Madness. Madness and Stupidity and Hope

[SGTFledge 43]

When I jumped into this mod, I knew what I was in for. I knew that even though I should have my weapon up at all times, shooting on sight because of how many anecdotes I find here about betrayal and pointless killing, and of course the killing with a point. Yet I couldn't exactly do that. My first survivor, I declared friendly, so did he, and we tried to make a trek north. Server connection problems separated us, and we decided to meet later on, on another server. Haven't seen him since, but I truly do wish him the best of luck.

My second survivor was a Russian-sounding fella who I ran into at Balota. An AKM and an AK-74 were aimed at that moment, but I had the drop on him. Yet we spoke friendly and I helped him loot the hangars. In comes a third survivor, armed with a measly sidearm, yet we help him find a primary and wish him luck as my Russian companion says he wishes to move northward. Looting a village, we aggro and try to run. Now, this was a few days into the mod for me, so I had not become accustomed to yelling "GET TO DA BUILDING" and making a mad dash to said building. There was a warehouse nearby, but we made our stand outside, and got slaughtered. Didn't meet the guy ever again. I hope he's done well for himself, and I am sincerely sorry for getting him killed.

Third survivor was crawling in Elektro. This was after my mates had jumped in and had basically controlled the city on a low population server. They shot on sight, innocent or veteran alike, and I secretly hated their gungho attitudes. While our "leader" has a growing obsession on getting the bus outside the church up and running, I ran out of that school/office(?) building in the center of Elektro and nearly tripped over a survivor who was crawling in the direction of the hospital. We aimed our Enfields, but he yelled friendly, and said his legs were broken. I threw him a stick of morphine, and when he asked if I had any food supplies, I pointed to the supermarket and said "Go in, grab what you can, get out. And head north. My friends will shoot you on sight." He did just that, and ran, but not before thanking me and tossing me a couple extra Enfield mags he didn't need.

And, for all the stuff I see about shooting on sight, I've had so many instances of running into survivors who, if they didn't trade or exchange information with me, just spoke a few sentences and motioned with their military grade weapon to scurry before they changed their mind. And all the altercations I've had were with survivors who I accidently scarred, who I had witnessed killing other survivors, or who were a group and were busy raiding in the area I was in. Not once have I been blasted by someone bored who wanted an increased kill count.

However, my group...our leader is vehicle crazed. His new addons, some fellas who didn't shoot him on sight (even though he shot one of them in the ass, with a crossbow) are even more gungho. They champ at the bit, calling for raids on Stary and NWA, and relish contact against other survivors. It's a rush, I have to admit, but if I had my druthers, contact would be avoided in the first place. They prize high end gear when a simple Enfield can do the job, with a better chance of abundant ammunition.

While raiding NEA one of those newcomers found an M24, I believe, in the control tower. Vehicle crazy leader of ours stormed up the tower and scooped it up without a single word. The newcomer, let's call him...Mike (have to use names, don't want things getting confusing) blasts our leader, and disconnects with his pal, who we will call Murphy. While my best friend in the group tries to reason with both sides, Mike and Murphy beat it to our camp, where I have recently logged in. I had been spending a day with the missus, and I had no idea what had happened. We communicated through Skype, you see, but I logged in just as the chaos was calming down. My mouse had been acting up, and had minimized the game. As I finally got it working and jumped back in, guess what I was facing.

YOU. ARE. DEAD.

Me. Dead. The one in the group that didn't chase after survivors unless they were a clear and present threat, the one that didn't champ at the bit for slaughter, the one that didn't use terms such as "fag" or the "n*gger" when referring to their teammates or their prey. The one who saw Zed and Bandit as the true enemy, not just a number to add onto a kill count.

Yet DayZ is a harsh mistress.

I mentioned once the intent of dropping a frag on all of them during their little peace meeting. Didn't have to. The leaders of both factions, Vehicle-Crazed and Mike had it out. Now they're both working together, but they still distrust each other. I remember having a little outburst with them, something along the lines of "I want to survive, you morons are making that difficult, and if I get killed by one of you again, or worse, loose my beloved Catherine (my rifle) because of you guys, I'm going to shoot at both sides, not one or the other."

To quote a certain Lannister, "Madness. Madness and stupidity". Yet there was something else.

And as I sat on a lonely little hill, eyeing them as they scurried into Krastonav to loot the market, I realized that this mod was downright amazing. Not just for the experience and thrill, but rather how much it made me feel. I WAS the survivor who just wanted a quiet life while all the others wanted the "big boy" perks: big guns, big trucks, and big kill counts. I was the survivor who gave others the chance, and while I paid for it, was rewarded with so many anecdotes of friendly souls who wanted to keep living. I wasn't just playing a game, or a mod if you want to be technical. I was...experiencing something amazing, intriguing, something that made me think.

For all its faults, its bugs, the sometimes shitty/fanatic/zealous community, this game, this MOD is downright amazing. While it lacks many things (I'm eagerly awaiting those base building features), I am definitely in for the long run, and despite everything I witness, I'll still the be the kind of survivor that stands tense against a wall or in a bush, weapon drawn, waiting, hoping that the other fellow to reply back with "friendly".

Edited July 17, 2012 by SGTFledge

[fuglyto 0]

I loved this post.

[cragzeek 29]

This is why I play. I think its easy to get frustrated and lose your link with your character and become more interested in trolling around, but its so much less fun than actually having a goal and a theme to your adventure and pursuing it.

[N0DemonZ 17]

That was amazing to read. Take my Beans good sir and enjoy them!

[SGTFledge 43]

This is why I play. I think its easy to get frustrated and lose your link with your character and become more interested in trolling around, but its so much less fun than actually having a goal and a theme to your adventure and pursuing it.

Tell me about it. I ended up ditching the game back in the 1.7.1.etc series of updates because of how bad I was being mauled. I knew nothing. When my friend and his pals (Vehicle-crazed and the others) jumped in, I saw Elektro and Cherno for the first time in one life.

Let me tell ya, I wondered what the hype was about. But on the bright side, I also saw my first can of food that day as well! :D

That was amazing to read. Take my Beans good sir and enjoy them!

I'll take 'em as long as I can give you another can back. Fair trade and all. :beans:

[N0DemonZ 17]

I'll take 'em as long as I can give you another can back. Fair trade and all. :beans:

Would be completely up to you :D

[El Barto 227 25]

OP, shut up and take my beans!

this is an amazing post, i hope to meet up with you one day.

[ben_c 140]

They prize high end gear when a simple Enfield can do the job, with a better chance of abundant ammunition.

My attitude completely. As I said in another thread 'there is so much more to DayZ than a .50 cal sniper rifle and an outfit made of cabbages and compost'.

Have my beans and I'll make you some toast for them too.

[hkurban 31]

Third survivor was crawling in Elektro. This was after my mates had jumped in and had basically controlled the city on a low population server. They shot on sight, innocent or veteran alike, and I secretly hated their gungho attitudes. While our "leader" has a growing obsession on getting the bus outside the church up and running, I ran out of that school/office(?) building in the center of Elektro and nearly tripped over a survivor who was crawling in the direction of the hospital. We aimed our Enfields, but he yelled friendly, and said his legs were broken. I threw him a stick of morphine, and when he asked if I had any food supplies, I pointed to the supermarket and said "Go in, grab what you can, get out. And head north. My friends will shoot you on sight." He did just that, and ran, but not before thanking me and tossing me a couple extra Enfield mags he didn't need.

This.

I roll with a group of real-life friends as well, and their policy is shoot on sight of anyone not in our group. To me, that's boring as hell, since you can do that in pretty much any other game. I have more fun following standoff procedures, only taking down people who pose a threat to myself or my group. (I let hatchets go as long as they stay away.) Still, I'd be lying if I said I didn't participate in their antics from time to time, although i never got a murder out of in.

[SGTFledge 43]

OP, shut up and take my beans!

this is an amazing post, i hope to meet up with you one day.

Perhaps you will, perhaps you won't. Sadly, I don't play as often as I'd like anymore. Life comes in, the missus gets up and throws everything in your face and leaves, school begins to loom over the horizon, and I only frequent certain servers. Have only ran into one hacking event, but I don't wanna push my luck.

My attitude completely. As I said in another thread 'there is so much more to DayZ than a .50 cal sniper rifle and an outfit made of cabbages and compost'.

Have my beans and I'll make you some toast for them too.

Exactly, that's my belief as well. Besides, iron sights are much more comfortable, to me, than a scope. Too restrictive with vision. That or I'm too paranoid. However, many people are coming to the conclusion that's there's only Big Bertha M107 and her husband Johnny-Can't-See-Me Ghillie suit. Unless new features get added, I might end up losing interest. Of course, I'm still keeping an eye out on the announcements. Hope the Rocket-Man takes his next big leap.

This.

I roll with a group of real-life friends as well, and their policy is shoot on sight of anyone not in our group. To me, that's boring as hell, since you can do that in pretty much any other game. I have more fun following standoff procedures, only taking down people who pose a threat to myself or my group. (I let hatchets go as long as they stay away.) Still, I'd be lying if I said I didn't participate in their antics from time to time, although i never got a murder out of in.

Oh, I've done the same, but most of my killing happens up North.

Story time again, folks.

Before the incident where Vehicle-Crazed got shot by Mike, we were raiding Stary Sober on our usual server. We were modestly decked out and all, some nice mid level gear, and I had my hands on Catherine 2.0: an M14. Now, while I love my Enfield, that M14 is all kinds of amazing, so I was providing overwatch for the fellas raiding the tents. First sign of trouble? The lot piles in the middle of the rows of tents. Someone had been moving the stuff out into the open to coax more loot to spawn. Just as they noticed, Murphy went down, Mike dove to cover in a tent, opening up on the fella who got Mike, and Vehicle-Crazed hoofed it to the top of the warehouse and called out that we had a Saw opening up on us from a nearby hill, with a big gun, either an AS50 or M107, firing from outside of the town. I had recently logged back in, an emergency had forced me away, and everything was going to, well, shit.

I distinctly remembered how damn scared I was. The Saw was firing to my left, further down the hill, closer to the tents, but I couldn't get a good bead on the sound. Mike was yelling for help, Vehicle-Crazed couldn't get a shot off, so I slowly crawled down the hill, keeping to the bushes and trees. The sound picked up, louder than ever as a burst stitched into the tent beside Mike's, so I got up and ran towards the general location of the sound, dropped behind a tree, and spotted the Saw gunner, STANDING, backtracking, literally running backwards, towards me. I got up and took aim.

My adrenaline was pumping. The only thing that existed was my target and the rifle in my hands. I led him by maybe a third of a foot, and opened fire.

"Opened fire", however, is a bit of a...understatement. In reality, I hit the caps-lock button, yelled "COME ON!" at the top of my lungs, and emptied a whole magazine into the guy. While Vehicle-Crazed nearly rolled off the walkway due to how badly he was laughing, I emptied half another clip into the body's face.

I was called "Trigger Finger" after that , since I had already given everyone else nicknames.

That was open engagement, however. I never took part in murders. To be honest, I've killed. I've killed a lot, in DayZ, that is. And so many of them are arguably murders, yet most were up North, and can or can't be justified...I don't dwell on it. Down south, however, I open fire when fired upon. And since I know spend my time roaming Cherno and Elektro, trying to help people out since I have nothing better to do...I end up firing my weapon more often than I have before.

It's...saddening, but what can you do, ya know? Just gotta keep moving forward, and stick to your guns.

[Lennsik 176]

I, if I ever had the chance, would play with you whenever you needed. Surviving with hope is the only thing that keeps me going.

[Toilet 204]

Great read OP, here, have another can.

[Nesstrodamus 10]

Really makes the few friendly interactions that one can have in this game stand out all the more. Good luck out there.

Edited July 31, 2012 by Nesstrodamus