DayZ is NOT fun for new players, which makes me worried.

[Murakamo 29]

I have played DayZ since the mod came out. I love it and I have bought the alpha, which is not bad.

 

Today, I bought the alpha for a friend of mine who has never played the game and the experience for him was in a nutshell, boring and frustrating.

 

I played the game with him to try and teach him how the game worked. If you are new and have no clue what's happening, then clearly the game will be frustrating. That's why I wanted to meet him in game to help him out.

 

The only problem? Meeting up with him was a complete disaster. He obviously had no clue where he was and his surroundings he described only slightly assisted me.

 

It's not like the mod where it tells you where you are when you log in or spawn. We are just left smack bang in the middle of nowhere.

 

So, after spending about 1.5 hours running in different directions and around in circles, we finally meet each other. We briefly enjoyed about 30 seconds of reunion before a bandit came out of a house and shot both of us.

 

Joy. Back to square one.

 

Needless to say, my friend was not impressed and really could not bare spending another 1.5 hours trying to find each other and he definitely won't play the game again unless I am on or unless I hassle him to give it another try.

 

This has been suggested before, to allow friends to spawn with each other. At the very least when you both die. Obviously, it would be stupid to allow people to spawn with a friend who is already alive with their full grade military equipment. But allow fresh spawns to spawn together.

 

I know naysayers will say 'finding each other is part of the experience!' Well, I personally don't believe spending half a day meeting up and dying then meeting up again to be a part of the dayZ experience.

 

Well, I guess I could just kill myself and hope for a spawn closer to my friend by clicking the 'respawn' butto- Oh wait.

 

Another suggestion regarding this functionality is to make it optional for servers to have this setting.

 

=============

Something needs to be done to allow experienced players like myself to assist new people who I am trying to introduce this game to. This game is extremely punishing, but also extremely rewarding. I need a good chance to show my friend the rewarding side of this game and so far, I have had none.

 

I would like to discuss this with my fellow DayZ players.

Edited January 5, 2014 by Murakamo

[Furtherado 100]

Definitely, i think you should have an in-game friendslist and be able to filter servers where your friends play. Maybe even a "friend GPS" function so you know where your friend is, kind of like shift-clicking the map in the mod. 

But i don`t think you should be able to spawn together, that would make it easier for your friends to rejoin a fight at for example Balota, Cherno or Elektro, and get their gear back. And yes, it is "part of the experience" to travel accross the map to meet eachother, i just think one should sacrifice a little bit of realism in order to not make introducing new players or playing with your friends an absolute chore.  

[weparo 613]

Well, maybe your friend just sucks at describing and is not the kind of guy for dayz? DayZ is not for everyone. And that's good because we don't want all the kiddies here. DayZ is supposed to be harsh and unforgiving.

 

I think : The harder the better.

 

 

 

Definitely, i think you should have an in-game friendslist and be able to filter servers where your friends play. Maybe even a "friend GPS" function so you know where your friend is, kind of like shift-clicking the map in the mod. 

But i don`t think you should be able to spawn together, that would make it easier for your friends to rejoin a fight at for example Balota, Cherno or Elektro, and get their gear back. And yes, it is "part of the experience" to travel accross the map to meet eachother, i just think one should sacrifice a little bit of realism in order to not make introducing new players or playing with your friends an absolute chore.  

 

certainly NOT!

If the new players don't like DayZ, well sucks for them, there are plenty of other games out there.

 

Bottom line : If you don't like DayZ being though, GTFO.

 

 

 

EDIT: Oh, and if you don't like being shot, watch your surroundings.

 

EDIT2: Holy shit, I never got so many beans on a single post, keep 'em coming :P :D

Edited January 6, 2014 by Weparo

[babybasher 50]

Had to really think about this.  Been so long since I started playing so have forgotten what it's like to not know where you are!

It's a tough one, doubt there will be many people agreeing with one another on the topic.

 

Personally I think the best idea would be as you mentioned:

Spawning with a friend, only if spawning at the same time.  And of course you can't choose where to spawn, maybe a menu comes up (saying 'do you wish to spawn with xx') when 2 or more eligible friends are ready to spawn.  This wouldn't break immersion or be very game breaking.  Might be nice..

[Bakercompany86 347]

I didn't play the mod.  Heard about it, did my research and decided to wait for the standalone.

 

 

Thus far I'm having a blast.  My other buddies who are also new are too.  We've met up, which was an adventure in itself.

 

 

DayZ is not a game for everyone.  Only those who truly appreciate the hardcore nature of DayZ will play it for a long time.  But it's the game I've been looking for my entire life.  I love it :)

[matiman 166]

:D

[terrvik 2409]

Not knowing a thing about it was when the game was best. If someone would volounteer to punch me in the head so I could forget all my knowledge of the map I would welcome it.

 

This is the reason I currently enjoy the other survival games out there; the exploration and sense of adventure. Even though they are inferior games I still enjoy them due to not knowing a thing about the map or how anything works a lot more.

Edited January 5, 2014 by Terrorviktor

[Inception. 9443]

My friend, who had (until recently of course) played DayZ or Arma at all, found it fun; "thoroughly enjoyable", she described it once. So, yes, DayZ is fun for some new players apparently. 

 

I remember my noob-days in the mod. They were, by far, the best times I have had in DayZ.

Edited January 5, 2014 by Inception.

[storm_dk 0]

Not knowing where you are, and having to explore and find exciting things, is part of the fun of DayZ! I often compare it to players who starts a new game, and reads the walkthrough and tips & tricks, before the first part of the game - where is the fun in that?!

 

And as someone said, it's really fun and tense in a way, to find your way to your friend, where you can have amazing things happen to you on the way. The best part of DayZ is "not knowing", imo.

[Bakercompany86 347]

:D

 

Don't care who you are, THIS is some funny shit right here :)

[Guest]

Sounds like your friend is not very good at describing where he is. There are still signposts on the towns which he could've read out to you to help find him. I think Day Z has always been like that. When you first start you have no idea where you're going, which direction takes you where and who you're going to meet. Then you die. You respawn you've learned a little more, you die again. The first few (maybe more) times you play, it is very frustrating when you're not able to find things, identify your location, or get medical attention when you need it, but after a while you start to piece it all together. It's a learning curve.

 

I bet by tomorrow, maybe the day after, you and your friend will be able to meet up every time without real issue.

[mphilippa 43]

But it's the game I've been looking for my entire life

 

This. 

 

So. Much. This 

[SAXX0N 28]

I have played DayZ since the mod came out. I love it and I have bought the alpha, which is not bad.

 

Today, I bought the alpha for a friend of mine who has never played the game and the experience for him was in a nutshell, boring and frustrating.

 

I played the game with him to try and teach him how the game worked. If you are new and have no clue what's happening, then clearly the game will be frustrating. That's why I wanted to meet him in game to help him out.

 

The only problem? Meeting up with him was a complete disaster. He obviously had no clue where he was and his surroundings he described only slightly assisted me.

 

It's not like the mod where it tells you where you are when you log in or spawn. We are just left smack bang in the middle of nowhere.

 

So, after spending about 1.5 hours running in different directions and around in circles, we finally meet each other. We briefly enjoyed about 30 seconds of reunion before a bandit came out of a house and shot both of us.

 

Joy. Back to square one.

 

Needless to say, my friend was not impressed and really could not bare spending another 1.5 hours trying to find each other and he definitely won't play the game again unless I am on or unless I hassle him to give it another try.

 

This has been suggested before, to allow friends to spawn with each other. At the very least when you both die. Obviously, it would be stupid to allow people to spawn with a friend who is already alive with their full grade military equipment. But allow fresh spawns to spawn together.

 

I know naysayers will say 'finding each other is part of the experience!' Well, I personally don't believe spending half a day meeting up and dying then meeting up again to be a part of the dayZ experience.

 

Well, I guess I could just kill myself and hope for a spawn closer to my friend by clicking the 'respawn' butto- Oh wait.

 

Another suggestion regarding this functionality is to make it optional for servers to have this setting.

 

=============

Something needs to be done to allow experienced players like myself to assist new people who I am trying to introduce this game to. This game is extremely punishing, but also extremely rewarding. I need a good chance to show my friend the rewarding side of this game and so far, I have had none.

 

I would like to discuss this with my fellow DayZ players.

Nobody is worried...

[holdt@hotmail.com 12]

It's part of the game. To take it slow, to learn how to navigate, to learn how to survive, to learn to communicate. When not having an in-game map: look it up on the inter-webs.

Tell your friend this isn't a game with 3d-spotting and symbols telling him what to do and in which order. Not to criticize the games which have these features. I play Battlefield myself. :)

 

Personally, I think that having to take it slow, make up a plan, make mistakes on the way, is a big part of the overall experience of DayZ. I like it a lot!

[goleastro 22]

This game isnt for everyone, not everyone is going to like it... No point implementing mechanics to ''get people to like the game'' that's not the point of dayz.

Edited January 5, 2014 by goleastro

[Silentine 44]

Finding eachother and stuff is ok for me...

What i hate , and what keeps me away from playing is the playerbase...turning this into deathmatch z.Shooting everything that moves, running around not caring about zombies, no tactics intented , no stealth intented, just derping and shooting.

From the start people go to the balota airfield , grab a gun and start shooting at new spawns.

Other people go up north, grab a gun and shoot everything that moves.

 

Just really makes me to dislike the majority of the community of this game.

[Guest]

as a totally new player, around 100h yet - i really really enjoy that game, even in this early alphastage its UBERfun. i also coaxed like 5 friends to buy it and they all love it.

[derpdiggler 69]

FYI, I bought standalone on a whim, after not playing the mod or even Arma, and I love it.  Maybe your friend is, ahem, not the type of person for this game.

[Mookzen 67]

It's called carebear-culling and its an intended game feature.

[elf cakes 559]

you shouldnt have needed to tell your friend what to do. just tell him 'the aim is to stay alive' and he would be fine, the game even says 'you are hungry'. as for spawning with friends, hell god damn no. clans would be absolutely everywhere and there'd be absolutely no chance of any interaction. however i do feel that having some servers add the feature and some servers without the feature will be cool. but then you run the risk of eventually having all servers with the feature because it's the more popular opinion. look at what happened with the mod. it started off as a survival game and over time almost every server was CHERNO DEATHMATCH SPAWN WITH AS50 AND DMR 5000 VEHICLES NO NIGHTTIME BETTER LOOT

 

and by god i truly hope we don't end up with that again.

[sav112g 114]

Never played this but have watched hours and hours of steamer doing so. I want it to be slow, I look forward to learning how to play. Finding the places and learning the weapons and all the systems.

 

I'm glad its not a skill less rinse and repeat boring shooter. To me it’s a bit like BF2 project reality- it was harsh and unforgiving unlike the vanilla kiddie version of BF2 and I loved it. You went down fast in PR unlike the vanilla retail that you could unload a whole clip into people only for them to turn round and fight back. You did that in PR they went down simple as that.

 

Plenty of games that require very little skill to play well, just look at BF4.

Edited January 5, 2014 by sav112

[irl-calibre 744]

tbh SA is way easier than the mod for a new player. When I fist played it, pretty much from the moment I spawned i'd a hoard of zombies after me and was shot about a minute later with an AS50.. welcome to DayZ. It continued pretty much like this for about the first week..

Edited January 5, 2014 by Calibre

[hanahouhanah (DayZ) 36]

So because it's not fun for your friend, it's not fun for any new player? One of my friends bought the SA and had no previous experience with the mod or videos on DayZ and he loves it.

I mean, it's kinda like saying you tried a food and hated it, therefore nobody would like that food. Opinions differ from person to person. Maybe your friend should spend time running around and getting to know the areas first.

[musketeer 33]

Dayz is a niche game, although the sales would suggest otherwise...

 

Personally, I think SA is more inviting (?) than the mod. In the mod, I got a gun and had no idea what to do/got bored. Now, for some reason, I know where I want to go and what I want to do. Although, this is probablydue to the fact that I did reading, something new players should do. Read the wiki and watch videos. 

[Fabik 71]

If the new players don't like DayZ, well sucks for them, there are plenty of other games out there.

 

Bottom line : If you don't like DayZ being though, GTFO.

 

 

I thought DayZ was a sandbox game ? You know... in the sense that can play it any way you like and do lots of different stuff.

 

Well... it seems that there are some 8 year old bullies in the sandbox and they won't let the other kids play in THEIR sandbox...

Edited January 5, 2014 by Fabik