It's sad that people leave when server hits night

[Rager (DayZ) 7]

Come on! night time makes the game feel more alive. Why do people chicken out?

[oled123@hotmail.co.uk 66]

Because they can see fuck all.

[Bigmonster 3]

Because the screen is black. Even with gamma up and brightness all the way up you can't see enough to make it without exposing yourself to bandits and zombies with a chemlight or flashlight. If you are lucky enough to get a pair of NVGs then you can do a bit more. Night time gives me headaches and it kills the experience for me.

On a side note, if it weren't so annoying, it would be better to play at night.

[Femme Fatale 49]

My flashlight has been glitching out otherwise I prefer to play at night when possible.

[Chiron 23]

Don't encourage them to start - that's when I get shit DONE!

[Areos (DayZ) 106]

Even with night vision goggles, I do not prefer playing on night servers solely because I know people avoid them like the plague.

[Askar 177]

They fear the unknown, the bandit stalking them with night vision and bloodthirst, the zombies meandering inches away, unseen.

And the fact that the game is ridiculously dark at night. I still play during the night, since I have no qualms about using flashlights or flares or chemlights, especially since I recently got my hands on some excellent NVGs. I don't blame many others for not doing so though. I get bored of the near-total darkness/shades of green (depending on gear) myself, although looting at night and entering high risk areas are both far safer. Just earlier I killed a man who foolishly lit a fire on a forested mountain in the distance because my NVGs picked that up like fireworks. He never stood a chance, especially since my silenced weapon kept him from locating me by sound. I didn't relish the kill, but we found some much needed morphine for our legless buddy back in the valley.

A lot of people don't want that, they don't want to be at the mercy of NVG wielding murderers, so they don't want to use illumination. Since they don't want to use illumination, they're blind and afraid. Night is terrifying for many in game, and that's good. But since it's so easy to just back out and find an alternate realm where daylight reigns, they'll do that. I think the super-darkness should be reduced a little. Sure, sometimes it's clear and the stars and moon light the world. But that's not often enough to justify most people playing all night long, sadly.

[pandadragonthing 11]

The most fun I have ever had at night is when i was in a group of 5, including myself, and we decided to rough the night. We had a tent set up but it was boring so we decided to take what we could and make a run from Elektro to Stary Sobor... We had two players with chem lights to lead, I was one of em, just in case a sniper spotted us the others could retaliate in the darkness.... well we ended up dying at the second town we passed by due to hordes of zombie and insufficient lights. It was awesome.

Try putting HDR to very high, might do the trick ;)

[mikeambrose3 53]

I wish I could find a popular night time server (GMT -6?), I love playing at night with NVG's when I find them.

[Maxgor 2314]

Because the game is unrealistically freaking dark at nights. The light works but is abit obnoxious to use, and your nothing but fodder for those that have NVG. Yeah there's the benefit of zombies not seeing you as much, but when you can do the exact same thing during the day and actually see where your going, why ever play at night? I might play more at night if there was some realistic lighting at night, but right now, it's like running around with a bag over your head.

[Shaun of the Dead 36]

Australian servers are usually still full at night.

Trying to find a decent quiet night server is hard as it is.

[SystemiK 366]

Nothing beats playing at night time (when the moon is out). By far the best way to experience the game in my opinion.

[Askar 177]

Before we had NVGs, our group had tons of fun in the night. I would lead the way with my Remington's flashlight, finding us a path through the night. A buddy behind me would scan our surroundings with his G17 taclight, and we would all carry a blue chemlight for identification. Easy to stick together and keep track of your group when everyone has a glowing blue stick in their hands, but that makes it all the easier for bandits too. You really put yourself out there in the night using artificial illumination, but the rewards are usually worth it. Far easier and often safer to loot, but the night time adds a more dangerous edge to the atmosphere, and relying on flashlights to avoid bumping into the infected and/or bandits is rather intense. Nothing like scanning a *clear* field with your flashlight and incidentally illuminating an infected 3 meters in front of you, leering at you with that deathly gaze. Or hearing a gunshot nearby and 'going dark', extinguishing chemlights and flashlights in a mad hurry.

[Arach (DayZ) 7]

Sure, its pitch black at night, wich makes it hard to see, but also harder to see you! :D

Though its scary as hell, and almost impossible to see, i feel i survive longer when playing at night.

[Askar 177]

That's the spirit!

I think another huge part of it is that people simply don't want to be easy prey for a NVG equipped bandit. I was able to track the guy I killed earlier across 6km of terrain simply because I had NVGs and he did not, when he would easily have lost me long before had it been daytime. Not only was it easy to spot him moving in the distance 1km out, it was incredibly easy to see where he had deployed chemlights, which usually would have been much harder to spot at that distance. And the fire I found him at would have been invisible to me, and was invisible to me, without my NVGs equipped. Only because it continuously flared the entire mountainside ever-so-slightly was I able to locate him then.

That kind of advantage is really off-putting to a lot of players. It makes me wary at night when I don't have NVG myself.

[kibah 1]

I don't play on night servers beacuse you get insta killed in elektro

[Kar98 27]

Play on the AUS/NZ servers, they are full even when it's night. The reason why I don't like playing on night is because it is far too hard to see when there's no moonlight out

[jdz (DayZ) 238]

All of the servers in my area are day time from 11am-4am local time. If I want to play at night time, I have to join a US server which is a minimum of 170 ping, very annoying.

[thehumandove 344]

I'm nocturnal. Night is usually when I'm my most active on dayz

[hkurban 31]

I play at night when I get the chance. With gamma up and whatnot, I can makeout shape outlines and high contrast texture differences IE light vs dark, etc. It's enough to get around without chemlights or flashlights, so I usually am able to ninja around without being spotted (assuming there's no NVG users out and about). I like that there are so few players on at night, as it makes the game's world has a life to it. People perceive nighttime is dangerous (humans are not optimized for nocturnal activity, and our metabolism is based heavily on a long rest period that for most of society coincides with the day/night cycle, etc).

As a result, it feels like the world of DayZ is "asleep". Most of the survivors have sought some hole to bunker down in, too afraid to move out and venture out into the unknown. Most of the bandits have gone back to their camps to swap murder stories, drink whiskey, and nod off at their tents. The operative word here, however, is "MOST." There will always be a few "night stalkers".

Favorite part of playing at night, ambling my way through a forest or field, wind whipping up the leaves, than suddenly a bright flash of daylight and crack from an approaching thunderstorm. Almost makes me jump out of my seat.

[slyder73 94]

Because the game is unrealistically freaking dark at nights. The light works but is abit obnoxious to use, and your nothing but fodder for those that have NVG. Yeah there's the benefit of zombies not seeing you as much, but when you can do the exact same thing during the day and actually see where your going, why ever play at night? I might play more at night if there was some realistic lighting at night, but right now, it's like running around with a bag over your head.

Unrealistically dark? Are you kidding?

Have you spent very many days in the wilderness at night? I have. It is VERY dark. As dark as in game, if not DARKER, depending on weather.

THe night time lighting is very realistic. The only thing that should be changed is the stars. The brightness of the stars are too generic.

They modelled the sky to be as accurate as the real sky; if you can navigate by constellations in life you can in game. I have a hard time in game because the primary stars for the constellations are often the same brightness as the stars around them.

But I too leave to play on daylight servers....for the same reason as most, it's too dark to enjoy without NVG. I currently have some so I stay in the dark, less likelihood of being discovered by other players.

Edited July 26, 2012 by Slyder73

[xarok777@gmail.com 205]

I leave because I don't want to get shot in the neck by some nerdsnorting little dickfarmer with NVG's.

Plus the ANZ servers are all set to different times, so there's pretty much always a daytime server rockin.

Edited July 26, 2012 by Korax

[red_orchestra@msn.com 112]

It's called Day Z for a reason.

[Problem? 33]

Its so easy during the night. Zombies don't see you easily. Though any bandit with nvg is trouble .

[Brudagon (DayZ) 64]

The point of the game is to survive. And if they want to make it so there is a certain time when you can't survive, then I won't play at that certain time.