What DayZ really is.

[hatesauce 99]

I am basically writing this in response to a post Rocket made in another thread and I wanted to express this in a way other players can really reflect about their own experiences with DayZ now and for it's future.

Let me reiterate a very key point I keep trying to make:

You are the inhabitants of the world. I am the architect. You guys are going to decide how this world plays out. Don't compare this to other games and look for different balancing mechanics. This is an attempt at something different' date=' it is an experiment. There is no balance, other than the balance you will put in. I will put in the features required for you to either destroy this world into mindless PVP, or create something else. Don't look to me for that balance, because I will not give you it. We started this in a particular way, we're going to finish in that way.

Some of keep looking to me to provide you a structured experience, balanced. That's not what is happening here. I'm not looking at something realistic, that isn't possible. I'm aiming for authenticity to the extent possible, but I'm realistic about what can be achieved there.

You guys keep saying I'm trying to encourage this or that with that mechanic, I'm not. I'm trying to model thought processes. The interactions are too complex to breakdown into simple mechanics so I have to focus on situations and thought processes I am trying to put into your head as you play. So I'm not doing this to support/remove PVP.

[/quote']

To me DayZ is survival: anything goes. I want to feel urgency when I am searching a house and quickly grabbing what I can, gunshots ring out in the distance reminding me that even though I may not be alone I am definitely not safe. Then to only realize that I need food desperately.

I may find a dead player on the road but, weigh the risk of checking it. I could get gunned down any moment by a hidden sniper (regardless of skin or not) or have to quietly make my way around several Zeds in my vicinity. It is plainly; fear, uncertainty, suspense, exhilaration, and frantic panic that has my every nerve in upheaval. But once I find that can of sardines in the backpack of the corpse I feel like I have accomplished a feat against odds and my wits were my only saving grace. Now I just have to get out of town and into the tree line...

This is what DayZ is to me. It is not a game you simply play to get a stat or reach a new level. It is a game you feel actual emotion towards, it's that anxiety that surges through you when you meet another survivor. As realism of emotion goes I think it hits pretty close to home.

I believe that is what Rocket may be aiming for. And I liken it to G. A. Romero.

[Jorden 63]

That is supposed to be the overall feel of this mod. The feeling of anxiety, fear, worry. But we also need the feel of bliss, accomplishment, and happiness sometimes. If we can just hit something in the middle, this could be the best damn zombie apocalypse survival simulator ever made.

[hatesauce 99]

I definitely feel bliss or relief when I find much needed bullets or a new gun. Hell a map is great too. Bliss is there but in very small doses. It's always that "One last building check before I abort mission", Pushing me forward. I would rather feel constant uncertainty, which a game has never really managed to do until DayZ Mod.

[CalUKGR 4]

I definitely feel bliss or relief when I find much needed bullets or a new gun.

And yet what does it profit a man to own all the guns he'll ever need, yet be too fearful to ever fire a single shot..?

[hatesauce 99]

I definitely feel bliss or relief when I find much needed bullets or a new gun.

And yet what does it profit a man to own all the guns he'll ever need' date=' yet be too fearful to ever fire a single shot..?

[/quote']

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For me its all about protecting myself. In fact I am considering getting a gun license irl. Just in case the world goes to shit I will be able to protect myself.

I never said I don't kill people in DayZ. I have in the past, simply out of fear and because I wanted/needed what they had. This doesn't mean I won't help someone in the same play session. ANYTHING goes.