I'm going to make a change, even if it's just for myself, starting with one word.

[Techercizer 82]

From now on, I refuse to use the word player in discussing people who test Day Z, and the word play in discussing what people do when testing Day Z. A lot of our rhetoric on these forums has become steeped in error accrued over time, and these semantic nuances wind up influencing how we see and think of this game. Yes, this game is fun. Yes, I do it at least as much for my own enjoyment as for the development of the mod. This doesn't change the fact that I am here as a tester, and that I would rather improve the mod than have a good laugh.

I do this not to try to bring everyone to my view, or to make sweeping changes in the community. I do it because the these terms are inaccurate, and do not represent what I want to say; I don't know why I've been using them this far.

This is not a game. This is an alpha of a mod. We are not players. We are testers. Call Day Z whatever you feel like. I won't judge you. I will not continue to perpetuate this misunderstanding, either.

Edited July 13, 2012 by Techercizer

[Testificate 7]

It is called DayZ and we are "testers" but we are also "players". This is a mod of a game in alpha... so it's kind of a game non'theless.

I do not want to say you cannot name other people whatever you want, but why do you inform us?

[Techercizer 82]

I posted this for two reasons.

First: if there are any people out there who feel as I do but have not realized the semantic missteps they are making, as I only recently have, I wanted to make them aware of their actions and open this as an option.

Second, and more importantly: when people ask me why I talk weird, I can just link them here.

Also, if someone really rubs me the wrong way by acting entitled, I reserve the right to start nitpicking their word choice. It is a feat I must perform sparingly, responsibly, if at all.

Edited July 13, 2012 by Techercizer

[matt.gilmurray@gmail.com 46]

We testers are happy testers ^_^.

[digitalmatt06@live.com 0]

We are testicles

[Hetstaine 10852]

I'm just here for the food.

Edited July 13, 2012 by Hetstaine

[DeadManDan 23]

Ya man! As a fellow testie I see dayZ as the experiment rocket is doing so he can form an actualized basis of a game that can get funding from companies to put fulltime effort into.

[chhopsky 25]

To be fair, I think this is a very short-sighted view for a few reasons. It may technically be an alpha, but realistically, it's not. Just like how Gmail was in 'beta' for literally half a decade. Aside from the rate of change, DZ has more in common with a retail game than with an alpha.

- the mod has sold nearly more copies of the game than the game did in its 3-year run

- the developer works for the game developer and is being paid to work on it full time

- no alpha, or beta for that matter, is usually ever on this scale

- standalone is coming, people are obviously buying the game for day-z

We aren't just testers, we are a serious revenue stream for BI. I need to re-iterate that because it's important, our wanting to 'test' has made AS MUCH profit as the original game did.

I don't think it's reasonable to complain about most alpha-ey behaviour because we need to accept, straight up, that this is something in heavy development. That should go without saying. It's going to be janky, you're going to get hit through walls, you're going to pick things up and they despawn. Shit's gonna go wrong.

BUT. I think we also need some understanding that when there are huge flaws like wilderness debug plains, that can actually prevent a person from playing at all and effectively remove their ability to play the game at all .. that's serious. Bugs that impede your gameplay are acceptable, bugs that kill you and remove all your progress are frustrating and shit for anyone but sometimes we have to let them go. Bugs that prevent you from playing at all should be addressed. Whether we call it an alpha or not, BI is paying for this mod to be made. Enough people are buying ArmA2 to put it atop sales charts again, let's not think that this isn't a product. A rose by any other name. By it's very nature, it's combining things that we've never seen before. It's just also doing that with its development stages.

inb4 I call people 'survivors' or 'bandits'.

Edited July 13, 2012 by chhopsky

[BTT` 15]

Maybe that is what will make the difference for this mod. I am by no means an expert on developing mods. This is my first Alpha and to be honest whouldn't know what is expected of me as far as what to test. But maybe there is something to say about people playing the shit out of it (I fall here) instead of testing it. Seems enough people report the bugs and whatnot. Sometimes a little over zealously but still. I can't think of anything offhand that I have found that has not been reported repeatedly. I actually come here when weird things happen and always find someone has beat me to it and I understand it is a bug and probably being worked on so I just go on playing best I can.

[fml 29]

After reading this thread in it's entirety...

I'm about to go play some DayZ.