How exactly is this game fun?

[tomlijones 1]

I got nearly the same feeling in 1 game. Diablo 2 Hardcore PvP

[Petunia-Server 10]

That you would say that makes me think you never played a good large scale Arma match. In DayZ you are 1 person trying to scavange and survive. In Arma you command a large squad of soldiers, tanks, helicopters etc. as part of an army trying to take over the entire map using realistic military tactics and strategy. Good or bad, it's a completely different game.

That is kinda the point with DayZ too! - You can have the (semi) organised groups, but you have to meet them first! You might meet someone, trust them, then after an hour or running (or driving/flying!) together, they turn around and shoot you, so who do you trust?

It can be hard, but you can end up teaming up with a few people, and forming a small group... build a camp somewhere, and organised runs out to get stuff... Maybe even arrange trades with other such groups.

Others, on the other hand, may decide to go solo, and be either neutral, helpful, or outright bandits.

Personally I like to team up with a select few, work together to survive and progress. I admit that it isn't as organised as a large scale Arma/2 operation, but then again, you are not really playing the 'part' of a soldier, your a survivor, so this makes sense.

Be warned tho, there are lots of PvP bandits out there, including some backstabbers who pretend to be an ally, then turn on you to take your vehicle or goods when you are not looking.

I know what you mean about being boring at first, I guess the thing to do is, DECIDE who you want to be - how would you be in real life? Being a friendly, or a bandit? Finding others you can trust? Perhaps find & repair a vehicle first, so you can exit quickly if things go bad?

Personally I find the idea of being a solo PvP type a bit odd and boring (not saying ALL such guys are sociopaths, but...!). What I mean is, in real life, you would really want to team up, surely? What if you got ill/wounded? people live in communities for a reason, so maybe that could be your aim? join/make a squad/team? Don't expect others to follow orders tho! It's not the army, things have to be negotiated, like in real life :)

Thats what I like, decide on your gameplay style and goals, and then work towards that... otherwise I get what you mean, you are basically just in 'walking simulator 2012' with some zombies thrown in! - Nah, for me it's all about thinking what I would REALLY do in an apocalyptic situation like this, and then trying to play that out as best I can.

Some challenges maybe?:

* Find a vehicle, and fix it up

* Find a tent or two, gear up things you would need, and pick a quiet spot to set-up camp

* Eventually find others to team up with, but be sure you can trust them

* Deal with situations as they arrive - newcomers... defending camp, looting for things you need, fixing vehicles when damaged... surviving basically!

Of course, if you do decide to be a friendly rather than a bandit, someone with ARMA experience like yourself could b every useful on high pop servers... Lots of bandits hang out and kill fresh spawns - I have seen, for example, two bandits running contests to see how many they can kill - puts new folks off the game quite a lot as they get disheartened... So there is always the option if you are a bored friendly, of leaving good gear in camp, and heading out for a spot of anti-bandit-PvP, redressing the balance a little.

Basically lots of ways to play, just a case of deciding how you want to play the game, and going down that route.

It's like, in ARMA/ARMA 2, there is a structure, in DayZ, you have to try to create that structure out of the chaos...

That's my take on the game anyway!

Edited November 4, 2012 by Petunia-Server

[kranky@dir.bg 27]

Try this DayZ mod - http://survivedayz.com/. Duping is fixed (all of it), no AS50 or L85 available, no NVG, power grid lighting is on during the night around the villages and cities. Due to these fixes the only two existing servers are constantly full with players although it is though to survive with so many players running around.

[BSB Jimmy 360]

i dont really find it fun but its not meant to be fun. i play it for the intense gameplay

[gsp167 95]

"Fun" is when you feel your heart is going to explode when in a shootout, stalking people, and so on. That's why I love it, the ammount of adrenaline this game gives is awesome. :D

[rooneye 135]

It just has a certain je ne sais quoi.

[sniperdoc 251]

Being a brand new player (started this Sunday) I can say that DayZ is just simply amazing. What makes the game "fun" for me? Well, like it was mentioned above, it has a certain "je ne sais quoi."

Take this for instance:

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I start during dusk, someplace near Kamenka. I have nothing. A bandage and some pain killers, and it's raining. I know I must find shelter. Worried that zombies might find me, I run east near the wood line by the road observing for any people that might be near me. After a brisk run, I see some buildings and some people walking in town? Are they friendly? Are they bandits? Worse... they're zombies. In order not to be seen I must crawl my way into town... hopefully I'll find some matches and a hatchet. I must make a fire soon.

Found a warehouse near the waterline in town. It's crawling with Z's... I seriously hope I can make it to the door of that warehouse. Once inside I can probably close myself in.

Crawling towards the building I realize that lying perfectly still probably makes me appear dead to the zombies. Maybe they go off of noise and motion? After playing dead several times and about 20 zombies later I make it into the warehouse. Seems to be a lot of trash... :( Oh wait, what's this? A toolkit? Might come in handy later... I also come across a fuel tank and engine parts... wonder if they could be used to fix a vehicle up later?

After crawling around Kamenka for another 20 - 30 minutes I manage to find a hatchet, a heat pack and a can of sardines. The food will definitely come in handy. Seems like I picked the place clean though, I think I'll continue on down the road and see if there's more stuff. I really need better weapon. Someone could hold me at gunpoint or kill me outright and this hatchet won't do squat...

As I'm heading down the road I use my radio and broadcast on an open channel to anyone out there that there were some engine parts and an extra toolkit in Kamenka... maybe someone will hear me...

Seconds later a guy called Shadow comes on and tells me to be careful. Bandits might try to take advantage of the broadcast and try to take me out. Sound advice, glad I already thought of that and was on my way to the next village...

I thank Shadow and tell him I'm new to the area and don't know where I could find some matches and some food. He mentions that a supermarket might be a good place to start looking, however those may be few and far between, or could be camped out by bandits. Well, at least it's dark now, and the rain subsided. Man... I'm getting mighty thirsty... :(

What's this? Komarovo... looks like there's a pier near the waterline. Let's go check it out...

After some time of crawling around the pier area I find matches and a revolver. I'm sure this'll come in VERY handy. Not much ammo though. 18 shots... ugh. I convo Shadow on a private channel and he mentions to me that he was heading south to meet me. Well...! That's a surprise. This guy doesn't even know me, yet he's dropping everything he's doing to come meet up with me... he says he's got some steaks but no room for firewood and so can't cook the steaks...? Well, I have plenty of room in my pack and I have a hatchet. Guess I'll meet him... I have a gun now and am not completely helpless... I tell him that I'm north or Komarovo and that I'm near the edge of town. Meanwhile I'll aim to get some firewood...

I position myself to overlook the road from the woods and hear him come on the radio telling me he's there. There's a road flare over there! I wonder if that's him? I think I see him standing there... He's not looking in my direction. At least I'll get the drop on him. I wonder if he brought anyone with him... after looking around for a bit, I don't make out any other movement near him. I move closer and say hi and startle him. I'm a bit tense myself. Who is this guy? Why come from wherever to meet me for firewood to cook some meat? What's his motive?

Shadow suggests we go up the hill on and deeper into the forest to make the fire. As we head off I keep looking over my shoulder to make sure he doesn't use that fancy rifle of his on the back of my head. I wish I could read his mind right about now... *sweat* What if he's got his buddies waiting for me out there and they rape me like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas raped Indiana Jones...??? I'm really uneasy right about now...

After we get further away from the town and into a thicker part of the forest we settle down a bit and I start piling up the wood to make a fire pit. I keep my eye on Shadow... who knows what he's capable of. I get the fire started and he proceeds to cook some steaks. He tells me he's got some morphine he's willing to share. He says to reach into his Alice pack and get it... that's mighty trusting...? I could put a bullet into his back right here... no one would know... I could take that nice lookin' pack, that rifle looks pretty powerful. Man!!! Blood bags? This guy must've been out here for some time already. He seems trusting enough though... let's see how this goes...

He hands me a couple of steaks... they sure taste better than that old can of sardines. He says he could take me to a place to go find a bigger pack, maybe find me a map and compass and a better weapon than that revolver, but we'd have quite a hike ahead of us. I figure right now I have nothing to lose... might as well...

We start running to our new destination...

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Well a couple of days later and a blood bag spent on me, the newcomer (me) has pretty much indebted himself to Shadow. He's been instrumental in teaching me the ropes of DayZ and even though I do more than enough running and crawling, I find it's a blast. My next objective is a spot for our camp, maybe we'll reinforce it and even try to fix up a vehicle. An ATV would be nice...

Setting myself these small objectives: find a scoped rifle, find a tent, a GPS or NVGs, etc. gives me something to do. DayZ gives me the freedom to follow whatever path I want, to complete those small objectives. Whatever the bigger goal at this point... I don't know. Will we build up a massive camp with tank traps and barbed wire? Are we going to get more people into our little 2 man show? Who knows... but that's the beauty of this game to me.

I would prefer if you could actually kill all the zombies of an area and not have them re-spawn so quickly. I wouldn't feel like I was entirely wasteful with the ammo. Considering the fact they just re-spawn rather quickly while I'm in the area makes shooting the walkers not such a good idea and does produce some monotony by the constant crawling and could be one of the reasons people lose interest. I wouldn't mind being given the ability to clear a town of zombies and maybe have them respawn a half an hour later. As it is now, it really make shooting zombies useless. Otherwise, the exploration and suspense factor of the game is really fun, to me anyways.

[Elias (DayZ) 57]

I like to roleplay the survivor-part, it's fun to me. I enjoy hiking out in Chernarus, walking trough forests; enjoying the great views and knowing that danger could be just around the corner. I love the interaction with other players, not knowing if I can trust them or not.

I love looking for new survivalgear and making choices about what to take with me and what not. Because it's such a sandbox-mod I can set my own goals in this world, I really enjoy this. When I've reached a goal I think of a new one. For me, there is no 'end-game', this game can go on forever.

I've been playing since the start of DayZ, I have been playing Operation Flashpoint (and I just loved it, it was so realistic); I didn't play Arma 2 before DayZ.

[gsp167 95]

It just has a certain je ne sais quoi.

Exactly! You Sir have my beans. :P

[2ugly 12]

Got boring rather quickly didn't it. If it wasn't for the consoles PC gaming would have evolved way beyond the gimicky kiddie games we see now. Bis has always been on the right track, and I'm always amazed at the feeble minds that poo-poo Arma who play DayZ. DayZ kinda puts PC gaming back on the correct path, but with the console kids now growing up, I think that progress may still be delayed. Not to mention the downfall of the economy after this election. We'll probably be priced right out of gaming and survival may become a neccesity instead of a game. That's OK for the Devs though. They can just jack up the game price to about $1000 a title, and the elites will still be able to afford it, and make the Devs rich at the same time.