Is the term "bandit" losing meaning?

[unkillable94 149]

I found this game a few months ago at a friend's house, it was called DayZ. He let me jump on his account and play for a bit, and it was awesome. He told me about these guys called "bandits" and showed me how to be one. We set up road blocks, held people up, and got a lot of nice loot.

Fast forward a few months, I hadn't played DayZ for a while and I finally bought Arma myself to get back into it. Now everyone is a bandit, but not in the sense I remembered. Now anyone who shoots people is a bandit and the game is a giant deathmatch. What happened to the days when bandits actually banditized people? The days when you could get military gear by setting up a roadblock and potentially not having to kill anyone? And what is the point of being a bandit if everyone else is too?

Just my thoughts, being an actual bandit was a lot of fun, but with everyone you ever meet being a "bandit" and just killing on sight - like it's some CoD free for all - I completely lost faith in the majority of this playstyle. There are a few old style bandits still alive and it's fun to run into you, but for the rest of you player-killing CoD kiddies I enjoy killing coast snipers and wear my new hero skin proudly.

[TheBambiAvenger 146]

I completely agree. Now I might just be biased (I am a hero), but what strikes me as a good bandit is one who can get people's loot without killing them. I find that people who KOS are just taking the easy path out of the situation and taking all the fun and exciting moments out of the game too. While I am a hero, and I don't enjoy people who just KOS, I respect bandits like you who don't just follow along with 95% of all players. Oh, and welcome! I hope you enjoy playing as a hero as much as I do.

Edited February 19, 2013 by TheBambiAvenger

[unkillable94 149]

I completely agree. Now I might just be biased (I am a hero), but what strikes me as a good bandit is one who can get people's loot without killing them. I find that people who KOS are just taking the easy path out of the situation and taking all the fun and exciting moments out of the game too. While I am a hero, and I don't enjoy people who just KOS, I respect bandits like you who don't just follow along with 95% of all players. Oh, and welcome! I hope you enjoy playing as a hero as much as I do.

I'm in a similar spot to you, after I got back and saw what banditry had become, reformed and have been a hero ever since. I agree completely, those first few days I got kitted up in full military gear and only killed one person, just set up a road block between balota and cherno, when someone would come we would blow out their tires. We would repair it for them in exchange for gear - not everything, just something here and there. It added up. The only person we had to kill stupidly got out of his car and with an ego boost his CCO SD gave him opened up on us and we had to fire back.

Edited February 19, 2013 by Col Brown

[Spentmind 23]

The same old thread, people bitchin' about KoS, calling them CoD Kiddies, blah blah blah

[yorkie065 78]

Over time, every term that was ever created for a certain play style has been completely twisted into something else. I've always known Bandits to be people who you've described in the OP; someone who will cause misery for another, without actually killing them, or not at least right away. Now, as you said, it's PK'ers who are "bandits", so everyone is one.

It sucks as I've seen someone compare a sniper at the NWAF to the cherno/ electro sniper.....what!? :o The two are completely different things, there with completely different objectives:

Electro/ Cherno Sniper- Someone who enjoys shooting people for no reason what so ever. Will shoot fresh spawns knowing full well they can't attack back just to increase the number of player kills that they have. Relatively safe knowing that the majority of player traffic will be in front of them, with rare movement coming from behind or the sides. Has made little effort to survive and probably found the rifle off a dead guy nearby.

NWAF Sniper- Someone who has travelled and survived a short period of time and headed North for the rarer loot. Won't always necessarily shoot on site and will wait for the prime opportunity instead to ensure the kill. Can easily be flanked and stumbled upon from multiple directions, and knows that people coming in and out of the area are likely to be armed with some sort of reasonable ranged weapon.

It's two completely different playstyles and the NWAF sniper always made the visit to get the higher grade loot that much more interesting and rewarding. The cherno/ electro sniper completely ruined DayZ for me, before the script kiddies. I was lucky to avoid the hackers for a while, but the lack of people up in the North and inland areas of the map made it very dull once you moved away from the coast. Even then it was only really in Cherno and Electro. Was too easy to avoid, and frustrating to get shot for no reason when you clearly have nothing on you.

[HMS 115]

No sir, Spentmind. This is actually a very thoughtful thread. OP is going into the not-so-subtle distinction between true bandits and idiots who just want to pull a trigger.

Col Brown, I have found that you are correct for the most part. If you are looking for a more immersive experience (with regards to true survivor/bandit roles) you will have to stick to lower pop servers. There are many benefits to this approach, which I'm sure you don't need me to elaborate upon.

[Kaspa 2]

I agree. The electro/cherno snipers just kill on sight and not giving a single f**k. The NWAF snipers kill you if you're a treath to him or you maybe have something he wants. But yeah, i tried to kill on sight, but its not fun.

[ninjan777 104]

Wait so i'm no bad guy, I only shoot people in the knee, steal their gear, then shoot them in the other knee and watch them crawl in misery without actually killing them : O

[yorkie065 78]

Wait so i'm no bad guy, I only shoot people in the knee, steal their gear, then shoot them in the other knee and watch them crawl in misery without actually killing them : O

Thats what a PROPER bandit would do! Although you can't steal their gear from them unless they drop it, but causing someone missery like that is what Banditry used to be all about. But now, what the OP is saying, is that the term "bandit" has been warped into a SOS PK'er.

[Spentmind 23]

No sir, Spentmind. This is actually a very thoughtful thread. OP is going into the not-so-subtle distinction between true bandits and idiots who just want to pull a trigger.

Col Brown, I have found that you are correct for the most part. If you are looking for a more immersive experience (with regards to true survivor/bandit roles) you will have to stick to lower pop servers. There are many benefits to this approach, which I'm sure you don't need me to elaborate upon.

I beg to differ, you see there are a billion other "very thoughtful threads" explaining the not-so-subtle distinction between "true bandits" and people who just want to pull a trigger. It's always the same shit.

[jk_scowling 44]

The best bandits mentally torture their prey before killing them, or maybe if the are feeling particularly generous, breaking their legs and leaving them to crawl for miles to the nearest hospital.

[plrsniper 87]

So if you are on top of the fire station in Elektro breaking the legs of all fresh spawns that venture there... Are you a bandit or a jerk?

They will die none the less because they don't know how to survive when they can't run around so what difference does it make?

Further more, there are very few ways to be a "proper" bandit these days. If you shoot at someone and break their legs they will in 90% of the cases fire back at you. Your only option is to stay hidden and hope the guy complies. That rarely if ever happens though, they'd much rather die than be at your mercy.

That or they combat log. (Which can still be done mind you)

That is the reason players KoS rather than rob other players. Very few options available to knock other players out and relieve them of their gear and victims much rather dying than complying or combat logging the moment they are fired upon.

[Hydra (DayZ) 472]

It's quite simple

>kill/incapacitate someone FOR THEIR GEAR = Bandit/Thief

>kill/incapacitate for teh lulz and evulz = Dickhead

I have no opinions on dickheads, as they are vital for the atmosphere.

"Hey, a guy! I bet he's a friendl- Eh... Or he could sodomize me with that axe handle... And strangle me with my own intestines... Oh..."

[q1p0 7]

It's quite simple

>kill/incapacitate someone FOR THEIR GEAR = Bandit/Thief

>kill/incapacitate for teh lulz and evulz = Dickhead

I have no opinions on dickheads, as they are vital for the atmosphere.

"Hey, a guy! I bet he's a friendl- Eh... Or he could sodomize me with that axe handle... And strangle me with my own intestines... Oh..."

The last time I checked, there was no defined way to play the game and anyone can play as he/she wants. So why calling someone who wants to play as they wish a dickhead?

[tiger_widow@hotmail.com 10]

The last time I checked, there was no defined way to play the game and anyone can play as he/she wants. So why calling someone who wants to play as they wish a dickhead?

I think the point is that KOS banditry debases the gameplay experience for everyone as it's essentially boring, thoughtless behaviour lacking creativity. The larger the cross section of the community that plays this way, the comparatively more predictable the game becomes. This is always a bad thing.

What sets this game apart from others is the potential for such a high level of unpredictability in meeting other players. A problem occures when the majority of players become very predictable, it makes the game less enjoyable. Yes the game is designed on being able to play how you want to, so if the majority of players have ended up playing in such a knee jerk, common denominator un-creative fassion, what does that say about the general mental capacity of people who play this game?

What else is there to do but make a point about boring actions begeting a boring experience? If game experience is generated by player input, is it not our responsibility as members of the player base to at least attempt vanguarding the quality of experience we put in and get from the game? That may translate in to 'QQing' on forums because firstly, chosing to personally play more creatively isn't going to have a major impact on how every one else plays, and secondly, there isn't any other way of making a point about the current social trend thats hurting DayZ.

This has all been talked to death already anyway so meh

Edited February 21, 2013 by Parodax

[q1p0 7]

What sets this game apart from others is the potential for such a high level of unpredictability in meeting other players. A problem occures when the majority of players become very predictable, it makes the game less enjoyable. Yes the game is designed on being able to play how you want to, so if the majority of players have ended up playing in such a knee jerk, common denominator un-creative fassion, what does that say about the general mental capacity of people who play this game?

Te fact that it is a game, is be the reason that people play in a kos manner without any limitation. And in a way they would be portraying the behavior to expect during a disaster (albeit from a minority as opposed to the majority as is present in DayZ) where the global world order is disintegrated and every decisions means life or death (refer to World War Z for examples, where the people bind together to fight the local Zeds, but immediately after the fight they go back to not dealing with and fighting with each other).

Adding infection and other natural ways to die will hopefully reduce the problem of bandits to some extent (as everyone will be pre occupied with finding safe items), but could also increase as people would be kos for antibiotics and good (uninfected food) etc. Also DayZ is kind of like a social experiment, it is up to the other survivors to band together and help eliminate the threat from the infected as well as the Bandits and rebuild the society (or closest to a society) instead of going on kos rampage due to being shot again and again. Some servers may go into full bandit mode, whereas whereas will be (very) few servers with people co-operating and helping to maintain law and order. Some the players kos have grown up with the COD or BF mentality and there is nothing that you can say or do to change that. So better to adapt to it rather than ban them from playing.

[N0 R3M0RS3 63]

There is nothing wrong with KoS or sniping the lowly bambi's but if you live like a hero all hero's die so good luck and i hope i see a hero cause as soon as i see 1 he's dead no hesitation. >:(

[TheKingpin 19]

The sad thing is the game is now one massive death match... It is a lot easier to hold people up with the new update however. Sadly most don't comply and get themselves killed.

Me I prefer the old break legs technique, give them 2 options... Death by zeds or c"drop weapon and come take a ride.

[Stoned Orangutan 31]

Im a real bandit I keep it ''real'' I will only take your thing's that I feel useful and let you go. I rarely kill people unless they point there guns at me,don't cooperate or shoot at me.

[novogeek 253]

True Bandits achieve their goal without killing people ... after all it is all about repeat business. ;)

It is up to the Victims and any Heroes to return the favour to the Bandits ... normally without bloodshed ... maybe a broken leg or drag them in to a room and barricade the exit with a Tank Trap. Yes, yes ... they can server hop ... but wouldn't it be fun to play out this scenario.

Anyway, maybe I live in a Utopia where Unicorns exist and blow rainbows and bubbles out their "butt" (was going to say horn ... but changed it due to possible copyright infringement) ... ahhhh ... sorry, where was I again.

[Food 309]

I'm a bad joke bandit. I shoot legs and when they are passed out I steal their stuff, tell them bad jokes, bandage them and leave morphine on the ground like 50m away.

Much more fun

[PurpleRaven 0]

a guy once in the shop in elec shot my knees out, took my stuff, then fired a few shots at the wall, dropped a flare on me then bolted, i was eaten alive in minutes. though it sucked to die i smiled after and thought to myself "that guy was a badass"

[lipemr 160]

There is nothing wrong with KoS or sniping the lowly bambi's but if you live like a hero all hero's die so good luck and i hope i see a hero cause as soon as i see 1 he's dead no hesitation. >:(

derp blerp, i bet you didnt kill anyone that had a better weapon than a ak74.

[N0 R3M0RS3 63]

derp blerp, i bet you didnt kill anyone that had a better weapon than a ak74.

i could kill u easily

[dackspuds 15]

I was driving in an old hatchback between cherno and elektro during the night, where there is that high ridge along the left side of the road when I saw something ahead of me. Using one of those crashed humvee models, some bandits had made a small barrier out of tank traps right at the end of one of those mini-bridges. While I fumbled around trying to turn with the bridge struts on my sides and the tank traps penning me in, 4 bandits ran out from the darkness under the bridge and pointed their guns at me. The leader talked over direct and told me to turn my engine off and put my gun into the gear slots of the car, and get out and go prone. If I didn't, he said that they would kill me and I had a choice of either death or losing a car and a gun and living. So I did what they asked seeing as I would die if I didn't anyway, and they shot my legs out. I got knocked unconcious and they bandaged and dragged me under the bridge. While I was out, he told me that they were taking the car and leaving, but that they were leaving morphine and a cooked meat under the bridge next to me.

Nice fellas really, most people would just either shoot me in the face, or spray the car and kill me. Plus I didn't really mind losing my car and ak74 because I found a bike a little down the road hidden in a pine tree.