Trust no one?

[Sean Cook 4]

Pretty much everywhere I go, those are the words I see. Whenever someone makes a video on youtube geared for new players, that's the one piece of advice that's always in there. Everywhere I go, that's what I hear.

But the thing is, when I play DayZ I'm a pretty nice guy. I'm not out to kill anyone. All I really want to do is hang out, survive, help others if I can. Generally for my trouble I just get filled full of bullets.

AAround noon today, I spawned in. I have no idea where I was, all I know is that I'm pretty sure I wasn't near Cherno or Elektro. I was on the coast with a town in front of me, so I set about looting. I was really lucky, I found a hatchet, a water bottle, binoculars, a car wheel (I was going to give finding a truck a go, I figured if I needed the backpack space I'd drop it), and a makarov. This last one was awesome, because I generally have a lot of trouble finding sidearms. With that makarov I could use a crossbow without worrying as much about dying horribly if I missed. I was flipping escatic.

So, I was going my merry way, looted some barns, and I came upon an industrial town. I skirted around the edges of it, not thinking I'd find anything good there, until I saw someone running with some zombies seeing him and giving chase soon after. Using my binoculars, I see him run into a building, so I start moving closer to see if I could lend a hand. I get close to the building, and call out of direct com something like 'Hey man, you need a hand? You alright?' There wasn't any response, but he was in a huge warehouse that he might not even be inside anymore, I'm not sure ho much range direct com has. I didn't hear anything until a few moments later when I heard some shots, presumably from a rifle. Five or six that were previously behind me heard the shots and started running towards me, luckily I was able to hide as they went past. I was going so far out of my way and risking my life to do this. (Maybe I could have been more helpful by killing the zombies, but I was in the open, I wanted to be inside if I had to fight them.)

A few minutes later I see the guy running into another building, which I've gotten fairly close to by this point. There must be at least 40 zombies outside running after him, so I pull my makarov out and run in through the side door, which was closer to me, ready to defend him. I'm talking to him over direct com, like 'Hey, need a hand? Where'd you go?' Then I saw him coming down some sort of hallway, and I'm like 'Oh, hi.' Keeping my gun aimed to the side a bit, I look over my shoulder to the door I just ran through, there weren't any zombies following me. I turn back around, still using free look and with my gun aimed away from him. 'Man, there are a fuck ton of zombies out there.' Then I see him walking straight towards me towards me with his rifle raised, maybe 10-15 feet away. He starts firing, I say 'No dude-!' and try to whip my makarov up to land a good headshot, but I'm dead before I can pull the trigger.

Now, I'm not, as some might say, 'butthurt' over this. I can understand why he would do that. Maybe he was a bandit after all, maybe he thought I was a threat to him- even if he has an automatic rifle, makarov bullets or a hatchet will still kill him or knock him out. Maybe if I'd had my hatchet out instead, I wouldn't have been seen as so much of a threat, and we both would have walked away, maybe even happy. Maybe he's been in a similar situation before, and that time he was betrayed. Maybe he was just a dude trying to survive. Maybe if he'd heard some shots from me before hand and known I was there, he wouldn't have been as surprised to see me.

It just bugs me, you know? I didn't even do anything, I was trying to flipping -help- the guy and he shot me. I didn't have any good loot, unless he didn't have a sidearm or binoculars. I'm sure that he was far better off than I was.

The point is, where's the fun if you don't trust anyone, not even a little bit? If this game was just a zombie survival thing, it would be boring as crap. I'm here, not only to evade zombies and find loot, but to interact with others. Whether this ends up with me being hunted, a tense situation, or whatever, I'm here for excitement. That wasn't any of those things. He could have demanded that I drop or lower my weapon, told me to leave, whatever, but he didn't even try to communicate, just shot me. As Garak would say, shooting someone in the back is the safest way, but I was on his bloody side.

This makes me think of those snipers who sit around in the forests at Elektro with I think an AS50 and shoot random freshly spawned dudes. Maybe some of them are on overwatch trying to protect their friends, but most of the times I've been there I don't even have anything worth looting, and in order to loot my body they'd have to go all the way into the city to get it. Like, what the crap? They don't even care about that, they're just in it for 'sport.' Some people say that once you hit end game or whatever and have all the best shit that hunting others is the only thing to do. But that's not anything I'd call hunting, that's shooting fish in a bloody barrel. To me, something like that is only fun if the other has an oppurtunity to fight back. I mean, if I'm near someone who I think means me harm and they're facing away from me, I'm not going to miss on purpose to get their attention and then try to kill them, I'll put them down if I can. But that's really a hunt, the searching, the tension, trying to kill them quick before they have a chance to end you. A battle between men with rifles or whatever is far more exciting than shooting blind fish that don't even know you exist with impunity. Unless you're on overwatch, that might be exciting if your buddies start getting shot at.

The point is that you might not be able to trust others, but you can trust -me-. I won't shoot you for your weapon or your beans. If nothing else I'd like to trade with you, there has to be something that both of us have that the other needs. Maybe we can roll together, have a cool conversation, just go seperate ways, whatever. You don't have to shoot me on sight, you don't have to snipe me from a mile away, you don't need to keep your weapon aimed at me, I'm on your side. We're all just trying to survive, why not survive together? The only time I'm not on your side is if you are a bandit, in which case I'll probably try to kill you to save whoever your next victim would be. The point is, if you see a man named Sean Cook, give him the benefit of the doubt, something awesome might happen.

[AngryKaze 15]

I feel you man, I was exactly like you when I started playing. But these Russians without microphones/ability to speak and/or understand English just makes it hard to find fellow survivors to team up with.

[ZekkCC (DayZ) 51]

You can just trust people and deal with the death. Death isn't that frustrating if you expect it to come. ;)

[Hot Pie 27]

You must be new to this mod. I say give it about a week then ask yourself again if you can trust anyone in this mod thats not your real life buddy, clan mate, or your mother and then have a good laugh.

[puppetworx 474]

Just got done dieing in Elektro. Some douche shot me and I was down to 4000 blood so I had to run and kill and eat 3 boars before I try to take him out. When I got back into town the server had whittled down from the 40 or so to about 10 of us. So I was trying to gather barbed wire and tank traps to make a maze but none (literally none - I checked every single industrial building) had spawned there was like 60 car parts and tons of jerry cans instead. So the guy I wanted to revenge kill is gone, I have no parts to make a maze and the place is desolate. I'm bored.

I run to the firestation and wait for the crack of sniper's bullet hitting me as I climb the tower, only it doesn't come. Been a while since that's happened. I grab an AKM and M9. Then I pickup Camo Clothing from on top of the office, nice, the place is loot city. I then spot a friendly heading into the church and say 'friendly' over the mic, he says hi back and keeps speaking saying something to me over the mic (he had an accent so I couldn't quite decipher his what he was saying). I run past the church as the accent is putting me off, I can't get a good read on him. I run out of reach of him and realize that it's pretty damn suspicious when someone you don't see says friendly and then disappears, so guessing that he's aptly paranoid I decide to have some fun with him. I light a path to the office building with flares and get up on top of the hospital to watch. He follows the trail to the office building like a lamb to slaughter, I couldn't believe it.

I have no intention of killing this guy but I do want to freak him the fuck out for my own amusement. He goes out of sight behind the stair well on the roof of the building and I stand up quickly to throw another flare onto the roof of his building. He turns towards me just as I prone again, he saw me. At this point I figure he is pretty mystified and anxious, so I shoot a few shots over his head. For whatever reason he stays on the roof thinking that the lip at the roof is plenty cover. So I take another few shots but he stays fucking up there. So I climb down get on the hill to the east and fire my M9 around him, thinking he's so new he won't know gun sounds yet. He stays up there! So I go to the cafe and shoot some more above him. Still he lays on the roof thinking he's safe, probably because I've fired probably 20 bullets is way and he hasn't been hit. Then I pickup a few piles of firewood and light them downstairs in the office for my own amusement 'I tell him to stay warm and then leave'. I spot some more wood in the supermarket and go get it only he shoots me with his Enfield and kills me with the 4th shot. Then he starts shouting at me saying 'YOU IDIOT YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO DIE!!'

I laughed pretty hard. He definitely needed the gear more then I did anyway.

Edit: Forgot to relate the story back to OP's point: I not only won't shoot you if you're not a bandit but I will actually attempt to teach you DayZ life lessons in a practical manner, even if it costs me my life, and the lesson is mostly about amusing myself.

Edited August 18, 2012 by puppetworx

[dilorenzovictor@gmail.com 36]

Direct com is 40 meters. I saw a guy the other day, he was standing infront of some tents. I froze to see if he noticed me, I guess he heard me because a second later he turns his head (very creepy), he had a gun but I guess figured I saw him first and did not shoot so wasn't a threat to him. I then kept walking while looking back, he did not follow. All was well. As a side note a guy gave me a gun one time when I was a relatively fresh spawn.

There are good people in the game, if you don't shoot everyone you see, you will find them.

[Sean Cook 4]

You must be new to this mod. I say give it about a week then ask yourself again if you can trust anyone in this mod thats not your real life buddy, clan mate, or your mother and then have a good laugh.

Actually, I've been playing this on and off for a few weeks/months, I guess I just gained some ideals or something. After getting shot a few times, I want to believe in and fight for a world where a dude might be able to say hi to another dude without dying, is that so wrong? If I don't give it a try then that world will never exist. What I mean to say is, someone has to take the first step, someone has to reach out a proverbial hand or conversation and cooperation will never exist between two strangers. Someone's gotta stick his neck out, so it may as well be me.

[seanmcloughlin7 17]

When I first started playing it about a month maybe 2 months ago everyone was friendly and I met a few dudes who I ventured with and they gave me stuff and shared. Now everyone just wants to kill each other to the point where I almost do the same before they do it to me, and I think that's the mentality everyone has. They see you with a gun they WILL fire without thinking in case you kill them first. All in the name of getting slightly better gear. It's ridiculous. The humanity meter is a start but what's the point if it just makes dudes look different? needs to be a better way but you can't exactly punish them either cos it ruins the realism

[capri_stylee 9]

When I started playing (maybe 2 months ago?) I was helped out a few times as a fresh spawn, it hasn't happened since, every person I've met recently has killed or tried to kill me. I used to question the logic, as I rarely have anything worth looting, until I went 'on a hunt' myself. Was approaching Cherno from the forest to the north when i saw a guy crouch running to my left, I'm armed with an m1014, he has an assault rifle, i decided there and then that it was mine, I followed him west through the woods for about 2 minutes, my heart was pounding and palms sweating, but i kept up the chase until i got close enough, suddenly he turned and sprayed, taking me down to ~1500 blood i fired one shot and knocked him out cold, walked up and another slug killed him. I crouched to loot his nice stuff, when someone else finished me off. I sat back and grinned for the next 5 minutes, that was intense, i lost everything, but it was worth it.

TL;DR

Killing can be fun, especially when the danger is equal for both sides, shoot on sight may not be for everyone, but everyone should try it.

Edited August 18, 2012 by capri_stylee

[bazbake 456]

A bandit spawned in front of me while I was looting her silenced pistol from its stash.

I kept the gun pointed and backed away quietly. She asked me if I wanted meds and I said, "Nah, I'm cool." I then saluted and disappeared into the woods.

We're not all assholes. And plenty of us don't even feel like slightly torturing newbs.

[Dylon 8]

look at the amount of players on the main website.... then look at the amount of bandits.....