DayZ Storytime is a recurring feature we run, giving the community and our staff a chance to share their favorite stories from the popular ARMA II mod, DayZ. DayZ is about surviving, about building yourself a life and a future from essentially nothing - knowing that every passing minute may be your last and that a single bullet may bring your whole world crashing down, for good.
When you play DayZ, you're creating a story - here is your chance to tell that story.
An Apology to George
As told by agippo
After applying the DayZ mod to ARMA, I sat, waiting with baited breath, the loading screen staring at me for what seemed like hours as I toyed nervously with the mouse.
Suddenly the black screen comes to life, the ticker in the bottom corner of my screen types out the words “three valleys”, then disappears, leaving me alone with a torch, a bandage and a mass of open space.
“So, do I start with a weapon here?” I ask into my headset to my friends who have been speaking so highly of the game for months.
“Nah, you used to start with a pistol, but they stopped that, you have a torch though, you should be fine,” (I hear laughing from the other “friends” on the teamspeak channel). The voice sparks up again, "grab some decent loot and come find us, we are in Mogilevka".
His friends were probably lying to him
It was clear that offering sod all support to a newcomer was to be part of the DayZ ritual for my friends, so I set off in the direction of the clouds to make my fortune.
Fast forward a few hours, and I feel I may have accidently downloaded a bush running simulator rather than the great game my friends reccomended. However after some sneaking, and some crawling, and some bare skin wrestling with an inventory interface created by Satan himself. I finally find myself on the outskirts of Msta armed with my first weapon, the Lee Enfield. The chucking voices in my ear on teamspeak inform me that “The Dinnerbell” is a superb weapon for attracting zombies and I should feel free to shoot it anytime I find myself in need of a zombie.
Creeping between the few deerstands in the area and finding a host of ammo for brilliant guns I don’t own, I return to the barn in Msta to placate my thirst. The once green indicator It has been steadily darkening, and is now as red as a baboons bum in mating season. Sneaking into the barn I find nothing to drink, so I begin to sneak out again into the open field, past a few zombies lurking up the road. 20 meters out of the barn, I turn around, looking back to ensure no zombies have seen me.
My heart stops, there laying prone, facing me is another player. Just meters from the barn entrance I just left.
“Shit guys, I have another player here," I yell franticly. My friends stories of their exploits in DayZ have all made it clear that being shot by other players is the most common way to die, and that the majority of other survivors will kill you for your loot in an instant.
“Has he seen you?” the voice in my headphones shoots back.
“I bloody think so, he’s prone, facing me and 40 meters away at the most,” I reply.
“It may be fine, don’t worry yet, just...” One friend starts to say, before he is cut off by a yell of “SHOOT HIM!!”. I recognise the voice of Bill, our resident psycho cutting over the top on the voice channel, “SHOOT HIM BEFORE HE GETS YOU." Bill’s advice is tempting in its simplicity, and I place the iron sights on the prone player facing me.
“Does he have a gun pointed at you?” the rational voice returns, as Bill takes a break to breathe.
“I dunno, he is lying down in the grass, I can only see the top of him” I reply. My finger hovering over the trigger.
“SHOOT HIM, OR HE’LL GET YOU FOR SURE," Bill is back with his one click approach to problem solving.
I panic and shoot, a plume of blood that clearly takes its acting cues from Quentin Tarantino leaps up from the man lying in the field. My previously virgin headshot, and murder count both suddenly display the number “1” next to them. A message pops up on my screen; “George has died”.
I rush to the body to find some painkillers, a bandage, a pepsi, some random ammo and a hatchet. No gun, no crossbow, no grenade, no ranged weapon of any sort.
George, if you're reading this...I’m sorry I killed you.
I’m sorry my first shot ever in DayZ was a cold blooded murder and I’m sorry if you were blundering with the controls trying to get me on chat when I opened up your head like a ripe watermelon.
However, what I really hope is that if you were a decent chap before I shot you, I hope your brush with me hasn’t turned you into a heartless killer that murders everyone on sight, lest you be murdered again. DayZ already has too many assholes, I shudder to think my first interaction with another player was to add to this fact.
Have a DayZ story you want to share? Fire up your favorite word processor, write up the story and send it to nrios@curse.com. Bear in mind punctuation, structure and spelling. We will add images but can't correct poor grammar or spelling.
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Posted 8/14/2012 8:27:05 AMHonestly I don't think there is anything wrong with the humanity system. Who would be there to enforce a punishment for murder in a post apocalyptic world?
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Posted 8/16/2012 8:54:20 AMNo one, but the number of humans that you meet would become less and less and the number of undead become more. This is unlike the game at present. You can kill as many people as you want, happy in the knowledge that more will come along.
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Posted 8/13/2012 8:36:45 AMAs long as they fix the humanity system these things should become much less common.
Or at least carry more weight to them so it's not a punishless(?) crime
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Posted 8/10/2012 8:14:18 PMI think there is a decent chance that this was me. I play under the tag George and I died a few days ago from an encounter like the one described. Apology accepted.
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Posted 8/7/2012 6:57:31 PMThis mod hasn't decayed. It's only began. The ability to kill other players for gear, for fun is simply an additive to the experience. People argue that you're going to seek the help from other humans to survive the apocalypse but perhaps you're wrong. I'm no psychiatric specialist, but picture yourself 18 months into an apocalypse as such... At first if someone had something you needed badly, you'd ask. They would most likely decline and proceed about their business. Fast forward a month, maybe two. You need medicine, ammunition, or a place to stay. Another person denies you without question, so you beat him and take what you need. Perhaps he shoots at you on your way out... Fast forward again, two to three months. Again, you need something. This time you don't risk it, you kill the person you need without them even knowing where you came from or what hit them, you take what you need without questioning, without resistance, without a threat.
This is DayZ.
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Posted 8/13/2012 1:05:48 AMhey sorry for shooting on sight but i was a new player about 1 week of playing and had gotten shot every time i tryed to be friendly my player name is Eldestonline and i shot you
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Posted 8/15/2012 2:10:32 PMApology accepted, Eldestonline
My words were a little bit too harsh, but I was fuming after losing all my stuff...Well, shit happens, and I'm not infallible either ;) And with me having only 4 weeks of experience, we're on the same boat.
Why I'm in such a good mood? On my way to north once again, with 2 assault rifles, all accessories (except GPS and NVG) you can hope for with 20-slot packpack and inventory full of supplies (including 5 steaks, Yum)
I don't seek revenge, so no need to hide if playername ”luti” (my current alias) is on the same server. So far I haven't killed a single human player, and I hope all my kills will zeds or bandits ( I don't count bandits as humans).
Good playing!
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Posted 8/7/2012 7:40:28 AMHere comes the blunt truth: The Day-Z isn't a survival game against the zombies. It's an attempt to survive against other human players.
I'm pretty sure that wasn't developers goal, but that's what the mod has decayed to.
When I started my humble attempt to stay alive forever in zombie-infested Chernarussia I deliberately got myself killed several times to find out exactly how good vision/hearing the zombies have and what tactics really work against them.
About two weeks ago I started ”serious” playing and I haven't died in the hands of zombies since. Zombies are just background nuisances, not a real threat if you don't try to annoy them on purpose. And if you want to annoy them, arranging a kill-trap for them is easy (roofs in towns, buildings, bridges etc.).
But I have been killed at least dozen times. And every single time by human players...sometimes in close range, sometimes by snipers from long distance. I even got beaten to death from behind with either a hatchet or crowbar :O
In most cases I carried no gun whatsoever. And when I did, I never pointed my gun towards them or fired a single shot in their presence. Well, once I did shoot when another player was nearby: he (well, a male character at least..) was in serious troubles, running away from a barn with several zombies following right behind. I was only about 100 meters away and decided to help, and killed three zombies with my CZ550 and one with G17 at close range. Another player stopped, turned to me and before I had time to hit direct channel (caps lock) shot me.
Nothing works: standing and saluting (BANG!), holding weapon down (BANG!), VoIP/texting in direct channel to claim ”friendly”(BANG!)...well, you probably got my point.
Last night was the last drop for me: I was in downtown Chernogorsk, dodging zombies succesfully in pitch-black night (well, gray thanks to brightness/gamma adjustments..) by hugging ground wearing my ghillie suit. My food indicator was flashing red so I was beelining towards the grocery store. A single can of beans, but that was enough. I was still eating it when some SOB charged in to the store and started immediately firing at me.
And once again, I died (playername Tjres, anyone feeling quilty out there?).
(for clarification: my name was Tjres, my murderer's identity is unknown to me)
That bastard probably couldn't believe his luck: AK-74Kobra (4 mags), a Makarov (8mags), just about every accessory a player can carry (clock, map, compass, knife, hatchet...you name it) with a ghillie suit and a decent sized ACU-packpack. Hours and hours of gameplay, and once again I am on the beach, unarmed.
Agippo said: ” DayZ allready has too many assholes”. I have met about dozen humans in DayZ, and they have ALL been assholes. Some kills may have been accidents caused by panic as described in agippos story, but most certainly haven't been. Sadly, DayZ seems to attract sociopaths whose idea of fun is to become a murderer. Too many guys like Bill around.
Well, now you got a new one. So far I haven't murdered a single player, but that's gonna change now. If I don't have friends on the same server, I will follow the rule of "trust no-one". No contact with anyone I dont know, no help to strangers and if I ever spot a player who can be even a potential threat to me I will pull the trigger without mercy. Apparently you cannot act like a human being in DayZ...
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Posted 8/7/2012 8:45:27 AMI wonder how people would react in a world that has been overrun by infected zombie dead?
I have a feeling it would be very much like your experience and a hell of a lot of people will kill innocents if they believe it gives them even the slightest chance of improving their own chance of survival.
The one difference though is that in real life if you kill an innocent, that's one less human in the world that could have helped you survive. In the game, it doesn't matter as another (or the same) will just respawn on a beach somewhere.
Would be interesting if there was a maximum limit to the number of spawns on a server, so that eventually the non-infected numbers will dwindle and eventually die out. This would mean a server could be running for just a single non-infected player, which wouldn't be financially sensible so I guess other players would need to be able to join as infected (except that would give them too much brains) or give them some sort of loose control over infected, so that they can guide them rather than directly control them (which means they can still be dumb).