DayZ is not a deathmatch and the statistics prove it

[chhopsky 25]

I'm sick of people whining that the game is a deathmatch and that everyone just wants to kill everyone else. We should all take a moment to appreciate the very public statistics on the front page of the site. We can determine a lot from them:

Claim: "this game is deathmatch"

Statistics:

On August 11th:

Survival attempts: 23.8 million

Murders: 4 million

On July 30th:

Survival attempts: 20 million

Murders: 3 million

On July 13th:

Survival attempts: 12.8 million

Murders: 1.8 million

Reality: Only 15% of all deaths have been PvP.

--

Claim: "everyone is a bandit"

Statistics:

August 11th:

Bandits killed: 530k

Bandits alive: 139k

= Total bandit lives: 669k

Total survival attempts: 23.8 million

Ratio: 2.8%.

July 30th:

Bandits killed: 429k

Bandits alive: 124k

= Total bandit lives: 555k

Total survival attempts: 20 million

Ratio: 2.7%

So a total of around 555k lives has been used in which a person has become a bandit. 555,000 of 20,000,000.

Reality: Less than 3% of characters have been used to take another human life.

--

Claim: "everyone shoots on sight"

Statistics:

August 11:

Total characters alive: 830k

Total bandits alive: 139k

== 16.7% of alive players are bandits

July 30:

Total characters alive: 723k

Total bandits alive: 124k

== 17% of alive players are bandits.

Reality: Only 17% of current players are bandits.

--

This is nowhere near the 100% of players that people are whining about. People really need to think about whether or not it is THEIR behaviour that is causing them to be murdered, and be open to the possibility that their experience of Day-Z is not what the vast majority of others are experiencing.

Don't be part of the problem, be part of the solution.

If you don't want people to shoot you, don't give them a reason to! Two guns are better than one, you're ALL better off against the bandits if you work together.

You want Chernarus to not be the murder-hole you think it is?

- Don't shoot on sight

- Help strangers

- Announce your presence on direct

Three simple rules for improving the world we survive in.

Edited August 11, 2012 by chhopsky

[Joe Couch 10]

1+1=dumb

[UndeadAssassin 23]

:) :| :unsure: :wacko: :blink:

[MonMarty 0]

These statistics would have any kind of relevance if they discounted inactive players, you know, the ones who have not signed in for over 2 weeks.

[noobfun 87]

If you don't want people to shoot you, don't give them a reason to! Two guns are better than one.

get a bigger pack and carry 1 in there as well ... pfft your not hardcore if you dont have 3 firearms

[mythTECH (DayZ) 80]

get a bigger pack and carry 1 in there as well ... pfft your not hardcore if you dont have 3 firearms

Three firearms is just pointless and uses up too much inventory.

[jonzay 2]

I thought people were only considered bandits if they had 5+ murders on their current life. What about all the people who have killed 1 to 4 players?

[Joe Couch 10]

Statistics:

Survival attempts: 20 million

Murders: 3 million

Reality: Only 15% of all deaths have been PvP. The vast majority die to zombies.

--

Claim: "everyone is a bandit"

Statistics:

Bandits killed: 429k

Bandits alive: 124k

= Total bandit lives: 555k

Total survival attempts: 20 million

So a total of around 555k lives has been used in which a person has murdered another player. 555,000 of 20,000,000.

Did you factor in the millions of "Respawn" deaths because people respawned on the beach over and over to get a better location?

Edited July 29, 2012 by Joe Couch

[chhopsky 25]

These statistics would have any kind of relevance if they discounted inactive players, you know, the ones who have not signed in for over 2 weeks.

That's only partially true - in order to compare apples with apples we'd need to be able to make that split, which is why I've tried to compare the correct numbers. The number of active players has grown hugely every time I've made this comparison, and while I've tried to argue it out with people 1:1, it's been growing at such a rate that even though it's impossible with those statistics to prove how much of it happened in the last two weeks, I did this comparison a month ago when there'd only been 12 million survival attempts and 1.8 million murders, which is also exactly 15%. The number of players is growing at a huge rate, and from what we can tell, it seems as if the murder rate is increasing in line with it.

But you also make a very good point - in order to really get a feel for this we need to track these numbers over time. I'll be updating the original post with current stats every now and then because as I said, last time I added this up, I got very similar numbers.

get a bigger pack and carry 1 in there as well ... pfft your not hardcore if you dont have 3 firearms

Of course I do this. Doesn't everyone? :S I thought that was just sensible. Something for up close, something for far away, and a pistol.

Edited July 29, 2012 by chhopsky

[chhopsky 25]

I thought people were only considered bandits if they had 5+ murders on their current life. What about all the people who have killed 1 to 4 players?

I thought it was two? Can someone who knows for sure let us know? It's been so long since bandit skins and the humanity-meter I've forgotten. Either way, that figure only affects the bandit count stat.

I'm not interested in proving myself right, I'm interested in what is actually correct - post some different analysis of the figures or find some historical snapshots of the stats and we can discuss them. Happy to put my foot in my mouth if your number suggest I'm wrong or you've got a better interpretation of them.

Edited July 29, 2012 by chhopsky

[chhopsky 25]

Did you factor in the millions of "Respawn" deaths because people respawned on the beach over and over to get a better location?

Do you have a way to calculate that? Is that really a thing people do? :F Clearly what I'm using is the numbers presented. If you have a way of making a meaningful estimate of that I'd be happy to add it in. But you're right - I can't say for sure the rest were zombies. I'll update the OP.

Edited July 29, 2012 by chhopsky

[MayhemMike 3]

Just to throw in some personal experience:

In the last 3 days I played with my buddy on around 4 maybe 5 servers we met in total 11 ppl.

1 was friendly - (south, we had no weapons)

2 didn't see us - (north, we had weapons)

1 tried to kill us - (south, we had no weapons)

and 7 actually killed us - (south, we just spawned, had no weapons while they had all rare rifles)

My personal favorite was one guy who made a suicide run to get a better spawn position, but decided that it would be more fun to drag some zombies on our position first. And tbh, I did that too after I died, because it is a waste of time that we have to do it since the respawn button got removed and the more it gets abused the more complaints will rise and the more likelier it is that we will get it back.

[herd 69]

fail. Vast majority altf4 after getting shot. They relog and die anyway. Thus not registering a murder

[chhopsky 25]

fail. Vast majority altf4 after getting shot. They relog and die anyway. Thus not registering a murder

Got any numbers to verify that?

Just to throw in some personal experience:

In the last 3 days I played with my buddy on around 4 maybe 5 servers we met in total 11 ppl.

1 was friendly - (south, we had no weapons)

2 didn't see us - (north, we had weapons)

1 tried to kill us - (south, we had no weapons)

and 7 actually killed us - (south, we just spawned, had no weapons while they had all rare rifles)

My personal favorite was one guy who made a suicide run to get a better spawn position, but decided that it would be more fun to drag some zombies on our position first. And tbh, I did that too after I died, because it is a waste of time that we have to do it since the respawn button got removed and the more it gets abused the more complaints will rise and the more likelier it is that we will get it back.

Anecdotal and statistically irrelevant; but I feel your pain. I was in a house with a friend, we cleared it and closed the door to go through the loot. Someone spawned in, I thought it was my friend, he shot me and I ran away bleeding. I bandaged up and put five rounds in his chest with an M4A3 CCO, my friend hit him with 4x Makarov, and he ran away, but I died.

Of the last 10 people that I've met, 2 shot at me. Maybe I just have a friendly demeanour :) What we could take from this, especially the large number of murders vs the small number of lives used for banditry is that perhaps a small number of bandits are killing a large number of people?

[Madrocker 17]

there are three types of lies in this world.

little white lies you tell your wife

big fat stonkers to get you out of shit

and statistics

[InsXicht 2]

that is a really good naive fallacy or as we german say, Milchmädchenrechnung. (falls google es falsh übersetzt hat. x)

Edited July 29, 2012 by InsXicht

[marc.heidemann@gmail.com 20]

Still I would love to play on a server with no player on player killing. Right now I avoid everyone on the off chance I will have to kill them or they will kill me.

[Bianca 92]

Every time I die is because someone shoots me, only three times I've died by the hands of zeds and I've never died due to starvation so..

*Irony starts*Bandits are so rare that if you find someone he'll never kill you*Aaaaaand it's gone*

[MyOwnInsanity 0]

With the info on the front page you cant make these assumptions especially because of all the bugs that have killed people or resulted in deaths. Then all the bandits that dont last long enough to be registered as bandits (i read somewhere 3 kills makes you a bandit but that could be incorrect). Lets say a bandit has a 50/50 chance of death. They need to make it though three tosses of the coin so to speak just to be registered as a bandit (assuming im right about the 3 kills to be a bandit thing). If someone gets two kills, dies to a zombie or other survivor they're chalked up two survival attempts for others without showing up as a bandit.

To even attempt and bring any legitimacy to your claims you need to try and find a way to estimate these numbers with some kind of reasonable evidence.

1: Estimate how many people died as a result of bugs and pushed up the number of survival attempts.

2: Estimate how many people continually respawned to get a better starting position.

3: Estimate how many bandits gets kills without being registered as bandits.

4: Someone suggested the alt f4 problem and how it doesnt register as a murder, estimate that as well.

I'm sure you can extend that list but those are the things you have to consider before trying to present statistics, especially on the internet where people like me will pick apart your attempt to bring some reasoning into a debate. Shame you jumped the gun without considering all the variables, thats what really annoys me about people using statistics and is why i never trust them. I havent suggested ways of estimating these stats cause i dont care to put that much thought into it, polls i guess would be the best way cause you need the populations average.

[Barronism 88]

Can't say how many times I've died, a lot is about as close as i can get to an estimate.

Died twice to doors, once from walking off a roof, 5-6 times from zeds. The other umpteen times? Players. Players. Players. Snipers sitting above cherno/elektro who kill you but never go get your stuff. They simply kill you to kill you. I don't mind pvp at all, but if you're not going to take my stuff, then don't shoot me >_>

[noobfun 87]

Three firearms is just pointless and uses up too much inventory.

sniper rifle/m4 sd/psitol becasue i cant stick anything else in that slot

yes pointless, i can quickly raid towns and clear the few zombies out of my way while not giving away my position, i can also sit on a hill outside town and shoot someone in it before he knows im there, yes entierley pointless

[Kyrator 11]

I have only died to players three times,one in Cherno while looting a store,once outside Kabanino while looking for food and once at the NWAF looting for weapons.

Having said that the majority of deaths by players seem to happen around Cherno and Elektro where all the stupid noobs swarm to while I always go to Balota or anywhere else I can find a decent weapon before heading North.

I think if people(noobs)stopped swarming to cities unarmed the kill count would be a lot lower.

[ironman3112 11]

well down by the coast it definitely seems like a deathmatch, to me, it really seems like everyone shoots on sight, i'm sure that others have had similar experiences and that's why they call it a deathmatch

[Kyrator 11]

well down by the coast it definitely seems like a deathmatch, to me, it really seems like everyone shoots on sight, i'm sure that others have had similar experiences and that's why they call it a deathmatch

And there lies the problem,people think they can run around the coast like idiots and expect to not be shot.

[dallas 5195]

Not everyone is a deathmatching PVP KOS bandit, however everyone I meet are.