Poll: Do you play at night?

[sexacutioner 1]

I play at day because I have to make a choice. I wish I could do both (faster time), but alas.

[relentless@clear.net.nz 12]

I play on whatever the local server is on at the time. I have a slight preference for moon nights because its more intense zombie wise.

[Tegla (DayZ) 112]

i love the night. the chemlights, flares, flashlights. it adds to the atmosphere.

plus, i feel much safer at night

[oktyabr 53]

YES

Daytime is much easier to be spotted and killed.

[Disodium 0]

I am new to this mod and have only played at night thus far..

It is nice though how they have allowed for different time zoned servers, so should we wish to play day time, it is easy enough to do so by just connecting to a server that regionally located in an area where the sun is up!

I should note, I am an Aussie who plays US servers because the AUS ones are a crap fight to get into, and when you do you generally spend 10 mins just trying to get in or when you do, you are frozen or something glitches out.

[zak757 146]

I feel infinitley safer at night, as I almost always travel alone.

[Toyota (DayZ) 0]

Night time hours should lightened up a bit. Xblackcat's initial point is correct in that its never pitch black in real life. Plus on top of that everyone already turns up their video settings to gain an advantage anyways.

So the big changes i'd like to see is make night time hours more realistically brighter (just a smidge more) when its clear out. Obviously if its cloudy lighting conditions should continue to account for this. Now indoors it should be pitch black to allow players to hide and do bad things. The next change in lighting is to fight the gamma correctors by using slamz suggestion in this thread. http://dayzmod.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=8459&highlight=gamma+correction

[underscore 12]

YES

I used to ONLY play at night, but if I'll be forced to stare at an opaquely black foreground - and don't try and tell me chemlights, flashlights or flares are even vaguely tactical or sensible - then I won't be playing any longer. I'm not butthurt or anything; you guys do whatever you want with this game and then I'll decide whether it's worth my time to participate.

Also, consider that RL nightime commando style operations or small unit recces have always performed during a new moon whenever possible. And, yes, I'm talking about way before the invention of NVGs, etc. So, no, with the exception of extreme environments like the jungle, moonless nights are never pitch black.

And, even if they were, let's consider how many sacrifices in regards to realism both ARMA and DayZ make for the sake of playability. Suddenly everybody becomes a fanatical stickler for this one thing? Does not compute.

[Budiak 1]

I actually prefer night. I only carry one pack of blue chemlights and I still have ten of them. The darker the night is obviously effects my gameplay, but in makes night play safer for lone wolves and often more productive.

[mmarionz 6]

I can tell you in this part of the world (New Zealand) the moonless nights are indeed pitch black.

Whenever we head to our holiday batch far from civilisation and I go for a walk at night it always suprises me.

Turn off the torch and wait for your eyes to adjust and you literally can see about 4 feet.

[CommodoreFrank 13]

I enjoy the night when it's not impossibly dark. If I could see 10-15 feet in front of me, that would be enough to navigate, and I would find it pretty thrilling to explore at night. However, since night is currently a mess except on the most moonlit nights, I prefer the day.

[xBlackCat 1]

Well, after 134 votes, there is a small bias towards Daytime play, with very few who play only at night.

I played a couple times in the early morning and I loved it, was difficult to see, but not impossible. Was quite fun. Conditions only stayed that way for an hour at most, though.

So I think it is fair to say that nighttime is not broken as many seem to think. Based on the comments though, it seems that very few enjoy the cloudy and moonless nights. I don't think it HAS to be changed by any means, but in the servers I have looked at, few people stay when it is that dark; which supports the claims here.

In my opinion, shifting the entire scale upwards a few notches would be more realistic, more fun, and would eliminate the darkest of the nights. It should also balance out the curve in the poll a bit more, though I'm not sure if aiming for the middle of the pack is actually a goal for this mod. If not, then based on this poll, the game is fine as is.

[avidius 4]

I play both, but mostly day, as I actually find it safer.

Night servers seem to have just as many bandits if not more.

Think about it this way, the moment a person gets NVG and a compatible weapon they only exclusively play on night servers until that character dies (IMO) Being night means they can camp even closer to towns and high tier loot areas without light exposing them, but they can still see you and any movement you make just fine. You on the other hand will try to be more careful, slower moving because of zombies, which makes you much easier to hit, and you wont be able to return fire easily even if they miss.

So my 'day is safer' logic is purely because I don't have NVG at the moment, and it puts me on an equal playing ground with the others.

P.s Night in-game is not unrealistic. Drive to your local park at night, even with street lights around the outside, the centre of the park is extremely dark, this is normal.

[bonafide 2]

I would LIKE to play at night if it wasn't so unrealistically dark.

Have you ever been outside at night in countryside where there are no street lights? When there is no moon or stars it is really that dark.

[xBlackCat 1]

I would LIKE to play at night if it wasn't so unrealistically dark.

Have you ever been outside at night in countryside where there are no street lights? When there is no moon or stars it is really that dark.

I have, and I admit that it is all shades of black at that point, but you can at least tell the difference between a tree in front of you and the deep,deep black behind it. Maybe i have good night sight, but after you sit in it for a few minutes, outlines and movement are still detectable for the most part.

Edit: Did not notice the moonless and STARLESS part when I posted this. I've only ever been out on a new moon, not a hopelessly cloudy new moon.

[Jono (DayZ) 1]

I voted prefer to play during day:

I don't know if it's just my gfx settings, but at night - even on a clear night when there should be SOME light (surely - though I've never seen a moon in the sky)... Even with Gamma/Brightness whacked all the way up, All I can see is black/silhouettes of trees. It's just no fun at all.

[Finkle 0]

I prefer night if the moon is out and you can see a little. I sometimes like the pitch black rainy nights too depending on where I am. Most people will throw out a flare if they're looting a popular spot which makes them easy to spot. Zombies have reduced vision too which helps. If its dark and rainy i feel a lot safer that I won't get sniped randomly if I'm looting some place like stary or the airfield. But if I'm out in the middle of nowhere going for hunting stands I don't mind daylight as much.

I recently found a Remington 870 shotgun with a flashlight on it and it really helps a lot in the dark. Of course you don't want to keep it on all the time, but being able to flip it on and off while still being able to shoot in an instant is nice

[#pree 0]

Of the 110 hours i played thus far, i would confidently guess that i am at around 90 nighttime hours.

I am undecided on the new beta patch. I was one of the gammawhores, but only because if you weren't doing it, everybody else was. Perhaps now i can enjoy the nighttime ambience without being at a massive disadvantage.

[JohnSmith (DayZ) 1]

Yes. For now.

But you need to redo the poll once everyone is forced to crappy beta client nights...

[Macenzie 79]

Daylight: The unnecessary hazard

[gizm0 96]

I prefer dusk and dawn over mid-day and mid-night

[Robert512 12]

Yes, nights are very productive for me, most of my gear was found during nighttime, including those elusive matches :)

In my last night-session I looted the office block, supermarket and several other buildings in Vybor without firing a single shot. There must has been at least one person nearby in Vybor because he had lit the place with several chemlights. Then I made my way to NW airfield, checked the gate at the west side and the hangars at the far end of the runway and got out again and made some distance from the airfield to log off. And I came al the way from Nadezhdino wich is not that far from the coast checking villages out along the way, visited a deerstand wich I knew, that was worth it because it spawned a Glock with flashlight.

Yes productive, last night, apart from a set of binoculairs and a NVG I have everything I need for now, well I could use a better rifle. All in all not bad for a survivor that is only 1 day old.

[witherfield 0]

If even cloudy nights were as bright as a moonlit night I might consider playing when it's night. As it stands now the realism is really tearing into the gameplay.

I love everything about this mod EXCEPT the pitch black nights. Surely a compromise can be found?

At least let me be able to barely make out individual trees and stuff so I can navigate without being a beacon through use of flares/chemlights/flashlights. There is simply nothing stealthy about being forced to use these items when the alternative is not being able to see anything but the sky.

imo the game was solid at night with 1.2 gamma and 1.3 brightness. Though I admit to maxing both sliders out because I could (would be great if the values I suggested were the max).

But of course. I'm a carebear in the eyes of the ones who think these nights are realistic.

So I should just DEAL WITH IT or gtfo?

I just might do the latter, which is a little sad for me -- as this is shaping up to be one of the best games I've ever played, and it gets ruined by purists that have an extremely selective idea of what realism is.

And no I don't want to play on a daytime server all the time. Night is my favorite when it's not pitch black. :/

[Macenzie 79]

Find some blue chemlights, they drastically improve night time looting with low risk of being spotted.

Also, G17 (pistol with a flashlight) is a godsend on the darkest nights. A two man squad (one with a flashlight and one with a silenced weapon) can easily operate on the darkest nights in towns like Berezino.

[witherfield 0]

I voted prefer to play during day:

I don't know if it's just my gfx settings' date=' but at night - even on a clear night when there should be SOME light (surely - though I've never seen a moon in the sky)... Even with Gamma/Brightness whacked all the way up, All I can see is black/silhouettes of trees. It's just no fun at all.

[/quote']

They are trying out a different type of tone-mapping through the ArmA2 beta patches. It shoots the contrast levels to unreasonable levels in order to A) Attempt to simulate how your eye contracts when faced with strong lightsources and B) To completely eradicate the possibility of customizing your gamma/brightness levels to get an edge.

In my opinion point A is just really annoying. Having the brightness levels fall and rise constantly when you run through a forest is maddening, and at Dusk this problem becomes hilarious.

As for point B The night is too damn dark for me to glean any enjoyment out of it unless the moon is up. And with the tonemapping affecting contrast levels, stuff like flares and flashlights are weaker than before.