My experience with trying to play nice (building a camp in Electro)

[SinKing]

So, I usually play with a friend and we always rinse and repeat going up north and usually dying in Tisy or on the airfield. I have become incredibly bored with that and while he was away for a week I tried something different. I wanted to see if it is possible to build and maintain a public camp in Dayz. Here's a pic.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=889232471

My goal was to create a friendly zone, which still has some risk visiting, but may be worth it, especially for a bambi. I was growing food and stocked up on backpacks, clothes and tools. It was basically a nice way to sit around a fire, get energized and move on. Yet, people don't understand this.

The developer and mostly the YouTubers have ruined what actions are viable in Dayz. I am dressed completely in white (most of the time), have no weapons and I still get killed 80% of the time. The other 20% are people terrified and running away when I approach them and people who are quite happy about the camp and use it. I've had 15 tents up at one time. The next morning all but two were gone, the others emptied; even the seeds and farming tools.

I understand that Dayz is mainly about shooting, but it also is about survival. We have loads of options to craft and survive on hunting/fishing, yet we can't share them or trade in any way that makes sense. This was an issue in the mod Days as well and there were a few clans that actually managed to maintain a trading base. This required significant clan numbers and only lasted so long. In short: there is no way to trade or make use of the very many options we have to produce, store and exchange goods.

The cause of events should be:

- find resource
- gather or produce
- process or store
- sell or trade

The last point is the one that isn't working. With the relative scarcity of resources in Dayz and the branching options to use stuff in the future (think vehicle repairs + base building), it would make sense to give Dayz better trade options. And to make people aware of this. I see everybody complaining about not finding this or that (including myself). Yet, in most cases these items are there, but somebody else found them, carries them uselessly in his backpack for three days and then dies without having done anything.

I think the game would be so much better, if people understand the fun of more interaction. This doesn't necessarily mean less shooting, but it can mean more kills for a reason, instead of just KoS. It's just ridiculous to think that the first thing that comes to mind is killing the farmer, instead of asking him for food.

[Delta]

Great idea !

[Tonybloodaxe]

Maybe a good idea might be to have a safe zone i know one server that has novo as a safe city and to kos in there is insta ban.
might be the devs may come up with a no kill zone that wont allow any form of killing inside that area that would give the pve people a chance to camp and trade without threat only an opinion but i would think thats the way forward

[BigBANGtheory]

Originally posted by SinKing:

I understand that Dayz is mainly about shooting, but it also is about survival.

Sadly survival is not a supported feature atm, I hope this balance is addressed one day.

[Orthodoxi]

Good effort. Some of us do appreciate the different playstyle and would support you if we came across you.

Hopefully the game will level out and the community will get bored of having a constant BR in a game with such potential.

[Shiney Squirrels]

"A+" for effort...

But it's a lost cause... the game is going to be nothing more then a "King of the Kill" clone... shame that.

[kopo79]

game needs this kind of things but game mechanichs ruin this efforts....chernarus on every server is just full with psychopaths...what server you are playing?

i have tried to play in rp servers but really it bothers that there is too much rules....if the community could somehow turn gameplay to more interactive but i doubt it that it doesnt really help...theres always psychopaths.

game should somehow identify what is murder and waht is self-defence....there should be humanity/mental state status what if too low can cos you harm.
everytime you murder,you should examble bury the body and that actions should take 30 min....you can always just let the murdered body in ground and became just grazy.

[Maca]

Originally posted by SinKing:

The developer and mostly the YouTubers have ruined what actions are viable in Dayz. I am dressed completely in white (most of the time), have no weapons and I still get killed 80% of the time.

You just found the "80%" of the overall survival community (Not just DayZ community) that think surviving or a surivial title is running in all guns blazings (Forgewt character progression) with such titles as H1Z1 and PUBG. This is clearly obvious when you see individuals compare dayZ and those titles.

That's the problem those titles are categorised as "survival" and then we've seen mods of the vanilla mod with battle royale or ludicrous loot spawns (Breakig point, Epoch ect) created that environment. Until DayZ actually becomes this "harsh unique survival sandbox experience" the dev's have been saying it will become because honestly there isn't a one released survival title on the market.

Originally posted by SinKing:

I think the game would be so much better, if people understand the fun of more interaction. This doesn't necessarily mean less shooting, but it can mean more kills for a reason, instead of just KoS. It's just ridiculous to think that the first thing that comes to mind is killing the farmer, instead of asking him for food.

Best of luck with that, those individuals can't adapt to open world sandbox environments and all it becomes is "yet another twitchy pew, pew, pew shooter".

Just look at the stat's and descriptions for the titles above, just CsGo with a looting system, hunger and thirst mechanics "If any" and slapped with a open world survival tag. *Rolls Eyes*

Yes, that is what the majority of the survival community thinks an anti-game should be?

[Brandon_Lee]

This is an in important topic. But it is adressed in a wrong way and about to turn into another 'KOS everywhere' whining... Okay guys let's make a gentleman agreement then. Shooting on sight is only allowed inside obvious military/high loot areas such as airfields, military compounds, heli crashes, so everyone could avoid being shot on sight by simply avoiding those areas... What, no? Noone would ever agree to that, you say? That's right. Here you go.
And I'm not surprized that people took all the tents. At first, I thought that it's a general rule of thumb that if you take something from someone's tent you place something inside to compensate. Soon I realized that people simply rob others' tents.
Yet, nice try friend, just don't give up. I wish you luck next time. And I hope to come across your camp one day.

P.S. if the game could somehow identify was it murder or not and penalize murderers then 99% of players would suffer constantly. 'cause the game can't read your mind to determine if you're going to shoot that fella or not anyway. As much as I hate to shoot people (and I feel sorry every single time I kill someone even if they shot at me first), I always shoot without hesitation when in danger, 'cause I'm never gonna wait for someone aiming at me to shoot me in the head only to make sure they're hostile. That's what's called 'survival' these dayz. I don't know if killing on sight will ever end, right now the only thing you can do about it is stop doing so yourself.

Originally posted by Maca:

Best of luck with that, those individuals can't adapt to open world sandbox environments and all it becomes is "yet another twitchy pew, pew, pew shooter"

Then they must be forced to adapt! Right now, environment is hostile because of players, not by itself. We need a real challenge, something that will make the game absolutely impossible to play. A challenge that could only be overcome by combined effort of all players on the server. My vote goes for T-rex.

[Pickled]

As in life your karma is your responsibility and others well what they do is theirs. :)

If you want change, BE the change...

There is no mechanic that could be implemented to make people play "nice with each other " and if they did try it would be forced and well not dayz anymore.

This is a really old one but the problem is people and their pixel fication.....

Wether you have just spent hours getting you FAL or M4 and all the other shiney gear or your a woodsman with all your leather gear etc living off the land , we all get butt hurt when the pixels go away because of some mean dude not playin how we think they should .

Unless you play on a "gated server" you have to expect that you will not survive and if you do well good for you but dont get butt hurt and complain when your base gets raided or your toon gets ganked .

When i give it a whirl I expect to die :)


I run a bus up and down the coast I like to help people but I 'm not silly enough to think everyone I pick up will be "nice" back, if they do well thats great if they dont well I try and kill em before they kill me (usually I die) but hey I have met some good folks doing it....

BUT I do it without the fear of losing my Pixels :)

[Brandon_Lee]

Originally posted by Pickled:

you have to expect that you will not survive

NO. ♥♥♥♥♥♥. WAY. Me, I don't plan to die, I don't expect to die, don't accept that I will die, and it's not because of my attachment to gear ot something, no. I know I will find another SVD. No, it's because of the true spirit of DayZ. Sure, I try to avoid people if possible, try not to shoot other players unless being shot at. Yet in the same time I'm not afraid to die fighting people who try to kill me (or someone else), who think of DayZ as 'king of the kill with zombies'. Moreover, it's a good death if my cause is just. And if I'm the only one who cares - so be it, I don't want to die but I'm ready run a boat over Styx so you could safely run your bus along the coast. The only problem here is... how not to cross the line. 'cause if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.

[Lilyvert]

It would be really cool to see people act like actual people in this game, and not on some cringey rp server.

[SinKing]

Originally posted by Basil:

It would be really cool to see people act like actual people in this game, and not on some cringey rp server.

Hehee, yeah. As much as I understand the idea for RP-servers in Dayz, I've also had some cringeworthy experiences trying to play on some. There wasn't really a threat of dying at all and people were sometimes trying too hard to play their role. I'm not a RP-fan, I prefer being myself. Though I also have to say my experiences are limited.

I'm really surprised by the overwhelmingly positive response to this topic. I expected people to tell me "go hug a tree" or something similar. But many seem to have the same issue as I do: why put so many options to lead a different Dayz "life" when at the same time there are no organisational solutions to do that?

I feel like that part was never in the game design and the devs thought it will sort itself out, but it doesn't. You can either be a lonely hunter forever or die trying to trade. There are no grey zones. What I thought could be a possible solution for a friendly/trader camp would be to install a capture the flag system. Every day you log in and raise the flag it will rise a little higher. On the third day it would change color and be permanent, indicating the camp is complete. This area could then be free from infected-spawning and auto-kick all guns fired (melee allowed) for a few days, until the flag disappears.

It would still be no solution to snipers, but at least they'd have to be damn good and the position of the camp could be so that it makes sniping difficult. The flagpoles could be found like other industrial items and possibly need a few rags to patch a flag (or flags could be found separately).
If you allow for free placement of the camp-pole this could lead to some interesting spots for trading.

I simply really liked having the camp and all the silly interaction around it. It was grand. The server is Neuland. One I think (they have 2 servers with shared hive)

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=891404461
(ok, I did have an - empty - sporter at this point, but later on I found white clothes)

[Live For Coffee]

Very good experiment. Not something I'd attempt. People in game, behave differently than real life. They can also change their behavior as well. A freshie may be pleasant, but then come back once their kitted out and feel like causing trouble. It would be nice if there was a "Pub-Zed", so we could have post-apocolyptic ale, enjoy a fire, and chat.

[NotArtyom]

It still makes no sense, real states origin from the monopoly of force and a common culture, if you're in a no law zone and don't the have the strength to back you, it's normal to expect people will give a go to their most basic instincts.
The flag system is ridiculous, you're free to get a crew and make your experiment, just don't complain that's there's no mechanics to help you. Just think you're in a tribal state (or worse) and work your way, this is the scenery of the game, nothing less or more.

And don't think i didn't like your experiment, it's very nice and creative, myself i wanted to see something like that in my runs, but make your experiment aware of the RISKS, because you're in the middle of a ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE, food is scarce, there's NO security whatsoever and the only law who works in this case is nature law.

- "A man is a wolf to another man."

[SinKing]

Originally posted by Artyom:

It still makes no sense, real states origin from the monopoly of force and a common culture, if you're in a no law zone and don't the have the strength to back you, it's normal to expect people will give a go to their most basic instincts.
The flag system is ridiculous, you're free to get a crew and make your experiment, just don't complain that's there's no mechanics to help you. Just think you're in a tribal state (or worse) and work your way, this is the scenery of the game, nothing less or more.

And don't think i didn't like your experiment, it's very nice and creative, myself i wanted to see something like that in my runs, but make your experiment aware of the RISKS, because you're in the middle of a ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE, food is scarce, there's NO security whatsoever and the only law who works in this case is nature law.

- "A man is a wolf to another man."

That's more or less the answer I was expecting. A bit more sophisticated, but still missing the point. You are arguing for strength, when the argument is about making sense. On the long run camps like these could be more valuable than the satisfation of killing an empty player and looting his farming gear and rags. They have literally nothing to gain from it and at the same time they have problems finding items themselves. If sharing was a bit more common, we'd have more interaction and would create our own market. I just find it unconvincing to say all we can do is kill another player in a game that gives us so many options to survive alternatively.

Agreed, the flag idea is stupid, but you are living proof or how near impossible it is to convince players to think out of the box and try something more creative. It's not that I don't enjoy the shooting, but sometimes I need a breather and want to do something else. All the options are there, but nobody takes advantage of them. Would be great If there was more to gain than to lose from friendly interaction.