DayZ for purists - Keeping it real

[Noble Savage 116]

I'm a part of a small group of players, currently 3 members, that choose to make this game as difficult for ourselves as possible, we strive for ultimate realism and immersion in order to extract maximum enjoyment and satisfaction from the DayZ experience. We do this by strictly adhering to the following 7 rules.

 

1 - No 3rd person view

We play only on first person servers

 

2 - No 3rd party comms

No TeamSpeak, Skype etc when in game, No email/Steam/forum pm's relating directly to in game activities or locations. No arranging to meet etc. We do this when in game via direct chat, radios and through the use of notes using pre-arranged drops. We are also working on a system of coded messages, for example 2 sticks left by a selected spot near the wall outside the NWAF indicates one of us is looting there, so be careful who you shoot.

 

3 - No Dayz db map bollocks

We avoid any out of game tools that make locating items or places easier, we use in game maps/compass and the sun, moon and stars along with our knowledge of Chernarus to navigate our way around.

 

4 - No server hopping

Absolutely not, we play on a small selection of 1pp only private and public hive servers, if the server resets during play we always rejoin that particular server to resume play although when beginning a new play session we can join any of our favourites, arrangements to meet on particular servers are done in game using the methods described above.

 

5 - No combat logging

Even with the timer system we frown upon cowardice, the only time we log is when we are done for the day or night.

 

6 - Gamma cheating is for pussies

Goes without saying, if the sun has gone down then flares, chemlights and torches are the order of the night.

 

7 - No Duping/exploiting

Obviously absolutely no duping or exploiting of any kind is permitted, this includes ladder bugs and taking advantage of other flaws in the games mechanics.

 

 

Things can get complicated, for example myself and a friend once lost each other for over 3 weeks, we kept returning to favourite haunts on favourite servers until I eventually found a note which gave coordinates for my friends new camp which I found, I left a note arranging to meet him there the following evening and our period of separation ended thus.

 

These separations are not rare and often last for a few days, once persistence is functioning more consistently this will become less of an issue, although we actually enjoy this aspect of the game and the challenge of finding each other gives our game a real sense of purpose and that feeling we get when we finally spot each other is really very rewarding.

 

Are there any other players that play in this way? Are there any other steps we could take to further improve upon our quest to play DayZ in the purest way possible?

 

 

 

edit

A couple of people have pm'd me and expressed an interest in what we are doing and have asked where we play, so here is a list of our favourite servers for anyone else who would like to try and get involved. All 1st person only, 2 public and 2 private.

 

Scandanavian allstars (public)
The violent gentlemen's club (public)
The last division (private)
Dayz underground (private)

 

and we are - NobleSavage, BovverBoi and TrickyToerag, if you see us in the server list jump in and let's hope our paths cross and it goes peacefully : )

 

As stated elsewhere in this topic, we are not a clan, there is no hierarchy, we are more of a loose community of likeminded souls who share a common vision. Anyone who feels as though this way of playing might be for them is more than welcome to attempt to cross our paths and make a connection, the more the merrier, although it has to be said that anyone can play this way, it doesn't require any kind of group membership although an experience shared is always more valuable.

 

We are planning on getting our own private shard server sometime in the future which will be whitelisted/passworded and aimed specifically at other players of a purist persuasion, I will update here if and when that happens, of course it will be persistence enabled, normal day and night cycles and will be purist in any other ways that the devs give admin options for. None of us have any experience with running a server so we would be very interested in hearing from anyone who knows their way around the admin console.

 

keep it real : )

Edited December 16, 2014 by Noble Savage

[pillock 850]

Beans to you, sir.

 

I like your idea of locating your friends using only in-game methods. Might give that a bash. I've tried using in-game comms only, but would always have arranged a meeting place outside the game first.

 

I adhere to all your other rules except the one about 3pp servers - I have no problem with them, given that I don't go in for gun fights if I can avoid it.

[Noble Savage 116]

Beans to you, sir.

 

I like your idea of locating your friends using only in-game methods. Might give that a bash. I've tried using in-game comms only, but would always have arranged a meeting place outside the game first.

 

I adhere to all your other rules except the one about 3pp servers - I have no problem with them, given that I don't go in for gun fights if I can avoid it.

the 1pp rule is mainly personal preference, using in game comms only really adds to the feeling of being there, now persistence is slowly being improved the use of notes and coded signals etc really has the potential to allow more players to try dayz without the magical meta gaming chat tools that, in our opinion lessens the experience.

[Steak and Potatoes 13480]

Sounds like my playstyle alright, keep it classy :beans: .

[Chaingunfighter 917]

It may not necessarily be "pure" in the same sense, but sometimes I challenge myself to play the "hermit" style, where I only use minimal manufactured/pre-apocalypse goods to survive -

 

• No guns, period. Most lootable melee weapons are off-limits, too, but sometimes I temporarily take one until I can get a sharpened ashwood stick. The ashwood bow is the only ranged weapon allowed.
• Only crafted clothes. Until now it wasn't at all possible, but I use the ghillie suit now (when I can) as it's the closest I can get. When animal skins can be crafted into the jacket and hat (and possibly other articles), I'll switch over to them.
• Only use the improvised backpacks - and it must be one of the leather ones.
• Limit your sources of food - using looted items at first is fine (though it has to be fruit/vegetables, no packaged/canned food), but you must switch over to hunting and fishing (traps are fine) when possible.
• Must have an appropriate campsite. (I like using the mines for now, though hopefully we'll get more caves in the future.)

I understand that this playstyle isn't complete yet and you still can't really play a fully "natural" character, but you'd be surprised how fun it gets trying to play as a caveman while avoiding other people who are much better armed and tracking your prey.

[Apollo'sFire 31]

interesting concept, i can see how it would work really well on a private shard unless it all got reset after a restart, that would be annoying if you had a short amount of time to play, i'm going to discuss this with my group.

[CJ_14 105]

I like realism, but that sounds more like a forced game experience than a funny game (which imo is the reason why we are all here). I don't mind to play on 3pp serves, with other clans grouping trough skype using gamma exploit an night on military bases, but I do not mind if I play on a night server, with no gamma exploit, using no 3rd party comm on 1pp. I can play either way and everything n between

[Judopunch 523]

 

2 - No 3rd party comms

No TeamSpeak, Skype etc when in game, No email/Steam/forum pm's relating directly to in game activities or locations. No arranging to meet etc. We do this when in game via direct chat and through the use of notes using pre-arranged drops. We are also working on a system of coded messages, for example 2 sticks left by a selected spot near the wall outside the NWAF indicates one of us is looting there, so be careful who you shoot.

 

3 - No Dayz db map bollocks

We avoid any out of game tools that make locating items or places easier, we use in game maps/compass and the sun, moon and stars along with our knowledge of Chernarus to navigate our way around.

 

 

See... Here is the problem. lets take #2 first.

 

You are going to pre-arrange drop locations how? By calling your friends? Sending an email? How are you going to find your friends in the first place? Are you all going to call each other and say 'lets play'. It just appears that with this you have the ability to be insanely hypocritical. And for what? I see what your getting at but in order to really do this your going to have to be at a lan with every other person in the server.

 

And with 3, once you know the map you know the map. You already have knowledge of Chernarus, having lived and died there over and over again. The in-game map is also easy to find and honestly better than the DB one for location and navigation. So at the point you have EVER seen a DayZDB map, or played more than a couple lives in Chernarus this becomes rather pointless.

 

 

NOW if you can get 100 people together on a lan and have them play for 3 or 4 days straight as a competition for last survivor(s) standing then you would be on to something, possibly.

 

But I fail to see the added effect especially #2. If you don't want that just don't play with your real life friends.

 

 

Now what I would be all for in response to #2 is that if you die you cant log into the same server for a day or two, and all stashed persistent items take a random amount of damage. This prevents running back to your body/equipment.

 

But as it stands #2, while a cute idea, cant be enforced for the general public, and #3 has no point because of accumulated knowledge.

[Deathlove 2286]

6 - Gamma cheating is for pussies

Goes without saying, if the sun has gone down then flares, chemlights and torches are the order of the night.

 

You can enforce your friends to play this way all you want however the majority of other players me included will continue to use the gamma adjust to keep the edge on our playing styles sharp. And while i cant question your playing style of how good you are it does leave you at a huge disadvantage when fighting other players due to everyone else not following those rules.

 

I would have no issue with the dark if there was a way the developers could force the this kind of graphics playstyle however as it stands there is no steps in the future for fixing this kind of issue. And it just leaves you exposed among a pack of wolves.

[Grimey Rick 3417]

So how do you find your friends?

[Noble Savage 116]

See... Here is the problem. lets take #2 first.

 

You are going to pre-arrange drop locations how? By calling your friends? Sending an email? How are you going to find your friends in the first place? Are you all going to call each other and say 'lets play'. It just appears that with this you have the ability to be insanely hypocritical. And for what? I see what your getting at but in order to really do this your going to have to be at a lan with every other person in the server.

 

We pre arrange the drops in game, we meet when we meet. For example, of the 5 drop boxes we use, all of which were discussed and agreed upon in game, one is in an outside toilet close to a house West of Novo, last night I went there and found 2 notes, one saying - 'want to go hunt for a V3S? meet between 7 and 8 pm GMT at the Starry barn Sunday night', the second was from Tricky and said ''will be there'. I removed the notes, placed one of my own stating 'see you sunday' and thus we shall meet and play together for the first time this week.

 

We all met in game, we got chatting about teamspeak etc and just decided to try and give playing this way a go, and we haven't looked back.

 

And with 3, once you know the map you know the map. You already have knowledge of Chernarus, having lived and died there over and over again. The in-game map is also easy to find and honestly better than the DB one for location and navigation. So at the point you have EVER seen a DayZDB map, or played more than a couple lives in Chernarus this becomes rather pointless.

 

I am quite new to the game and there are many areas I have never visited and I regularly find myself lost, of course eventually I will know the map like the back of my hand, but I will know it thanks to my experiences and memory, not by glancing at a tool created by someone else, also we avoid topics and posts that list heli crash sites etc, anything that would spoil the surprise and joy of finding one for ourselves. Again, eventually we will learn all this stuff through our experiences, and that is fine.

 

NOW if you can get 100 people together on a lan and have them play for 3 or 4 days straight as a competition for last survivor(s) standing then you would be on to something, possibly.

 

The more the merrier

 

But I fail to see the added effect especially #2. If you don't want that just don't play with your real life friends.

 

We are none of us real life friends, we will only join with others we meet in game

 

Now what I would be all for in response to #2 is that if you die you cant log into the same server for a day or two, and all stashed persistent items take a random amount of damage. This prevents running back to your body/equipment.

 

we never run back to bodies, we consider this to be against the spirit of the game, a kind of exploit.

 

But as it stands #2, while a cute idea, cant be enforced for the general public, and #3 has no point because of accumulated knowledge.

 

we don't seek to enforce anything on anyone, we play this way by choice, anyone else that we meet and likes the idea is welcome to become a member of our loose community, we are not a clan, we are players who enjoy making things as difficult, realistic and immersive as possible, how anyone else plays is their business and we don't judge.

 

 

You can enforce your friends to play this way all you want however the majority of other players me included will continue to use the gamma adjust to keep the edge on our playing styles sharp. And while i cant question your playing style of how good you are it does leave you at a huge disadvantage when fighting other players due to everyone else not following those rules.

 

See my last answer above, as for placing ourselves at a huge disadvantage, it's true, again this is by choice, we enjoy a challenge, we often pay the ultimate price for playing this way, however when things go our way the sense of achievement and reward is as huge as the disadvantages we have overcome to achieve it.

 

I would have no issue with the dark if there was a way the developers could force the this kind of graphics playstyle however as it stands there is no steps in the future for fixing this kind of issue. And it just leaves you exposed among a pack of wolves.

 

Indeed, I refer you to my previous response.

 

 

So how do you find your friends?

 

by searching for them, and by leaving each other notes and coded messages in places where we know the others will eventually look, sometimes, when servers get wiped or persistence fails or someone else discovers the note etc the message never gets through, as mentioned in the OP we are often separated for days at a time, but we like this aspect, the feeling we enjoy after finally locating one another after a few days apart is really very special, it certainly beats 'hey meet you in starry in 10 minutes' over teamspeak.

Edited December 15, 2014 by Noble Savage

[Pillionaire91 1]

It may not necessarily be "pure" in the same sense, but sometimes I challenge myself to play the "hermit" style, where I only use minimal manufactured/pre-apocalypse goods to survive -

 

• No guns, period. Most lootable melee weapons are off-limits, too, but sometimes I temporarily take one until I can get a sharpened ashwood stick. The ashwood bow is the only ranged weapon allowed.
• Only crafted clothes. Until now it wasn't at all possible, but I use the ghillie suit now (when I can) as it's the closest I can get. When animal skins can be crafted into the jacket and hat (and possibly other articles), I'll switch over to them.
• Only use the improvised backpacks - and it must be one of the leather ones.
• Limit your sources of food - using looted items at first is fine (though it has to be fruit/vegetables, no packaged/canned food), but you must switch over to hunting and fishing (traps are fine) when possible.
• Must have an appropriate campsite. (I like using the mines for now, though hopefully we'll get more caves in the future.)

I understand that this playstyle isn't complete yet and you still can't really play a fully "natural" character, but you'd be surprised how fun it gets trying to play as a caveman while avoiding other people who are much better armed and tracking your prey.

 

Hey bro, I want to try this method of playing, also to the OP I would like to try out your style as well.  Any way you guys can PM me and I will add you so we can do this?  I would love it honestly.

[Noble Savage 116]

Hey bro, I want to try this method of playing, also to the OP I would like to try out your style as well.  Any way you guys can PM me and I will add you so we can do this?  I would love it honestly.

alas I cannot arrange to meet you, I will pm you a short list of servers where we play, if we happen to meet in game and we all survive the encounter we shall take it from there ; )

[Dagwood 680]

Radios would make finding one another much easier you know... While using notes and predetermined drop points sounds intriguing, radios would make getting together and actually playing together a much shorter process.

I respect your mentality in regards to other players' choices to exploit or somehow gain an advantage over you. The feeling of accomplishment after winning from a disadvantageous position makes all of the losses in between seem irrelevant. This is a great example of how dayz can be whatever experience you choose it to be. Beans to you, sir.

[Noble Savage 116]

Radios would make finding one another much easier you know... While using notes and predetermined drop points sounds intriguing, radios would make getting together and actually playing together a much shorter process.

I respect your mentality in regards to other players' choices to exploit or somehow gain an advantage over you. The feeling of accomplishment after winning from a disadvantageous position makes all of the losses in between seem irrelevant. This is a great example of how dayz can be whatever experience you choose it to be. Beans to you, sir.

 indeed, we are very excited about radios, so far we haven't all managed to possess one at the same time, however we are working on it. : )

[Grimey Rick 3417]

I'm glad you're enjoying the game, but I don't buy the whole leaving notes thing. I don't expect you give a damn whether I do or not, but that just seems too random. How did you guys meet each other the first time? When you leave a note that says, "See you Sunday," what if your friend can't make it? Does he shoot you a message or leave you in the dark potentially waiting there for hours?

Survival in this game is already so easy, but to me, this is just forcing you to play an already boring game by yourself most of the time. If it wasn't for TeamSpeak and being able to shoot the shit with my pals while playing, I'd never log on.

Anyway, kudos to you for trying to make this game fun again.

[Noble Savage 116]

I'm glad you're enjoying the game, but I don't buy the whole leaving notes thing. I don't expect you give a damn whether I do or not, but that just seems too random. How did you guys meet each other the first time? When you leave a note that says, "See you Sunday," what if your friend can't make it? Does he shoot you a message or leave you in the dark potentially waiting there for hours?

 

If we can't make it we try to leave a message beforehand at the planned meeting place, not always possible and it has happened before that one of us has been unable to make it and had no way of relaying the info, this results in a bit of wasted time but no more harm than that is done, the way I see it in DayZ no time is really wasted.

 

When making arrangements to meet we always make it between X o'clock and Y o'clock, usually a window of an hour and give each other a few days to make a response. This was decided after a couple of occasions when one of us was left waiting. If there is a no show we leave a message for him in case he turns up late letting him know a time and place we will be able to rendezvous later on. We keep learning and improving our communication systems to limit potential issues. The 2 sticks signal at the NWAF and other looting destinations for example came about after we very nearly shot each other once.

 

Survival in this game is already so easy, but to me, this is just forcing you to play an already boring game by yourself most of the time. If it wasn't for TeamSpeak and being able to shoot the shit with my pals while playing, I'd never log on.

 

We were all DayZ lone wolves when we met, We are quite happy to play alone or together, We all play other games 'socially' and enjoy banter with friends while playing them using teamspeak and other apps, however we just believe that DayZ is a slightly different kind of game that seems to us to be far more enjoyable when played in the way described above. I can only speak for myself and to a certain degree my 2 comrades but we really don't want to listen to banter unrelated to the situation we may find ourselves in in-game or listen to the voices of those who are not even here, except over an in-game radio, and let's not even mention the obligatory youtube/gif link spammer every channel seems to have.

 

It's simply about immersion and realism.

 

The loneliness and solitude, the sense of isolation and the struggle to keep in touch is something we find  only adds considerably to the atmosphere and bleakness most often associated with the post apocalyptic theme. And we have plenty of banter when we hook up with each other or other random survivors, it just has slightly more edge to it when there is a chance you may be overheard. Finding a note or other sign of a friends presence really does make for some pleasant moments.

 

Scarcity adds value and this applies at least as much to human companionship as it does to any other resource. The way we play the game meeting up is a real thrill, something we look forward to and don't take for granted. I have never experienced a real post apocalyptic world but part of me feels it would be more like this than how it can be during an average session in a teamspeak channel.

 

Anyway, kudos to you for trying to make this game fun again.

 

And that is all we are doing, as said before we don't pass judgement on the way others play, we don't claim that this is the way dayz should be played, we do feel however that this is the way we want to play it and we all agree quite strongly that we enjoy it considerably more now than we did before.

Edited December 15, 2014 by Noble Savage

[cruiseashimself 56]

Wait... you can leave notes now?

[Noble Savage 116]

Wait... you can leave notes now?

on persistence enabled servers.

[cruiseashimself 56]

on persistence enabled servers.

 

 

Assuming you use a pen and... what do you write on?

 

Sorry I know it's a bit off topic.

[Noble Savage 116]

Assuming you use a pen and... what do you write on?

 

Sorry I know it's a bit off topic.

you can find scraps of paper or tear blank pages from books, just drag the pen to the paper and select 'write note' and type your message, once saved you cannot edit or delete. Also you can't write on paper that has already been written on.

Edited December 15, 2014 by Noble Savage

[beansy 41]

i like the idea of this but if i am too lazy to go to all that effort and i like teamspeak because it gives us a huge advantage over lone players, we can plan and discuss our ambush safe in the knowledge that they can't hear a thing, i know that ain't really in the spirit of the game but i need me easy kills lol

[Jex 1104]

Once the game is finished I'll be trying different methods of play including the ones mentioned above - why not? They all sound challenging and fun and it's not like you're going to lose anything at all. The only issue I have with voice is not being able to speak quietly enough when you want to - ACRE or ACE had a shout/normal/whisper mode I wish they would incorporate.

[Dagwood 680]

To take this "purist's" approach a bit further, why not force yourself to purify all of your water and use disinfectant spray to pick up any loot from a corpse? Cook all canned food?

[geoffdeath 43]

no3  too right

 

found the new military base located in the south west of the map couple of dayz ago.

 

sure could have found it on dbmap but was more wandering upon it in my travels.