What Makes This Game so Fun?

[Lewosch]

It dawned upon me whilst making a sandwich, why is Project Zomboid so fun? Is it the realism? The challenge? The potential? I have put 126 hours into PZ so far and I do the same thing over and over again, but enjoy every second of it. Its a never ending cycle, I start a new game choose a suitable base, scavenge nearby buildings, build up my base, kill off hordes, and so on until I meet my untimely demise. What makes this so fun though? I imagine the fun part would be bashing a zombies skull in and trying not to get killed while doing it, but most of the time I'm not bashing skulls in. When you really think about it the game seems really boring, Loot houses, sort loot into according catagories, barricade windows, run away from those helicopter ♥♥♥♥♥, look at your assortment of guns that you don't use because its dangerous, and die. My biggest guess is because its very realistic and not a run and gun like Left 4 Dead 2, and you get to imagine yourself surviving the onslaught of a zombie virus, 1 vs. 1,000,000 and feeling like at any second you could zone out and die because of it, you feel your heart stop when your deep in uncharted territory and hear a helicopter flying its way around doing whatever it does (most likely trying to ruin my life. I swear the amount of times I've been killed by those pricks in insane).

I suppose thats all I would like to randomly rant about, thank you for reading that giant wall of text (unless you just skipped down here, then in that case shame on you go read what I spend a solid 8 minutes writing). And please give me your thoughts on what makes PZ fun.

[Higgs]

Possibly because it's the only game where we can do this and do it realistically. And we know we'll die, plus the option of RP or just choosing different traits and professions. Mods also. I've over 371 hours and I've just realized that it doesn't ever get boring doing the same thing over and over again. Maybe because it's always different locations, different base, different character, slightly different playstyle maybe not making bases.

I guess that's my reason, it's the only game in existence where I can do all this and also has a unique twist in forcing you to die eventually, which I'm not sure how easy that'll be when survivors are in the game. I'm hoping it does focus a lot on drama between survivors and groups rather than action, unless you want your death-wish.

[flotheplayer95]

I think it's because I'm completely on my own and my surviving depends completely on myself. If I die, I die. There is no possibility to respawn with my character. That's what makes the game so much fun for me. It's the freedom I have over myself that I don't have in any other game

[Vzzdak]

The game is fun because it has balanced consequences versus the risks that you take. For a shooter like LFD2, the risk/consequence dynamic is the teamwork mechanic, where if you risk running off by your own, the consequence is that a special infected will pin you, and you will die helpless without a teammate to save you.

[Lewosch]

Originally posted by MadDan2010:

Possibly because it's the only game where we can do this and do it realistically. And we know we'll die, plus the option of RP or just choosing different traits and professions. Mods also. I've over 371 hours and I've just realized that it doesn't ever get boring doing the same thing over and over again. Maybe because it's always different locations, different base, different character, slightly different playstyle maybe not making bases.

I guess that's my reason, it's the only game in existence where I can do all this and also has a unique twist in forcing you to die eventually, which I'm not sure how easy that'll be when survivors are in the game. I'm hoping it does focus a lot on drama between survivors and groups rather than action, unless you want your death-wish.

I think that if PZ is this fun now it will be way more fun with features that they plan on adding like NPC's and vehicles (unless of course they ♥♥♥♥ it up, which I seriously doubt will happen) I also hope that the NPC's will mostly be just like the player and just want to survive, and maybe a few are on a killing spree, killing anything that moves. And hopefully you can be in a survivor group with some NPC's and try to keep them alive.

[Higgs]

I intend to have them do the work for me, and be a lazy leader in a comfy leather chair.

[Lewosch]

Originally posted by MadDan2010:

I intend to have them do the work for me, and be a lazy leader in a comfy leather chair.

Nice, I intend to just be a lone wolf and meet with NPC's during my looting runs and help them out if need be and send them on their way.

[Death]

For me the fun has been testing out my zombie survival plans. It turns out if I didn't get bored of sitting in my safe house farming and feel the need for some action I could theoretically survive indefinitely. Assuming of course no human interference. Once NPC's are added we'll see if they still work as well.

[Lewosch]

Originally posted by Death:

For me the fun has been testing out my zombie survival plans. It turns out if I didn't get bored of sitting in my safe house farming and feel the need for some action I could theoretically survive indefinitely. Assuming of course no human interference. Once NPC's are added we'll see if they still work as well.

Same here, although I'm not as fit as I would like to think I am. I do infact have quite a lot of upper body strength since I do a good amount of manual labor, but my cardio is sub par and would probably be my demise (unless of course I get the 'virus' in the first week or so, which is possible)

[WillieSea]

It's reasonable to assume that most gamers have little cardio and would be very susceptible to becoming a zed in the first week. So it's a good thing zombies are impossible.

For me the game is fun while I build my base and stocking it. Once that is done, the monotony of survival gets boring with stints of zed killing excitement.

[Lewosch]

Originally posted by WillieSea:

It's reasonable to assume that most gamers have little cardio and would be very susceptible to becoming a zed in the first week. So it's a good thing zombies are impossible.

For me the game is fun while I build my base and stocking it. Once that is done, the monotony of survival gets boring with stints of zed killing excitement.

I wouldn't say that zombies are impossible, probably what we consider to be zombies (a virus that makes people wander around and eat other people while being dead themselves) won't happen, but something could cause 'zombie-like' things to occur. And there aren't many things that we know everything about and how it affects us, or how it could change. Trust me when I say this; I am not one of those people who has a giant collection of guns and food provisions expecting zombies to turn up next Saturday. I have a pistol for self-defense and thats it.

[WillieSea]

Originally posted by Lewosch:

Originally posted by WillieSea:

It's reasonable to assume that most gamers have little cardio and would be very susceptible to becoming a zed in the first week. So it's a good thing zombies are impossible.

For me the game is fun while I build my base and stocking it. Once that is done, the monotony of survival gets boring with stints of zed killing excitement.

I wouldn't say that zombies are impossible, probably what we consider to be zombies (a virus that makes people wander around and eat other people while being dead themselves) won't happen, but something could cause 'zombie-like' things to occur. And there aren't many things that we know everything about and how it affects us, or how it could change. Trust me when I say this; I am not one of those people who has a giant collection of guns and food provisions expecting zombies to turn up next Saturday. I have a pistol for self-defense and thats it.

I have supplies, and survival training, but its not for zombies. On a scale from 1 (none) to 10, I am probably a 6 on the scale of disaster prepardness.
Reanimation of dead flesh is impossible. Mind control is possible but only on a living body.

[Lewosch]

Originally posted by WillieSea:

Originally posted by Lewosch:

I wouldn't say that zombies are impossible, probably what we consider to be zombies (a virus that makes people wander around and eat other people while being dead themselves) won't happen, but something could cause 'zombie-like' things to occur. And there aren't many things that we know everything about and how it affects us, or how it could change. Trust me when I say this; I am not one of those people who has a giant collection of guns and food provisions expecting zombies to turn up next Saturday. I have a pistol for self-defense and thats it.

I have supplies, and survival training, but its not for zombies. On a scale from 1 (none) to 10, I am probably a 6 on the scale of disaster prepardness.
Reanimation of dead flesh is impossible. Mind control is possible but only on a living body.

I'm probably a solid 2 on the on the dissaster prepardness scale.

[xanderbar11]

I really like the exploration/survival part - surprises, discovering new things to make, poking around stuff; zombie-killing thing is kind of a secondary to me.

Originally posted by Lewosch:

'zombie-like' things to occur

They already do, in some ways!

The rabies virus spreads through saliva and in its late stage victims become incredibly afraid of any kind of liquid, even thinking about drinking water can make them spasm with pain, and scientists think that's because watering down the victim's saliva decreases the chances of the virus spreading successfully to other hosts.

enjoy sleeping tonight!

[Slyguy3129]

NPCs would make this game fun. As it stands now, the game is boring unless I have smoked a ton of weed and want to play a walking looting simulator.

[Lewosch]

Originally posted by Slyguy3129:

NPCs would make this game fun. As it stands now, the game is boring unless I have smoked a ton of weed and want to play a walking looting simulator.

NPC's would make this game way more fun.