Turning to the Dark Side - Ethical evolution from Survivor to Bandit

[Katana67 2907]

So... there are some of us that enter into banditry for sport, some out of mere blood lust, some out of uber-survivalistic tendencies, and some that mimic the Joker and just want "to watch the world burn".

There are some who are forced into banditry after being confronted with the cold truth of survival. I speak, of course, of those who have been wronged by other survivors after putting faith in others. This might appear to some as merely being angry at the situation, or as the kids these days say... "butthurt".

It is not, I assure you, but it is merely a realization that even those who profess or appear to be on the side of altruism simply cannot be trusted. The guise of cohesion becomes quickly smeared by the response of "Don't shoot", rather than "I'm friendly and will help you". Mexican stand-offs around corners at the NW Airfield revealing the true essence of uncertainty in personal intention.

These are things that make this Alpha/mod/game so unique and special. But it is also what drives those trusting enough to put their faith in people to turn to the life of banditry which they entered into the world so vehemently in opposition to.

It is not out of hatred, malice, or a "for the lulz" attitude that I've been forced into banditry. It's the simple fact that people are either not worthy of trust, or just incompetent to a dangerous degree.

I have not yet been pushed into the realm of hate, or anger. Just the realistic notion that one must do anything to survive. I don't see myself ever purposefully seeking conflict with another player. If they're just passing through and haven't noticed me, then so be it. They can go along unimpeded.

It is not out of malcontent that I have decided to become a bandit, it is out of experience. Even the most prudent survivor makes mistakes and reacts without thinking, or misjudges an encounter.

However, if I suspect a player is aware of my presence... or are in the vicinity of an objective of mine... I'm cookin' that fool no questions asked. Simply put, I am not a bandit of opportunism... but a bandit of self-preservation. I say this, so that one might be inclined to view the various nuances of being both a bandit and survivor as far more gray than is readily apparent.

That's all I have to say about that. Comment, if you will, on the ethics of banditry and your personal experiences.

[hooligan (DayZ) 38]

well said, good read.

[Goldstein (DayZ) 46]

The line between bandit and survivor is one drawn by teamspeak

[Katana67 2907]

The line between bandit and survivor is one drawn by teamspeak

How do you mean? Just in the fact it's easier to communicate between survivors and thus maintain better working relationships?

As an update, in my first character after the debacle that caused me to become a bandit, I came across two players in Zelenogorsk. They had barricaded off the supermarket, and the night sky was illuminated with flares that they had popped surrounding the building. I had entered Zelenogorsk with the exact intention of raiding the supermarket, so they were in my way.

They were also attracting quite the zombie presence, I had entered the town at a crawl in prone. There were zombies bolting past me along the road and converging on the supermarket, I started hearing gunfire as I approached the building.

I engaged in a brief, but uneventful firefight with my Winchester which didn't yield any deaths. So, I backed off, as they had barricaded the supermarket pretty well and I had lost the element of surprise.

Headed up the hill, across a field, to a barn which I searched. Traded in my Winchester for a CZ 550 with one magazine and planned on continuing north. On my way out, noticed the glowing red glimmer of the supermarket flares and decided to re-engage in order to get the supplies in the supermarket.

Set up in the grass on the hill above Zelenogorsk, gave me a great view of the broad windowed front of the supermarket. I had eyes on the two of them the entire time. Waited until one of them stopped for long enough and took a shot from 300m. Bagged him and he went down like a sack of potatoes. The other guy hid behind a rack of shelves and then fell back into the rooms where I couldn't see.

The guy I killed reconnected and spawned, and the living member of the pair was still popping flares at the supermarket. After about a half hour of observing the building, I backed off and disengaged for good.

I sort of felt bad, as I just bagged one of them and had gained nothing. They were just frustrated I'm sure, but they were broadcasting a pretty big footprint with the flares. Was fun sniping at night though, and I walked away from my first direct act of banditry alive and with some ammunition to spare.

[VLPR 1]

I am "complete loner" -type of bandit. 95% of the time i just do my own thing in the middle of nowhere, while always being paranoid about players popping up from somewhere. Whenever i see a player, i usually choose to hide and stalk them for a while and see what they are up to. If the player that i see is just passing by and not going towards "my" towns and taking my yet-to-be looted beans, i do nothing to them. Wait for 10-15minutes to see if he comes back and then continue my life normally. But if that player goes sniffing anywhere close to my camp area/loot spawns in towns i will put a bullet in their head.

Whenever i kill someone it gives me no joy, nor remorse. He just happened to loot the wrong beans at the wrong time. Main reason why i don't just pump everyone full of lead is the fear of firefights and shots attracting more people near my camp or them coming back for revenge with their new character. But the second me or my beans are in any danger; i will pump you full of lead. No questions asked. Once i tried an approach of warning people: "run towards the forest, don't look back, don't rotate around trying to find me, just gtfo of here. If you ever come back i will waste you". But this only lead to people outflanking me 45minutes later and stealing my stuff.

[imagelesskjc 35]

I usually act the same way when I'm traveling across country.

Why, just yesterday I had nothing but a crossbow and a couple of makarov magazines. I was stalking through the woods and heard another player speaking. I dropped to a crawl and approached with the utmost of caution. As I neared the individual, I noticed at least two more players in his group. I stopped immediately and observed where they were going...

They were right in my path, but were seemingly lost. Their leader was discussing where they "might be". I waited for several minutes before I grew tired of waiting for them to move on, so I fired one crossbow bolt right in front of the face of their leader. His reaction was priceless.

As soon as the "OMGWTF" moment passed, they darted away, never to be heard from again. I trotted over and retrieved my crossbow bolt from the stump and that was that.

I don't like to kill other players, but if you're in my way or risking my well being, you're damn well going to be in my cross-hairs. Luckily I was able to scare them off without having to waste any rounds.

[umario1992 2]

As soon as the "OMGWTF" moment passed' date=' they darted away, never to be heard from again. I trotted over and retrieved my crossbow bolt from the stump and that was that.

[/quote']

You killed a player using the crossbow. You are without a doubt the Chuck Norris of DayZ.

[The Killing Joke 43]

The line between bandit and survivor is one drawn by teamspeak

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED! I can't WAIT to hear the story of the guy who gets in on someone's TS server by invite' date=' and then turns on the entire party. That, my friends, is what open-ended gameplay is all about.

;)

TKJ

p.s. If this happens, people shouldn't get angry. You'll have something to laugh at, and watch out for in the future! (My buddy IRL has already told me he won't play the game when I'm playing. What's [i']that all about?)

[Banano (DayZ) 0]

Survival of the one-with-most-beans. I kill for beans.

[Katana67 2907]

Banditry evolution update...

So I was amassing a decent arsenal. DMR with a few mags, tons of cooked meat, all that jazz. Spent the night (night on some server) in the woods west of Zelenogorsk. Cooked some more meat up, was delicious. Then found out I was de-synced and logged into another server where it was bright as day. Awesome.

So now I'm in the wilderness, fully stocked, and ready to roll. I dip down south towards Pavlovo, still in the western wilderness, and come across three tents, barbed wire guarded, two cars, bus, and perhaps a helicopter (I heard it earlier, didn't actually see it). Saw a bandit as clear as day, come up to a tent and check it out.

So I sight him in, from underneath a tree at 500m. Took the shot, and hit him. Didn't kill him outright, so I fired again. Unsure if I hit him with the second shot, but he was bleeding and ducked behind the tents. So I decided to disengage, knowing that an encampment that size couldn't be constructed by one guy alone.

Relayed the general location to the rest of the folks on the server. Seemed like a prudent thing to do at the time, given the fact that there were bandits there and I'm not picking any sides. They obviously didn't want to be found, now they were.

Sort of a dick move I guess? But, seemed to me like they had more than they needed by far and could handle a bit of sport if people started roving closer to them. Plus, after seeing all these videos online of people masking the location of their stockpiles... I felt it was warranted given how smug they tend to be. (I won't say the server, that'd be a bit much).

Anyway, I disengage and thought I was heading east. I wasn't. Walked right into the back of the encampment and got killed. Wasn't mad, because it was my own fault for being terrible at land nav. They were pretty offended though, like I was in some sort of secret covenant to never reveal their location.

Didn't help their cause that some guy was spouting off sarcastically about how they had so much stuff beforehand. Typical insults to my intelligence for not waiting longer, and broadcasting the general location to the world.

[Goldstein (DayZ) 46]

The line between bandit and survivor is one drawn by teamspeak

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED! I can't WAIT to hear the story of the guy who gets in on someone's TS server by invite' date=' and then turns on the entire party. That, my friends, is what open-ended gameplay is all about.

;)

TKJ

p.s. If this happens, people shouldn't get angry. You'll have something to laugh at, and watch out for in the future! (My buddy IRL has already told me he won't play the game when I'm playing. What's [i']that all about?)

I think it's been done :) swore I read someone doing that the other day.

That sort of thing is a bit too EVE Online for me. It always ends in 4chan rage and DDos

It's interesting to see also how a group of TS'ing survivors can soon become bandits. They feel safety in numbers.

The sociological experiments in this mod are fantastic. Give a man a makarov, and he's everyones best friend. Give a man a silenced sniper rifle and NV goggles, and he'll kill anything that moves. The more power people have, the more paranoid they grow.

[Katana67 2907]

@ Above

I really agree with your assessment of the "experimental" nature of Day Z. Aside from being a simulator in the tangible sense, Day Z is also a simulator in what happens when the social contract we know now disintegrates. It's akin to the stories that I've heard out of WoW (Never played it) whereby a disease becomes bugged and spreads throughout the server, simulating a real-world epidemic.

These types of things, facilitated by a free-world environment really are fascinating.

As an update to my evolution narrative...

I hop on the same server I mentioned in my previous post, early in the morning, with the full intention of waltzing back up to that camp and making off with a ton of loot.

After having some trouble connecting, I got in... only to find that there was a person who had been guarding the camp earlier logging in as I was just starting out. So, that was the end of the easy way for me right?

Wrong. I say "Hi" to the dude, and he says "Hi" back. Offers to return my DMR and ammunition, even give me a blood transfusion, for not blabbing the location of his camp (Which, I believe they moved regardless).

I was stunned when it all went down without a hitch and in a very friendly manner. I had already acquired an M16A2 as a backup and an M14 AIM as a primary, so I wasn't too worried about getting my DMR back. But did so anyway because I needed blood badly. Was a huge risk, that in hind sight, I probably shouldn't have taken.

However, it payed off and reaffirmed my dwindling faith in other players. I guess I'll have to just roll with the punches and take things situationally. Which, will still not stop me from slaying anyone that gets in my way or anyone whose intentions are uncertain to me.

I am interested in hearing from the more malicious bandits though, given the nature of compare and contrasting. I've been following the sociopath thread, which is enjoyable and creepy as hell at the same time. Like, serial killer creepy... hence why a lot of serial killers are sociopaths. Is it purely for the hell of it? Or for some grand scheme? Survival? I'm curious.

[The Killing Joke 43]

I've been following the sociopath thread' date=' which is enjoyable and creepy as hell at the same time. Like, serial killer creepy... hence why a lot of serial killers are sociopaths. Is it purely for the hell of it? Or for some grand scheme? Survival? I'm curious.[/quote']

Easy. Everybody wants to be Dexter.

TKJ

[Katana67 2907]

I've been following the sociopath thread' date=' which is enjoyable and creepy as hell at the same time. Like, serial killer creepy... hence why a lot of serial killers are sociopaths. Is it purely for the hell of it? Or for some grand scheme? Survival? I'm curious.[/quote']

Easy. Everybody wants to be Dexter.

TKJ

Haven't seen the show unfortunately. As I understand it, the main character is a serial killer by night and a... what? By day?

[AbsolutelyDelicious 1]

I think this illustrates the reality that I didn't appreciate when I started a few days ago. I did go to the cities and I didn't shoot players that didn't respond immediately.

I was in a tower the other day and a chap just kept hiding but eventually he shot me and I tried to assume a better position above him but in the end he killed me because I was already injured. He did not even have a bandit skin. I honestly just wanted to team up and be buddies skipping while holding hands in the fields under a rainbow.

I also just looted an entire building and had the best rifle that I had managed to acquire so far. I thought I was safer on top of a building (because I might be able to see where I was being shot at from) but I wasn't and I was killed from an unknown assailant's bullet.

Although once a bandit had his rifle pointed at me but didn't fire. I had no bullets left so I legged it.

I think I will be subscribing to the doctrine of assuming the worst in people unless we arranged to meet in game beforehand. I've heard that the best way of getting equipment is from other players anyway.

[The Killing Joke 43]

Haven't seen the show unfortunately. As I understand it' date=' the main character is a serial killer by night and a... what? By day?[/quote']

Dexter Morgan works for Miami Metro P.D. by day, as a blood spatter expert. Oh, the irony. Great show, by the way. I definitely recommend it.

TKJ

[Katana67 2907]

I think I will be subscribing to the doctrine of assuming the worst in people unless we arranged to meet in game beforehand. I've heard that the best way of getting equipment is from other players anyway.

Maybe not the best way, but certainly the fastest I'd say.

Faster than hiking up north, with whatever I find on the way (CZ, Winchester, Enfield) and looting heavily infested and highly-bandit-patrolled cities and military installations.

But yeah, I really am starting to hate the "get gunz" dynamic now. Well, not hate, but just become disenchanted with it. One can do pretty well with just a CZ, Winchester, or Enfield. Certainly as well as someone with an AK or M4. It's just a status thing I guess.

Obviously, if I happen upon a DMR whilst I have a CZ... I'll opt for the DMR. But I do want to stop placing such an emphasis on getting better weapons.

The one thing that I do risk my neck for, along with food/water when I need it, are the utilities and better packs.

[Royalfork 1]

I think I share my experience of going bandit with alot of people.

At first, I decided that I'd play a survivor, group up with other people, be friendly, ect. but things went sour from the start.

My bandit life started out with a simple encounter with another survivor that quickly became a self defense situation where it was either me or him, I of course choose me which set my humanity back quite a ways. This situation seemed to repeat itself several times and eventually earned me a Bandit skin, this only made things worse because now people were just shooting me on sight and I could no longer trust anyone. So eventually I said "screw it" and went full bandit.

But I wouldn't classify myself as one of those CZ 'psycos', I don't kill for sport, but if I'm starving or if you have really nice gear that I want, you'd better run.

[Banano (DayZ) 0]

It's a lot of nonsense to believe what people do in a game is in any way transferable to real life. I love shooting people from 500m away with my CZ in DayZ, but I wouldn't be doing that IRL lmao

[Lexi (DayZ) 5]

But yeah' date=' I really am starting to hate the "get gunz" dynamic now. Well, not hate, but just become disenchanted with it. One can do pretty well with just a CZ, Winchester, or Enfield. Certainly as well as someone with an AK or M4. It's just a status thing I guess.

[/quote']

The looting system does need tweaking, certainly. There needs to be a larger incentive for people to stay as survivors, to actually trust people rather than firing at them. As right now, playing as a bandit is the only way of surviving when confronted with a player. As more often than not, a "survivor" is just a wolf in sheep's clothing.

But yes, the Winchester is certainly an effective mid-range / zombie killing gun and the CZ is definitely the beginner PKing gun of choice.

[Royalfork 1]

But yeah' date=' I really am starting to hate the "get gunz" dynamic now. Well, not hate, but just become disenchanted with it. One can do pretty well with just a CZ, Winchester, or Enfield. Certainly as well as someone with an AK or M4. It's just a status thing I guess.

[/quote']

The looting system does need tweaking, certainly. There needs to be a larger incentive for people to stay as survivors, to actually trust people rather than firing at them. As right now, playing as a bandit is the only way of surviving when confronted with a player. As more often than not, a "survivor" is just a wolf in sheep's clothing.

But yes, the Winchester is certainly an effective mid-range / zombie killing gun and the CZ is definitely the beginner PKing gun of choice.

well so far with the new patch and the increase in zombie levels has completely changed my method of banditry, engaging survivors it towns has become much to risky, now I rely on ambushing people as they trek in between towns. Now, I sometimes wish I wasn't a bandit because looting a town on your own has gotten much more difficult these days.

[Haifisch 0]

But yeah' date=' I really am starting to hate the "get gunz" dynamic now. Well, not hate, but just become disenchanted with it. One can do pretty well with just a CZ, Winchester, or Enfield. Certainly as well as someone with an AK or M4. It's just a status thing I guess.

[/quote']

The looting system does need tweaking, certainly. There needs to be a larger incentive for people to stay as survivors, to actually trust people rather than firing at them. As right now, playing as a bandit is the only way of surviving when confronted with a player. As more often than not, a "survivor" is just a wolf in sheep's clothing.

But yes, the Winchester is certainly an effective mid-range / zombie killing gun and the CZ is definitely the beginner PKing gun of choice.

well so far with the new patch and the increase in zombie levels has completely changed my method of banditry, engaging survivors it towns has become much to risky, now I rely on ambushing people as they trek in between towns. Now, I sometimes wish I wasn't a bandit because looting a town on your own has gotten much more difficult these days.

I love that aspect of it, more zombies forcing people to work together in towns. That has to be the one real benefit of staying a survivor for as long as possible: you are at least slightly more trustworthy looking than an outright bandit.

[umario1992 2]

But yeah...

The looting system does need tweaking...

well so far...

I love that aspect of it' date=' more zombies forcing people to work together in towns. That has to be the one real benefit of staying a survivor for as long as possible: you are at least slightly more trustworthy looking than an outright bandit.

[/quote']

I find the new patch will make bandits more of hunters than opportunistic killers. Having shoot outs in the middle of town is no longer the smart move.

Maybe the solo survivors and bandits will think twice before shooting on sight, it will lessen the self defence situations the survivors cause to themselves.

Still whatever the devs and survivors throw at us we will adapt to survive since that is the reason we are bandits in the first place. (unless you are a souless killer)

[Katana67 2907]

Yeah, I really do like how hard it is to loot towns solo now. Or at least, it's slower and more dangerous. It's sort of irritating though, because sometimes I'll just stand up randomly and get aggro'd by zombies... which is weak.

But, outside of the deathtraps of Elektro and Cherno, I don't see too many bandits in towns like Stary Sobor anymore or any towns up north. There are just too many zombies to be packing off rounds at survivors with CZ's and DMR's. Much more dangerous in the fields though.

[Haifisch 0]

Yeah' date=' I really do like how hard it is to loot towns solo now. Or at least, it's slower and more dangerous. It's sort of irritating though, because sometimes I'll just stand up randomly and get aggro'd by zombies... which is weak.

But, outside of the deathtraps of Elektro and Cherno, I don't see too many bandits in towns like Stary Sobor anymore or any towns up north. There are just too many zombies to be packing off rounds at survivors with CZ's and DMR's. Much more dangerous in the fields though.

[/quote']

But isn't that the point? Cherno and Elektro ARE deathtraps. They are major population points in Chernarus and this they are dangerous as shit at night. I am not a veteran, I have probably played about 10 hours between 5 lives, but my point is that a dangerous spot SHOULD be dangerous, y'know? Nobody should walk up on one at night and if it is during the day you are still safer with 5 survivors rather than 1-2 bandits. I think it adds a nice benefit to retaining survivor status for as long as possible...