joev (DayZ)

I haven't registered specifically to respond to this thread. I registered a few days ago to report a problem. However, if I hadn't, I still would have registered to respond to this. I agree wholeheartedly. It's very easy to criticise but much too rarely do we speak up about what's great with something. I'm an old codger. I've grown up with computer gaming. My first ever computer/game was the original home computer game "Pong" at something like age 6. I've played games all my life since then. I've been an early adopter for almost every genre. I've played them all and seen computer games grow from crude lines and balls on screen to the glorious pseudo-cinematic experiences which modern games are capable of delivering (but alas so seldom do). I've also been heavily involved in game development... specifically in the mod scene (I was the dev director for the Half-Life mod Natural Selection back in the day) so although I'm no expert (far from it) I have some understanding of the elements which go into a game (or mod). In the same week that the 11-year wait for next installment in the Diablo canon came to it's lacklustre (ihmo) conclusion I spent my Diablo III refund (I cancelled my pre-order after playing the beta and seeing how little had evolved in 11 years) on ARMA2:CO and other bits specifically to play DayZ based on the talk on gaming blogs... That purchase wasn't without it's trepidation. After all it's spending money on a 2 year old game to play an "alpha" quality mod which is getting a lot of hype (nearly as much as Diablo III :>). However, after playing (most of) the weekend I can say, unequivocally, that DayZ, in it's current, raw, alpha, buggy, sometimes frustrating, overcrowded form is probably one of the (if not *the*) best gaming experiences of my life, bar none (ok, maybe slightly behind my first game of Pong... but only slightly). It's a diamond in the rough alright but still a diamond and a mega-whopper-ginormous one at that. Am I glad I spent £24.99 for ARMA 2:CO on steam to play this mod? Hell, I'd spend 10 times that, I kid you not. For goodness sakes, set up a kickstarter project to make this thing a reality right now! :) I'm off to write a lengthy (largely boring) blog post on Agency in games and why DayZ is a work of genius. I will use many exclamation marks!!! joev