Gibbonici

If it makes you feel any better it takes me ages to find weapons, bandages etc when I spawn a new character, and I've been playing for 7 weeks. Most of my new guys only last an hour or so and usually die some miserable death without achieving anything. It's just the way it goes, and each time it happens you learn something new. When you get that one who lasts longer, finds a weapon and food etc, I promise you you'll feel awesome - like Woody Harrelson in Zombieland or something ;) Also, they're not "just zombies" they're infected like in 28 Days Later. And they took over the world so they're obviously going to be tougher than an unarmed person. Count your blessings that they can't infect us too ;) I like the idea of using clothing as bandages with a heat loss modifier, BTW.

I agree on the radios, but the world is supposed to feel empty. Zombie apocalypse, remember?

You can't rely on the game to help you figure out if someone is friendly or not, you've got learn how to do that yourself in close quarters. Or just run away before it comes to that if you don't want to take the chance. There's no dishonour in running away, not if you want to survive. The side channel was taken out so people can't negotiate over safe distances. Every encounter with players you don't know is meant to be fraught and paranoid with the chance of losing everything. It requires players to act in a totally different way to the way they do in all other games - if they want to cooperate, that is. It's the only game in the world where it takes more balls to be a carebear than a PKer ;) That said, it is difficult to form pick-up groups without a global chat channel, especially with the server limits. I'm not sure what the solution is for that (bar looking for groups on the forums), but I wouldn't want side channel back because it would take something truly unique away from the game. Hopefully radios will implemented at some point, Rocket alluded to such a thing in the latest PC Gamer interview, so there will be a kind of side chat at that point once you've found one. I don't think it's a bad thing to start out totally on your own in DayZ, I think it's a good experience to set you up for the harsh, uncompromising world you're entering.

If the icon was changed from a broken bone to something like a face in pain with lightning-like pain lines coming out of it, I think it would make a lot more sense to people.

I dunno, it definitely feels like a zombie apocalypse game to me but then that's how I choose to play it. I've been playing for 7 weeks, killed only one person, never seen a silenced weapon, never seen a DMR, never had NVGs or a GPS, and zombies still scare me even though I've got good at hatchet-stalking them and sneaking around them. I spend all my time figuring out my next goal and trying to achieve it. Usually something unexpected happens and I end up having to do something else. I'm currently packing an M1911 with plenty of ammo and a hatchet, and that's all I need weaponwise. I have nothing against the PvPers and PKers, not even the trollish ones. They fit perfectly into the zombie apocalypse setting and make my game much deeper, as does the paranoia that they add to every encounter with other players. For the record, I've met plenty of other friendly players out in the woods and the hills, and those encounters are much deeper simply for the fact that neither of us know the others' intentions. It's a totally unique thing that I've never experienced in other games.

That sounds about right. I guess it depends a lot on where you are and what you're doing.

Heh, I know what you mean ;) I've got faith though, once the changes that have come have bedded in and we've got used to them, they're generally, if controversially, for the better. I was slightly sceptical of the melee to start with, it sort of felt like zombies were less dangerous and I guess they are. But after sneaking around Berezino tonight and taking out stray zombies quickly and silently, man I felt like a proper zombie apocalypse survivor :) It still takes a bit of forethought to pull it off, and you have to be really careful not to attract your own personal zombie apocalypse, plus if you don't time your swing right you could be in all kinds of trouble. Looking forward to see how this mechanic is developed. It'd be cool if there was a chance that your hatchet would get stuck in a dead zombie and you needed to pull it out. You can't have too many "oh shit!" moments in a game like this ;)

I've been playing for what, 7 weeks now, and in all that time I've only killed one other player and he shot at me first. I'm a total survivor, friendly to those who are friendly and a rapidly moving target to those who aren't. It is *totally* possible to play this as a survivor. And it's not just me, I regularly meet others out in the hills and forest, (and even in the cities when things get desperate for me to go to them) who don't see others as walking loot chests. Sometimes it results in an uncomfortable, paranoid stand off with both of us backing off, and sometimes in a huddle, swapping loot and sharing news of the local area. I love it for this, these encounters are some of the most intense gaming experiences I've ever had. In terms of Rocket's desire to have DayZ elicit emotional responses, he's hit the nail bang on the head with these kinds of things. You only need to read some of the stories that get posted here and elsewhere to know just how profound an experience a lot of players are having in the game. You simply don't get those kinds of responses in CoD or WoW or whatever. Sure, I sometimes get shot out of the blue but I reckon I've been killed by zombies more often than players, and that's usually after a process of attrition over days. Personally, I don't see the need for balancing the FPS side of things because I've balanced my own place in it. Which is usually very far from where it happens ;) And the fact that Rocket isn't designing with balance in mind, and instead seeing how the chips fall, is exactly where he's shaking things up. Most games start with a set of features and balances which have never been questioned. They've been with online RPGish games since the dawn of time. Nobody has ever set out to test those assumed truths and seen how a game would work. One thought that occurred to me while I was reading your post and replying to it, is that our experiences in DayZ probably stem from how we approach it. If you approach it like an FPS then it's gonna play that way and it's not going to play as well as a dedicated FPS. Me, I approach like the MMO I've been dying for since forever. Massive open world, deeply immersive, persistent, no abstract progression, no abstract systems, just a simulated world full of zombies and players who are going to do whatever they want. It's even got pushes (needing to eat and drink) as well as pulls (wanting better equipment), which is pretty much unique in the whole of gaming. I dunno, maybe I'm doing it all wrong. A lot of the stuff that's regularly said on these forums just doesn't match my experience in the game at all.

A lot of the ideas are far from original and just follow standards set in other games' date=' which are things that many DayZ players are sick of. I think that's one of the main reasons that people get so passionate and defensive about "new" ideasl; they've already played that stuff to death. Original ideas are good, especially those few that fit in with the ethos of DayZ, but too many ideas are just far too conservative for what DayZ is about. As Rocket once said regarding bog-standard feature suggestions - "Jesus, it's like trying wean people off fucking heroin!" [/quote'] It is funny to think what the Arma 2 community would've said if anyone actually made the suggestion of a zombie apocalypse mod for the game. My guess is that it would've been hated on even though game turned out very original. But on paper it sounds like shit and the response would've been ''L4d2 is 19.99 on steam....'' Just to put things in a perspective. Personally I would've been right behind the idea behind this mod. I would have groaned at someone suggesting a WoW-alike mod, though. That's what I'm getting at really. If you read a lot of the ideas that get put out here, maybe even most of them, they're just demands to have some standard feature from any other game implemented in DayZ. I don't get all flamey about it, simply because I can't be arsed, but it does make me shake my head. For example, "reinstate global chat" is a sucky idea, but "implement radios so we can access global radio channels" is a good one. I'm in DayZ for all the crazy stuff that Rocket wants to try, I want to see how we as gamers adapt to it and figure out new, emergent gameplay as we go. I'm absolutely all for new ideas, and DayZ is one of very, very few places where we can see them being tried out first hand. I think a lot of DayZ players see it this way too, perhaps especially the older players who were actively looking for something new and different to scratch their ill-accommodated itch when they stumbled across it. That's not to say anything bad about newer players (hell, I bet there are tens of thousands of 'em who love DayZ for exactly the same reasons), I just want to put the older player's perspective across, because so often it's dismissed as "LOLOL elitist bullshit" or "hipsters gonna hip". Or worse.

That would be a cool addition. In fact I'd vote for it as a replacement for morphine as it is. Maybe morphine could then be a strong painkiller and a way of relieving a possible trauma/stress mechanic in the future. At the risk of addiction of course ;)

A lot of the ideas are far from original and just follow standards set in other games, which are things that many DayZ players are sick of. I think that's one of the main reasons that people get so passionate and defensive about "new" ideasl; they've already played that stuff to death. Original ideas are good, especially those few that fit in with the ethos of DayZ, but too many ideas are just far too conservative for what DayZ is about. As Rocket once said regarding bog-standard feature suggestions - "Jesus, it's like trying wean people off fucking heroin!"

Without a knife and matches?

I've noticed this too and it seems to have been so ever since I started playing back in May. It doesn't seem to matter how long your character has lived, that first zombie attack always seems to get you bleeding. Well, almost always anyway.

Congratulations, mate! Babies are an apocalypse all of their own ;)

I'm all for radios, maybe with alternate channels so you can chat directly to other people too. It'd be a much better solution than having open side chat on some servers, and would give us another item to look for - and another reason to stay alive when we've got one.

I'm a little girl in real life? I think you'll find that I'm not the one swinging my tadger around on an internet forum. I'm also not the one who has to ask for an option for no global chat. It already has no global chat, as was planned from day one. Anyway, back to your point. DayZ isn't being developed to make money and create jobs, it's an experiment in gaming. This is exactly what Rocket has said about it time and time again. The fact that it has taken off like it has says more about the general state of modern gaming and the tedious cookie-cutter, hand-holding, faceroll specials that get dumped into the market because so many people don't remember what it was to be excited and enthralled by something different. DayZ's unexpectedly massive popularity is the only reason that it's getting a commercial release at all. Rocket's original estimate was that there'd be a couple of thousand players at the very, very most. And the thing is, it's Bohemia Interactive who will be handling the commerical version of DayZ once ArmA 3 is out, and they're not known for their popularist approach to game design. Seriously, don't expect it to cater to your tastes because it probably won't and that's OK. There are plenty of games that don't cater to mine and many others' tastes and that's OK too. Where there's a niche there's a market, and I think DayZ has stumbled across a fairly decent size niche. As I've said before, I'm pretty certain that one of the big mainstream companies will develop a zombie survival game along the lines of DayZ that will cater to the mass market. Maybe that'll be more your speed. Anyway, I've laid out my reasons and thinking behind why I like the way the game is regarding global chat, and I've put them over fairly and reasonably. You can go back and read them if you like, but I'm not about to get baited into a ridiculous and tedious internet pissing match by you. Bohemia Interactive dont host the servers their customers do as far as i know the people hosting the servers and players should have choice on what they want to connect to and not be forced into what you think is more "real" how about when it rains there is a clothes wet icon and if you dont go to a dry cleaner and get your clothes drycleaned your temp will go down and get sick and die from running around with wet clothes would you @#W%ing enjoy that because its more realistic You didn't read my other posts did you?

I'm a little girl in real life? I think you'll find that I'm not the one swinging my tadger around on an internet forum. I'm also not the one who has to ask for an option for no global chat. It already has no global chat, as was planned from day one. Anyway, back to your point. DayZ isn't being developed to make money and create jobs, it's an experiment in gaming. This is exactly what Rocket has said about it time and time again. The fact that it has taken off like it has says more about the general state of modern gaming and the tedious cookie-cutter, hand-holding, faceroll specials that get dumped into the market because so many people don't remember what it was to be excited and enthralled by something different. DayZ's unexpectedly massive popularity is the only reason that it's getting a commercial release at all. Rocket's original estimate was that there'd be a couple of thousand players at the very, very most. And the thing is, it's Bohemia Interactive who will be handling the commerical version of DayZ once ArmA 3 is out, and they're not known for their popularist approach to game design. Seriously, don't expect it to cater to your tastes because it probably won't and that's OK. There are plenty of games that don't cater to mine and many others' tastes and that's OK too. Where there's a niche there's a market, and I think DayZ has stumbled across a fairly decent size niche. As I've said before, I'm pretty certain that one of the big mainstream companies will develop a zombie survival game along the lines of DayZ that will cater to the mass market. Maybe that'll be more your speed. Anyway, I've laid out my reasons and thinking behind why I like the way the game is regarding global chat, and I've put them over fairly and reasonably. You can go back and read them if you like, but I'm not about to get baited into a ridiculous and tedious internet pissing match by you.

And all of them are gamey and fake. As far as TS etc go' date=' I have no problem with those because people are going to use them anyway, especially people who play together in other games. I rationalise that as them having radios from somewhere. Whatever, it's not that important. What is important is that TS and other external chat clients aren't the default. People won't log onto DayZ, see there's a global chat and start the usual kinds of global chat babble that happens in other games. That's exactly the sort of thing that DayZ totally isn't about. I would like to see text direct communication though, not sure if it works at the moment but it should be an option for those who don't have a headset/mic. [/quote'] So one thing is gamey and fake, but the same thing using an out of game voice chat program is cool because you subjectively rationalise its use in-game? What? No, it's OK because it's not the default. There's a world of difference between TS and on-tap global chat, and their effects on the game world. And as I said, there is no way to stop people using TS so sure, I'll rationalise it. Global chat is a totally different thing. It exists for one purpose only and that is immediate, easy and universal convenience. You know this as well as I do, right? And you should know that that's not what DayZ is about, because it's been said enough times in enough places for plenty long enough. And let me say, I totally understand what you're saying in favour of global chat and I don't even disagree with a lot of it. But one of the things I love about DayZ is that its doing things differently. I *want* something new, and I'm sure a great many of those 260,000 DayZ players do too. I *want* to see what happens when there's no global chat. I *want* to see how players adapt to gameplay that is outside their comfort zone. This is all good stuff, its the sort of experimentation and innovation that has been dead in gaming since the 90's. Possibly even the 80's. Please, try to understand that. DayZ isn't supposed to be like all those other games. Saying it needs global chat is like saying the Sex Pistols needed sensible haircuts. Do you get what I'm saying?

This is probably going to sound more trollish than intended, but that cuts both ways. DayZ is going in different directions to other games, it's a deliberate, considered design decision to cut global chat out altogether and has been from before the start. Given this, I would urge you to try to appreciate this "other point of video game ideology" - because it is what it is. We already know the other side of the story because we've been playing it for years. This is new and has only been so for a very short time.

And all of them are gamey and fake. As far as TS etc go, I have no problem with those because people are going to use them anyway, especially people who play together in other games. I rationalise that as them having radios from somewhere. Whatever, it's not that important. What is important is that TS and other external chat clients aren't the default. People won't log onto DayZ, see there's a global chat and start the usual kinds of global chat babble that happens in other games. That's exactly the sort of thing that DayZ totally isn't about. I would like to see text direct communication though, not sure if it works at the moment but it should be an option for those who don't have a headset/mic.

No global chat and only very local communication is one of the things that initially drew me to DayZ, and it wasn't even implemented at the time. I've always wondered how global chat detracts from immersion and gameplay opportunities in other games, and it's interesting to see how taking it out is changing the way DayZ plays. For the record, no global chat has been one of the central ideas behind DayZ since the very early days, Rocket's reasoning being that it will develop a sense of isolation and self-reliance for all players. This is what DayZ is about at its core. It's not here to make our gaming, our progression or our virtual social lives easier. It's here to dump us into a horrible situation in a lonely, vicious and hopeless world, and force us to make the best of a dire situation. I'm sure you can see how having a channel spammed up with the usual global channel bullshit detracts from the whole point of DayZ. Bottom line is that this game/mod/whatever isn't for everybody and never will be. It's going to alienate a lot of people, but it's also going to attract a lot of others. The people it attracts are unlikely to be chat spammers. Many of them will be people who have got tired of the way games have gone over the past decade and are looking for something new, different and genuinely exciting.