DayZ from a psycological perspective

[djkling 5]

OK, so I've spent a bit of time playing and a lot of time pondering this game. One reason I did this is that a few releases back I remember getting up from my gaming chair and realizing I was so immersed in the game that I was sweating. I was sweating, thursty, my heart was racing... I was having an adrenal serge in response to a perceived threat ("fight-or-flight response").

So, how did that happen? First off, I play alone most of the time. I was on servers without side chat, and when i spawned in, it was early morning. I spent my time scouing out towns, trying to find water, and after a few hours of playing I was mildly injured, wielding a hatchet, and out of food/water.

I was thirsty, I was hungry, and the computer was starting to shake a little (at first I thought it was my TrackIR getting buggy). My aim was off and I was getting desparate for water. I took chances I wouldnt normally take. I was more brazen with raiding. I was willing to attack 2 or even 3 zeds with just my hatchet, trying to find water.

In the end, a combination of dehydration and bleeding, I fall dead next to a pile with a visible soda can.

If you allow yourself to become immersed in the game it becaomes both a more rewarding but also more intense experience. The mod has the ability to simulate the fear a survivor would normally have during a disaster. The stress, the confusion, even the disorientation (as I ran around the south part of the map trying to go north and ending up at the same damn airport every time! And the same power plant full of Zeds at least 3 times!)

So, My recommendation: Immerse yourself. Get a good pair of headphones, turn the music off and the volume up. Make your toon important to you. it gets pretty real...

[Tyrog 10]

I like your way of playing this game.

People should do the same I think. In my opinion, this is how it is supposed to be played. People should get more involved in their character and less in their gear.

[djkling 5]

Also, I've been thinking about the psychology of the players in the game beyond this. There is a lot of "human" killing in this game. Most people consider other players the enemy and not the zombies.

This is pretty fascinating but unrealistic. Killing another human being is something the average person would have a lot of difficulty with. Sure, seeing hordes of zombies would be hard to deal with, but imagine, if you will, being all alone surrounded by things that will kill you. You rarely would shun company. In a normal crisis, bigotry breaks down, people band together, and human beings uniformly WANT to be social.

In this game its as if the entirety of this country was populated with sociopaths and people with avoidant personality. I know most of the people out there arent sociopaths, why does one feel compelled to do so online? I've read articles that games are the weak person's chance to be big. I've heard that people will be sociopaths only if there are no consequences to their actions (kinda sad really). At the end of the day I'd like to see people finding ways to cooperate, since it would increase the immersion more than just a bunch of serial killers running around trying to find better weapons to kill with...