Bandits and Self Defense

[vedicardi 7]

I think it's fine - it's a lifestyle choice in Chenarus - If you don't want the skin' date=' don't put yourself in a position to have to defend yourself. Play smarter.

[/quote']

That's a hardly fair position. I want to play extremely smart, befriend players, spend weeks gathering a friendly group of traveling companions, and then, I want to take them all apart from the inside. Wearing a bandit skin doesn't help my cause any. It's not a choice - if it were, I'd choose to blend in. Nobody in a post-apocalyptic wasteland is going to hold up a sign saying, "shoot me", so why is it forced on players who choose to shoot other players?

What if the other guy is a jerk?!

TKJ

well you can still do that by getting your humanity high enough being around those players. it already can kind of work that way.

[Disgraced 1123]

You know, it's funny. One time, early on, I was shot... by a person wearing a bandit skin.

After that, the only other time I was PKed was by a sniper shot, to the head, with no challenge and no interaction. Just. slap.. dead.

I don't hold truck with the assumption that everyone will shoot me. The reason I don't believe it is that this has NOT been my experience. People have helped me. We've shared ammo. We've worked together. Sometimes with voice comms, sometimes not. But I am RARELY shot at by another character called survivor.

I have SEEN only a few bandits. In each case, they were jerks attacking other players. Once, one ran past me... You know what I did? I watched from the weeds and let him pass. He would not have afforded me the same courtesy.

I don't think you are better players. I think you are bigger a-holes. I don't think that the bandit skins should be removed from the game. I don't think PKing should be limited in any way, but the only way I will PK is the way I have done it the ONE TIME I have been forced to. If I see you attack another player, unprovoked, I will do my best to kill you... It's just what I think should be done.

L

[Karko (DayZ) 2]

I don't think you are better players. I think you are bigger a-holes. I don't think that the bandit skins should be removed from the game. I don't think PKing should be limited in any way' date=' but the only way I will PK is the way I have done it the ONE TIME I have been forced to. If I see you attack another player, unprovoked, I will do my best to kill you... It's just what I think should be done.

[/quote']

I disagree.

They aren't necessarily better players but they're often better equipped, better supplied and that difference is a huge one. Killing another player to take what you need or want isn't an arsehole move, it's a smart one. It's a simple case of risk versus reward and the reward for PK'ing often outweighs the risk of scavenging for what you need, especially when solo.

When I kill another player, there's no malice in it, it's a simple act that gets me what I need, freeing me up to move to safer areas and in a game where the only goal is to survive as long as possible, that can be a huge boon.

[Trinity (DayZ) 0]

The Bandit skin tends to get bugged on people so I have a tend to kill a lot of innocents.

[Disgraced 1123]

I disagree.

They aren't necessarily better players but they're often better equipped' date=' better supplied and that difference is a huge one. Killing another player to take what you need or want isn't an arsehole move, it's a smart one. It's a simple case of risk versus reward and the reward for PK'ing often outweighs the risk of scavenging for what you need, especially when solo.

When I kill another player, there's no malice in it, it's a simple act that gets me what I need, freeing me up to move to safer areas and in a game where the only goal is to survive as long as possible, that can be a huge boon.

[/quote']

You surely see the circularity or your argument.

You are better equipped, therefore, you are making the smart decision to kill lesser equipped characters?

In the past couple of days, I have run into two egregious examples of this.

I was head shot about 30 seconds after spawning on a beach the day before yesterday. Roughly the same thing happened to my gf last night. She spawned, we oriented so we could begin to journey to get together, and someone attacked her. Both incidents were unprovoked, and both were against newly spawned characters.

People who play bandits can claim that they 'need' to do it for gear, or that they like 'the hunt', but you know what? I've been playing games a long time. I have played a lot of online games, and a lot of games where the only reason for the game to exist is for teams of players to fight.

Most of the 'bandits' I have run into just like killing other players because they enjoy it. There is no reason to kill a newly spawned character. It's asshattery.

You might say no malice, but there are certainly a couple of psychological effects floating around in this game. On one hand, I see people who are wary and cautious, but looking to get along, and they find a way to. Those that I have played with are almost all that way. Then there are the types that say that they 'have to' kill other players. USUALLY, it's because 'every time' they ran into someone, they were attacked. From my perspective, these stories are bull****. I play. My gf plays. My son plays. We have all met people and groups that are willing to work together or at best leave one another alone. The only times I have been shot are once by a guy in a bandit skin who jumped out from behind a shed and shot me when I was not pointing my gun at him. Beyond that, every player kill we have encountered was, to most people's definition, cowardly (the player was shot without warning and without even seeing the bandit). You would say it was efficient, perhaps, because it caused the least exposure for the Pkiller and that naturally they chose the players who were just spawning. Who safer to Pkill? Maybe the game should have children with cans of beans. Those would be really safe to kill, wouldn't they?

Anyway, kill away. I hope I find you looting someone's pack and put a couple behind your ear.

The new bandit skin should be nothing, because all of the excuses for constant player killing are their 'new clothes'.

Oh, and I must pile this on. We spent about 1.5 hours trying to connect last night. Finally, we got onto the sixth server we tried. We got a quick connection and hardly had to wait, all three of the people I play with. As I said, then, within a minute of connecting, my gf was bandit killed on the beach. How fun is that? You spend an evening trying to connect to a game that you admittedly know is alpha and have a couple days' experience playing, you get in for one minute and are killed for the gear that everyone spawns with? No. This was effectively a spawn camping dick.

L

[ratszo 2]

The last update .7 forced everyone to spawn on the coast; hence, alota spawn campers looking for high-end gear.

Lets hope that doesn't happen again.

Remember, "THIS IS ARMA!!" [insert Gerard Butler face].

Team up, use comms. Play as a soldier..., cover, bound, overwatch, evade, rally, flank.

In a firefight, keep moving --fire/move/fire/move. Moving just a meter between shots makes you a hard target to hit.

Reload moving or go prone.

The arma mindset is teamwork. Lone wolves don't do well against even a two-man fireteam.

UnitedOperations has basic training videos, watch and learn.

[Karko (DayZ) 2]

You might say no malice' date=' but there are certainly a couple of psychological effects floating around in this game. On one hand, I see people who are wary and cautious, but looking to get along, and they find a way to. Those that I have played with are almost all that way. Then there are the types that say that they 'have to' kill other players. USUALLY, it's because 'every time' they ran into someone, they were attacked. From my perspective, these stories are bull****. I play. My gf plays. My son plays. We have all met people and groups that are willing to work together or at best leave one another alone. The only times I have been shot are once by a guy in a bandit skin who jumped out from behind a shed and shot me when I was not pointing my gun at him. Beyond that, every player kill we have encountered was, to most people's definition, cowardly (the player was shot without warning and without even seeing the bandit). You would say it was efficient, perhaps, because it caused the least exposure for the Pkiller and that naturally they chose the players who were just spawning. Who safer to Pkill? Maybe the game should have children with cans of beans. Those would be really safe to kill, wouldn't they?

[/quote']

It is efficient, if you're carrying equipment which isn't easy to replace, what's more costly, a few bullets to drop a target or losing everything and being forced through hours of additional scavenging.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not some bandit camping the highways looking for cheap kicks, I stick inland except for short trips to pick up friends who've recently died. The people I kill are usually as geared, if not better than myself, they're my targets and often the best source of ammunition for the same gun I'm using to kill them.

[Banano (DayZ) 0]

Chernarus life man.

If you become a bandit you are sent into a perpetual world of shooting everyone that sees you so you don't die. I've already got -100000 humanity. There's no coming back from that and therefore no possibility to play as a survivor. I made my bed and now I lie in it.

I think it would be more effective to just see the bandit skin (and humanity scale) scrapped altogether so players could have the chance to do different playthroughs and where they have the choice to be friendly or not friendly without having to worry about getting shot. I think this is already coming though, from the sounds of it.

[The Killing Joke 43]

The arma mindset is teamwork. Lone wolves don't do well against even a two-man fireteam.

This, exactly. I like to think the lone wolf mentality is DayZ on hardmode. I would also like to think that the game should support - but certainly not hand-hold - those who play this way, and I'd like to say that (to me) it does.

You hide in the bushes, and you take advantage of the zombie's aggro against others wherever possible, if you're in an area where an existing team/group are actively engaged. This (especially at night) is helpful, if you ever need to get some gear. I found this exact scenario helped me to find, well, nothing... ...but at least I was able to circumvent some zeds to be able to search an area.

I love the lone wolf mentality - and you don't have to be capping others to do it, which I'm sure some of my 'fans' will like to hear.

TKJ

[memphisbelle 4]

It is hard to not curse all you doomed playerkillers, I´d like call you retarded assh*** but I dont do that, since in some point it is a part of the game.

In a real life scenario like that one, we´d have the same social structures. The busy and "good" guys, who want to survive and risk to die while helping another one, and there would be the bad (and mostley retarded) guys with black teeth and an IQ of a pig. But that would be reality.

I prefer not to be the "not so smart" but therefor coward person in the game, I enjoy it to get my self from village to village and gather the stuff I need, always the fear in the neck, to meet such an retarded and black toothed Bandit. It somehow moves me into the postapocalyptic world.

But if you Pkiller enjoy sniping other players for their goodies, from the hidin place...well, you´ll have your reason for this, I am sure your psychologist knows why...

[demine0 43]

I would like to see the Bandit system work like this... You don't get the bandit skin until you murder someone AND after you murder someone, you die. Once you respawn, your a bandit until it wears off.

I think this gives it a much more realistic feel. Think of the Bandit skin as a "Death Sentence". If you don't get caught or killed, no one knows your a bandit until you are killed.

[deadbolt (DayZ) 10]

I would like to see the Bandit system work like this... You don't get the bandit skin until you murder someone AND after you murder someone' date=' you die. Once you respawn, your a bandit until it wears off.

I think this gives it a much more realistic feel. Think of the Bandit skin as a "Death Sentence". If you don't get caught or killed, no one knows your a bandit until you are killed.

[/quote']

?? little confused, do you mean if i kill someone i wont become a bandit until my next life?

really the most realistic approach would to get rid of the bandit skin

[The Killing Joke 43]

?? little confused' date=' do you mean if i kill someone i wont become a bandit until my next life?[/quote']

Better still, I believe he's saying when you shoot someone, and THEY die, it auto-kills YOU! Wow, retribution much?!

TKJ

[deadbolt (DayZ) 10]

?? little confused' date=' do you mean if i kill someone i wont become a bandit until my next life?[/quote']

Better still, I believe he's saying when you shoot someone, and THEY die, it auto-kills YOU! Wow, retribution much?!

TKJ

thats what i initially thought, but it seemed to ridiculous

[stormrider5661 0]

How about the bandit skin is an optional play style per character? If you choose to wear it for a character, your humanity will not decrease from the current amount as long as you wear the optional skin. However, if you're a survivor, your humanity acts like normal, and once it reaches a certain level you change into a completely different bandit skin. Upon death your humanity will return to JUST above the bandit border for a "benefit of the doubt" scenario

EDIT: As a side bonus of this optional style, you can allow a larger "self defense" buffer between being a survivor and bandit.

[pendelum5 0]

I have been playing this game for over a week now, and I have yet to murder a single survivor. There was the time I found an AFK bandit on the beach and I killed him for his pain killers. There was also the time I managed to put 8 makarov rounds into a bandit's back for his winchester.

However, the majority of encounters with hostile bandits I've had were long range and/or one-sided. This game is not about balancing survivors and bandits, it's about survival. Every stranger playing this game has the potential to kill you and reset your character. For this reason, avoiding unwarranted attention is just as important as navigation and accuracy.

[Spirit (DayZ) 3]

?? little confused' date=' do you mean if i kill someone i wont become a bandit until my next life?[/quote']

Better still, I believe he's saying when you shoot someone, and THEY die, it auto-kills YOU! Wow, retribution much?!

TKJ

thats what i initially thought, but it seemed to ridiculous

His first language obviously wasn't English, but give him a break.

I am positive what he means is, for that one life you are a bandit, but when you die your humanity will reset and you'd be back to the Survivor state.

[The Killing Joke 43]

His first language obviously wasn't English' date=' but give him a break.

I am positive what he means is, for that one life you are a bandit, but when you die your humanity will reset and you'd be back to the Survivor state.

[/quote']

Didn't mean any disrespect. Just read it differently.

TKJ