Zombies should be like the weather. (What DayZ is doing right)

[TimmyPage 45]

I am a great lover of zombie fiction, if you look at my book shelf and movie collection they are both filled with zombie fiction good and bad. I've also worked as a co-writer and consultant for a few small independent zombie films. The one thing that is consistent across all of it is that great zombie fiction is that its about people, not about zombie. They should be like the weather: a constant, a threat that can be protected against. Something which is only a danger when human error is introduced. One guy I worked with half-jokingly said that you could take the undead in great zombie movie and exchange it with a storm (eg twister) and it would still be able to provide the same emotional response.

That is why the older Romero films are great: the zombies are slow and pathetic but numerous and stubborn, if you work together or intelligently they don't provide a threat. Death ONLY happens with human mistakes or when the dark side of humanity comes out. The prison in the Walking Dead was COMPLETELY safe from zombies until humans came to invade it, the mall in the original Dawn of the Dead was blocked off and free from zombies until looters broke through.

This is why I think that DayZ is moving in a good direction, the zombies shouldn't be much more of a threat than hunger or starvation, they should be something that you can handle with a little preparation. Humans SHOULD be the biggest 'what if', the biggest element of chaos. Much to the point, I believe that making this game better is NOT about making zombies harder, but about giving players more reason to group together for good OR evil. Friendship and dealing with bandits are the human element that gives this game so much potential as great zombie fiction.

Thanks for reading.

Edited August 3, 2012 by TimmyPage

[thehumandove 344]

Well said!

[Nimz41 105]

A lot of people will probably come complaining about this because they don't have a clue what you are talking about but I love this! Very well said!

[ledo1222 13]

Well said, your greatest enemy is your self and others.

[kozzy420 39]

Well said damn, a post of this quality on this forum is very rare.

[Deathcall 101]

I agree, greatly put.

[davidecibel 55]

I agree. I also like if zombies are challenging tbh, but DayZ is doing it in the wrong way (super ninja zig-zag speed, bleed on 1st hit 2 out of 3 times, random broken bones at full health, high chance of KO if blood under 9k), probably due to arma limitation. I would be cool if the acted in a more 'realistic' way and there would be A LOT more of them, maybe even random spawn in the woods so you are really never 100% safe from them.

[wolfstriked 143]

I can envision a zombie movie which was less a human conflict movie and more a zombie survival tale and it would be a huge hit.People banding together and out of 30 people by end movie there is 5 and finally one and then nothing.It would be a very moving movie be sure.;)

[denkart 198]

I agree with you in the sense that humans should be the most dangerous thing in the game. However I still can't help but feel that zombies aren't powerful enough in this game. They shouldn't be the biggest threat but right now the zombies can hardly even be called a threat. Even when I do fuck up, the zombies still aren't a problem. I doubt I would ever die if I were to play on low pop servers all the time.

[scoobysnacks 32]

Thanks for reading.

Thanks for writing.

I not only appreciated your views, I can tell you have experience in creative writing.

This thread was very enjoyable to read :)

[Falcrist 119]

The problem is that guns are so plentiful that zombies aren't a threat AT ALL to an armed player. I've only died to zombies once, and only because I was ringing the dinner bell in cherno.

[scoobysnacks 32]

The problem is that guns are so plentiful that zombies aren't a threat AT ALL to an armed player. I've only died to zombies once, and only because I was ringing the dinner bell in cherno.

Isn't that exactly what the OP what trying to explain?

You died because of 'human' error, the zombies punished you.

[kentk94 194]

100% agree with you good sir. Have some :beans:

I'd really like to see more packs of the infected and less of their super "flash" style speed when they see you.

I think they should be very easy to lose, however if there are enough of them in packs, it'd be harder to evade one pack without alerting another pack. I think this would lead to being cornered much more.

The threat will still be other players, especially if you start capping the horde.

Edited August 3, 2012 by kentk94

[ivan keska 39]

But these aren't zombies rocket even says they aren't because the idea of them being infected is more realistic and thus scary.

[scoobysnacks 32]

But these aren't zombies rocket even says they aren't because the idea of them being infected is more realistic and thus scary.

Who said zombies weren't infected?

[warex (DayZ) 3]

Totally agree

[evoxtom 142]

I can envision a zombie movie which was less a human conflict movie and more a zombie survival tale and it would be a huge hit.People banding together and out of 30 people by end movie there is 5 and finally one and then nothing.It would be a very moving movie be sure.;)

Watch the newer take on dawn of the dead that came out a few yrs ago, you'll prob like it then.

OP- you make a great point, but the zombies are not at that level yet. No one fears them. People don't shoot them half the time because they're afraid of players, not the swarm after the shot.

Zombies need to provide more of a challenge than now.. But I still agree with you 100% . Human drama makes dayZ.

I've never actually ducked irl when a bullet cracked by me in a game quite like this... Or had a true Mexican stand off.

[jackcrow 129]

Agree 100%

[wolfstriked 143]

Great

Watch the newer take on dawn of the dead that came out a few yrs ago, you'll prob like it then.

OP- you make a great point, but the zombies are not at that level yet. No one fears them. People don't shoot them half the time because they're afraid of players, not the swarm after the shot.

Zombies need to provide more of a challenge than now.. But I still agree with you 100% . Human drama makes dayZ.

I've never actually ducked irl when a bullet cracked by me in a game quite like this... Or had a true Mexican stand off.

Loved the newer movie.As for people that think zombies should be less of the game and people should be main enemy I present this video.Just goes to show if the infected were way more deadly how would the players team together to survive.

Edited August 3, 2012 by wolfstriked

[aeronerd 14]

"They should be like the weather: a constant, a threat that can be protected against. Something which is only a danger when human error is introduced."

I agree. Though last night a group of us assaulted an area, mowing down zombies with multiple assault rifles, m14's. had a nice choke point. and conquered the zone......then....zombies respawned, we set up to repeat our defensive strategies when a group of zombies glitched through the wall and broke one of our players' legs and generally mamed him. another player got stuck on/next to some rubble, zombies mamed him, broke his legs. then more zombies teleported through the walls of the building to make things bad.

thankfully we had a very large amount of blood bags, morphine, steaks, etc. and all of us made it out, each of us with about 60-80 zombie kills in that instance alone. so i would modify your quote to say that currently:

"a threat that can be protected against. Something which is only a danger when human error is introduced, or the game(alpha I know, thx rocket, its awesome) glitches out and subverts your best laid plans."

[KrystoferRobin 67]

I am a great lover of zombie fiction, if you look at my book shelf and movie collection they are both filled with zombie fiction good and bad. I've also worked as a co-writer and consultant for a few small independent zombie films. The one thing that is consistent across all of it is that great zombie fiction is that its about people, not about zombie. They should be like the weather: a constant, a threat that can be protected against. Something which is only a danger when human error is introduced. One guy I worked with half-jokingly said that you could take the undead in great zombie movie and exchange it with a storm (eg twister) and it would still be able to provide the same emotional response.

That is why the older Romero films are great: the zombies are slow and pathetic but numerous and stubborn, if you work together or intelligently they don't provide a threat. Death ONLY happens with human mistakes or when the dark side of humanity comes out. The prison in the Walking Dead was COMPLETELY safe from zombies until humans came to invade it, the mall in the original Dawn of the Dead was blocked off and free from zombies until looters broke through.

This is why I think that DayZ is moving in a good direction, the zombies shouldn't be much more of a threat than hunger or starvation, they should be something that you can handle with a little preparation. Humans SHOULD be the biggest 'what if', the biggest element of chaos. Much to the point, I believe that making this game better is NOT about making zombies harder, but about giving players more reason to group together for good OR evil. Friendship and dealing with bandits are the human element that gives this game so much potential as great zombie fiction.

Thanks for reading.

3 cans of beans, and 4 1911 mags for you sir.

On second thought, take my whole ALICE.

You get it, and for that, you win.

[Aira 22]

Never thought about it that way : /

But it's true.

Shame on me^^

[capri_stylee 9]

I am a great lover of zombie fiction, if you look at my book shelf and movie collection they are both filled with zombie fiction good and bad. I've also worked as a co-writer and consultant for a few small independent zombie films. The one thing that is consistent across all of it is that great zombie fiction is that its about people, not about zombie. They should be like the weather: a constant, a threat that can be protected against. Something which is only a danger when human error is introduced. One guy I worked with half-jokingly said that you could take the undead in great zombie movie and exchange it with a storm (eg twister) and it would still be able to provide the same emotional response.

That is why the older Romero films are great: the zombies are slow and pathetic but numerous and stubborn, if you work together or intelligently they don't provide a threat. Death ONLY happens with human mistakes or when the dark side of humanity comes out. The prison in the Walking Dead was COMPLETELY safe from zombies until humans came to invade it, the mall in the original Dawn of the Dead was blocked off and free from zombies until looters broke through.

This is why I think that DayZ is moving in a good direction, the zombies shouldn't be much more of a threat than hunger or starvation, they should be something that you can handle with a little preparation. Humans SHOULD be the biggest 'what if', the biggest element of chaos. Much to the point, I believe that making this game better is NOT about making zombies harder, but about giving players more reason to group together for good OR evil. Friendship and dealing with bandits are the human element that gives this game so much potential as great zombie fiction.

Thanks for reading.

I agree with all of the above, although I've noticed recently that zombies in game are able to see me from much further out, or are much easier to aggro, its not a game-braking change, but it is a bit of an annoyance.

[wolfstriked 143]

The problem with wanting to dumb down the infected is that the game gets super boring then in between the gun fights.This is not like CS where you can find an opponent around the corner but instead its a huge open world map that is HUGE.You must run around for a good while looking for people to kill.

Right now I get so bored I have to find action by looking for players to PVP with.This is why I keep saying that Rocket should make two versions of the game that a server can choose to run.One is an easier type where drinks and food are plentiful and infected behave as they do now and another hardcore server where you enter at your own risk.You need to constantly scavenge from town to town since food is rare,where the infected are aggroing faster,they are harder to lose and hit harder.When the infected are aggroing from further away,are hard to lose and hit you like a bull then the game puts the player on constant edge.Yes there will bandits still but everyone is trying to just stay alive.

Edited August 3, 2012 by wolfstriked

[Zul (DayZ) 79]

I am a great lover of zombie fiction, if you look at my book shelf and movie collection they are both filled with zombie fiction good and bad. I've also worked as a co-writer and consultant for a few small independent zombie films. The one thing that is consistent across all of it is that great zombie fiction is that its about people, not about zombie. They should be like the weather: a constant, a threat that can be protected against. Something which is only a danger when human error is introduced. One guy I worked with half-jokingly said that you could take the undead in great zombie movie and exchange it with a storm (eg twister) and it would still be able to provide the same emotional response.

That is why the older Romero films are great: the zombies are slow and pathetic but numerous and stubborn, if you work together or intelligently they don't provide a threat. Death ONLY happens with human mistakes or when the dark side of humanity comes out. The prison in the Walking Dead was COMPLETELY safe from zombies until humans came to invade it, the mall in the original Dawn of the Dead was blocked off and free from zombies until looters broke through.

This is why I think that DayZ is moving in a good direction, the zombies shouldn't be much more of a threat than hunger or starvation, they should be something that you can handle with a little preparation. Humans SHOULD be the biggest 'what if', the biggest element of chaos. Much to the point, I believe that making this game better is NOT about making zombies harder, but about giving players more reason to group together for good OR evil. Friendship and dealing with bandits are the human element that gives this game so much potential as great zombie fiction.

Thanks for reading.

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