Why I think Alt-F4 makes us all better players

[miscology (DayZ) 18]

I'll likely get flamed for this, but that's the nature of the internet. Can't complain about human nature. :) This is a bit long, but if you put aside the frustration that we all feel when someone Alt F4s you might see how this can make us all better players.

Let me start by saying I've never Alt-F4'd on other players. It never occurred to me to do it until I heard Rocket talking about it. "why disconnect during the exciting part!?" I thought. I've been a bit of a DayZ addict the past couple of months so in addition to my own play I've watched about a hundred hours of players streaming over the past few weeks. They all bitched about Alt-F4. Guess what. They all did it at some point, usually followed by a justification for why it was fine in that situation "scripters", "fuck 'em, they did it to us first", etc. I found that justification an interesting insight into the psychology of players who might DC on me. Given the opportunity I think many experienced players will do it - they might even be the most likely to do it. Like I said, as a noob, it never even occurred to me. I'm used to people rage quitting AFTER being killed.

I'm inspired a little bit by the TV show Caprica where there was a virtual world with a twist, similar to DayZ, based on realism, with no rules. The server recognized you by your DNA. If you got killed you were banned for life, therefore people valued their lives nearly as much as their real ones. If they were in trouble, they disconnected. I liked that, because it added drama, and forced the characters to be smarter when hunting them down.

Why is this a good thing in a game? Well, it's Player vs Player. Not Avatar vs Avatar. The only hard coded objective in game is to survive, and you'll likely go through many Avatars learning to be good at this. The first time I was shot by a punk-bitch while unarmed, I escaped, bandaged up, grabbed an axe, gathered a horde of zombies and chased him. He couldn't decide who to shoot so kept running. He begged me to stop over the mic, but I kept on the poor fucker. Eventually he disconnected. The military would call that a tactical retreat. .

From an Avatar vs Avatar perspective, his avatar held onto its life and weapons. We both lost some blood. I lost nothing else of value. A better turnout would have been to kill him, but I never wanted to do that in the first place. He was no longer a threat.

From Player vs Player perspective, I feel I won. I put him on the defensive and forced him to leave. His objective failed.

My most recent DC was a player after I killed his buddy. I'm guessing he wanted to protect his gear.How can this make everyone a better player?

If you're the guy who Alt F4s, don't just reconnect on a different server and continue being a punkbitch. Think about what you could have done differently to survive that situation? I'm inviting you to think about how you can kill me more effectively. Ironically this will negate your desire to disconnect in the first place.

Why?Because I'm thinking what I could have done differently to kill you before you disconnect. I'm remembering players like you, and coming up with counter-defensives. If you snipe me and I live I'm figuring out how I can reach you unseen, and kill you before you disconnect. If I shoot at your team and kill you, and your buddies live I think about how I can take everybody out faster. I load up Arma 2 missions and practice faster kills with the weapons I suck on. I don't know how good I am, but I'm already better, and for me that's the fun part.

I think there can be improvements made to the disconnection exploit sure, which I can elaborate on if anyone is interested, but even as it stands I'm fine with it. It's not in my personality to whine about exploits, since I'm only interested in what I can control. I can't control scripters, but I can practice stealth and getting head shots. I'm not claiming to be a good player, I'm just trying to put a positive spin on an exploit and use it to my advantage.For me, the players are just better armed versions of the zombies. I know many of them want to kill me, so I'm going to make sure they don't surprise me. If they do, they better be prepared for any tactic I might use, otherwise, tough shit. You're playing me, and I'm playing you. Not your avatar.

tl;dr; I don't play DayZ to kill, but to survive against zombies and bandits, so if your survival tactic is to Alt F4 when your ambush backfires, my survival tactic is to make sure all your ambushes backfire, and head-shot you first.

Edited August 7, 2012 by miscology

[jackcrow 129]

Hmmm where have i read this before?

[jordan2412 60]

Nice post.

F4'ing doesn't bother me except for when I get fired on and then he DC's because I shoot back. If you're going to open fire, finish the job, regardless of the outcome.. When I sneak up on people and try to kill them but don't get the kill, I can't really blame them for DC'ing. It sucks for me, but its in the game whether I like it or not.

Edited August 7, 2012 by jordan2412

[perestain 33]

tl;dr; I don't play DayZ to kill, but to survive against zombies and bandits, ...

No you don't.

Otherwise you'd be in the northern woods with nothing but a can of water, a hatchet, knife and matches.

Never ever meeting a zombie or another player, living forever on your own.

The survival part of this game is boring, because you can beat it after 15 minutes of playing.

People play this game to collect guns & equipment which are not necessary for survival whatsoever,

and then try to get some action by hunting other people.

This has nothing to do with survival,

and there are neither bandits nor survivors.

Its simply a deathmatch game, and everything beyond that is just a part of your fantasy.

[TheWalkingDude (DayZ) 8]

I reserve the right to quit on suspicion of a hacker but it can be hard to tell these days - not that it has happened yet to me, but being killed by someone you didn't see has always been a reality in DayZ, hackers or not.

Despite mapping a key to killing the ARMA2 process (i.e. very quick quits), I don't believe it will save me after a hacker caused death anyway (not tested, but it doesn't stop me loading where a hacker teleported me despite quitting almost instantly) so I now figure there is no point trying to "beat the hive" when killed - if it was a hacker then who cares if I leave loot for him, and if not, then obviously I was out played and they deserve it. So my quits are now about saving my life when hacking is obvious.

[GodOfGrain 191]

You actually made me think positive about alt-f4 (while reading).

My beans for this achievement. :)

[Hetstaine 10852]

I don't really understand the mindset of the alt f4 player, like you said, as soon as they have logged you have won. They have shown their game plan is severly lacking or that are just there to get the most loot and are not prepared to lose it. From the moment they bail they are playing on cheater time so why bother. Hopeless.

[Hetstaine 10852]

No you don't.

Otherwise you'd be in the northern woods with nothing but a can of water, a hatchet, knife and matches.

Never ever meeting a zombie or another player, living forever on your own.

The survival part of this game is boring, because you can beat it after 15 minutes of playing.

People play this game to collect guns & equipment which are not necessary for survival whatsoever,

and then try to get some action by hunting other people.

This has nothing to do with survival,

and there are neither bandits nor survivors.

Its simply a deathmatch game, and everything beyond that is just a part of your fantasy.

I think you are jamming your mindset down his throat. Sure everyone collects the loot..not everyone plays deathmatch style though. I have nearly 400 zed kills and only 1 murder. My partner has nearly one hundred zeds and zero murders. Our main goal currently is to get a motorbike each and then we would like to try for a choppa which will more than likely involve hours of travelling, refuelling and possibly a few skirmishes.Deathmatch..not for everyone man. If this was purely a deathmatch same old same old game i wouldnt even have it on my hdd.

[Afgoo 114]

It makes you better at killing people before they ALT + F4 .

People who do disconnect due to being at a disadvantage would get better either way. In one scenario, they die and have to respawn, so they may reconsider their approach to survival. In the other one, they ALT + F4 and MAY reconsider but they may also just smile at the fact that they have a wonderful crutch and don't need to worry that much.

Disconnecting also takes out a fundamental aspect of the game.

I'm not a whiner either or very upset. However, it is without question a problem and should be fixed rather than put in a different light.

I did like reading your post though!

[gizm0 96]

No you don't.

Otherwise you'd be in the northern woods with nothing but a can of water, a hatchet, knife and matches.

Never ever meeting a zombie or another player, living forever on your own.

The survival part of this game is boring, because you can beat it after 15 minutes of playing.

People play this game to collect guns & equipment which are not necessary for survival whatsoever,

and then try to get some action by hunting other people.

This has nothing to do with survival,

and there are neither bandits nor survivors.

Its simply a deathmatch game, and everything beyond that is just a part of your fantasy.

I just like collecting gear and hopefully one day setting up a hesco camp with tilted walls that help prevent grenades and the camo netting to hinder sniper fire from attacking anyone inside.

and inside we farm cattle and pumpkins and use a natural pond for water, and trade with outsiders in a hope to rebuild society.... but saddly dayz doesn't give me the right tools to make it a real thing.

Edited August 7, 2012 by Orthus

[miscology (DayZ) 18]

<p><p>

No you don't.

Otherwise you'd be in the northern woods with nothing but a can of water, a hatchet, knife and matches.

Never ever meeting a zombie or another player, living forever on your own.

Actually, right now I'm near the black line in the North East exploring. I have a gun for defense, but not because I'm looking for people to kill, though right now I'm looking for camps :D. I don't have much else, honestly. No map, compass or anything like that, but I'll keep them if I find them. I actually do enjoy the survival aspect, but that doesn't mean surviving with the bear minimum. Your method of playing it is valid, but for me, it seems counter intuitive if your objective is to survive. I like scoping out a supermarket or location looking for human activity, then deciding if I should be stealthy or avoid it entirely. Edited August 7, 2012 by miscology

[bezki 31]

alt+f4 doesn't even work for me, i didn't read your post but i can clearly tell that you are mentally retarded and most likely between the age of 11-14

good day

~unknown

you should read all of it. he clearly states that he never used it for himself. so did i.

the point is:

the cowardness of other players encourages me also to think harder of my tactics. if possible, always have or gain back the upper hand to finish them instantly with a shot to the head before they even are able to DC.

Edited August 8, 2012 by Bezki

[billytehbob 6]

Only issue of I have with disconnectors is the fact that I'll get the drop on them, kill them, but they D/C right after dying and their body sinks through the floor. I had it happen twice today, and a few times in the past.

[bad_mojo (DayZ) 1204]

I just hate how the alt-f4 epidemic severely limits the interaction between players. It turns it into your run of the mill shooter with kill or be killed being the only course of action. The videos I've seen of people being mugged or held hostage and forced to fight to the death are epic. Sadly, that helplessness just isn't there when you can tap out at any time.

Edited August 8, 2012 by bad_mojo

[qazdar 1]

ALT+ F4 at least saves us from hackers ... it saved my X days journey many times .But if you use it to escape a fight then stop playing dayz.

When ALT+F4 will be fixed people will start resetting their internet ... which is way more faster :D

Edited August 8, 2012 by Qazdar