The Importance of CHKilroy

[HoboWithAGlock 25]

I keep hearing everyone talk about how amazing the incredible exponential growth of DayZ, but no one really gives any clear, definite sources of this popularity.

Looking back, the most important person I can really identify may very well be a great youtuber named CHKilroy and his series "The Days Ahead." The first video alone has over 125,000 views and I know from at least personal experience, has greatly influenced many people into getting the game.

So the question is the following: how important was he in this surge of popularity? How many of us all saw his videos before we started playing and immediately became enthused? I know plenty to whom the previous applies, and I imagine many others are similar. Should we as a community pay more credit were credit may be due? Was CHKilroy as important as the statistics seem to indicate?

Just curious to see others' opinions on the matter.

[Stick32 0]

I think it was the game being mentioned on Kotaku and other gaming sites that drew in the largest crowd... I know that's what drew my attention to the game.

[phisher34 12]

What is this?

To be frank it sounds like someone looking for validation. Credit where credit is due? What credit?

BTW, websites like Armaholic or the popular BIS boards were instrumental in sharing this. I guess I just don't understand what this post is about.

[Jester. 6]

He is the reason I bought the game.

[DeadAimHeadshot (DayZ) 2]

kilroy's video was what made me aware of the game, it was posted on reddit

[maxovitsj@gmail.com 4]

I bought it because of him ^^

[sorophx 25]

never heard about him, nobody I know has either. doesn't mean he hasn't brought in people, but making a thread exclusively about him? wtf?

[worbat 13]

I know that I came to Dayz because of killroy. However I suspect the recent articles on the major gaming sites gave the huge boost. YET you could say killroy was the catalyst.

[-Legion-xHawk 4]

I know that I came to Dayz because of killroy. However I suspect the recent articles on the major gaming sites gave the huge boost. YET you could say killroy was the catalyst.

Not going to lie, I got into it because of him. I wanted to know if those reactions were genuine or not... well, most of them were for the first few days not knowing what in the hell was going on.

[sunnz 24]

I seen it during a live stream, got interested and brought the game. Loving it so far!

[mkrrr 3]

never heard of him.

[mrK1ttens (DayZ) 1]

I bought the game because of Killroys videos, they were too great. Had to buy the game

[oktyabr 53]

I used his videos as "recruiting" tools to get friends interested but I was playing DayZ before I heard of them.

I think Armaholic was the first place I heard of the game.

[arhopkins3 3]

I used his videos as "recruiting" tools to get friends interested but I was playing DayZ before I heard of them.

I think Armaholic was the first place I heard of the game.

I too got about 5 mates in on this using his videos. Unfortunatenyl, neither myself nor any of my friends have been able to connect and stay connected for more than 5 minutes to any server. I feel under pressure to justify the £25 they each spent when they haven't been able to play, save for a few solitary moments in the pitch black on the beach before disconnections. We sat for 30-45 at the longest waiting for "Receiving Data" to change. Yes, those videos were important, but I believe it was Kotaku that I first saw this game. It was an instant decision, if I ever get to play, I hope it's as fun as those videos make it out to be! :)

[nakor 2]

Been playing arma II for a while, got back into it, started looking around for cool mods on armaholic. Saw this, looked pretty legit and not stupidly complicated to install (I'm looking at you ACE MOD) so I checked it out. As of 1 1/2 weeks after starting I've talked about a half-dozen bros into trying the mod. They've gotten 3-4 others from another mod we all play to try it out too.

Kotaku, youtube etc.. no doubt contributes but never underestimate word of mouth.

[KevinsLunchbox 7]

I found the game when a guy named SteamyTots/GoldenTotProductions uploaded a DayZ video. I found Kilroy shortly after and subbed to him after watching a ton of his videos.

[dslyecxi 0]

CHKilroy's videos were certainly the catalyst, and I'm guessing Rocket would agree with that.

was invited to try out DayZ at a time when it was peaking at 5-10 people accord to Rocket (USEC I assume?), and after posting the first 'Days Ahead', it went wild from there. I have no doubt that

sowed the seeds that caused it to explode from there - it was easy for us to see, having been there before and having watched it progress steadily. The actual DayZ trailer includes footage from that same set of ShackTac sessions, actually - you can hear several of our members talking throughout it.

It worked out very well for ShackTac also - those who have viewed the 'Days Ahead' series tend to check out the other ShackTac-oriented videos from CHKilroy, myself, and other members, and we've seen a surge in quality applicants because of that.

In the end I'm sure DayZ would have taken off regardless of the 'Days Ahead' series, but at the same time, the quality of it, the timing, and the popularity certainly accelerated DayZ's rise to insane heights. Props to CHKilroy for cutting a great event into a very memorable set of videos. Thanks to Rocket for giving us the opportunity to take a crack at it in such an early state, too. :)

[SixPackAbs 13]

I think his video has so many views because it is a very good series on the game, and not many other good ones are up on youtube yet. I played before watching his series but when i searched youtube his name was the first one that came up and i watched all of them. I'm sure a lot of people started playing after watching, because he made it very entertaining and showed off pretty much everything about the mod at the time.

[Timberwolf (DayZ) 118]

Some people got in contact with DayZ thanks to him, others through SideStrafe, others from some message boards, word of mouth, websites, etc. Saying that CHKilroy is the reason of DayZ popularity is an overwhelming exaggeration in my opinion.

Actually, I believe it's the other way around since just a week ago or so that video had like 1/4 of the views it has now.

[Mezzanine 1]

It was his video that made me get it. A friend of mine reffered it to me after it popping up on 4chan. Definitely wasn't kotaku, though I'm sure that brought in a large wave after it went up. I got it over a week before that though.

[ihax 16]

I saw sidestrafe's videos and got hooked on the idea.

[Rissien 0]

Came acrossed it from a thread in the Project Reality forums first post had CHKilroy's Days Ahead video and was hooked from there. Reinstalled ARMAII for this mod and went ahead and subscribed to his channel as well, he is very entertaining with his antics in those operations especially his thing for Beagel.

[Legacy (DayZ) 1091]

He is the reason I am here today, good stuff.

[rverdi12@gmail.com 5]

ITT: Trying to get a piece.

[super pretendo 2]

4chan /v/ and /vg/ have constant threads, and I have been playing for about three weeks, and I saw threads for weeks before that, so I think they predated kilroy by a bit. I actually did watch kilroys videos, after hearing it on 4chan. Then I think there were big reddit threads following that