Is it possible to trust?

[weld 26]

I think talking to folks is a big help. Get a mic if you don't have one. Use direct comms and talk to them.

[Delta Smoke 01 765]

In my experience 6/10 people you come across are actually friendlys, although if you run in their building unannounced they are going to shoot first ask later. A good tactic if you know where someone is, is to type/speak to them in direct chat. If they respond its a start. If not get ready to kill or evade them.

[jokkl 0]

Yesterday... me pretty stoned... found an atv and was looting. parked somewhere outside... while looting found another atv so i drove it to a safe location. went back to the first one and organized my stuff while not even checking if anybody was there. suddenly someone wrote in the chat "i could have shot you a long time ago"... i was so shoked that i didnt know what to do... when he stood up he was like 5m away pointing his gun at me. end of story? i drove him near the other atv but couldnt find it anymore... way to stoned (this game is so fucking intense being baked). i dont trust anyone but i wont shoot people on sight. this game isnt about shooting everyone. he could have shot me more then once but didnt do it... fuck me for not remembering his steamname... his ingamename was Nate... if you are still out there send me a msg! allways looking for some people that are friendly. mostly playing on euservers with some friends. we are all germans and are not bandits... just stoners that are easy targets... if you want to shoot us go ahead... i like the earlygame!

[Cpt.Vilja 15]

Not everybody is a dickhead.

Spawned at the coast a whiel ago. At that time we still spawned with Makarovs. Some guy was right walking to me and started shooting. I yelled into driectchat "HOLY SHIT STOP SHOOTING I AM FRIENDLY ! I AM NOT GOING TO HARM YOU, DONT KILL ME GOT JUST SOME BEANS WITH ME !" and he really stopped. Lost 2K blood because he hit me but it was okay. Then he waited some secs and then he ran away. Was pretty funny :D

I alway try to NOT shoot people. But alot of players dont play the game emotional. If they would, they would feel bad after killing people like me and other people and so they would try to find another way..like going around a surviver.. but the problem is..they are doing it for fun.

I am not agianst Bandits if they kill for Loot or because they want to protect their loot (Paranoid). But if they are on a mountain out side Cherno/Elektro sniping, people just to freak them out/fun...it sucks hard and destoyes the atmosphere..

[Neokolzia 3]

I have found generally I can only trust people who I am in Voip with, just most people it seems can't bring themselves to be a total dick over voip.

+ rather then slaughtering everyone its a common knowledge that we can achieve far greater things in numbers I.E taking over and massacre'n airfield.

[Bigtaff 23]

A little tale I can share with you guys. Direct chat has made a world of difference, previously if I saw a player it would usually be a shoot on sight gunbattle. I would usually lose since I seem to suck at PVP, plus I hesitate in case they are friendly and I didnt want to shoot them.

So anyway I spawn in Cherno and in the space of 20 mins met five survivors and through voice chat was not shot at once.

I then moved to the outskirts and was scavenging through a barn, I was up on the one side and turned to see another armed survivor on the opposite side nervously waving a rifle around, I told him I was friendly. We then hear gunshots from quite close outside, we duck behind our respective hay bales and I see a new spawn survivor run in. The other guy never reappeared so I assume he heard the gunshots, hid and dc'd. Anyway I talk to the new survivor, point out the lee enfield laying on the level below me, I then give him a clip of ammo and a can of food.

We then team up and head along the coast towards Electro, we have added each other in skype and I now have a playing partner to run with during the day.

So the point of this long assed post is -

direct voice chat is awesome

not being a dick to people will eventually pay off

[dayzgirl 4]

After an entire day of playing I have still never found a gun. Even being visibly unarmed I have never come across another player who did not kill me.

They can be close enough to clearly see I have no weapon but they kill me anyway. I suspect the near total lack of loot recently has made people desperate.

One day I hope to find a gun so I can defend myself but suspect I will lose interest long before that.

[mail@borisk.biz 28]

its impossible to trust without sidechat

[dayzgirl 4]

At the moment when you are new it does seem impossible to trust i have played this pretty much since it started and its changed, at the start a lot people would at least try to make the effort and ask if you were friendly or even do the friendly dance to you but now you only have to poke your nose out and someone's after your beans and most of the time they don't want anything they kill for fun. IMO these people are the scared ones because it takes more courage, risk etc to trust someone then it does to kill them. Ive been killed a few times now but my feelings are I would still rather take the chance and ask if someone is friendly rather then just shoot them in cold blood...Don't give up the game it really is an awesome game and once you get the hang of the map (get an outside game one) work out where to go get some gear people have made maps of where gear spawns just google it or seach places like reddit you do not need to go into cherno or populated places but still have faith in some people just be cautious! If you ever see starbuckgirl or banana on a server give us a shout we are friendly and always will be :)

[redhead@email.cz 18]

I will too say my story. I was already killed like 3 times and I respawned at west side of Cherno, so I decided to go there and loot the church and red/orange buildings. So I went and about 200 meters away from the city I hear gun shots. Someone was killing zeds around him. I proned trying not to be seen. The problem was he could actually see me pretty well because the grass was not rendering that far (I too saw him with no grass around). I realised he was shooting zeds along the direct way to me. He was running in crouch along the shore so I turn my back and started to ran away because I realised I was his target the whole time. He could saw I had the small backpack and no weapon in my hand. When I started running he shot me in back.

And another story just from the next respawn: I saw through buldings a guy going along the road I hit the deck (had no gun again) but somehow he managed to spot me. I was ignoring him and tried to make it to another building which was the other direction. Still one eye on him after a moment of hessitation he started walking towards me.. with a HATCHET! He clearly must have saw I had absolutely nothing, he still tried to chop my head off. I started running around trying to get some zeds on me so he would stop following me. It was successful but a little while later he found me again while I was bandaging from his damn hatchet. Died again.

That day I was killed about 5 times in one hour because I didn't have a weapon. But! I was still worth killing. I don't understand that, I was no threat to either of them nor I had anything valuable which must have been clear on the first sight.

EDIT: good to mention they didn't try to contact me in the chat. I wanted to but I realised it was the sure thing - they wanted to kill me; too bad I couldn't, 'cause I was busy running.

[nacrom 82]

If I can avoid another player, I do. If it's unavoidable I try to hide, wait for them to get in my LOS and go for the kill. The only people I trust are those I am on voice coms with via third party chat tool. Too many hard lessons learned.

[Knoxmickey 0]

Too many times have i been shot in the back for my loot, which I never have much of. I have had many times where I could have shot someone in the back, but didn't. Just for them to turn around and unload on me.

Not sure if direct chat is working with 1.7.1.5 but I will give it a try next time, Metric has given me new hope for being friendly. Thanks for sharing.

[ALICE666 0]

I also learned not to trust others. I believe Im a nice guy in real life so was kind of showing my weakness in my first couple of games.. Even asking if they were friendly and people saying they were but as soon as I let my guard down they'd shoot me. I lost many good equipment, the recent an assault rifle and many supplies. I think I will have to adapt a shoot first ask questions later from now on. I might reconsider if they look unarmed. Too much heartache otherwise. :(

[Stooby 8]

I still err on the side of trust, but it has bit me in the ass quite a few times. When I get sick of it all I find a Lee Enfield and climb a tower in Cherno and start taking my frustration out on the poor survivors just trying to make it in this harsh world. Then when I run out of ammo I jump to my death and play normally again.

[dayzgirl 4]

Trust has bitten us all in the ass including myself i have even had the same thought sod it if i see anyone i will kill them.... do i...no of course not because it is still something i would rather avoid, if someone was shooting at me then yes id shot back but there's a difference. Iv'e laid in the grass and watched people run past giving them their right to live as i could have clearly shot them if that was my intentions. I think this game really tests you in every way possible and i think its a good thing and when you do buddy people it makes it all seem worth while even if it doesn't last long

[Sykotron 0]

Possible? Yes. Wise? No.

This mod does a pretty good job and simulating such an apocalypse in a fun and engaging way. In no other game have I been ok with running through a forest for 15 minutes with absolutely nothing happening.

You can only trust someone when you have the upper hand. If you have a gun I should kill you. The risk that you could at any point turn and waste all of my time in that life is too great. It's simply not worth it to trust you unless I know without a doubt that you can't hurt me.

I enjoy the idea of bandits and such, but I feel like normally they should be a minority in comparision to the other survivors. I'm not sure how it should be addressed, but I'd love an incentive to be a good person.. or at least NOT a dick.

[dayzgirl 4]

I dont agree that you need the upper hand imo its down to building a trust with someone and being an equal working together and surviving how could anyone trust and work with you if they are not allowed a gun because that's a threat to you?

[nacrom 82]

This should pretty much sum it all for you:

[transnapastain 0]

While I happen to understand Syk's points, I'd counter with "I know I'm not going to hurt you...what I don't know is that you're not going to hurt me."

Not always possible, and I admit that your approach does make it safest for you and I am in no way implying you're "doing it wrong." My plays tyle fits much mroe in line with what dayzgirl said....I'd rather have the chance to work with a player, build that trust, and establish a working partnership, then simply blast anyone who is a threat.

Will it get me killed more? Yeah, I imagine. But will I enjoy the time I have more. I think so.

[GameJeff100 1]

I have found many people I could trust. In fact I joined up with a small group in Elektro. My partner and I were leading the group through the town as we had the weapons. Killed a few zombies and doing pretty good still looking for weapons. Then the dread sniper got us one by one.

At max we were 5 all working together. so it is possible to trust. All that said I have been spawn camped, shot for my beans, shot and never looted and shot because I said I was friendly, however, I will always be friendly and risk a person shooting me because I enjoy grouping.

So if you see me shoot or dont shoot its all good but know I will return fire.

[Senrain 148]

I was hiding in the tree line at NWAF waiting for potential targets when I saw someone crouch walking between the hangars. I don't remember his name so I'll just refer to him as Bob. I was judging the distance and zeroing my rifle to straight up murder the guy when a zombie spots him and runs up to him.

BLAM! One hit KO, just like that he's unconscious on the ground. I wince and watch it take some bites out of him. I feel a touch of mercy, aim my rifle... BANG! Down goes the zombie that was chowing on his innards. It's about twenty seconds before Bob comes to and bandages himself, he looks around a bit and finally pipes up in side chat asking who saved him.

I remain silent and watch Bob go about his business inside the hangars, I hear sudden AK fire and Bob runs out and around the back of the hangar splurting blood. I see the aggressor run to the entrance of the hangar and begin slowly peeking around the side to close in for the kill.

I aim and shoot, one bullet to the torso and he goes down unconscious, another bullet and it's good night. It's about a couple minutes before Bob peeks into the Hangar and sees his attacker's corpse, all the loot still on it. He helps himself to the guy's loot (You're welcome!) and pipes up in side chat again asking who his guardian angel sniper is. I remain silent still and watch Bob exit the airfield.

I had the most warmest fuzziest feeling of pride that day.

It's possible for even the coldest and hardest of bandits to feel some compassion for his fellow man, as long as there's no risk of losing my gear of course.

[dayzgirl 4]

You have seen the errors of your ways lol made you feel better doing a good deed and probably made Bobs day also :)

[Sykotron 0]

Oh of course. I'm only saying that if your main objective is to maximize your chances of survival (such as in a realistic situation), you must simply trust no one. I like this idea for a game though because I've never been so immersed in a game like I have been here where I'm just trying to survive. Even in this game dying isn't much of a penalty. Sure you lose your gear, but it's all gear that with luck can be obtained again within a few hours and you'll be back to where you were when you died.

I think if dying had more reprecussions people would be more friendly in general and it would shift the balance towards survival with less emphasis on simply killing everyone. This still depends on people recognizing that if they kill without thought that others may kill them without though. Seems like a vicious cycle that I'm not sure how we break out of.

[Senrain 148]

You have seen the errors of your ways lol made you feel better doing a good deed and probably made Bobs day also :)

Oh don't get me wrong I'm still a bandit through and through, I just felt some pity that the guy was KO'd in one hit and I pretty much ended up saving his ass again, I was considering just shooting him dead several times after I rescued him as he seemed pretty naive.

[dayzgirl 4]

@ Sykotron There is never going to be a way to break out of the cycle you are always going to have people that prefer to camp and pick people off, its not a very challenging strategy IMO and i couldn't think of anything more boring.

I find running in the woods for 2hrs or wondering where i am going to get my next drink from etc more fun then i would being sat on top of a building picking people off. I do think though that removing the bandit tags was a great shame ive yet to come across one and hear the new heart beat so i cant comment on whether thats better or not but if people choose to shoot innocents then why not tag them as bandits

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@ Senrain so help me get into a bandits head. Why do you do it?