Suggestions from a real survivor

[RooBurger 285]

Selco, a survivor of the Balkan wars where society completely collapsed, has reviewed DayZ from his own perspective and made a few suggestions. His words are quoted here in bold and italic.

Here are the parts he would like to change:

That it takes no work to get stuff. In reality you have to sometimes spend time on getting things from pile of trash

That there is no way to hide something. You can set up tent with some things in it but it is so easy to see that others find your things and take them most of the time. During war when I could not take something useful I often hide it to come back another night.

You can not fight without weapon. In reality there were many fist fights for things because people did not want to kill others.

Many players do not talk they just shoot.

I think two points he made are especially good: hiding things should be easier, and there should be a method of non-lethal force. I think that if it were possible to beat people up and take their stuff instead of killing them outright, we might see more muggings and less deaths. Perhaps baseball bats which can knock people unconscious, or even fist fighting. Right now, lethal force is the only option.

He also commented on what he felt was realistic about the game:

That you often do not find what you look for which increases stress

Finding small things like matches make a difference

The relief when you find for example something to drink when you almost die of thirst

Some places, like hospitals, are very few and create more than usual dangerous areas which is realistic too. Places with resources are highest risk

If you die, you lose everything you collected. If you have much good stuff, you fight harder to survive. I had AK47 and some other good stuff and broke my leg because I jump from ladder. I did not want to give up and crawled to hospital in next town. That took me half hour.

You can save friendly players and give them first aid. Teamwork against others helps a lot as well.

It might help people to understand how you think when you have to trust someone else with your life. If in doubt you want to be the one shooting first…

People often complain about bandits in DayZ. But Selco has made a lot of comments about how ruthless and evil people can be in reality. When the shit has hit the fan and there are very few resources, people may indeed shoot on sight. Camping in high traffic areas to kill survivors is a common tactic:

Forget about empty towns with lot of resources laying everywhere. That happens in movies maybe.

In my case many people were shot at well known water sources by snipers. It’s like lions in deserts. They wait for prey near water holes.

http://shtfschool.co...-survival-game/

Edited August 30, 2012 by dannykeat

[Hydra (DayZ) 472]

I like how you have him talk with an accent.

"Is good plan, yes?"

[RooBurger 285]

Haha, I quoted him directly. He just talks like that.

[Bearded McGee 121]

That was really interesting.

One thing I want to stress out is the whole "we don't want to kill each other, but we need to stay atop to survive" point.

Make loot more rare and hidden better. Why not have loot zones, but no actual loot points. Loot piles could be located anywhere within 50m for weapons, ammo and high-yield items.

[Slide885 59]

I think I liked everything he had to say. And the fact that in my head he has a Soviet accent only makes it more awesome.