Because there is no right or wrong in this game. The game pushes no morals on you and you're free to do whatever you like. Just as sniping and looting are not wrong, being a medic or playing guardian angel isn't right. I haven't played a game that has functioned this way. Also, this is a zombie game that still rattles my nerves and gets me on edge. All of the online survival horror games I've played are around the scare factor of RE4. I love L4D and Killing Floor, but those games aren't scary. This game manages to be nerve-wracking with 1/50th the amount of zombies.

If you can do without seeing your position on the map and without the reticle, try finding a Vet server with a low ping in your desired timezone. Vet servers are usually low-pop, and most don't go above 20 players at a time. That takes out the issue of trying to find a low-pop server, so all you have to worry about is finding one with a nice ping. I never wait for 30 minutes to join a server. If it isn't loading within 10 minutes, I relaunch the game and try a different server.

You go into shock whenever you are shot at by another player or injure yourself in some way. It has no immediate effect, but if you log into another server while in shock, you'll spawn in a very long unconsciousness. Shock seems to come out of nowhere for me sometimes. The biggest culprit seems to have something to do with stairs and maybe somehow injuring myself slightly when I go down them.

I've actually been pretty okay with the glitching. It's kept the middle of Cherno pretty empty, making for some nice supermarket looting. I just don't like it when my vision is assaulted by hundreds of wobbly triangles. It freaks me out a little.

Spawned and went toward the nearest road, followed it and ended at a dead end. Then I walked for quite a while into Wilderness trying to see what was over the hill. Made my way back to the woods, got frustrated, and respawned. Very uneventful.

It's a gamble when you take help from anyone. I would take any help provided by other players but only team up with people you trust outside of DayZ, whether that be real life friends or clan mates.

I think one of the largest problems with players having this KoS mentality is not so much that it's necessary for gear, but really that there's nothing else to do once you gear up. I would say almost half the time, people kill other players because there is nothing else to do. The first time I actually geared up satisfactorily, I decided to camp up on a crane and scan for survivors to shoot down because it was fun. Scanning through this forum, I see a lot of posts where people talk about hanging around the coast because it's fun to mess with other players, whether that means chasing them down with a hatchet or shooting them outright, and really, that sounds like some damn good fun. But what also looks like fun is being someone's mysterious guardian angel, taking out any zombies that follow them, or being a janitor, clearing tank traps and wire for other players. Based on this, I would say we get enjoyment out of the mere act of interacting with other players, not just killing them. So what are some other ways the game could open opportunities for more types of interactions? One thing I thought of is the use of walkie-talkie type things. Players could set up a hidden camp and guide other players toward it like a treasure hunt, or players could just gab at each other without the risk of actually coming face to face with another player and starting a battle.

Joke or not, there has to be something we can do with all those perfectly in-tact bottles, at the very least throw them around like drunken idiots. Don't get me wrong, I think finding new ways to kill other players and having shootouts in Elektro is fun, but after I die, I kind of want some new goal to strive for. Right now there are a few options, such as being a medic, helping out new players, going full bandit, or just dicking around in the woods. The problem is that other than being a medic, the only thing that offers lasting enjoyment is killing other players, and this leads to a lot of PKing. With enough tools, maybe we could find enough activities to cycle through and amuse ourselves with.

Honestly, that would be pretty damn interesting. Really, what is on a young man or woman's mind after a bunch of stressful, lonely nights without any stimulating images in sight? And with all those sheep around...

I understand that many people have different ideas of fun on DayZ, and that's why it would be nice to have stuff for people who don't find killing others fun. I also agree with the idea that players have to make the fun themselves. That's what I was getting at with the walkie talkie idea. It is what it is, a long-range communication device, and players could use it however they see fit. I know a lot of this is standalone stuff that wouldn't be added in any time soon, but brainstorming gets me excited for what is to come.

I'm thinking more about what things could be added to future versions of the game that would encourage different types of player interaction. I play with a couple of friends from my clan and it's such a great experience to be able to do stuff together, which sometimes includes seeing how well we can snipe zombies from behind each other and how we can scare one another with mysterious gunshots and noises. If all players could do other fun stuff ingame, I think it would be a more rewarding experience for everyone.

The greatest thing is that you can change your ingame "personality" whenever you want. There is really no point in the game, even when fully geared, that you stand to lose a lot. Basic supplies can be found within 30 minutes of spawning as long as you can find Cherno or Elektro. So you could start out as an ax-wielding maniac and then change to a guardian angel in your next life and not really feel like you have to play serious gritty survivor all the time.

I think a lot of the zombie sounds that came from other games have been removed. I know I heard some zombie noises from Thief: The Dark Project/Gold in a gameplay video but I've yet to hear them ingame.

There are some elusive non-hive servers that I can find on the server list if I get lucky. Maybe look for one of those?

Bell curves, they really are everywhere.

Same here. Making it back down to the coast is kind of a fun journey, especially when there's a friend starving in a church in Cherno.

It's really exciting for me when I have to run around fences to break a zombie's line of sight, or if I have to run into a church and lay down on the sides as zombies shuffle up and down the aisle, or if I have to run to the nearest stand of trees to lose a zombie. Really, it only makes sense that a zombie continues to chase you if you run down the road or in an open field. It's easy enough to lead them through enough obstacles to slow them down, and zombies pose little threat as it is. The real danger in any town is just the trigger-happy players. Zombies are only dangerous if you get yourself cornered in a building.

There is a sense of excitement when you first awaken on the beach. Sure, you have nothing too eat and the only water in sight is the salty ocean, but somehow the prospect of a new adventure overshadows all of that. This is how I awoke. Fresh and apple-cheeked with no gear weighing me down and a dangerously optimistic mindset. After taking in my surroundings and realizing that I have no idea where I was, I decide to run with the coast on my right until I find some sort of civilization. After a short time jogging on the beach, I see a man standing still and staring out over the water. Hearing my footsteps, he turns and greets me, and calmly asks if I would like to team up. At this point, I think only a fool would reject such an offer in these trying times, so I gladly agree and he starts to guide me to better places. This man is really a beacon of hope for me. I have absolutely no understanding of the landscape and yet he seems to know it like the back of his hand. I hardly know how to wield a hatchet before he teaches me how. He guides me around the dense groups of the undead and we sneak into barns side by side, happy to share any food or drinks we happen to find. The man often asks me about my health and I, a little scuffed up from recent battles with the monsters lurking about the country side, report a slight dizzyness but nothing debilitating. Eventually, after looting every farm we come by, we find a barn in a tiny settlement at the bottom of a hill. The man and I have been traveling together for the better part of an hour now, and we are fairly comfortable in each others' company. We sneak past the wandering zombies in perfect sync and enter the barn together. We climb up to the loft, eager to find any supplies that might be useful to us. The man watches my back as I start to pick through old bean cans and shells for guns I didn't have. It is at this time that I here a deafening bang right behind me. Suddenly I am on the ground in immeasurable pain, barely having the strength to squirm around in a pool of my own blood. Unable to form words in my broken head, I only manage to let out a groan as my vision darkens to pitch black. This happened on my 2nd or 3rd life after starting this game without knowing anything about it. Since then i have had a KoS mentality. I can't trust any random players anymore.

Now that you mention it, that does seem to be the biggest problem. Teamwork is never required to overcome the threat of zombies. The only real threat is other players, which is why everyone is so hesitant to trust others. Hardly ever does it become necessary to pick off other zombies that are chasing a friend because they will never catch up when the player is running and they can be easily lost with a few twists and turns around fences and walls. The only time teamwork is necessary is for blood transfusions. So the question is, how does this get solved without making the zombies chase you over half the continent.