Z isn't the only Zombie MMO in the works there is another one being developed for the Xbox 360 called Class 3. I can tell you right now that the second DayZ made a splash in game world other developers took notice and are going to try there hand at a Zombie MMOs. DayZ has a lot of flaws, and Rocket talks a big game about expanding doing this and that but till he gets funding it's all talk. I'm not saying that DayZ will fail and players will stop playing. I'm only saying that he is giving developers ideas. He showing them what works and what doesn't. He is showing them exactly what players like and what they don't like. He is helping them improve there game and they will reap the rewards for it. Rocket has great ideas for the future of DayZ but the lack of funding, slow development isn't helping his cause any. I'll be honest with you, I think at the rate DayZ is being developed and made it will take serveral years before we see a finished polished version of DayZ. I don't know what the future holds for DayZ. I can't predict whether DayZ will continue it's popularity or if it will fade away. I think more then likely it will continue to have a fan base but as Zombie MMO come out it's population will shrink down to nothing but its hardcore fan base. I think with out funding and development in to a full fledge MMO or Game of some sort it has very little chance to hold on to it's popularity. Not saying it will die out only that it will not be the next big thing. It will be that mod that could have been and that lingers on through its hardcore fan base. That is just my thoughts on subject.

I will probably play War Z. I don't know if it will be any good. I like what I have read about it so far. It has almost the same elements that DayZ has with out a lot of the flaws that I have seen in DayZ at least as far as I read. I think DayZ could be a great MMO but I think Rocket holding it so close to the chest is a big mistake. I think there are a lot of issues with the game in terms of balance. I'll give you an example what I am talking about. One of the issues that exist in DayZ is server swapping for resources. I know Rocket is in process of dealing with this issue. However this issue exist because people put up barbwire prevent access to resources (yes you can remove barbwire with toolkits but you have to find them and there probably usually blocked by barbwire as well). Now the best way to get around this is to find server that has no barbwire at the location you're at (say the church) then you enter and go back to server that was blocked. So server swapping becomes more of an issue now because players trying to bypass locations with resources that are blocked. Another example of this problem is logging off when attacked. This issue exist because players finally get good stuff and to loose it well just sucks beyond anything. So it's easier to log out and thus get around the dying issue. Now if we had safe area and places to store limited items I think logging out when attacked would be less of an issue. A player could go and store extra weapons and ammo and supplies. Thus while they loose something that have back up. Now would this eliminate the problem all together, no probably not but it would probably solve it to a degree players wouldn't do it as often. DayZ wants to be an MMO with out being an MMO. It is built on the back bone of Arma 2 and as flexible as the game engine is for Arma 2 it still has it's limitations. DayZ is limited to only what Arma 2 can do do or add in. There somethings that just won't work in the game. The only way for DayZ to be successful in future is for it to strike out on it's own (even Rocket admits this). I don't know what the future holds for DayZ, I think it is matter of what kinds of changes there are and if players accept them. I think other Zombie MMO that will be developed (which I promise with the success of DayZ we will see a few) will have an impact on DayZ as well. How much of an impact will depend on how well those games are developed. I know for what I have read of War Z is that it has a lot in common with DayZ and it was in development before DayZ entered the picture. I know they are looking at DayZ to see what players like and didn't like or what worked and don't work. At the end of the day its hard to predict what will happen. I personally think DayZ will be popular for while then it will fade in to the woodwork and be another one of those cool mods that players use to play. While there will be several Zombi MMO out and doing ok. That is just my opinion.

I keep trying to join servers but every one keeps telling me there running version 1.60.93965. Is this the most current version?

Ok this running around with no weapons and stuff is boring. You can't really do much. also tired of being spawned out middle of frigen no where. Im done with this mod.

I dont know what is going on but I can't get in to any of the Dayz servers. I keep getting Bad version, Server rejected connection. I know both Arma 2 OA is up to date as well as Dayz. I'm at a complete lost as to what is wrong. Does any one know what is going on and what to do to fix this.

Ok I've spent 2 hours now just trying to get in to a game. Either I keep running across bad versions or I get stuck at creating character. I guess real game is about getting in to a game. Man I'm sick of this going to go play planetside. O good one I finally get in to a game and now im stuck in blank landscape.

I'm done with this mod. As cool of an idea as it is it has way to many fucking problems. I just spent two hours of my life just getting on a server. When I finally did I spawned in some place out middle of no where with no trees. I killed respawn myself to get back to coast only to respawn right back in middle of no where. I am so sick of this bs. Maybe the devs should stop doing this game half ass and develop the game in to a full game. I'll go play planetside till beta starts for planetside 2 starts.

Dude in zombie apocalypse most people don't have the skills and knowledge on there own to survive. How many people do you know who have great wealth of knowledge in medicine, or know how to hunt and clean game. How many people do you know who can build shelter and the list goes on. See it's not just the zombies you have to worry about. You have to have knowledge in various skills to survive successively. Not to mention there is safety in numbers not only from bandits but also the zombies them selves. So people are going to do one of two things there either going to be bandits or there going to join communities. Now you can think being a bandit is best way to go but you'd be wrong. For starters as people begin to pull together it means less chances of a bandit being able to kill or steel to get the supplies they need not with out a lot of risk. This means a bandit or bandits will have to find better ways of getting the supplies the need. In short being bandit will be easy at the begin of the zombie apocalypse but as time goes on people will begin to pull together and share resources (doesn't mean those communities won't have there share of problems cause they will) and it will become much more difficult for Bandits. In general bandits will form there own communities. However there communities will be built on fear and mistrust. In pinch they will turn on one another in heart beat for there own survival. So the mentality you have is so wrong it's not even funny. You wouldn't last a day in a zombie apocalypse because ultimately you would be alone and eventually you're luck would run out and either some one will pop you're ass or a zombie will get you. Better to make friends pull resources and worth as a communities for survival then to be alone.

Yea have to agree the barbed wire is making this game almost impossible to play now. Almost every building that contains supplies on every server is blocked off. I realize this game is suppose to be a simulation but there is a point when it goes to far.

Raising the difficulty level of the infected isn't going to bring people together. The only way to bring players together is to put something in place were players have to depend on one another to survive. Let me be honest I love the game it's very addicting. However as much as I love the game it's grown beyond it being a mod, which Dean "Rocket" Hall has admitted. The game needs to break away from being a mod and developed in to a game of it's own. Thing I have come to learn about this game sense playing is that groups that do work together are the bandits, and they keep those groups small. Those who lone wolf it well they pretty much at mercy of the bandits. Those players that work together and are in fact bandits are usually made up of clans, guilds, or real life friends or all of the above. Not saying all groups are this way but it's pretty much the typical case. Now when you spawn in the world you are left defenseless and thus leaves you untrustworthy of other players. I myself trust no one. I won't shot any one or go after any one but I avoid other players like the plague. Getting resources in the game is easy once you understand what you're doing. However once you have resources there really is no need to group up with other players. So how do you go about fixing that. The only solution that is to create resources that players can take that other players will want. If you want food you are going to need to find a cook, if you want to cook you're going to find a hunter, etc, etc. The idea is to have a skill system sort of unlock system were if you want to be a cook you can't be a soldier and carry an arsenal of weapons. The idea is to have you're gathers and you're defenders. In short what this will do is pull players together and create small communities, maybe even large ones. These communities will work together to survive. Mean while those communities will ally themselves with other communities or even go to war with other communities. Does this exclude the possibility of bandits, not at all. You will still have those players who rather kill and steal to get what they need and find it far more challenging. Basically in short DayZ needs to be an MMO. I believe if developed right it can be done on a much grander scale. The world needs to be 100 times larger. It needs a lot more depth to it, such unlocks various ways of getting resources, etc, etc. However I think it can be done and done right. Right now no matter how you roll the dice there is no way to really bring players together, unless you just make the zombies insanely more difficult. However that might actually do more harm then good. That's just my opinion any way.

Ok could some one please explain why on gods green earth that every time I try and enter a church it's blocked by barbwire. At least drop in cutting tools that will allow use to cut down barbwire when we come across them.

So there is an action point in the barbwire, so players putting it up or doing other players a service. nice I didn't know that. Thanks for the info