Nerd (DayZ)

I have to disagree. Nothing is ever so cut-and-dry. I've gotten bandit skin from defending myself. Everyone has at some point. --and I've been killed on sight because of it, too. I usually kill because people don't respond or have no mic. It's hard to trust someone who stares at you quietly.

During one of my best runs on Takistan, my arse was hacked off by a hatchet-man. I respawned and went to gather up what was left of my gear, hoping he hadn't hidden it. When I'd found him, he was still camping the city he'd ambushed me in, and had killed two more people. I broke his legs with my Lee when he charged me, and while he was unconcious, I drug him up the firestation to drop him from the roof. All the while, he was shouting at me, telling me how horrible I was at the game and just being terribly obscene. I asked if he had any last words, and he said, and I am not paraphrasing, "I'm gonna find you and spread those pretty little cheeks." I really wasn't expecting that, and I've had a lot of interesting kills, but it sure felt satisfying seeing him hit the ground. Not to mention, I earned a lot of nice loot from his victims.

Defunct single-celled protist level.

Eeeh, well... it's just not so simple, you see. Sometimes, people become bandits in defense, and often, the skin gets them killed by others who don't trust them. Hatchet-wielding fresh-spawns with nothing to lose and a chip on their axe will try anything to get their hands on your gear. Killing them often enough can run you some bad luck, and then you're reskinned. More often than not, I ended up becoming a bandit from just moving place to place, and running into hostile people. It's not all that fair, me thinks, and the line between survivor and bandit is pretty faded when you get a good look at it. When it comes down to the base of matters, it all depends on the actual person behind the skin. As a side note, I'm getting a little tired of this new mantra that unarmed fresh-spawns shouldn't be shot at. Once there's fifty damned freshies running around like frenzied ants in the centre of a city because "shooting us is immoral," you'll see how dangerous they can be. When first spawning, you're not playing "run around and attract a horde until I find an axe to grind, the game," you're supposed to be stealthily slinking about, slipping into a city or weapon spawn to arm yourself. Then, by all means, kill me. More personally, and I know not everyone would agree here: You don't get first class treatment if I see you, I'll tell you to back off if I feel safe enough. I'm not going to wait until you find a gun because you shouldn't have been spotted by me in the first place. Better luck next spawn.

Meh, it seems kind of boring to kill people who can't even injure you. A waste of ammunition, if you ask me.

Well, there's your mission. Go out and find that extremely reclusive ammo, and good luck.

Can anyone be trusted, huh... Short answer? No. Long answer? Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo--

Well, about a week ago, I experienced what I can easily call my most depraved moment playing this game. --in which I acquire fantastic gear and a Ural truck filled to the breaking-point with assorted small arms. It began in good old Stary, when I heard someone shooting an M1911 ad nauseum, maybe for five or so minutes off and on. I was perched in the treeline looking down on the rows of tents, dressed in the typical fresh-spawn skin. With me, I had an empty CZ 550 and a makarov. As I peered out from behind a tree, I spied a bandit-skinned woman rummaging through what looked like a player's corpse beside one of the tents. But what was most astonishing about her was the towering AS50 resting on her back. At first, I thought this person must've killed the M1911 shooter, but I hadn't heard the telltale booming report of the AS50. No, this person must have been the shooter from earlier. Before long, she was leaving Stary and heading up towards Kabanino. Well, I'm a gambler, and without a second thought I dashed after her. But not a moment later, a Ural entered Stary Sobor, pelting the town with "U WOT M8" over direct. My AS50 got in the truck with him, and they sped off north. I lost all hope of seeing them again, but still followed after, not much else to do anyway. In what seemed like hours of shadowing which took me all the way up to Petrovka(?), I found them again. Three players strong, now. There was no way I could win this fight with a makarov. So, I changed the game-plan a bit. I was losing blood from starvation, and with noting to lose, I figured I might as well roll the dice one last time. "Hey, friendly! Don't shoot!" I said as I approached, makarov holstered. I took notice of the Ural, rammed into a building with one of the wheels blown out. I didn't see any bodies, so I assumed they must've crashed and called for help.(Why go out of the way for a Ural, though? Unless...) At first, no one said anything. Actually, only one person turned to aim their L85 at me. He was the first to respond, with a shot to my legs, making me fall. I got a muffled "sorry" and he began to patch me up. I was pretty sure I would be dead soon, I'd been in these situations before. They play a game of torture the bambi and make me do tricks until they get bored and kill me. By now, the others were spamming direct, talking to one another about everything from where to go next and what to do with me. The woman from before(without the AS50 that inspired this whole escapade.) said in a not-so-surprisingly male voice, "You in a group or something?" "No." I lied. I had a friend I could rely on. She was still on the server and I'd been feeding information to her the whole time. One message and I could have some potential help. "You up for a little something, then?" L85 guy asked. "Sure." --and that was all it took. A half-hour of idle chat later and we were as best of friends as we could be. They decided it would be a good idea to give this prospective ally an Mp5, a blood transfusion and painkillers taken right out of their wrecked Ural. Now I understood, the truck probably had a lot of supplies in it. Unfortunately for them, they obviously hadn't packed anything for repairs. The man-woman player was going to search the town for supplies, while someone else needed to scour the dangerous airfield. They sent me out with their friend, Nano, a boy with a gratingly high voice and a large M16, to gather general supplies; mainly fuel and repairs, or another vehicle if we were lucky. We walked for some time before actually arriving at the airfield. Nano was guileless and gullible, speaking on end about his neato clan and their plan to take that Ural to the furthest corner of the map to make their own base. As we went into the first hangar to look for supplies, I asked Nano how strong his group was, if they killed a lot of people. I think he started on about sniping or something, but we came under AKM fire before he could finish. In the hangar, there was nowhere to hide, not that I needed to. "Sorry." I said over Nano's corpse, freshly culled by Kara, who I'd sent for earlier to make this a proper ambush. "Fuck you man, I thought you were my friend." he responded. God damn, that bit deep... Only because he didn't even seem mad, like I thought he would. Just really disappointed. With much pain, I took Nano's M16 and Czech backpack and we set off to Petrovka(?) to get rich. Nano had surely alerted his friends of the ambush, so we knew we would be expected. It was easy enough, though. They were baited by Kara while I flanked them along an enfilade position. The only problem was that they had both taken shelter beside the Ural. In the end, it was damaged almost to the point of no return. But with full gear, packs and weapons galore, there was no reason to let the ruined truck fall into their hands again. So we finished it off with a few more rounds and left southbound, looking to test out our new stuff. Too bad I was shot dead with an AS50 a little while later. I'm not sure how I feel about all this... but I guess there might be such a thing as karma afterall.

The moment where I'm told to sit is the moment where I rely on fight or flight. Telling someone to "sit" or "be still" is just lingo for "hold on a sec while I kill you." This whole situation was shitty, though... :/

Effective. 10/10 Would watch again.

Usually, I just shoot the ones with guns. But if I'm in a trusting mood, then I consult the vague chart of Surviving Survivors™. >Do they have a gun? -If yes, continue to next step. -If no, leave them alone. >Are they bandit skinned? -If yes, aim for their penis. -If no, attempt to communicate. >Do they respond?(Sidechat is rarely an acceptable form of communication.) -If yes, continue to next step. -If no, show them your boomstick. >Are they twelve, and/or belligerent/annoying? -If yes, show no mercy, rob and rape them. -If no, and they are "cooldoods" then the brood grows. >??? -Profit.

SVD, usually. I'm really used to using it. Although, any weapon gets the job done, so long as you can aim. Except you, winchester...

Pretty much. I can't stomach people who kill the fresh meat. It's just plain rude, they can't even fight back and they don't offer any kind of supply. No, they don't, but the bastard killing them probably has something I want need. They always have something I need. Edit: Which is why, I guess, people shoot at fresh spawns. They're often out to get you. Don't even start me up on the hatchet-men.

See, I guess that's what seperates me from being a true "bandit." I don't actively seek players to torture for the fun of it. I just shoot when I'm threatened. Which is all the time-- and I'm sorry to players who don't have mics, but you creep me out with that silence stuff. How can I trust you when all you do is type short halted sentences in sidechat?

Weeeeeeeeell... I'm not so sure, really. A lot of things kind of came together and pushed me to be a little hostile. Generally, other bandits. I was so fed up with being nice and charitable only to be shot in the leg and left as a scapegoat for the zed. Before I even knew it, I was shooting on sight by reflex. You could say that I was just reacting to past events, but in truth, I ended up a lot better off not being "friendly." I usually have okay weapons and the company I DO keep are friends I've trusted for years. The only time I'm friendly to players is if they're a fresh spawn. I never shoot fresh spawns, and I try my best not to kill makarov maniacs. Although, I have been killed by a guy who pretended not to have a gun, and hid it in his pack. Needless to say, I check backpacks now.