Tonights DayZ session has really changed my mind

[miket 92]

When I first started playing DayZ, the way I usually did things was try to establish communication with anyone I see, and only shoot if I see a gun aimed at me.

This playstyle pretty much worked for me and I made some interesting allies and did a lot of travelling with a companion or two. I did plenty of trading with people I met on the road and have saved, and been saved by, people I've only known for a few hours.

After tonight, however, things are going to change.

I had been playing the same toon for about 30 hours of gameplay, both solo and with other people, when I saw a guy being chased by zombies. I approached ready to give aid. He finished off the last zombie and I called out 'friendly' to him. He finished bandaging himself. I was still watching him, my gun aimed not far from him but not directly at him, and I was watching to see if he turned his gun towards me. I try to raise communications.

Suddenly, he teleports about 10 m's to left, and shoots me in the head.

This simply didn't make sense. 1 second he had just finished bandaging himself, the next he's standing 10 m away with a perfectly aimed shot to my head.

Whether this was lag or some sort of teleport hack or lag switch (ie. create artificial lag, move to a new position, stop artificial lag), I don't know. But it was seriously a cheap way to die after surviving for so long.

Thankfully I had recently put a whole bunch of my gear into my tent and saved before this happened, so I can retrieve some of the rarer items I had stored.

On respawn I was bugged and managed to spawn in Novy Sobor. After spamming V to get out of the building I had spawned into, searched the area and found a downed chopper, which had a DMR with 2 mags on it. Checked out the barn on the south side of town and managed to find a Winchester, Double Barrel Shotgun and Lee Enfield all in the same barn. At the servo I found a hatchet and somewhere along the way I found 2 cans of food and 2 water bottles. I grabbed as much ammo as I could carry and headed to Stary Sobor hoping to raid the supermarket for a bigger backpack.

After going through the supermarket, finding a pair of binoculars and a watch, having my fill of beans and cola, and loading up on all the food and ammo I could carry, I walked outside and decided to head for the medical tents. A zombie aggro'd me and I sprinted towards a building planning to lose it inside.

Then I died. My instantaneous thought was that I had been killed by the zombie by some sort of bug, but that thought was cut short by the sound of a M107 firing in the distance.

On my next spawn I started just east of Cherno and decided I'd head into the city to try and gather some supplies. After finding a hatchet and winchester in the barn, I headed into town. I managed to get aggro'd by a zombie and was forced to shoot it, bringing dozens more my way. Having just spawned, I decided I was going to use the winchester to kill all the zombies that came at me and gather the food/drinks off the corpes. After killing 14 zombies, I was ready to loot when I started taking fire from two different guns from the same direction. I took a hit and ran away, bandaging myself.

Deciding to try and continue into the city, I crept around to the eastern edge, passed through the construction sight, and after a few minutes of crawling around checking up ahead, decided to crouch run in the rest of the way. Bang, dead.

Next spawn, started west of Balota. Tried to raid airfield for supplies. Found nothing but a few magazines. Managed to meet up with another unarmed survivor, and we got chased by zombies into the control tower. Whilst standing at the top of control tower, BANG. Knocked unconscious by the shot. After regaining conscious I tried to run to cover so I could bandage, having only 4000 blood left and bleeding out fast, but with a broken leg I could only walk. Second short rang out and I was dead.

Next spawn - Chased by a maniac with hatchet for 2 kilometers with about 50 zombies running behind the two of us. I had deliberately run him through multiple zombie spawns to get as many zombies as possible on us whilst I did my best 'greased up deaf guy' from Family Guy impression "You never gonna catch me!"

Next thing I know, he goes from being about 10 m behind me to being right on top of me, managed to land an axe hit which breaks my leg, and then hacks me to death whilst the zombies attack him.

After all this, my opinions have really changed. From being the kind of guy who only uses his weapons in self defence, and who tries to defuse hostile situations as best I can before I pull the trigger, I have come to the conclusion that it's just not worth the risk.

In future, unless I see someone is completely unarmed, or at such a range that going over to loot them would be a hassle, I'm going to kill them, I just don't see the point in risking all the progress I've made for the sake of possibly making a new friend. I will stick with the people I know already, and let them introduce me to new allies through people they know.

[Swineflew 480]

Ah yes, another player who lets the actions of others dictate your play.

You've become the very zombies you're fighting against. Welcome to the horde.

Edited August 1, 2012 by Swineflew

[manglips 15]

In future, unless I see someone is completely unarmed, or at such a range that going over to loot them would be a hassle, I'm going to kill them, I just don't see the point in risking all the progress I've made for the sake of possibly making a new friend. I will stick with the people I know already, and let them introduce me to new allies through people they know.

Welcome to the dark side :) lol

Edited August 1, 2012 by manglips

[Althaluz 30]

If you are looking for someone to team up with, for a more "safe" experience, id suggest LU 1337 Owned and run by me, i dont care much for gear and id happily team up with you if you wanted to, ive got a spare set of nvg's that could use a head to sit on, and i have an AS50 if you want it ^_^ let me know mate.

exiztence654 on skype

[ZedsDeadBaby 2287]

In future, unless I see someone is completely unarmed, or at such a range that going over to loot them would be a hassle, I'm going to kill them, I just don't see the point in risking all the progress I've made for the sake of possibly making a new friend. I will stick with the people I know already, and let them introduce me to new allies through people they know.

You could just not do anything. You realize that right? There's a middle ground between running up to a complete stranger and expecting to be fast-friends and murdering them outright. It's called just sit still and watch them pass and then go about your business.

I mean kill them if you want, but don't act like you have no choice. You will be doing it because that's what you want to do, not because the circumstances of the game have somehow forced you hand.

I've played 700+ hours and probably have murdered fewer than 30 people total. I've seen literally thousands. 99 times in 100 I just watch them until they're gone and then continue doing whatever it is I was doing.

If survival is really your goal, murdering people is not going to help.

[Zexis 127]

Ah yes, another player who lets the actions of others dictate your play.

You've become the very zombies you're fighting against. Welcome to the horde.

Is it not inevitable? There is little incentive to be friendly towards randoms. And until there is, KoS will remain the common rule.

Or ignore contacts altogether, as the above poster mentions.

Edited August 1, 2012 by Zexis

[evoxtom 142]

Ah yes, another player who lets the actions of others dictate your play.

You've become the very zombies you're fighting against. Welcome to the horde.

No, he's going to become the PLAYER you should fear. :)

[BlazeN'Chronic 51]

WAAAHHH WAAAHHH i got killed so now im going to kill... grow some stones and accept you made ALOT of very poor decisions that lead to YOUR OWN death... no ones fault but your own... quit crying lil kiddies, its just a game ;)

[bnegative@gmx.com 6]

You could just not do anything. You realize that right? There's a middle ground between running up to a complete stranger and expecting to be fast-friends and murdering them outright. It's called just sit still and watch them pass and then go about your business.

I mean kill them if you want, but don't act like you have no choice. You will be doing it because that's what you want to do, not because the circumstances of the game have somehow forced you hand.

I've played 700+ hours and probably have murdered fewer than 30 people total. I've seen literally thousands. 99 times in 100 I just watch them until they're gone and then continue doing whatever it is I was doing.

If survival is really your goal, murdering people is not going to help.

This ^^

Not murdered anyone yet,i keep a discrete distance and choose my server carefully.

[masterbrain 20]

http://dayzmod.com/forum/index.php?/topic/3141-banditsurvivor-morphing-to-be-removed/page__st__1080#entry529102

Bring it back IMO

[Zymi 64]

Kill them, kill them all.

[miket 92]

If survival is really your goal, murdering people is not going to help.

Really? Because it's pretty nice when someone has a bigger backpack, nicer gun, and plenty of food and ammo for me to take. That aids in my survival plenty.

And there's plenty of people out there with that exact same attitude.

Its really not that hard to find a water bottle, a pack of matches, a hatchet and a hunting knife, and dissappear into the wilderness somewhere near a water source and survive there indefinitely. Kill animal, gut, cook, eat. Then go to a water source and fill up your bottle. Drink. Fill it up again. Repeat. I did this for about 8 hours of gameplay whilst scouting the outskirts of large towns for people coming and going.

Everyone could do this if they really wanted. But no one does. It's not the most exciting existence, and rolling around with military grade hardware, killing others for their loot and stockpiling mass amounts of weapons and ammo, whilst cruising around in a vehicle or flying around in a chopper, is much, much more fun.

[ZedsDeadBaby 2287]

http://dayzmod.com/f...080#entry529102

Bring it back IMO

I assume you didn't play back then?

Life expectancy was lower and murder rates were higher when the skin was in the game, mate.

Nothing was really different. Half or better of the people with skins had them because they killed someone in self defense or for trying to steal from them, or for shooting a friend, etc. so a lot of "bandits" were friendly, and people with survivor skins were as likely to be pre-bandits and just as murderous as anyone else. I died far more often to fresh spawns wearing the survivor skin and toting a Winchester or Lee Enfield than I ever did to bandits wearing the skin.

I know it seems like a good idea, but it was a completely broken system that accomplished nothing.

So please save your giant red text for something that will actually improve the game.

Like, say, maybe a system that puts the power of identification in the hands of the players instead of relying of a magical fairy.

Edited August 1, 2012 by ZedsDeadBaby

[Powell (DayZ) 734]

So you get killed a few times? Oh well. Keep being friendly, for the sake of Day Z 's humanity. If we all turn, there's no hope left in this game

[jubeidok 495]

When I first started playing DayZ, the way I usually did things was try to establish communication with anyone I see, and only shoot if I see a gun aimed at me.

This playstyle pretty much worked for me and I made some interesting allies and did a lot of travelling with a companion or two. I did plenty of trading with people I met on the road and have saved, and been saved by, people I've only known for a few hours.

After tonight, however, things are going to change.

I had been playing the same toon for about 30 hours of gameplay, both solo and with other people, when I saw a guy being chased by zombies. I approached ready to give aid. He finished off the last zombie and I called out 'friendly' to him. He finished bandaging himself. I was still watching him, my gun aimed not far from him but not directly at him, and I was watching to see if he turned his gun towards me. I try to raise communications.

Suddenly, he teleports about 10 m's to left, and shoots me in the head.

This simply didn't make sense. 1 second he had just finished bandaging himself, the next he's standing 10 m away with a perfectly aimed shot to my head.

Whether this was lag or some sort of teleport hack or lag switch (ie. create artificial lag, move to a new position, stop artificial lag), I don't know. But it was seriously a cheap way to die after surviving for so long.

Thankfully I had recently put a whole bunch of my gear into my tent and saved before this happened, so I can retrieve some of the rarer items I had stored.

On respawn I was bugged and managed to spawn in Novy Sobor. After spamming V to get out of the building I had spawned into, searched the area and found a downed chopper, which had a DMR with 2 mags on it. Checked out the barn on the south side of town and managed to find a Winchester, Double Barrel Shotgun and Lee Enfield all in the same barn. At the servo I found a hatchet and somewhere along the way I found 2 cans of food and 2 water bottles. I grabbed as much ammo as I could carry and headed to Stary Sobor hoping to raid the supermarket for a bigger backpack.

After going through the supermarket, finding a pair of binoculars and a watch, having my fill of beans and cola, and loading up on all the food and ammo I could carry, I walked outside and decided to head for the medical tents. A zombie aggro'd me and I sprinted towards a building planning to lose it inside.

Then I died. My instantaneous thought was that I had been killed by the zombie by some sort of bug, but that thought was cut short by the sound of a M107 firing in the distance.

On my next spawn I started just east of Cherno and decided I'd head into the city to try and gather some supplies. After finding a hatchet and winchester in the barn, I headed into town. I managed to get aggro'd by a zombie and was forced to shoot it, bringing dozens more my way. Having just spawned, I decided I was going to use the winchester to kill all the zombies that came at me and gather the food/drinks off the corpes. After killing 14 zombies, I was ready to loot when I started taking fire from two different guns from the same direction. I took a hit and ran away, bandaging myself.

Deciding to try and continue into the city, I crept around to the eastern edge, passed through the construction sight, and after a few minutes of crawling around checking up ahead, decided to crouch run in the rest of the way. Bang, dead.

Next spawn, started west of Balota. Tried to raid airfield for supplies. Found nothing but a few magazines. Managed to meet up with another unarmed survivor, and we got chased by zombies into the control tower. Whilst standing at the top of control tower, BANG. Knocked unconscious by the shot. After regaining conscious I tried to run to cover so I could bandage, having only 4000 blood left and bleeding out fast, but with a broken leg I could only walk. Second short rang out and I was dead.

Next spawn - Chased by a maniac with hatchet for 2 kilometers with about 50 zombies running behind the two of us. I had deliberately run him through multiple zombie spawns to get as many zombies as possible on us whilst I did my best 'greased up deaf guy' from Family Guy impression "You never gonna catch me!"

Next thing I know, he goes from being about 10 m behind me to being right on top of me, managed to land an axe hit which breaks my leg, and then hacks me to death whilst the zombies attack him.

After all this, my opinions have really changed. From being the kind of guy who only uses his weapons in self defence, and who tries to defuse hostile situations as best I can before I pull the trigger, I have come to the conclusion that it's just not worth the risk.

In future, unless I see someone is completely unarmed, or at such a range that going over to loot them would be a hassle, I'm going to kill them, I just don't see the point in risking all the progress I've made for the sake of possibly making a new friend. I will stick with the people I know already, and let them introduce me to new allies through people they know.

Weakling. Such a pathetic excuse to become one of them, when you can instead just learn how to do this...

[miket 92]

WAAAHHH WAAAHHH i got killed so now im going to kill... grow some stones and accept you made ALOT of very poor decisions that lead to YOUR OWN death... no ones fault but your own... quit crying lil kiddies, its just a game ;)

In all instances I got killed by other players. And you're telling me that deciding to start killing other players is a bad thing to do? I think you're what people call an idiot.

I did not make the decision to pull the trigger which fired the bullet which killed me. Another player made that decision.

This is not a 'crying' post as you describe it. This is a post describing how my attitude has been changed by my experiences.

Previously, I was probably the last person to pull the trigger in a fire fight if I could help it.

[kozzy420 39]

http://dayzmod.com/f...080#entry529102

Bring it back IMO

hell no, that different suits for bandits and survivors was dumb as hell. What so after killing a innocent the person magically gets a bandit suit sent to him lol. So glad they removed that garbage noob crap

[Powell (DayZ) 734]

hell no, that different suits for bandits and survivors was dumb as hell. What so after killing a innocent the person magically gets a bandit suit sent to him lol. So glad they removed that garbage noob crap

it doesn't need to make sense, but the game was 100x better with that skin

[ZedsDeadBaby 2287]

Really? Because it's pretty nice when someone has a bigger backpack, nicer gun, and plenty of food and ammo for me to take. That aids in my survival plenty.

No, it actually doesn't. Murdering someone for a gun is infinitely more dangerous than just picking one up off the ground.

Murdering someone for a backpack is infinitely more dangerous than just finding one in a grocery store or tent and a larger backpack doesn't make survival that much easier. The 8 slots you start with is plenty to carry food, water and medical supplies necessary.

Backpacks are convenient and nice to have, but they are not critical to survival. If you're killing for a backpack you're killing out of greed, not survival.

Its really not that hard to find a water bottle, a pack of matches, a hatchet and a hunting knife, and dissappear into the wilderness somewhere near a water source and survive there indefinitely. Kill animal, gut, cook, eat. Then go to a water source and fill up your bottle. Drink. Fill it up again. Repeat. I did this for about 8 hours of gameplay whilst scouting the outskirts of large towns for people coming and going.

Okay, exactly. So you agree killing has nothing to do with survival. Survival is easy and almost a guarantee. Any killing you do is basically for enjoyment. No matter what you tell yourself after the fact.

Everyone could do this if they really wanted. But no one does. It's not the most exciting existence, and rolling around with military grade hardware, killing others for their loot and stockpiling mass amounts of weapons and ammo, whilst cruising around in a vehicle or flying around in a chopper, is much, much more fun.

Uhh. Exactly. Fun. So we agree then?

I'm confused. You started out acting like you were disagreeing with me, and then end your post basically saying exactly the same thing I did - survival is easy and killing is what we do to make the game interesting.

[ZedsDeadBaby 2287]

it doesn't need to make sense, but the game was 100x better with that skin

It really, really, really, really, really wasn't.

[Jimmy James 18]

Congrats, OP. You've successfully passed the first stage of transition to a DayZ player, though it looks like you resisted it quite a bit.

[s7rike 0]

I still don't shoot at the first sight.....just slowly walk/crawl away...

[Valec 55]

I assume you didn't play back then?

Life expectancy was lower and murder rates were higher when the skin was in the game, mate.

Nothing was really different. Half or better of the people with skins had them because they killed someone in self defense or for trying to steal from them, or for shooting a friend, etc. so a lot of "bandits" were friendly, and people with survivor skins were as likely to be pre-bandits and just as murderous as anyone else. I died far more often to fresh spawns wearing the survivor skin and toting a Winchester or Lee Enfield than I ever did to bandits wearing the skin.

I know it seems like a good idea, but it was a completely broken system that accomplished nothing.

So please save your giant red text for something that will actually improve the game.

Like, say, maybe a system that puts the power of identification in the hands of the players instead of relying of a magical fairy.

For all I dislike you and disagree with you, Zed, you're making way too much sense in this thread and the one you linked to. +beans.

[ZedsDeadBaby 2287]

For all I dislike you and disagree with you, Zed, you're making way too much sense in this thread and the one you linked to. +beans.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

[miket 92]

Congrats, OP. You've successfully passed the first stage of transition to a DayZ player, though it looks like you resisted it quite a bit.

I think that means a part of my soul has died.