Newbies and Wikis

[Flambo (DayZ) 50]

This is to address a common trend in newbie help threads.

Newbie: I just played this game for the first time. Help/what do I do/this game sucks/it's too hard.

Veteran1: Read the wiki.

Veteran2: Use an online map.

Veteran3: Go back to CoD.

Veteran4: Read a guide that explains zombie aggro.

To the new players: Don't do any of these things. ANY of them. The point of DayZ is not to max-out your character, to have top-tier gear, to finish the story, or to otherwise "complete" the game as fast as possible. DayZ is NOT about endgame; it is not about the destination. It is about the journey.

Approach the game with a "spirit of adventure".

So don't look up a guide. Don't use a map, unless you find one in game. Don't worry about being lost. Experiment! Die a LOT... die constantly, and don't worry about it! Look back on your deaths with amusement, and when you see your next death approaching, make it epic. Take risks, even ones that won't pay off.

Learn the ropes the hard way, and by the time you understand how this game works, you'll also understand what it's about.

Edited: After some feedback, I've tried to clarify my message. DayZ and Arma 2 have complicated controls. Basic gameplay, like moving, looting and opening your backpack, is not intuitive. By all means, look up advice for these things. Just please, for your own sake, don't look up any advice on how to deal with zombies, where the major towns or loot areas are, or how to get started quickly & painlessly. This game is all about the pain and the learning, so don't hide from it!

Edited July 27, 2012 by Flambo

[Swineflew 480]

I disagree.

Wondering around being zombie food or bandit bait isn't fun. It doesn't get fun, and will likely never be fun.

There are a lot of aspects of this game that aren't intuitive and need to be looked up.

There is a decent meta game forming around dayz and to discourage people from learning that isn't helping anyone.

[tomany 7]

As someone who started this game without using guides or maps, dont do it. for all you know, you are walking toward the debug forest, and end up lost for hours until death,or not find a single place with decent loot. If you go without any guides all you do is walk in circles with no idea what you are doing, what to look for, or where you should be looking.

[Flambo (DayZ) 50]

There are a lot of aspects of this game that aren't intuitive and need to be looked up.

These are mostly related to Arma 2. I'm not discouraging people from reading up on the controls of Arma 2, I'm discouraging them from looking up a guide for DayZ.

If you go without any guides all you do is walk in circles with no idea what you are doing, what to look for, or where you should be looking.

I disagree. Every player always spawns near a road or railroad. If wandering in the wilderness isn't doing it for you, try following the road or railroad. You don't need a wiki to tell you these things.

I'm not making this post as someone who looked up guides and wishes he didn't. I'm making this post as a player who went without any maps or wikis until I had figured out where to find guns, found an in-game map, and had a crude idea of how to play. Playing the game in this way has been amazing, and I feel that I would've been cheating myself out of a tremendous amount of satisfaction had I used wikis and online maps as shortcuts.

I understand that many players have zero patience for learning and failure these days, but without this patience you are missing much of what makes DayZ what it is.

[Swineflew 480]

To be fair, there are dayz related things that need to be looked up.

For example you loot a body and find a gun that you've never seen before, awesome you loot it and don't want to look up anything about it, you just learned that this gun exists.

But now you're banned? Wtf happened.

Oh that gun was hacked into the game and since you didn't verify it was a legit weapon on the wiki you're now banned.

There is a strong reliance on the metagame. Now I'm not saying learn weapon stats or drop rates or anything as severe as that, but learning that fire stations can drop assault weapons for some reason.

By all means of you want to be a purist, go for it.

I'm just warning that you are severely gimping yourself by playing at a handicap.

Edit: also I don't like that you're claiming that learning the ropes is what makes dayz what it is.

I feel like its more about players shaping the world and making the rules, I don't feel like learning how to survive is the point of the game, only a side effect of the dayz project.

Edited July 27, 2012 by Swineflew

[Flambo (DayZ) 50]

But now you're banned? Wtf happened.

Oh that gun was hacked into the game and since you didn't verify it was a legit weapon on the wiki you're now banned.

This doesn't happen. Rocket has stated that only spawning these weapons gets you banned. Picking up and using hacked items that were spawned by another player flags you for "special attention" in the DB, but does not earn you a ban.

In general, I agree that there is a large amount of metagame in DayZ, and I agree that every player should eventually check out the wiki so they know exactly what's what. I am not against wikis. The only thing I'm advocating is that players hold off on reading any DayZ-specific guides until after they feel they've learned the basics: finding food and water, basic guns, navigating to a few towns, and most importantly, learning to embrace death, loss, failure and bullshit.

Edited July 27, 2012 by Flambo

[Swineflew 480]

I was taking my info from

http://dayzmod.com/forum/index.php?/topic/1154-gau-12/#entry12289

So I'm not sure where he would say that the rumor has no basis lol.

[Flambo (DayZ) 50]

I was taking my info from

http://dayzmod.com/f...-12/#entry12289

So I'm not sure where he would say that the rumor has no basis lol.

That's... odd. :|

[Swineflew 480]

Your source is newer, so I'd say it's safe. In retrospect he didn't say banned, but maybe flagged. I'm actually against that, since I dislike the concept of newer players getting penalized due to not memorizing all the legit guns.

[Sula 1205]

To the new players: Don't do any of these things. ANY of them. The point of DayZ is not to max-out your character, to have top-tier gear, to finish the story, or to otherwise "complete" the game as fast as possible. DayZ is NOT about endgame; it is not about the destination. It is about the journey.

Approach the game with a "spirit of adventure".

So don't look up a guide. Don't use a map, unless you find one in game. Don't worry about being lost. Experiment! Die a LOT... die constantly, and don't worry about it! Look back on your deaths with amusement, and when you see your next death approaching, make it epic. Take risks, even ones that won't pay off.

Learn the ropes the hard way, and by the time you understand how this game works, you'll also understand what it's about.

I have the spirit of adventure, and I understand you're trying to encourage people. However there are 2 different issues. The first is people complaining because there are no special effects, flying dragons, big guns and when they join the game they are not big and powerful. Instead, they are weak, frail and vulnerable and have to work hard to stay alive. No fun. Especially if you're used to xboxing games and achieving points for walking to a place.

The second issue is that there is no clear and obvious advice on what to do when faced with quirks like compasses, watches, axes and such that won't work unless first activated (removed from toolkit). But it's worse than that because they still don't work. I have never fired a gun yet because despite loading and making it my primary weapon, I don't know what else I'm meant to do. No instructions.

I can't operate my watch, compass etc either. Right click doesn't activate or bring up a menu. But that's ok because it tells you all about that on .... oh no... it doesn't. That's the problem. Look at this -

Here are the day z wiki instructions to use a watch.

"A watch can be used to see the current server time, which determines whether it is day or night. The default bind is "o".

Watches are fairly common, as they can be found in most itemspawns. Watches take up one tool slot space"

HOW? Where are the instructions? That's what some finding frustrating, including me.

PS I'm still reading instructions and hope to find the answer but it's a lot of reading. I don't mind but young people want to have fun! I have asked here but no one seems to know! They must do!

Edited July 27, 2012 by Sula

[guidez 180]

Sula, check the GuideZ channel.

OP, you are essentially saying "Don't look up how to play the game". If I had not read a random post/guide, I don't know HOW long it would have been until I realized that my backpack is a SEPARATE inventory space. The controls and current documentation only point to ARMA 2 specific features, half of which aren't in DayZ. To couple with that, DayZ has it's own set of features not in ARMA 2.

Where is the control/documentation for how to chop wood, make a fireplace, etc? Not all users are tech savvy. You should change your topic meaning to "Don't look at guides that spoil the fun". Less hate that way.

[Flambo (DayZ) 50]

HOW? Where are the instructions? That's what some finding frustrating, including me.

I feel you completely. I had a lot of moments of this, where I wound up searching things like "how do I pick up a backpack", "how do I equip a fire axe", "what is mousewheel menu". And after that, I still had to spend a ton of time sifting through Options -> Controls in game to find out that you press "K" for compass, "O" for watch, "Caps Lock" for voice chat, "/" for text chat.

I am totally not suggesting that newbies try to figure out interface/control issues like this on their own. That's ridiculous.

I only mean to be directing my advice at the exchange that goes something like:

Man1: I just started and this game is hard!

Man2: Go read a thing that tells you where all the best loot is and how to metagame your way around zombie aggro.

My message: if you are like Man1, don't take Man2's advice. It'll rob you of experiencing much of what DayZ has to offer.

On a side note, I'm happy to answer any interface/control/glitch related questions.

Where is the control/documentation for how to chop wood, make a fireplace, etc? Not all users are tech savvy. You should change your topic meaning to "Don't look at guides that spoil the fun". Less hate that way.

I see what you mean, but I'm also glad that you get what I'm getting at with the first post.

Edited July 27, 2012 by Flambo

[FrankFisher 46]

People should just play the game however they like.

.