According to the official DayZ website the average lifespan of survivors (players) is 31 minutes.
I found out about DayZ while I was watching the TV show Good Game, the host’s (Bajo and Hex) adventures in game looked like a combo of fun and scary that immediately captured my imagination, which made me keen to give it a go.
DayZ created by New Zealander Dean "Rocket" Hall, is a mod in its alpha stage, created for Arma II, a simulation FPS game. What it does is drop you in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, with nothing but bandages, painkillers and a torch. From there on, it’s up to you to try and survive. If you die, you are DEAD. It’s back to being dropped on some random place on the coast, with nothing but those bandages, painkillers and a torch. What follows below, is my so far brief adventures in DayZ…
Dear Zombie Apocalypse diary…
Bought Arma II Combined Operations on Steam on Saturday, looked like it was going to take overnight to download, while I was at it I also set SWTOR and Rift to update. I think I then went off and played some Halo: Reach and other random stuff. Some SWTOR time happened as well.
The next day I figured out how to add the DayZ mod to Arma II, wasn’t too hard. And then I dived into the game, and didn’t last long.
Was dropped in a random place on the coast and I couldn’t figure out how to use the controls. Had looked up the options menu, to have a peek at those controls, helped a little bit, but it was also a bit inadequate. In my first attempt at the game I’d come to a ladder I wanted climb, I knew it was possible because when I stood near it there was a little green arrow up that appeared on screen. There was no clue in the options/controls that indicated how to use a ladder.
Same with some doors I’d walked through with green inward facing arrows indicating an action could be done, would have been handy at the time to figure out how to close the doors behind me, could of stopped those zombies from chasing me. That’s how I was killed in my first go of the game.
Oh also... Found out zombies do run! Not just run, they sprint! You think, oh it will be fine, I’ll make my way past them no problem, look at them, ambling along all slow and zombie like... holy shit!!!
At some point I figured out how to open the gear pack, but not how to use stuff. I somehow managed to outrun the zombies (I now know it’s because I ran straight through a barn, in one end, out the other. Zombies can only walk in buildings) but not without serious damage, I was dying. There were painkillers in my pack, but I couldn’t even figure out how to use them. Everything was going grey and blurry, it was harder to move around. And soon, I was dead.
Interlude: Had a break from the game to look up some DayZ controls, whine on twitter about it, look up youtube DayZ guides. Scribbled some control notes on my whiteboard of keystrokes that would be handy for me to try in game.
So second attempt, once again was dropped on the coast, and once again it was night time.
After wondering around for a bit, I saw what looked like a lighthouse in the distance, I eventually made my way to it. Along the way I tried working out how to use the gear pack again. And this is when I dropped my bandages by accident. Being that it was dark, I couldn’t find where I dropped them, and I couldn’t figure how to equip and use the torch. I ended up giving up on the bandages and made my way to the dark building that looked like it was shaped like a lighthouse.
So in the dark, I made it to the lighthouse, managed to get inside it, and climb up into it. I seemed to be somewhere relatively safe. Still not sure if was even a lighthouse, because it was so dark inside. While in there I tried figuring out the how to use the gear pack, like how do I use the torch? Got restless, so made my way out of the lighthouse. This is where I stuffed up, going down a ladder, fell and broke a bone. And because I had earlier lost my bandages, I couldn’t do anything about it.
I lingered for a while, wondered around, figured out how to use the torch, and then died.
So next life… was the shortest. Re-spawned on the coast, right next to a zombie. Dead again.
And that was my first day of Day Z.
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