I think OP's got the right idea here. I agree on that banditry will only escalate and become uncontrollable. I don't see any incentive to be good in this game at all. When I first started I tried to be friendly to everyone and had a lot of ideas about friendly team play and bigger goals in game. But due to many reasons be it hack, exploits, bug, and nevertheless banditry there just seems to be no reason to play nice with anyone you don't know in real life. There is the huge issue of trust in this game. In other games it is simplified by guaranteed protection such as a default team/alliance, trade screens, flags for PvP, friendly fire regulations, and even simply the ability to fled or not die so easily. Here in DayZ, you have so much to lose but so little to gain when you cooperate with strangers. For example like your story of Bob working with that stranger to fix a car, what do you think would happen next? They won't be satisfied to just roam around inside a car. Are they going to take turns driving? Would the stranger not mind Bob suck at driving and crashing the car? The outcome of their cooperation only leads to conflict and ultimately the death of the two players. They'd also have one other thing in common in the end - they would cease to trust others in the future. As for Bob not being able to fix the car himself; he could just wait until someone fixed the car and kill those who fixed it with bonus loot. Now Bob has a brand new car he can ride around town - or he could use it as a trap and... You see where I'm going though. It's the system that needs to improve before we would stop the mindless killing. I also agree on your prediction of ultimate collapse of DayZ, but it felt unnecessary. All games rise and fall, once a game cease to be fun for someone they'd quit, the hype don't last forever. I had a lot more to say about shooting players for thrill but I'm scared that people might not take it lightly... But I will say this, there is always the ultimate reason behind each action - and it is 'pleasure/joy', which is the pushing force of everything in life lol.