Love this 'game'. One question though....

[leerf 0]

Hello.

After a couple of evenings spent getting DayZ working and loving the tales i'd been reading, last night it finally all clicked into working order and I walked from the sea. The sun was shining and the game was running smooth as silk. I trooped for about 20 minutes giving any Zeds a wide berth and finally reached the nearest town (which i now know was Elektro) and thought i'd try and get up high to survey the land. I was halfway up a stairwell and found two corpses laden with a ridiculous amount of loot. JESUS i thought, i've got high power sniper rifle, blood packs, watches, compass. Everything i could ever want.

I suddenly thought, this is a trap. I'd read so many stories of noobies being lulled into deathtraps by nasty bandit types i left all the loot and just kinda hid and listened for awhile. Nothing. I crept back to the bodies and started loading up. Halfway done, i stopped and again just hid and listened. Nothing. I went back and finished tooling up.

I stood there for 1 second just aiming down the sights of my new gun and suddenly a survivor appeared in my crosshair. I nearly jumped out of my chair.

Now, not being a murderous bastard by nature i instinctivly didn't fire but instead lowered my gun. Naturally the other guy shot me dead with 3 quick shots.

I respawned bloody miles away laughing at my foolishness. But on the trudge back to 'civilisation' i mused on the situation.

I'm glad i didn't shoot him. I don't want to be a bandit; really i just want to explore the woods and mountains and occasionally go into towns for ammo and suchlike.

I couldn't blame the survivor for shooting me; i was after-all looking down my sights at his head from 5 foot away. I probably would have shot had i been him.

What i really love about this game is that it allows you time to think. I imagine many COD types are bored witless by the sound of their own thoughts but i find it almost as relaxing as having an actual real life walk.

My question is; should i have shot that man?

Or have my instincts mearly revealed the type of player i am destined to be.

[oldpainless 1]

That was perhaps my loot you found. I had a CZ550 with 1 mag in the gun and 1 extra, a watch and compass + some blood packs and an alice pack. I was extremely dizzy from blood loss and looking for survivors to give me a blood transfusion from the roof of the hospital. Little did I know a bandit had snuck up on me while I was googling alternative ways of regaining blood xD.

I didn't see what gear he had but I thought for sure he had dry looted me.

[dlorT 0]

I wouldn't have shot him honestly, but i would have gotten out of sight, waste of a bullet to pop someone when you might be able to get around them without making any noise. On the other end of the argument the guy was stupid enough to be running out in the open in plain sight, it's possible he'd have shot a Zed and had them on both of you in a matter of seconds. So killing him from a secure location might have saved you and other players around you some trouble. Earlier tonight i robbed someone without having to kill them. I'm not a bandit but i needed some water, and he refused to help so i knew he had no intention of working together so i just threatened to kill him until he dropped some water for me. For all he knew i had 3 friends in the woods, i'm not sure if he stuck around for me to pick up the water and sruvey my gear, i didn't get shot so i assume he just went his own way.

[~Ren~ 0]

It's hard to say as I've only been in that situation once, 2 survivors were running from zombies near my location and were running towards a barn I was about to loot, one of them said on chat don't shoot, so we looted the barn and went our separate ways.

In that situation I think I'd have pulled the trigger, he suddenly appeared in your sights so could have been watching you for a while to make sure you were alone, he then makes his move.

If it's clear that they want to loot or need help then yes I'd hold fire but if they say nothing and just appear then I'm very cautious and will protect my loot :P

[UbiquitousBadGuy 846]

Hindsight is 20/20 so it seems like now you should've shot him and have a chance of getting out.

On the other hand, you would've risked attracted Zeds to your position so it's hard to say definitely.

Regardless, I'm sure you'll agree that this game forces the hard questions and sometimes there might not be a "right" choice.

[ynefel 38]

If I'm confronted with someone near any decent kind of loot, I'll shoot first and ask questions later. I'm no bandit, but as far as loot is concerned, I've found 80% of people will kill you without question. I'll do the same. I'm not going to risk death and losing everything I have on me, as well as loot rights just to maintain some sense of 'humanity'.

It's like the military/medical camps - no one ever meets up and gets along there, because of all the weapons and gear available. Most people aren't keen to share, or risk dying and not getting anything from the camp, so it always ends up with someone dead.

If it's anywhere else, like an average town, or a barn, or out in the wild, I won't start anything. I usually declare myself as friendly, and promptly go my own way as soon as possible.