Zombie War or Survivors War?

[ianramos 47]

Hello everyone!

So, this is my 4th week playing DayZ (omg you r so experinced), and there's something that I would like to share with you guys.

Well, when I watched a DayZ video or read about it for my FIRST time, I thought it REALLY was a Zombie War, try to survive in a Zombie Apocalypse.

Buuuuut.... things ain't working like how it should!

When I heard for the first time that other players could kill you, and you could kill others players, I thought: hmm, yeah, why not, eh?

But dude, the main objective is: SURVIVE. Not kill others players in the same time you see them! Or better, the main objective should be: SURVIVE from zombies!

If a zombie apocalypse would exist:

- You are in the middle of the city, walking slowly, carefully, then you see another survivor, in the other side of the road. What would you do? Aim at him, shoot instantly or say: "friendly?".

I witnessed something today, that I could not avoid to post this topic.

I joined a server with 30 players online. I spawned at the fire station, at Elektro, on the roof.

Suddenly, 1 minute after the login, 3 guys started to shoot at me, from different locations. Yeah, one from the north, one west and one south.

Zombies at DayZ are a 'detail', in this zombie apocalypse, you have to survive from others survivors, not from zombies, it's a PVP game/mod.

To finish this post, I would like to make two questions.

Has anyone here ever managed to escape from a zombie when disarmed?

Has anyone here ever managed to escape from a bandit when disarmed?

[hatfieldcw 184]

Yes and yes to the questions. Why did you log out on the Elektro fire station roof? Why were you up there to begin with?

The zombies are part of the setting of DayZ. Mostly it's a sociological game, providing a sandbox environment in which people can interact. The interactions can range from simple avoidance to malicious violence to high-level cooperation. Different players have different approaches to the game, and when players meet, their play styles can complement each other or contrast with each other. Here are some of my observations:

Gear influences personality. Everyone's friendly when they can't fight. If I spawn on the coast and meet another player there, I won't hesitate to introduce myself and cooperate to get started. We'll raid a few barns, look out for bandits, share food or drinks or otherwise help each other out. However, as soon as I hear, "Hey, I found a Lee Enfield" from the next building over, I know to start watching out. Because if he finds a gun in the same town where I find a tent, there'll likely be a guy with a tent and a gun leaving that town alone. If we stay friendly past the first gun, we stop being nice to strangers, and we'll shoot a guy more readily than we'll offer a bandage. After all, meeting a stranger and getting some free ammo from his corpse leaves me feeling a lot safer than meeting a stranger and then having an armed man somewhere behind me. Heck, even letting an unarmed fresh spawn past you can be dangerous, because when that guy walks into a barn and finds a CZ 550 a minute later, his first thought might be, "Where have I recently seen someone I can shoot with this?" Survival is, after all, the goal.

The game recognizes and scores combat. There's a counter in the game for zombie kills, zombie headshots, murders and bandit kills. Any one of those numbers can become an in-game objective for a player. I'll spend hours chopping through waves of the undead until my name's on top when I hit the "i" key. I'll sit on a hill and shoot random strangers just because I found an M24 and want to wear that bandit head for a while. I'll sit in the woods for an hour or more with my sights on a common sniper nest, waiting to rack up another ear and some loot. These metagames give players direction, and nobody can deny that meeting goals is rewarding. The only reward I get for a two-hour tire hunt is a working GAZ, and it'll likely be gone next time I log in, due to clever hunters or hackers. My kill score persists and can define me.

Cooperation is often not worth the inconvenience. There are only two good reasons that I've found for working in a team, besides camaraderie. The first is loot farming, either for weapons or for vehicle repairs. The second is battle. A single player with a good backpack can carry everything he needs for days of surviving, even without a vehicle or tent. Risking your gear always ends in tragedy, as all my taxis and party buses can attest. I'd estimate that it takes between one and three hours to get a van or bus running, and once you start driving down the coast honking at strangers or advertising your services over side chat, you've got about twenty minutes before someone lights up your ride.

If you want the game to be carebear central, take some time to check out a few of the friendly-only servers. It's a rifle-stacking simulation, the challenge lies in finding more places to put tents so you can store all your FALs and NVGs and spare ghillie suits and backup car engine blocks. You get yelled at by self-important jerks because you don't cycle barracks loot in the most efficient possible way, or because you put a plebian AKM in the UAZ that's reserved for L85s or because your camping tent isn't lined up with all the other camping tents. You wind up with twenty working vehicles parked in a field that's more showroom than base of operations, and when it's all collected and all done, players stop logging in because it's boring. I'll take the DayZ Douchebag Simulator every time.

[Rastamaus 323]

both

[ianramos 47]

Yes and yes to the questions. Why did you log out on the Elektro fire station roof? Why were you up there to begin with?

First, I didn't log out on the Elektro fire station roof, if you have a crystal ball, I am sorry, but it is not working. :/

Also, do you really wanna know why I was there? So, some hours previously of that, I was going upstairs, to get to the top of the fire station (inside), but then something appeared in my screen when I was almost there (the same icon when you are near a ladder, to climb up) then I clicked at it and I-don't-know-how-the-fuck my character got moved to the other side of the fire station (outside), a bug or something. Yeah, trust me, that happened. Then I got pissed off and left the game. Then 1 hour after that, I log in at that server and blabla..

To everything else you said, I have only one thing to say: That's a game. That's why.

[JoeM (DayZ) 41]

This mod used to be as it should...... quite some months back. However now it has just turned into a KOS deathmatch between everyone. This is because there is very little incentive to team up with randomers and the zombies are easy enough to deal with on your own.

Play with a few friends you trust and there is no reason to team up with randomers.

Wait till standalone then hopefully there will be something added so there is less incentive to KOS and more incentive to team up for short times.

[mr_chabowski@live.co.uk 2416]

I joined a server with 30 players online. I spawned at the fire station, at Elektro, on the roof.

First, I didn't log out on the Elektro fire station roof, if you have a crystal ball, I am sorry, but it is not working. :/

You're either a liar, or a liar. Which is it?

EDIT: Elektro is a deathmatch. The firestations are a vantage point for marksmen. You WILL take fire if someone spots you on the roof.

The main problem I find with PvP is the lack of actual fighting. Most kills are from snipers (with anti-materiel rifles FFS!)

Edited October 25, 2012 by Chabowski

[ianramos 47]

You're either a liar, or a liar. Which is it?

EDIT: Elektro is a deathmatch. The firestations are a vantage point for marksmen. You WILL take fire if someone spots you on the roof.

The main problem I find with PvP is the lack of actual fighting. Most kills are from snipers (with anti-materiel rifles FFS!)

That's ridiculous! I didn't LOG OUT at the firestation, I did LOG IN at the firestation. But then I died! I didn't ALT+F4 or clicked at the abort button. JESUS!

Well, why is Elektro a deathmatch? That's also ridiculous. That's a city, like the others. I didn't know that we had a PVP city. FFS dude.

I agree with you about the snipers. But we are playing in a zombie apocalypse. Not at a CS server with some zombies walking around.

Edited October 25, 2012 by TheKnight

[mr_chabowski@live.co.uk 2416]

That's ridiculous! I didn't LOG OUT at the firestation, I did LOG IN at the firestation.

No, THAT is ridiculous.

On login, your character will spawn where you last logged out.

EDIT: The roof of a firestation, in Elektro, is NOT a default "South Coast" spawn point.

Well, why is Elektro a deathmatch? That's also ridiculous. That's a city, like the others. I didn't know that we had a PVP city. FFS dude.

Don't bitch at me, I didn't do it.

It's a basic fact that EVERYONE should be aware of after the first couple of dayz playing.

Also. The threat from other survivors is part of the atmosphere in DayZ. I don't particularly like the fact that certain KoS players play purely for PvP, but it IS part of the game.

Just another thing we have to learn to survive.

I agree with you about the snipers. But we are playing in a zombie apocalypse. Not at a CS server with some zombies walking around.

Maybe you've misunderstood what I was trying to say. I'm a good-guy, I don't want to promote player-killing. I just accept it as part and parcel.

BUT, if you choose to initiate conflict, sniping from hundreds of metres away, is a particularly dick move. Nobody shoots a survivor who hasn't noticed you, with an AS-50, from 700M, in "self-defence"

Edited October 25, 2012 by Chabowski

[Unit01 2]

got to agree with that. This game become quite a disapointment, once you notice its hardly a survival game but more a simply pvp game with random zombie element. The main reason is the lack of challenge.

Zombies? ha! Super mario was designed more difficult than this game. they are hardly a threat. just run pass them around 2 corner and they already lost track of you.

Hunger and thirst? pah, ever noticed the huge ammont of food/soda can spawn?

temperature? Someone ever really paid attention to that?!

There is absolut nothing... NOTHING at all challenging to survive this game, if not for the pvp. I started this game with some friends and we survived 2 weeks in the north/center of the map, which was so boring most of them deinstalled this game afterwards. So I moved alone back to the south coast, set up 5-6tents with supplie, ammo and weapons as backup if I die and go pvp. Sometimes if I dont feel for it, I just log in during night time and hunt zombies, without entering any building if possible. But seriously, I have to artifical create a challege in this survival game? **sigh

Dayz alpha version isnt a bad game. People still playing it, dont they. But I think it do got the potential of becoming one of those legendary game, people will still remember long after the hip is over.

to do so, I believe the whole thing need an over work. Beside many good idea and project already running. I hope they will change the funktion of a zombies from "indicator of player nearby/running direction of an unseen player." to a threat on the map.

like

-double the amount of zombie (at least)

-no need to stand still to hit.

-ability to grab players, making him unable to run away.

-add some creatur to the forest like zombie bear or something. making it dangerous to travel off road. Or some night creatur that only spawn outside of citys, making it dangerous at night to leave citys.

- maybe add building, that may only be entered by at least 2 player. ( like 2 switch that must be pressed at the same time to open a door)

- greatly decrease the spawn of weapon, food and medical supplies. But add more animals or plants able to be harvest but with least effect.

in generall, make some difficulty in this game, make player really feel the need to group up or betray others to be able to survive the game. Otherwise the boredom takes over and some player starts to grief, hack and random kill each other while other player leave this game.

[freejulian 32]

BUT, if you choose to initiate conflict, sniping from hundreds of metres away, is a particularly dick move. Nobody shoots a survivor who hasn't noticed you, with an AS-50, from 700M, in "self-defence"

Lol

[starwarsfan@gmx.de 450]

Enough whining about this already and you're not even making a suggestion either. Just crying about KoS doesn't help.

The problem is worse now because of all the hacking and the overall problem that there simply is nothing to do after you're geared up. Why not wait at least the few weeks until Standalone and see if it is still the same there, then you can come back and complain about it again but please do so not in the suggestion section but rather in the general section. We'd like to be constructive here, thank you.

[ianramos 47]

No, THAT is ridiculous.

On login, your character will spawn where you last logged out.

EDIT: The roof of a firestation, in Elektro, is NOT a default "South Coast" spawn point.

Don't bitch at me, I didn't do it.

It's a basic fact that EVERYONE should be aware of after the first couple of dayz playing.

Also. The threat from other survivors is part of the atmosphere in DayZ. I don't particularly like the fact that certain KoS players play purely for PvP, but it IS part of the game.

Just another thing we have to learn to survive.

Maybe you've misunderstood what I was trying to say. I'm a good-guy, I don't want to promote player-killing. I just accept it as part and parcel.

BUT, if you choose to initiate conflict, sniping from hundreds of metres away, is a particularly dick move. Nobody shoots a survivor who hasn't noticed you, with an AS-50, from 700M, in "self-defence"

FFS, did you even read all the posts here?! Jesus! I know what you meant, and I explained at the post above. /FACEPALM

I'll quote it.

So' date=' some hours previously of that, I was going upstairs, to get to the top of the fire station (inside), but then something appeared in my screen when I was almost there (the same icon when you are near a ladder, to climb up) then I clicked at it and I-don't-know-how-the-fuck my character got moved to the other side of the fire station (outside), a bug or something. Yeah, trust me, that happened. Then I got pissed off and left the game. Then 1 hour after that, I log in at that server and blabla..[/quote']

And I agree with EVERYTHING you just said Unit01.

Edited October 25, 2012 by TheKnight

[mr_chabowski@live.co.uk 2416]

FFS, did you even read all the posts here?!

Did you?!

There is a distinct lack of suggestions in your addition to the "suggestions" section.

Take a wild guess where you can stick your "/FACEPALM"

EDIT: @Unit01 -

The difficulty should definitely be ramped up, drastically.

But a small point regarding the double switches for building entry, IMO there shouldn't be any part of DayZ that can't be achieved by a lonewolf.

Granted, some tasks should be so incredibly difficult that most wouldn't even consider them, or would at least think twice when solo.

Making things literally

impossible

for an individual, should be avoided.

Some players choose to play alone, but there

are

some players who only play alone because they HAVE to.

Encouraging co-operation, and forcing it, are two entirely different things.

Edited October 25, 2012 by Chabowski

[eli18 3]

the pvp just adds a competitive nature

[hatfieldcw 184]

To everything else you said, I have only one thing to say: That's a game. That's why.

I tried really hard to give you a good response there. There are dozens of threads like this one, started with a post about how people are not nice and people should be nice, asking why people are not nice. I decided to refrain from calling you a newbie or ask to have your stuff, and instead forge a dialogue based on your initial post.

I spent a good half-hour writing and re-writing that post, deleting whole paragraphs and reformatting it so it would be easy to understand and on-topic. You wanted to know why people shoot you in Elektro, and I gave a detailed, thoughtful response that outlined my observations on how people behave in DayZ and why they behave that way.

You responded by dismissing my contribution in a single non-sensical line.

How can you have done that? Did you not see that freaking dissertation I authored? Do you not respect me? Do you think that a big chunk of my time and effort and thought are worth nothing? Well, here's a more concise answer:

When I see you running on a rooftop in Elektro, all your in-game effort and all your gear and all your loot and all your humanity points are worth as much to me as my 724-word response to your initial post. If I can spend a Lee Enfield bullet to get a can of beans from your still-warm corpse, it's worth it, and my sweet headshot in that imaginary city is no more unethical or cavalier than your manners in this forum thread. You're going to get shot when I see you. That's a game. That's why.

[ianramos 47]

I tried really hard to give you a good response there. There are dozens of threads like this one, started with a post about how people are not nice and people should be nice, asking why people are not nice. I decided to refrain from calling you a newbie or ask to have your stuff, and instead forge a dialogue based on your initial post.

I spent a good half-hour writing and re-writing that post, deleting whole paragraphs and reformatting it so it would be easy to understand and on-topic. You wanted to know why people shoot you in Elektro, and I gave a detailed, thoughtful response that outlined my observations on how people behave in DayZ and why they behave that way.

You responded by dismissing my contribution in a single non-sensical line.

How can you have done that? Did you not see that freaking dissertation I authored? Do you not respect me? Do you think that a big chunk of my time and effort and thought are worth nothing? Well, here's a more concise answer:

When I see you running on a rooftop in Elektro, all your in-game effort and all your gear and all your loot and all your humanity points are worth as much to me as my 724-word response to your initial post. If I can spend a Lee Enfield bullet to get a can of beans from your still-warm corpse, it's worth it, and my sweet headshot in that imaginary city is no more unethical or cavalier than your manners in this forum thread. You're going to get shot when I see you. That's a game. That's why.

This post made me laugh. Seriously. What do you want me to say? Yeah, I know how hard is it to write a big post, for NOTHING. Do you think all I wrote so far is going to make something different here? This is one of millions about the same thing, I don't even care about this issue anymore. Seriously, fuc** it. Let's wait for a new update or to the standalone to see if something changed!

I have something to say: you are not the only one who will shot me when see me. Everybody here shoots everybody, soon or later.

[mr_chabowski@live.co.uk 2416]

Do you think all I wrote so far is going to make something different here?

You showed up complaining like a little bitch, and showed total disregard for beez' effort to respond to you civilly.

Your ignorance will be the basis for opinions of you throughout the community.

Congratulations, you made something different here.

[ianramos 47]

Alright, first I didn't come here complaining like a 'BITCH'. I just would like to share my opnion, what I wasn't liking at DayZ, and I thought it would open ideas, a suggestion from you guys (like Unit01 wrote), just that. Nothing will change my mind, and everyone must agree that others players are more dangereous then any other thing at DayZ. But dude, this is getting annoying, seriously. I made this suggestion to see if someone of the dev. team would see it, for real, I thought I was the first person to "think" about it, I just took a quick look at the suggestions forum. But then I realized that are millions of threads like mine, MUCH better by the way. I didn't make it to get cursed from people who are pissed off about my reply, about my ignorance and non-sensibility. Do you want to write something and want to get compliments? Be a poet, go write a nice book!

Seriously, I am glad you guys shared your opnions with us, players of DayZ, or only with me, if that's what you meant.

But I didn't want to get any of you 'offended'.

Edited October 26, 2012 by TheKnight