DayZ has turned me into a monster...

[jkeith26 0]

Just want to start by saying no other game has given me the emotional peaks and valleys that this can provide. Fantastic concept and it keeps getting better. Apologies in advance for the long story.

I've been playing for about 2 months now, but I’ve noticed my play style and my overall personality in the game has become corrupted. When I started I was a naïve peace loving survivor. I’m quite skilled at shooters so I found I had little trouble protecting myself from the zombies (I believe I’ve only been killed 2 or 3 times by Zeds). I had a few encounters with bandits, some ended badly for them, most ended badly for me. But my sense of humanity remained true and whenever I had the chance I teamed up with other survivors and would try to help anyone I could. I was lucky in that I was never betrayed and shot in the back or attacked by someone I had teamed up with, and I had some nice adventures. Now I have no friends who are hardcore PC gamers like myself, and while a lot of my buddies think the game is a very cool concept, I don’t have anyone that I know that I play with. Thus, teaming up with others I met in game was my only option and I really enjoyed. Had some great adventures. One in particular involved me and 2 others making our way to the NW airfield one Sunday evening. We had a huge standoff with Zeds in Sosnovka resulting in 60 corpses piled up at the entrance to the church. I was eventually shot in the head by a sniper making my way into the barracks near the airfield, but it was all good fun.

Recently, however, I’ve found myself killed more and more by ruthless bandit thugs. I don’t dare approach other players any more because I will likely be gunned down for nothing more than a can of beans and some bandages. Especially with the addition (or subtraction) of starting with no weapon, I find myself going from deer-stand to deer-stand, keeping to the wilderness and staying away from other players.

Yesterday I spawned near the Balota Airfield. I crawled through the military field hospital and found a small amount of equipment including a weapon. In the radar tower I found a M-104 and some ammo so I was well equipped for zombie hunting. I then mapped out a route that would take me past multiple deer stands. Nearing my fifth or six one, something seemed off. I had found the last two relatively empty so I figured someone might be close. Sure enough, coming up to the next stand through the trees, I noticed a figure looting it. I raised my shotgun and moved close. He turned spotted me, and I’m honestly not sure what happened next. He fired, I fired, not sure who first, but I attracted a zombie that he hadn’t put down. I quickly put a slug into the walker then turned my attention back to the guy in the blind. He was popping off shots with what sounded like a makarov so I figured I had the upper hand. I moved out from behind a tree and unloaded into him with the M-104. He died. I climbed into the tower to investigate his corpse. To my luck, besides the makarov, he had a DMR and several mags, plus a bit of food and pepsi. Suddenly I felt very lucky he didn’t have his rifle equipped when we started our firefight.

I got the hell out of there quickly and made my way to the barn overlooking Zelenorgorsk, as I was near starving and had only one can of food left. I was going to need to find more and I figured I would hit the barn and then the general store. The barn didn’t yield too much of value but as I was slinking my way down the sloped field south of the town, I decided to scope out the store. To my surprise I could see a lone man sitting in the store. I lay down and let my rifle settle down and held the crosshairs slightly above his head. I typed in the chat for whoever was in the store to identify themselves. No response. I gave another warning. He moved around a bit, lay down, got up, looked out the window, but still no response. I realized I was also surrounded by moaning walkers, and if I fired a shot I would soon be swarmed. I also realized I needed to get into this store and I didn’t trust this dude. I fired the rifle. One shot put a hole in the glass and I assumed I missed. Then I saw the blood spurt out of his head and he dropped, dead. Not a bad shot from 500 meters. The zombies were on to me. I sprinted into the town, with about 15 Zeds hot on my heels, went around the back of the store and put a single bullet in the head of each zombie.

When they were all down I checked my victims body. He had an Alice pack filled to the brim with food, ammo and every piece of survival gear I could want minus NVGs or a GPS (this is my goal with this character now). He also had a PDW with 6 mags and a decent primary weapon (can’t remember what it was) but my DMR was better so I left that. Grabbed anything else I needed from the store and got out quickly. I’ve now been living off the land, drinking pond water and hunting boars with my Uzi. Do I feel bad that I’m now a heartless murderer who will kill any player on sight? Do I feel bad for those that I shot and looted? No, because it’s happened to me too many times and you have to learn from your mistakes. So yes, DayZ has turned me into a monster, but a monster who has survived far longer then my helpful, naïve, precursor. And a monster who has all the food he could want, two quality weapons, survival gear, water and ammo. Because as someone once said “when the world goes bad, the good go crazy, and the smart go bad”.

[coolio101 0]

Good story :P Personally I just try to avoid others unless i need the food/ammo.

[Remy (DayZ) 0]

Nice post. I love your quote at the end as well. I'm learning quickly that being nice gives you a shorter shelf life.

[Ingway 4]

Not really your fault, if the person dosn't identify thenselves or at least tries to talk back, i usually shot then as well, mostly tough, when they respond back, we join up and help each other, never got betrayed as well. It's always a gamble but it usually works out for the best.

[pazuzu 9]

No response. I gave another warning. He moved around a bit' date=' lay down, got up, looked out the window, but still no response. I realized I was also surrounded by moaning walkers, and if I fired a shot I would soon be swarmed. I also realized I needed to get into this store and I didn’t trust this dude. I fired the rifle. One shot put a hole in the glass and I assumed I missed. Then I saw the blood spurt out of his head and he dropped, dead.

[/quote']

Fun story.

What if the guy had responded to you and said he was friendly?

How would you have handled that?

[jackdstripper 0]

na man. you've always been a monster just waiting for Dayz to unleash you :D

[Tegla (DayZ) 112]

Good read :)

yeah, the same thing happened to me. i tried to be nice the first couple of times when i was new to the game, but got killed multiple times.

Now i enjoy hunting people. It's a thrill

[booky57 0]

I've got the same feeling that you, instead that i'm trying to flee from others player, because i don't want to hurt them bad, I still got a heart maybe !

But yeah, I've been too much killed cause of my kindness...

[drayson 158]

Occasionally I have not shot people and not been shot usually if I have just spawned and are running through the town. The feeling of desperation makes me far more likely to help other people and look for help. Rest of the time I shoot first ask questions never because I will never be assured they won't shoot me first.

[Esteran 0]

I typed in the chat for whoever was in the store to identify themselves. No response.

You know.. people with Beta-Client cant answer in global or side..

Maybe he read your message and was friendly, but couldn´t answer.

[Cyric (DayZ) 254]

Because as someone once said “when the world goes bad' date=' the good go crazy, and the smart go bad”.

[/quote']

I like that quote.

I wouldn't label you a monster, more of a pragmatic opportunist... much like myself. :)

[jkeith26 0]

Haha the thought crossed my mind that he might not be able to reply in the chat. Lets just say any guilt I had evaporated as soon as I got my hands on his Alice pack and all his loot.

It was nice to have some good luck for once vs the horrible luck I'd been having the last two days. On Saturday I made my way to airfield, nothing great had spawned in the fire station or the tower so I was going to the barracks when I accidently aggro'd a couple zombies and ended up taking out like 60 that just kept coming. After finally clearing the area, repairing my broken legs, almost bleeding out, some dude shot me with a pistol from the trees.

Then on Sunday (first day I played with 1.7.1) I had gotten my hands on a military shotgun and was doing great until that glitch where zombies kept infinitley spawning happened at a deer stand and I got destroyed. So yesterday it was nice to have my luck turn around, albeit at the expense of a couple others. I know it will run out eventually...