New To ARMA and DayZ today. Not very welcoming.

[TxJBxT 0]

So today I got ARMA and was finally able to install DayZ. First time logging into a server and I die (weaponless) 10 minutes later from zombies. Ok thats expected. So I decided to try a different server cause I didn't start with any weapon. (From LPs I'v seen of the mod I thought I'd get a weapon but oh well.) On this new server everything wen't decent. I was able to learn how to sneak past some zombies to a grocery store. Inside I found and bunch of food and my first gun! A Makarov, how exciting! (No sarcasm intended) It even had some clips on it to. So I then took my leave out the back hoping to follow advice from LPers and head inland as I was pretty well stocked for the trip. (Besides a decent weapon of course) While leaving I heard footsteps behind me! And it was another player...weaponless as I was. I decided to leave him be as I don't think its real nice to just kill a fresh spawn. I had no idea how to talk so I kinda just went on my way. Bout 30 secs latter I hear a bunch of zombies being aggroed and that same player come racing by me. Me and him manage to fight them off but then....guess what he does? Shoots me in the head. Well....glad I helped save his ass. So I respawn and I try again. Unfortunately I spawned near the same town again so I was very reluctant to go in. This time I decided to check the fire house first. Junk inside and yet again I heard foot steps. Another player! Hes unarmed like I am so I just go on my way. I decide to try the grocery store again. While I'm crawling there the guy that I ran into in the firehouse was trying to speak to me on mic. I truly wish I knew how to talk on mic. I have one and IDK how the voice chat in this game works. So once I got into the grocery store I tried to figure it out. And I did!.....sort of. I guess I must have talked server wide or something...I have no idea the chat system confuses me. Apparently this was against server rules so the admins and players mocking me on both voice chat at text chat. I promptly disconnected from the server and closed the game. First 30 or so minutes of playing and I already don't feel like picking up this game again. May just be that server but I'm usually not wrong in instances of guessing if a community is horrible or not. Woulda been nice if I could find a new player server that teaches people the in game commands and how to get on your feet or at the very least a wingman/friend to help me out and in turn down the road when my skills improve I do the same. But I don't see that happening atleast not until I sift through all the crap. But I mean is it really worth me doing that? This game seems really fun and I love the idea of it. But the community so far has treated me like a piece of shit and a child so I'm not really sure if that can out weigh the pros. Still I may try again tomorrow or something but I don't think I'm gonna touch the game for the rest of the day.

[rooneye 135]

So today I got ARMA and was finally able to install DayZ. First time logging into a server and I die (weaponless) 10 minutes later from zombies. Ok thats expected. So I decided to try a different server cause I didn't start with any weapon. (From LPs I'v seen of the mod I thought I'd get a weapon but oh well.) On this new server everything wen't decent. I was able to learn how to sneak past some zombies to a grocery store. Inside I found and bunch of food and my first gun! A Makarov, how exciting! (No sarcasm intended) It even had some clips on it to. So I then took my leave out the back hoping to follow advice from LPers and head inland as I was pretty well stocked for the trip. (Besides a decent weapon of course) While leaving I heard footsteps behind me! And it was another player...weaponless as I was. I decided to leave him be as I don't think its real nice to just kill a fresh spawn. I had no idea how to talk so I kinda just went on my way. Bout 30 secs latter I hear a bunch of zombies being aggroed and that same player come racing by me. Me and him manage to fight them off but then....guess what he does? Shoots me in the head. Well....glad I helped save his ass. So I respawn and I try again. Unfortunately I spawned near the same town again so I was very reluctant to go in. This time I decided to check the fire house first. Junk inside and yet again I heard foot steps. Another player! Hes unarmed like I am so I just go on my way. I decide to try the grocery store again. While I'm crawling there the guy that I ran into in the firehouse was trying to speak to me on mic. I truly wish I knew how to talk on mic. I have one and IDK how the voice chat in this game works. So once I got into the grocery store I tried to figure it out. And I did!.....sort of. I guess I must have talked server wide or something...I have no idea the chat system confuses me. Apparently this was against server rules so the admins and players mocking me on both voice chat at text chat. I promptly disconnected from the server and closed the game. First 30 or so minutes of playing and I already don't feel like picking up this game again. May just be that server but I'm usually not wrong in instances of guessing if a community is horrible or not. Woulda been nice if I could find a new player server that teaches people the in game commands and how to get on your feet or at the very least a wingman/friend to help me out and in turn down the road when my skills improve I do the same. But I don't see that happening atleast not until I sift through all the crap. But I mean is it really worth me doing that? This game seems really fun and I love the idea of it. But the community so far has treated me like a piece of shit and a child so I'm not really sure if that can out weigh the pros. Still I may try again tomorrow or something but I don't think I'm gonna touch the game for the rest of the day.

There is, its called ArmA 2. You have this thing called Bootcamp that teaches you the game and how to play it. There is also a controls menu that you can go into to set which button you want to use to speak over Direct chat.

It seems you jumped in the deep end even though you dont know how to swim yet. That's always a mistake.

[Rage VG 4033]

I see nothing out of the ordinary here.

The game is meant to be brutal. It'll break your legs and kick dirt on you. You just gotta get up and kick the game's ass.

[Shea 13]

Sorry that's your first experience mate, but you gotta know how to type ingame at least, right? You know about the different channels obviously, there's one for talking to nearby people. The other players just get gripy about talking in side b/c there's a lot of little kid idiots online who make a bunch of racket over side channel.

Edit:

Rage is right lol. The survivors get killed by the bandits who both get killed by hackers and so the hackers buy more ARMA keys when they get banned. You're gonna die some really lame ways; hopefully not from glitches. Those are the most disheartening.

Be careful of ladders, take the stairs!

Edited January 31, 2013 by Shea

[TxJBxT 0]

Sorry that's your first experience mate, but you gotta know how to type ingame at least, right? You know about the different channels obviously, there's one for talking to nearby people. The other players just get gripy about talking in side b/c there's a lot of little kid idiots online who make a bunch of racket over side channel.

I know how to switch them but I'm not to sure about the difference of them. If I switch the chat does the mic do the same thing to?

[war wolf 1]

You can learn basic controls if you go to the Arma 2 tutorials. From what I read, you were using side channel. What you need to use in this case is direct communication. You can switch channels with the ( < ), and ( > ) keys above space bar. Yes, this game is dog eat dog, but the community is not necessarily bad. Just remember the nature of this game... You should probably play with a friend, the game can get boring if you run around all the time with no action. Don't give up on the game. Dayz has a very steep learning curve, but you will get to understand what fun this game can bring if you persist. If you ever need help, don't forget the forums.

[elf cakes 559]

well, you joined the game at a bad time. it seems at least 90% of players just shoot on sight now compared to when dayZ first came out. there are friendly people out there, but they are very rare. i'll explain how the chat system works, i got confused with it the first time around. there are several different types of chat. 'side chat' is server-wide, and 99% of servers have ban warnings for using your mic in the side chat. then you have direct chat. this is what you want to use when talking to a player near you. it only talks to players within about 50 metres of you. then there's vehicle chat, with this one only people that are in the same vehicle as you can hear you. there's also a global chat in arma 2 but you will very rarely see that in dayZ. you swap the chat you are currently talking into using the '.' or ','. (i think those are the defaults) good luck, and hopefully your experience wasn't bad enough to put you off the game completely! sometimes it can be a real pile of shit, and you constantly get shat on by other players, but other times it can be the most fun you'll ever have in a videogame.

[TxJBxT 0]

You can learn basic controls if you go to the Arma 2 tutorials. From what I read, you were using side channel. What you need to use in this case is direct communication. You can switch channels with the ( < ), and ( > ) keys above space bar. Yes, this game is dog eat dog, but the community is not necessarily bad. Just remember the nature of this game... You should probably play with a friend, the game can get boring if you run around all the time with no action. Don't give up on the game. Dayz has a very steep learning curve, but you will get to understand what fun this game can bring if you persist. If you ever need help, don't forget the forums.

Yea thats the thing. I don't exactly have a buddy to help me out. Only found out about this game on YouTube back in June/July 2012.

well, you joined the game at a bad time. it seems at least 90% of players just shoot on sight now compared to when dayZ first came out. there are friendly people out there, but they are very rare. i'll explain how the chat system works, i got confused with it the first time around. there are several different types of chat. 'side chat' is server-wide, and 99% of servers have ban warnings for using your mic in the side chat. then you have direct chat. this is what you want to use when talking to a player near you. it only talks to players within about 50 metres of you. then there's vehicle chat, with this one only people that are in the same vehicle as you can hear you. there's also a global chat in arma 2 but you will very rarely see that in dayZ. you swap the chat you are currently talking into using the '.' or ','. (i think those are the defaults) good luck, and hopefully your experience wasn't bad enough to put you off the game completely! sometimes it can be a real pile of shit, and you constantly get shat on by other players, but other times it can be the most fun you'll ever have in a videogame.

Thank you for the help. I think I may try again later tonight. Atleast I understand chats now.

[sausagekingofchicago 4711]

I strongly recommend firing up the boot camp and armory to learn the controls and setup your graphics. Finding a key setup that feels natural to you is more important than knowing where to find a weapon.

[Meeshe 170]

I'll point you to this post.

http://dayzmod.com/forum/index.php?/topic/10051-index-of-helpful-threads/

It helped me greatly when I first started playing.

Im sorry you had a bad first experience, but take some time to read some of the threads in the post above. It has a ton of good information.

Get used to asshats in DayZ. The game is brutal. If you realize that at first you'll avoid a lot of aggravation.

One thing Id advise doing is read some posts on this forum. You'll learn a lot, but notice the peeps that give helpful answers and are willing to help others on the forum. Look at their sigs and see if they are advertising for the servers they play on. Thats how I found Balota Buddies. You'll fine a good whitelisted server with a great community that you fit into. I promise.

Give DayZ another try, You wont regret it. :)

[hogscraper 328]

First thing to remember is never bother with voice chat unless you are in a vehicle with someone or using direct chat with someone you trust. Oh, and don't trust anyone. People rage on side chat because it kills immersion and people abuse it. I enjoy scavenging and avoiding zombies, then out of nowhere some guy, who I can mute but can't turn down, starts asking questions or talking about random stuff. Then the nerd rage ensues and I end up having to mute half the people playing. It gets annoying quick. When I first joined, a bunch of guys did the same thing to me so I just left and found another server where I didn't break the golden rule. That's the thing with dayz, it has a lot of things you just have to pick up by playing. Like never giving out your coordinates to anyone, even a friend, over side chat. Sure it makes it easier for a buddy to find you, but it also makes it easier for every bandit to know where an easy kill is.

You will find a few really cool people out there, but with so many military grade weapons floating around, its just too easy for most people to justify killing you no matter what the situation is for just about any reason they can come up with and they carry that brutal mentality through every aspect of the game. Those beans you spawn with is reason enough for a lot of people. I just remembered seeing a post you might like, though. Some guy on these forums put up a post saying he ran a server where coop was encouraged and there was no pvp allowed outside of some small areas. It seems like the perfect place to learn a few things about the game before jumping into a full public server.

[SmashT 10907]

First thing to remember is never bother with voice chat unless you are in a vehicle with someone or using direct chat with someone you trust.

Personally if I communicate with someone and they don't respond, I will shoot them.

[klesh 2423]

"/" to open text chat. "," and "." to switch channels. Direct is for people around you. Same goes for voice chat, the button is CapsLock. Press and hold to push-to-talk and doubletap to lock it on.

There are plenty of players that are willing to hang out with you and show you the ropes. Just ask!

[dallas 5195]

Swich chat/voice channels with period and comma.

Open the chat box with / or - and caps lock for voice.

Side channel is a left over from ArmA, this channel will be read and heard by all players on your side. The technical way the DayZ mission is set up all players are on the same side, so whenever you talk in side channel everyone on the server hears you. Since sound or noise is very important in DayZ, people get really annoyed when others use voice in side channel. You should only use text chat in side.

Direct channel has limited range, so this is the primary channel if you want to use voice. People can only hear your voice and read your chat, if they are within 50-100 meters.

Vehicle channel is great for communicating with other players in your car, especially if the engine is so loud, it drowns out direct channel.

Edited January 31, 2013 by Dallas

[DazTroyer 227]

It is a hard game to learn but then that's half the fun of it imo. The first frustrating hours, scared of zeds or players, thinking you have to crawl everywhere, searching every building on the map and getting lost up north. These truly are some of the best, frightening moments you will have with the game, you just don't know it yet. I was like you, first ever spawn I died of thirst lost in the woods, thought it was the worst hiking sim ever. Lol

Come and try our server, we do our best to help new players over typed side chat. Press comma to change, forward slash to enter type. Although I can't promise no one will shoot you in Cherno but then, that's DayZ

Edited January 31, 2013 by DazTroyer

[sobieski12 835]

Learn how to play the game 1st.

* Then proceed into playing the ARMA 2 CO mod "Dayz"

The unique experience of this game is that you have a choice in your style of play.

* You could just go into the game blindly and learn it the hard way, or just play the tutorials.

- Don't expect the game to hold your hand, this isn't your casual game.

Tips

* Read the various keybinds that you have.

* Play the bootcamp tutorial.

* Try the showcase scenarios, to try various weapons.

- Once you understand the brutal gameplay of ARMA 2, you will be ready for DayZ.

As for talking on "side-chat", no offense you deserved it.

* Side-chat is not there for you to talk to every player on the server, but its the only way for players to report a hacker to the admins.

- Without the admins checking the logs.

* If you really wanted to talk to a player near you, use "Direct Communication"

- You will quickly find out why people hate "side-chat", for people abuse the system.

[ltDan2014 4]

I think what you explain is what makes this game so interesting to most of us.

The fact that this game is so brutal is what makes it fun.

Do I get aggrevated when I get killed by a bandit? Oh yea, but that's the fun in it... the aggravation. In other games you just dont get that feeling.

The only thing in this game that I would say is a turn off is the hackers and sometimes the admins (who abuse their admin powers). You just gotta find you a server where those two are not a problem and its all good from there. Enjoy the brutality of the game.

There are friendly folks out there, but you gotta be real careful. Talk on side chat (text talk, not voice), get to know folks. Become friends with someone and get to know them over a period of a day or two via chat, then link up with them. Until you get to know someone, either run (or hide) at sight of another player.... or kill them (situation dictates).

I think this game is very realistic, and the things you see happening in this game is what you would see in RL if something like this happened. There would be people out just killing others for the fun of it, there would be loners, and there would be those trying to form a group.

I was killed probably 3 or 4 times (one of those by zombies) in the first hour playing.... it got me hooked.

[Mos1ey 6301]

Did you really expect the zombie apolcalypse to be 'welcoming'? xD

Hang in there and try to learn something from every death and you'll improve pretty quickly!

[TxJBxT 0]

I understand a decent bit now but people seem to not be understanding what I mean. After playing for a bit I do enjoy the feeling that I could be hunted by a bandit. If I can find him and turn the hunt back on the hunter well then thats hilarious. What I didn't like first off was being mocked and made fun of on the server because I didn't play the game before. I can put the bullet to my head for helping a guy out to a case of bad luck. But still I'd hope the majority doesn't want to shoot me in the back after I help them. It just seems rather rude. I'm alot more careful now. Usually I will stalk someone and watch their actions. If they have no weapon I will attempt to make contact and perhaps team up or something. This is just theory tho as I haven't worked this one out yet.

[rooneye 135]

Big tip: Go into options and set "Talk over Direct" to Space Bar. This way if you run into someone quickly you can easily just press space to say "friendly" or whatever, even if you are currently in Side Chat chatting (typing ofc, dont speak on Side Chat) away when you press space it will instantly switch to Direct Chat while you hold space then once you release it will automatically go back to side. This way you dont have to keep switching channels, which if you quickly bump into someone isnt easy to do and is why people often talk over Side Chat when they shouldnt.

Edited February 2, 2013 by Rooneye