Morality

[joshtheacer 0]

I am fairly new to DayZ, and just recently iv gotten good enough to consistently live long enough to get some decent gear, weapons, ETC before I die. I have had a few experiences with pesky bandits, 5 or 6 times I have gotten shot by a camper in a military base or town even though I scouted the town out for 20 minutes or more. As everyone knows, getting jumped by a bandit is annoying, but everyone also realizes it does pay off.

So, I finally decided I wanted a piece of this bandit action, (fairly normal phase right?). There I was, camping outside of Cherno with my enfield, waiting for a potential target. I get bored and pop a zombie in the head that's a hundred yards out. Suddenly I hear more shooting and see a guy running towards me, being pursued by two zombies. Evidently my shot had alerted the zombies who attacked him. He runs towards me, (this is my chance, right? time to shoot him!) I take a few shots at the poor guy and I miss. He kills the zombie and thinks I was trying to help him..He says thanks, offers me some ammo, and asks if I have a blood bag. I tell him I do and take a minute fumbling in my inventory thinking.. Finally, I tell him I am about to use it, and I shot him in the face. He goes down, I look at his gear and suddenly I am jumped by 4 zombies from the sound of my shot. Instantly I am on the ground, bone broken, bleeding out. And all I could think was how sorry I was that I shot him. Not because it led to my death as well, but because I legitimately felt bad for ending his good team, who knows how long he had been alive? There was no reason for me to kill him. He even offered to help me out, and what did I do? I betrayed the unspoken trust between us. I am sure a lot of you scoff and think "rage rage rage you can't trust anyone!!!!11!!1! you suck cuz you got eaten by zombies after the kill!!!" But that isn't it, we did trust each other briefly, I don't feel bad that I died, I feel terrible for killing him. I had no idea this essence of morality could be so powerful in a simple video game... But it isn't simple, is it? This is an incredibly complex game, constantly transforming how you play it. After that experience I am resolved that I am only going to help others in the game, whether that leads to death sometimes or not, that's okay. It's worth it to me. Because if we can't at least sometimes depend on each other in this apocalypse, what do we have left?

For any that actually read this, thanks for surviving my drawn out, rambling thoughts. Id love to hear yours on this matter

[mikkelbooiiy 0]

wow, nice post bro :D

[Riplak 2]

Very good post. Sums up how I feel about encountering other survivors.

[izodn 37]

Game based on survival, I feel terrible for every person I shoot down. But its not smart survival if you take too many risks. I never shoot on sight.

[Riplak 2]

Game based on survival' date=' I feel terrible for every person I shoot down. But its not smart survival if you take too many risks. [b']I never shoot on sight.

["Lost" Alice 205]

Rocket's goal with the Day Z mod was to have players experience real human emotions during a video game. When I first got hardcore betrayed by dudes I was adventuring with for the better half of that afternoon; I literally sat at my computer staring at the YOU ARE DEAD screen for like five minutes so hurt, and shocked and heartbroken thinking

"WHY!? FOR MY SHOTGUN!? WHAT DID I DO TO YOU!? WE SHARED BEANS FOR FUCKSAKES"

I felt so stupid for having such an emotional response to something in a video game, until the guy who shot me messaged me and said sorry. They never meant to shoot me, but I had accidentally gotten in the way of them killing this OTHER dude and they felt awful.

And when I browsed the forums more and realized that it was Rocket's intention all along, I felt a little less silly. But I really enjoyed your post joshtheacer :) thank you so much for sharing