Rarity of encounters makes them far more intense

[Survivor1431 116]

If you travel around for many hours and meet no one, and find really good gear, then you become more and more relaxed as you feel more secure in your environment. You stop scanning for other players as often. Your mind starts wandering and loses focus. You begin daydreaming. You just feel immersed in the world as you hike on and on, hearing the wind and birds, and the hypnotic thud of your boots. You forget that Chernarus was ever dangerous. You make more risky decisions. You travel on main roads instead of through forests. You stop looking behind you, and you stop making sure that no one else is in the building you have entered. Then you see animals, and decide to shoot them and kill them even though you already have plenty of food. "Oh wow, I just shot bullets. That was loud, I didn't realize how quiet it had been. Was that a mistake? What if someone heard that? I should get moving". So you start moving through the town and check the medical building. Then you head to the police station and notice that the infected are aggravated and making noises. It's unusual so you wonder if someone is in the station. You go up and check the stairs and see no one. You open a door and all of a sudden there is another survivor with a big red backpack and a rifle, kneeling and looking out the window as you stare at the back of his head. Your mind goes blank and you raise your fully loaded AKM instinctively, pointing it straight at his back. You fire a shot and his backpack is ruined. You pause. He begins to turn around and you send 3 more shots into his back and watch him drop to the floor, presumably dead. Your heart immediately begins to race. You check his body and take the ammo and food that was not ruined.  Then you think, "Wait, what if he has friends? I should get out of here now." You panic and run out of the police station, attentively scanning your surroundings for other players. You retreat into the woods outside of town. Your heart is still beating fast. Your feel the adrenaline coursing through your body. Then it dawns on you "I just killed someone. I never expected that...I'm so lucky I saw him first. He could have killed me! I could have died. I did it. I'm still alive. Kill or be killed. That was so intense. Let's keep going..."

I think a primary reason that encounters like the one above are so intense in DayZ is because they don't happen very often. If they happened all the time, you would get used to gunfire and danger, and it would become the new normal. But instead your normal environment is peacefully hiking through Chernarus without significant threat. You develop a false blanket of security the longer you go without seeing someone else. You take it for granted that you are safe. But then after some amount of time that feeling of relaxation is suddenly interrupted by the sight of another player. Now you are no longer safe. You spiral from order into chaos.

Edited January 17, 2019 by Survivor1431

[Mantasisg 172]

It is ok, it is great for you. I have different feelings. Rarity of encounters makes me not to play DayZ. 

You basically wrote down how you KoS someone, however in such situation and especially deep inlands it is easier to justify, in coast it would be pretty much straight up banditry. KoS itself makes interactions more rare and vice verse, and game more boring and useless (if KoS is way too much, usually reason is that players are unimaginative simpletons). If interactions would happen all the time a lot more of them would be friendly, and it would be simply more challenging, and game would produce much more quality time, instead of five seconds KoS act for hours of play. 

DayZ used to work well. But the design of gameplay was heavily changed. Not for guys like me, it is ok, can't be selfish. Just sometimes i write a rant like this.

My version:

If you travel around for many hours and meet no one, and find really good gear, then you become more and more bored as you feel more pointless in your environment. You stop scanning for other players as often. Your mind gets neurotic and you get depressed. You begin to hate your life and do stupid stuff in a damn pointless video game. You just don't feel immersed in the world, you know you could hike on and on IRL instead of this, hearing real wind and birds, and real sound of the steps. You remember that Chernarus was much more exciting. You make more stupid decisions. You travel on main roads instead of through forests. You look for players, and you wish that someone else is in the building you have entered. Then you see zombies, and decide to shoot them and kill them even though you could easily avoid them, because you are bored. "Oh wow, I just shot bullets. That was loud, I didn't realize how quiet it had been. "I can finally use the gun at least like that, I hope I attract other players. I should wait". You wait, nothing happens. You start moving through the town and check the medical building. Then you head to the police station and notice that the infected are aggravated and making noises. It's unusual so you wonder if someone is in the station. You go up and check the stairs and see no one. You open a door and all of a sudden there is another survivor with a big red backpack and a rifle, kneeling and looking out the window as you stare at the back of his head. Your mind goes blank and you raise your fully loaded AKM instinctively, pointing it straight at his back. You pause. He begins to turn around and you hide and negotiate. Your heart immediately begins to race. But you both end up to be friendly.  Then it turns out that he is a member of four people team who are also friendly to friendly players. You feel trust, but also stay aware of the worst. Finally you get ambushed by other group, and you have a great fight and survive it. Unfortunately darkness drops and you can't find your friends and rush to find food, water and get warm. Though usually you just don't meet anyone.
 

Edited January 17, 2019 by Mantasisg

[Parazight 1599]

We keep on surviving.