optimate

You're right, it's a totally spurious argument made by people who want to play the game a particular way (griefing people who do want to play some kind of survivor game mainly) to provide cover for their actions. They seem to have forgotten that it's a freaking game with about as much resemblance to real life as an episode of The Simpsons, probably less so. To illustrate let's take a scenario and compare game to life, as best we can. Let's say there has been a zombie apocalypse style event and by happy chance you've managed to snag a rifle, several clips of ammo and enough food and drink to get by on. You sneak into town to grab what else you can. As you come out of the shop a little further down the street a stranger comes out of another shop - obviously with the same idea in mind. He's got a gun but he's not pointing it at you. Now in DayZ, and in real life according to these self-appointed survivalist experts, the correct thing to do would be to open fire at once. But in real life a few other thoughts might cross your mind, such as: Firing guns will attract attention from zombies. This could be bad for your health. You've got enough ammo for a modest shoot out but you don't know for sure that you'll be able to get any more in a hurry. In real life ammo does not conveniently materialise out of thin air at numerous locations. You might be better off saving what you've got for the zombies (see above). You might think you're the deadliest gun in the West but there's always somebody faster and more accurate. It could be that guy and if it is your one and only life will come to an abrupt end, you will not find yourself on a beach ready to have another go. And even if you do manage to kill that guy he might have friends nearby who'll be keen to have a word. In real life you do not have the option of exiting to some alternative reality where they aren't, you'll have to live with the consequences and maybe die of them. If the guy is not hostile then he's an asset worth far more than whatever's in the backpack. For starters two can carry more than one. Also in real life I like to spend some time asleep, having someone to take watch is better than a can of beans any day. A corpse with a few cans of food is worth a few cans of food and a few cannibal meals if you're that way inclined, a reliable partner with a gun improves your survival chances no end. And it would be ironic if you shoot someone who turns out to be only medic in a 100 klicks and the next day you get appendicitis. Now for these, and numerous other reasons which are obvious if you take a moment to think about it, in the real world I wouldn't initiate the Gunfight at the OK Corral every time I bumped into someone. I wouldn't exactly rush over with a bunch of flowers either because psychopathic bastards do exist. So sounding things out in a cautious fashion - finding out their story and testing it for credibility, seeing if they were willing to trade perhaps - would be the order of the day. Even if I was truly desperate robbery might make more sense than outright murder, spin 'em a sob story ("my daughter, she's only six, going to die without these supplies, sob, gulp") and you might get away with a bit of a beating instead of a bullet in the head if your victim and any friends ever catch up with you. In DayZ no mechanisms exist to replace the cues that in real life would help you make such life and death decisions - you can pick up a lot about someone (a lot of it unconsciously) just from their body language. And with chat crippled and the absence of any real consequences it's not surprising it has degenerated into deathmatch. But please don't waste anyone's time with the "that's what I'd do in real life" argument because it's utter bullshit.

What amuses me about the whole PvP thing is that threads like this invariably get posts on the lines of: 'it's part of the game, suck it up loser, it's kill or be killed in the bad-ass world of the zombie apocalypse' although generally with more spelling mistakes. And yet all the evidence suggests that when the going gets tough these self-proclaimed bad-asses pussy out. Sure, they're tough as old boots when it comes to shooting unarmed survivors and sniping people who haven't seen them but when faced with someone who shoots back they can't hit Alt-F4 fast enough.

Try barns - ones out in the sticks where you'll only get 3-4 zombies max. - for starters. Zombies outside will wander away, sneak in behind them and don't worry about any groans coming from inside. When you're close run in and up the stairs to the top. If you're luck's in you'll find a hatchet and you can dispose of any zombies inside silently. Or you may find some variety of shottie like the Winchester '66 which I've found you can use indoors without attracting any zombies from outside.

I'm up north doing a bit of shameless deer stand farming. I've acquired an excess of painkillers and bandages and, most usefully, two morphine injectors. The quiet life getting a bit dull so anyone needing a leg fixed in the area PM me and I'll see if a house call or drop off can be arranged.

By and large 6launcher does what it says on the tin, but there's one quirk that is a nuisance. Once fired up and I've done a verify the server list is as you'd expect and you can order it by lowest ping or whatever. But after launching the game and later exiting all the ping times shown in 6launcher are 9999. The refresh button doesn't fix that so I quit and reload but am I missing a trick and there's a better way to get it to refresh the list?

Some servers do seem to get stuck at that stage from time to time. The character creation stage usually only takes 30 seconds or so. You could try to find a server with a low population - where it's night-time in Chernarus as most people don't bother playing then. If a low pop server still hangs for ages then at least you'll know that the problem is your side. If so you could try verifying the game cache (https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=2037-QEUH-3335) as an alternative to deleting and re-installing. That should, in theory at least, ensure that your local files are present and correct. Another thing you could look at is Windows Firewall or equivalent. When firing up multiplayer for the first time I recall being asked a couple of times what level of network access to allow. If you inadvertently disallowed access that might cause you to hang up somewhere along the line.

All new players since the patch that deprived you of any starting weapon have been through the same I'd guess - I certainly have. Here's a couple of things to try: Barns: Find one remote from towns where the zombie count can be a bit high. If you're lucky the zombies may wander away and you can sneak right in. Possibly a zombie will be lurking inside but don't worry if so, when close run in and up the stairs. If you're luck's in there'll be a weapon on the top level and if not then try the other side - you should be able to dodge the zombies, they're pretty slow indoors. If you get the luxury of a choice grab the hatchet and use that to deal with any threat inside as that won't attract any attention. Deer stands: Make your way to one and a few hundred metres out go crouched and move forward cautiously. When zombies appear wait - they usually wander off away from the stand and I've only ever seen three of them at a time. When they're a good distance off you should be able to scuttle along to the stand without being spotted and see what you've scored. If you get a gun resist the temptation to have a pop at the zombies until your a good way from the stand. A surprisingly large number can teleport in, I burnt through three clips worth of an AK making that mistake. Following this sage advice may still result in death from one cause or another but it should shorten your odds.

Assuming the fresh and fast zombies mixed in with slower, more rotten ones got implemented here's a thought to liven things up. If a player kills another then that spawns (not immediately, after some random interval) a zombie in tip-top condition, insofar as that can ever apply to a zombie. Conceptually the victim has reanimated and moreover they're pissed, so they'll be coming after whoever killed them. Running away might delay the moment of retribution but sooner or later it will catch up with you. This is something that could form part of the player mission data so server hopping would be no escape.

Hi, I've added you on Steam. I'm more into the survivalist side of things rather than shooting newbies for flashlights that seems to be the prevailing trend, if that's your thing too then I'm sure we can help each other out.

Does the vanilla game run? Try running OpA from Steam or whatever your platform is. If that doesn't work then obviously the mod won't either and you'll need to re-install that first. I don't know you installed the mod but on the d/l page here it recommends 6launcher and my experience suggests that's a good idea. Makes installing and running the mod pretty simple and patches up the client when there's a new release.

There are no dedicated PvE type servers (not supported by the mod so far as I know) so there's no guarantee on any server that your warm reception won't consist of a hail of bullets from the griefers. Best bet is to get to know a few people via here or the numerous Steam groups and see if you can hook up with them. Doesn't mean you won't get shot at but at least there'll be a helping hand if you do.

For a game in development this makes excellent sense. Each dot release is hopefully bringing with it enhancements and changes to the gameplay. Having loads of survivors already fully equipped will obscure whether such changes have improved the game or not. Say the zombie player detection was improved. If that then made it near impossible for a survivor with nothing to sneak into an area to loot (or conversely made it way too easy) putting everyone back on the beach would show that up rapidly. It's an alpha and our part in the process is it test it and being put back to day zero at regular intervals lets us do our job better.