My first murder and now I feel guilty

[dnoparker@gmail.com 3]

I was stood in a tree line scouting a village below me, I was there for a good few minutes trying to plan my scavenging mission when I heard something move to my right. I turned to find another player sneaking up to my feet prone. He held a hatchet in his hand and I immediately pulled the trigger on him without hesitation. I heard him shout 'friendly' milliseconds before I killed him.

I don't know why I had this reaction! I didn't even think. Now I am washed with guilt because I know how frustrating it can be when another player has killed you.

Did you feel guilty about your first murder?

[Caviano 287]

He SNUCK up on you.... prone... with a weapon out. You did the right thing. He yelled friendly only because he thought it would buy him the second or two needed to bury an axe in your face. Good job ridding the island of one more bandit.

[sudZ! 115]

I'm dreading that situation... but I'd do the exact same thing as you. Anyone with a weapon out who hasn't said "friendly" ASAP is going to get it.

I just started playing tonight and had my first serious moral dilemma. I was scavenging in a farm when I heard a few shots fairly close to me. I peeked out of a door and saw a survivor being chased by 3 Zeds. All I had at the time was a hatchet so I decided to wait until he was close enough for me to come to his aid. Unfortunately, by the time he was close he had 3 more zeds running at him. I made the decision not to intervene and risk being killed by the zeds. So I stayed in the house while he was killed by the zeds. I actually felt terrible for not jumping in... But I don't mind having his shotgun!

Update: I died. By murder... sort of.

I made what I now believe was a noob error. I was in a small inland town and had looted the entire thing. I had the shotgun, a makarov, heat packs, bandages, cokes, beans, 3 morphines... I was feeling pretty good... It started to rain and I had to leave shortly so I figured it was a good time to disconnect. I found a house, crawled into the corner and disconnected.

Big.mistake.

The next time I connected this house had been made into a fortress. I could hear 3-4 people in the town wiping the zombies out with automatic fire, I could see barbed wire in the hallway and pretty much freaked out! haha. I got on DC and said "I'm on the outskirts of the town... are you friendly?" They immediately indicated that they were. However, I had made my second mistake... They regrouped in the house. It unfolded in about 5 seconds. A guy sprinted into the house and into my room. He just stopped in the doorway and looked at me. I fired first. It was just reaction from FPS games I think, because I'd made the conscious decision that I'd rather be killed than kill on my first character. A right of passage I suppose. So as I'm flailing away with my makarov he puts 3-4 assault rifle bullets into me and down I go.

My fault... almost entirely. It really makes you think about how you'd react in real life. I thought I knew, but now I'm not so sure!

Edited July 13, 2012 by sudZ!

[esuoh 35]

Nope.

[Dancing.Russian.Man 1631]

I did the exact same thing.

I in the entrance of the flight-control tower at the airstrip near the shore, casually looting the place.

I always check under the stairs first. And oh look! Someone was crouched there with an AK-74.

And of course, he had it pointed directly at me. So I flipped out, smashed F to set my AKM to Full Auto, and unloaded half a clip into him.

The thing is, right as I started firing, I heard "No, nononono wa--" and then he was dead.

And I found no clips on him.

Edit; First post below OP is right, though. Just because someone says "Friendly", doesn't mean that they're not going to kill you.

Edited July 12, 2012 by Dr621

[bigmess 18]

Murders +1 or Bandits killed +1? Check your debug monitor, please :)

Edited July 12, 2012 by bigmess

[Caviano 287]

Better safe than sorry.

[Booker (DayZ) 47]

It can go the other way though! I went to the airstrip in Balota on a mission to kill people and get some ammo, I ended up finding a guy with an axe running around the control tower screaming "FRIENDLY FRIENDLY! don't shoot! please let me hide in the building with you". I don't know what came over me but I decided to let him come into the building and also killed the stream of zeds chasing him too, knowing all the risks involved with shooting at such a highly trafficked place.

I had done a good deed, I had saved my fellow man from the blight of the zombies, but despite my efforts the man with the axe was not so good with his footing, he shouts "Wow thanks dude!" at me before taking a step too far and falling off the top of the control tower and killing himself.

Sometimes I think, WHAT'S THE POINT!

[Tropus 2]

Half the murders are probably bandits who're killed before they got their kill; read, self defense worked in the bandit's disfavor.

That said, I did feel bad first time I killed someone. Then again, so far the only time I killed someone, and I did it to save myself and a friend.

Some guy was running around cherno, with a dinner bell, loudly ringing it. So a lot of zombies in tow. He ran around and ran past us a couple of times (we were on the other side of a wall, at one of those crawl areas) We got scared he'd try to attack us or that the zombies would go 'n focus us. So when he got swarmed, my friend made the call, and I shot him, at the time though. He just fell down and was about to get eaten, so it was more of a mercy kill at that point. This game makes you paranoid though.

[ActionManZlt 160]

Murders +1 or Bandits killed +1? Check your debug monitor, please :)

N.B. when a bandit dies and respawns, they're no longer a "bandit" any more, and they've got to kill another 5 people before the game decides that they're a bandit again.

If you're one of their first 5 intended victims (after respawning), then defending yourself will count as +1 murder, not +1 bandit kill.

[beavaroo 90]

Doubtful he was planning on using that hatchet to make a campfire and toast marshmallows with you.

My one and only "murder" was a resut of a similar situation. At the NE airfield, some bod sneaking up behind me, pistol drawn. He stopped when i spun around to face him, but did not respond to my hail and kept his weapon trained on me; I went prone and put 10 Bison rounds into him.

Found out a few minutes late that I was in Vehicle Channel so he wouldn't have seen me trying to communicate. Felt bad about it for a while, but odds are if I hadn't fired, it would have been me dead instead.

It is good that you feel remorse; it shows you are immersed in the game and have a conscience.

Don't dwell on it, but try and learn from it. Do all that you can to avoid putting yourself in a position where you have to make that decision again.

Good luck out there.

[-MadTommy 367]

I was running through the woods.. when my 3 year daughter started screaming Daddy Daddy!.. so i dived under a fir tree and left my PC to attend to her.. when i came back i could hear russelling very close to me... i was being followed by 3 bandits...they were searching for me.. obviously they had lost sight of me just before i dived under said tree... one of them was 5 feet from me searching.. 2 other were 100 foot or so away.. my heart was pounding. For a minute or two this bandit was about 5 feet from me.. they knew i was close.. i lost my nerve, clicked my M16 to burst and gave him two burst into his side.. he was not looking at me, I darted in the opposite direction with a hail of bullets around me... but i got away. It came up as a murder...but they were not searching for me to give me beans... :)

I ran for about 5 km with my heart in my mouth! All the way to the top of Black Mountain! My daughter saved my life!

Edited July 12, 2012 by MadTommy

[pilot 13]

I ran with a fellow who swung a hatchet at me at first. He was a nice guy and the hatchet swing was the result of a bad alt tab, but that seems more like he was trying to kill you to me.

[NefRA 0]

It's become obvious of late that there's no room for hesitation if you bump into another survivor, I'm pretty trigger happy and my first murder was in a situation where I was surprised coming round a corner and didn't even need to think about it really.

I do tend to hunt people in Elektro/Chern who run around ringing the dinner bells and killing other people on sight (i.e. the idiot bandits) just for shits and giggles. But if out elsewhere and I can get eyes on someone before they see me I either just avoid them completely or initiate communication depending on my mood. I've received the same treatment, been killed by people who appeared out of nowhere and they were quicker on the draw, and I've had people talk to me who I've not seen, Outside of Elektro + Chern I've never just been murdered in cold blood.

[Cafuddled 0]

The last time I had someone shout friendly at me while running past will be the last time I listened to anyone shouting that as this one said it just so he could run past me then circle back and shoot me on my side. Friendly my ass, they mostly shout that just so they can have time to kill you, "the friendly is a lie"!

[wolfleader01 3]

me and my clan mates will shout friendly just to get the upper hand in combat, its a tactic, and it works, never trust anyone, not even your friends!

[ajrunke03@gmail.com 30]

Yeah, I definitely felt guilty...it was more of a twitch reaction when I turned and saw someone running behind me and I just shot. Then the guy I was playing with said "Oh that guy was harmless. I think he just wanted to join our group. He's been following us for a while."

...but then I got killed over and over for no reason at all. Now I just player kill and feel no remorse at all. In fact, it feels great knowing that I may be getting payback against a couple of these douchebag player killers. I don't consider myself a douchebag playerkiller, only a vengence-ridden hero.

Then, the same person I was playing with heard somone yelling over their mic to shoot the aggroed zeds off his back. My buddy did so and the little jerk put away his axe, pulled out a pistol and shot my buddy. Now he has the same mentality as I do. Shoot every little miserable person you see in game. On sight.

Edited July 12, 2012 by a. james

[dnoparker@gmail.com 3]

Thank you for your replies :)

From what I gather from your responses, I did the right thing. If he wasn't up to no good, he would of said 'friendly' as soon as he saw me. I guess I'll head north so I am avoid any other interaction with other players :P

[terraknight 11]

I was running at Balota airstrip when the guy came running into the ACT when we were there. We killed the Zeds and he came down and was all like "FREINDLY, FIRENDLY!!!? he had an MP5 SD equipped, and I was scared shitless... Well, we let him tag along a while, but when he went into prone to go under a fence, a spark lit up in me. I don't know what it was, if it was just the feeling he would soon betray us, or just out of sheer evil, but I took out my Makarov and put a whole clip in his back. His last words was "aaaaw maaaan" then the flies started flocking to him. I felt I had done something extremely evil, and I sensed a wellbeing I never had before.

I am evil now, that person, no, I changed because of it. Hope to never meet you ingame fellas, cause I won't hesitate at all any longer

[William_Munny 12]

You shouldn't feel guilty. He snuk up on you with an axe out and probably would have chopped off your head had you not shot him. I do love how this game invokes emotions though.

I was in the fire station at elektro and I heard zeds chasing a guy just outside. He was in some distress because i went out and there were three of them feasting on his screaming body. I killed the zeds and told him i'm friendly and i'm going to bandage him up.

I can't quite recall but I think I only had a mak and some supplies. Just as I finish fixing him up he turns at me and puts a bullet in my skull.

Just one of many bad expreiences but I still love trying to help others.

[DemonicNarwhal 1]

Hes crawling prone towards your back, without you knowing. Obviously hes going to try and dice you up and enjoy your juicy meat.

Anyone that is behind you crawling without saying anything until there leaning over your shoulder with a weapon drawn is obviously going to try and kill you.

[Sureksots 0]

My first murder was really badass.. I saw a player running to the gas stadion without a weapon. I ran to him and stayed in front of him with my gun pointing on him . He stayed still and saluted. Then I shooted . I dont know why I did that. It wasnt nessesary.. Maybe for that what a dickhead did . I saved his life on balota from a zombie wave . He walked behind me ...found an AK74 and ...killed me ..

[DopeGirl 6]

Agree with that you shouldn't feel guilty.

[morunas 0]

Yesterday a friend of mine and I were in this place with some barns just outside a town and he was crawling cause he fell and broke some bones. We had no morphine at the time so he crawled around.

We were just scaveging for morphine when someone shoots at us. He couldn't make it to the inside one of the barns quick enough. I reached to kill one of the two guys that apparently were shooting at us but

apparently they were not bandits so it counted as murder... I find it a bit strange... I kill someone who shoots at me and it states me as murder... (just one murder but still).

It would be awesome that there would be just few more things to slightly motivate team play more. I mean the adrenaline pump and player fear should ALWAYS be there... but currently the only reason why

I should team up with a stranger is if I need help with blood bags or if (rarely) I would be starving/thirsty AND meet a player that "seems" (lol) friendly. Because overall 2 players are more likely to be spotted by bandits then 1 alone sneaking around I would say. Unless very well coordinated...

more people means more mess which means lower expectancy of survival... just a feeling.

[DeTaiLz 18]

I sometimes feel bad when killing another player, but alot of people have done the same to me, so i feel mad and kill them.