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So I bought ARMA II a while ago searching for a 'more realistic shooter' and played a little, but not quite that much. To try get some value out of my purchase, I decided to try out this DayZ mod a friend had briefly mentioned. I must say that upon logging in for the first time, I had absolutely no idea what to do and spent a good 5 hours or so just running around, trying to sneak in to villages, only to find nothing and die. I got frustrated, I invested a lot of time to only find death, but I was intrigued by what appeared to be a steep learning curve and difficult gameplay. Putting it down for a few days, I finally went back and convinced myself I was going to try a real slow and safe approach to everything. I was doing great, until I got stuck in the middle of the mountains with no idea where to go and to my own lack of navigation, I once again put the mod down. I just wasn't seeing the excitement everyone else seems to in the videos on YouTube, so I thought I probably wouldn't pick it up again. This was until yesterday at work, I was required to write an article about DayZ and that had me thinking about the mod again. I set home that afternoon to FINALLY try and understand why this mod is so fun. I spawned on the far west coast in the middle of the night and immediately began making my way east, I decided to try and look for farms as I figured if these villages are turning up empty, surely the country folk will have guns! I didn't find a farm, but I did find an airfield and immediately made my way over. Every time I have tried to go near anything previously, there have been zombies everywhere, this time it seemed there was one loner off in an open field and that was it. This told me I was either lucky, or someone has been here already, leaving little chances of loot. I saw three hangars, but also a watch tower which looked like it would be the safest place to look for supplies while also scoping out the surrounding area before laying claim to these hangars. The strategy paid off, there was a makarov upstairs, this was an epic moment for me, I was yet to hold a gun in DayZ and so to finally have something to shoot was a great feeling. I began to look around when I started to hear groaning, then yes of course, there was another survivor who had attracted several zombies and taken to the top of the watch tower where I now lay, panicking, pinned to the ground protecting my new shiny. He laid waste to the zombies he attracted, and then saluted me before awaiting a response. I wasn't sure what to do at this point, I see countless people saying trust no one, and as an EVE player I can totally get down with that. Besides this though, this guy looked like he had some decent loot, I had a new gun, and in the name of survival I could play a shoot on sight rule like everyone else, and probably come out with better gear than before. I decided to put my life in the hands of the zombie gods, and saluted back hoping for someone friendly. He accepted my friendship and motioned for me to follow him. We set out to clear out the hangars, followed by the rest of the buildings, and then further. This player took me across the coast, weaving in and out of each village, taking anything we can find and killing any zombie who opposed us and earned his bullet. The other survivor was a great leader, he would leave gear for me when it seemed of use, and was never greedy when sharing findings of better gear or food. It wasn't long before I had become fully stocked up with a G17, an AKM, a bunch of equipment to see in the dark and other supplies. For the first time my character was actually not hungry or thirsty as well, this guy was helping me make progress. Before I knew it, it was 3am and we had been running around for hours. I can safely say at this point that I now understand why everyone finds this mod so fun. The adventures we had, the little moments between moments, made for a crazy night of good ol' fashioned gaming. Thanks for not being a jerk to a new guy, random survivor, you've convinced me to stay and play.

I agree completely. I am a huge sandbox fan, and I am yet to play a game that allows you to be evil where there isn't a large group/s of players fighting for the cause of good. The mod is the perfect example of a social experiment, and a very fragile one at that. I am yet to witness a game which strikes such true emotions from players, from that survivor who gets overly excited when he finally comes across another player after hours of loneliness to that tense situation when two clans bump into each other. You can't fake this kind of stuff, and I am glad that Rocket is doing his best to focus on how the game makes you feel, rather than what "features" the game has to offer.

Deer stands are generally on the outskirts of a town or in the woods themselves, I rarely find one too close to a town, and if I do they are at the edge where you can generally get in and out before too many infected spawn.

Cool 3 posts bro, each one is more informative and witty than the last.

lol, if you can't write a simple recruitment post, how can you lead a clan? Wouldn't be surprised if it's "shoot on sight, then alt+f4"

Greetings fellow survivors. I recently put together a compilation of various videos in an article that basically showcases different situations that DayZ players can find themselves in. I thought you guys may be interested in checking it out. http://www.mmogames.com/gamenews/5417/dayz-a-day-in-the-life-of-a-survivor I will be doing more rounds of compilations, so if you have or know of a video you think people should see, let me know! They can be funny, educational, or just plain badass. All videos are embedded from their original uploader's channels. Enjoy!

Thanks :) and yeah, that guy sounds a little insane :P if he was in my group I would probably put a bullet in his head, I prefer my fellow survivors/bandits to be calm, collected, and predictable.

I have an ATI card, the game runs like crap even though I have a gaming machine also. To the point sometimes where I can barely turn around without the frames dropping heaps. I will test this out this afternoon when I am home and report back, haven't understood how I can run BF3 on high settings, but this runs like crap even on low. Hopefully this fixes it! Really want to get that quality up before I start recording.

Not all bandits are douchebags, and the true bandits will lead many innocent survivors astray to the dark side of the apocalypse :P We don't all senselessly kill if we aren't in any danger. Enjoy the tense situations, the paranoia, fear, mistrust. It's rare a game can evoke these sorts of emotions to such an extent.

I think what people are trying to say is they want their bandits to be creative in their evil doings, rather than just mindlessly killing everyone. Everyone loves a bandit story when the bandit went to great lengths or took the effort to do something a little more epic.

Added you on Skype + Steam. Look forward to chatting with you.

No, just people sharing their stories. That's a big part of the experience.. sharing it.

lol nice shots, locked those guys down pretty tight. Not sure why so much hate, just a dude sharing some gameplay :(

I call liar, your spelling and grammar is far too good. You're MeAnT tO tAlK lIeK dIz. But anyways, if I ran in to you, i'd buddy up with you. You seem to be more intelligent than most 16+ people I run in to in games. Age isn't a factor, it's just that there are a lot of annoying and stupid people out there.

Would love to jump in to the group, relatively new but picking the game up fast. 22yo, native English speaker, and a competent team member. Steam - wintersw0lf @Savage add me as well if you like, would be interested in finding a UK server to call home.

Military bases, try towers etc. Those would be your best bet.

Thanks guys, it defniitely seems that being friendly has its rewards. If I had of shot that guy, I probably wouldn't have learned a lot of the things I did so quickly while following him around. Plus beyond what I could steal from him, I wouldn't have found all the great loot that should at least keep me alive for a few more days :P Also the game is a lot more exciting when you are working as a team, can't buy that as a bandit... unless you're a bandit with friends >.>

The game is meant to be about survival, which means you need to find a map, compass etc in-game and use them. Makes it much easier to get lost, but much more realistic than just automatically having one :P

Good on you for not disconnecting, if you had, this story would be far less epic.

You do realize that the paranoia that players create between themselves is one of the huge selling points of this game?