I'm looking for Proponents and Opponents of the DAYZ mod.

[Placebo 29]

I was watching Falling Skies last week and said to the wife imagine how much fun a DayZ type mode would be if it was based around Falling Skies rather than zombies, if you get caught you end up getting a bug stuck on your back and have to fight for the aliens against the humans, sweet! :)

BIS have made millions from DayZ

Has it? How do you know that? You're our accountant? ;)

DayZ helps ARMA II rack up more than 300.000 sales

That article seems a little misleading:

DayZ, has helped boost Arma II's sales up to 300,000 since May.

The DayZ website points to more than 330,000 unique players, with an average lifespan of 31 minutes.

Is it 300k new sales since May? Or it's just raised the Steam total sales since the game's release to 300k?

[dmarkwick 261]

Big OPPONENT:

It's influencing devs in their beta patches ... yes,you can tell me that those fixes are good for the engine but they're dayz oriented and secondary from another point of view.

Well, I should say that unless someone can point to a so-called DaZ-centric fix that actually removes gameplayfrom ArmA, then this complaint is a null. Any fix is welcomed, particularly any fix that concentrates on close-in combat and object interaction. I cannot see any DayZ fix that would actively remove from ArmA.

DayZ is a noobmagnet,warfare servers are full of guys asking how to order AI to get in a car,Teamkillings bases,people and being immature ofc.

DayZ is a big insult for BIS imo and for the MILSIM ArmA is supposed to be,and rising a big question :how come ArmA fails as a milsim,and succeeds in being a ZOMBIE game ?

Don't sweat it IMO. There's no reason for the DayZ community to interfere with the ArmA community in any other way than browser visibility. And I hear that DayZ players generally become quite good ArmA players when they do migrate. Personally I think it's a good training ground.

I won't be surprised to see an ArmA 3 made to suit dayz's needs

BTW,the new name for newbies on warfare servers is "DayZnoob" :D

I cannot assuage your baseless fears, other than to say that in general, fixes that make DayZ better also make ArmA better.

And some admins are thinking about autokicking players with dayz in their MPmissionscache folder :D

Well that's just dullwitted. However, it's their server :)

Edited July 6, 2012 by DMarkwick

[pathetic_berserker 4]

^^Exactly as Nodunit said,

Implying ArmA is a failure as a milsim dismissess the fact that it (and the franchise in general) has been successfull enough to keep BIS going as a studio and publisher these past years, how is that not a success?

[LeeManatee 4]

i don't mind dayz if:

1) it will be a separate game and would not influx arma as milsim.

2) if it will be a separate game my servers list would not get flooded with dayz servers.

in this case i would not care less about dayz mod, dayz fans and dayz in general, since i will know that arma will stay arma and dayz will be dayz

[OldFossil 0]

Lots of people is stressing the disappoint about DayZ as a matter of milsim as opposed to something other.

Honestly I don't understand this opinion. ArmAII si not only a milsim, in my opinion ArmAII is a sort of reality-sim (...yes, I know, there are a lots of issues about physical laws model and tons of other situations that should be fixed, but is not this the matter) focused on warfare, but the great potential of this game is it's huge flexibility that allows to mold and to fit it to almost all the environments one can imagine...so where are the true cons of DayZ? I can't see anyone.

Probably in the future all the games will be able to deal more and more with a better "reality" management, so each game will differ from the other one basically for textures, environments and synopsis (obviously that's just my opinion), so making a movie or a game will be a similar business.

All in all what's war? Where do you fight it? It's a real (unfortunately) thing that takes place into the real world.

[On_Sabbatical 11]

Personally I think it's a good training ground.

How are you expecting people to know that this game is a bit serious than what they used to play when the first thing they see is ZOMBIES running around :D

I am against the "democratization" of simulations of any kind ! especially for a game called ArmA ! and i can't afford VBS2 :D

[kilroy the nerd 14]

I'm not sure, so I'll just say both:

GOOD: BI gets money from the swarm of buyers to fund ARMA better, we get a varyingly fun zombie mod, new community members (some of which will be A: terrifyingly new to ARMA-type games or B: trolls)

BAD: Plenty of trolls or people from CoD and BF who think it should be identical to those games join, and even worse, we have the people who think DayZ is a video game and ARMA is the mod... even though they have to download ARMA 2: CO before anything. I mean, just look at any YouTube video with ARMA 3 demonstration, they're saying "Woooo, can't wait for next DayZ" completely bypassing the fact that there's an amazing game buried down there. It kinda bites the rest of us who bought ARMA for the game, not an action zombie mod.

All in all, it's not that the mod isn't bad, and that the money it gets BI isn't good, but I think the new players need to realise that there's an amazing game underneath that mod they like so much. If they don't like it, that's ok, different people have different opinions. If they do like it, hopefully they won't be trolls and we can "train" them on how ARMA goes sorta. Not that DayZ itself isn't a fun mod though.

Edited July 6, 2012 by Kilroy the Nerd

[antoineflemming 14]

I think most of the griping is over the popularity of the thing, the number of new players and where they are coming from, and what their expectations are. The popularity us unprecedented. I, personally, quite like the fact that we're seeing that players will play a slower paced, more methodical game if the theme is appealing. I'm hoping the rest of the industry will take notice.

DayZ is similar but not the same as other mods that came before it, and I definitely think that Rocket is due some Kudos. Success is about timing as much as it is anything else, and obviously this collection of factors at this time is extremely successful and it is giving a lot of fun to a lot of people. I think that's all we can hope for as mod makers.

From what I've seen, most of the griping is because of some of the kinds of players that DayZ has attracted. The problem isn't jealousy over the fact that DayZ is popular, more popular, MAYBE, than ArmA. The problem is that you have newcoming, DayZ players saying that ArmA is crap without DayZ. That it is DayZ that has made ArmA good, and that it wasn't any good before. Basically, comments like that are an insult to BIS, to the amazing games that BIS has made, games that make DayZ possible, and it's an insult to the existing ArmA community, who enjoy ArmA's "boring, lame, not good" gameplay. That's what annoys me at least. The fact that it has attracted players who don't care at all about ArmA. Because, when you have players like that, and game article writers like that, who only see DayZ, then, when there are articles about ArmA3 that always bring up DayZ, it does take away attention from ArmA3. ArmA3 is slighted, it's "specialness" diminished, when articles mention DayZ without mentioning that ArmA2's realistic sandbox-oriented gameplay and extensive moddability is what makes DayZ possible. And I've seen a whole lot of articles about DayZ that don't highlight that.

The main issue is with DayZ players, not with the mod itself. One, that there are players who have the audacity to think that DayZ makes ArmA, not the other way around. Two, that the mod feeds off of a general obsession with zombies, and that this primarily is what makes DayZ popular; that, considering all of the zombie games that have been announced, just creates a kind of sense that DayZ is an opportunist mod that is trying cashing in on zombies because others are doing so.

That last one is kind of what I've seen people complain about, mostly on Youtube (because that's where the vocal debates are, mostly). Because, the sense is like DayZ is getting all this undue praise. The general animosity towards it is that DayZ is a good mod, but it's not like the best thing in gaming, but that seems to be the level of praise it's getting. And, what a lot of anti-DayZ people have said is that DayZ isnt the best thing for ArmA just because it's popular[./I] For me, I recognize that DayZ is a good mod, a popular mod, but I don't think it deserves praise more than ArmA does. I'd say what DayZ is to other zombie-themed games and mods, ArmA is to the shooter genre as a whole, if not more so. But ArmA doesn't get that kind of praise. Why? Because it doesn't cash in on a popular fetish so to speak. I honestly haven't seen a whole lot of difference in ArmA2 from before DayZ came out to afterwards. I haven't seen anything revolutionary that has migrated from DayZ to ArmA2.

Popularity isn't necessarily a sign of ultimate success. Nor is popularity or fun an indicator of the direction ArmA should go in. Twitch shooters are also extremely successful, popular, and fun for a lot of people. Just given the example of DayZ servers that have turned into shoot-fests, I think it's clear that DayZ itself does not automatically engender a desire to play "more methodical[ly]". The rest of the industry doesn't have much to take notice of. The only thing it has to take notice of is that they need to always be doing something "different" to draw even more players than the many they already have. Yes, it's good that DayZ is designed around survival, and slow-paced, thought out gameplay. So is ArmA. But that doesn't mean you're forced to play it that way. Modern Warfare is designed to be a fast-paced, arcade shooter, but there are "hardcore, tactical" players who setup crouch-only, friendly fire, increased weapon damage, no hud servers.

Ultimately, I don't think you're right that people gripe over DayZ's popularity, or the number of DayZ players, as if non-DayZ players are jealous of or feel intimidated by DayZ players. If ACE2 were as popular as DayZ, and resulted in large numbers of sales for ArmA2, you wouldn't have community members being against the mod or the players it brought in. Why not? Because the ACE mod builds on the kind of game ArmA2 is. And it attracts players who recognize what ArmA is and what makes it unique, and who have a general sense that the mod they are playing is meant to make ArmA better (and you judge what's better by what kind of game ArmA is designed to be and what it's marketed as, a realistic, highly moddable military sandbox game). Where as there are DayZ players who don't share that view. And there's not a direct, apparent, obvious correlation between DayZ and improvement for ArmA. There's speculative hypotheticals of what DayZ could mean for ArmA. There's the renewed interest in releasing MP improvement patches, but that's spurred on by the renewed community focus on MP and that DayZ is an MP game, not by the kind of mod DayZ is. And I'm using the term ArmA to refer to the series as a whole, not ArmA1.

[dmarkwick 261]

How are you expecting people to know that this game is a bit serious than what they used to play when the first thing they see is ZOMBIES running around :D

Still a good training ground :) it prevents the initial inclination to run around like an idiot, for one :) it represents a good, entertaining fantasy game that requires good ArmA-type skills to survive. I'm not saying all, or most DayZ players will migrate, but some are bound to. Particularly when they realize all the toys there are to play with and all the game modes to try out.

I am against the "democratization" of simulations of any kind ! especially for a game called ArmA ! and i can't afford VBS2 :D

Personally I'm against the unnecessary anchoring of what ArmA should & shouldn't be by people who have no real necessity to do so :) ArmA has proven again & again that it is almost limitlessly flexible and the very thing that makes it good for "simulator" type gameplay makes it good for all kinds of other gameplay. It's this you should be celebrating, not lamenting :)

Edited July 6, 2012 by DMarkwick

[Craig_VG 20]

And if DayZ becomes its own game, then all those prospective ArmA players won't even give it a chance, they will just go out and buy DayZ.

But I do understand the monetary appeal that a full out DayZ game would have for BI, and I respect that.

-Craig

[Nicholas 5]

I just thought of another bad thing, I can't believe how many people are unwilling to spend $30 dollars for two games.

[Phantom Six 25]

The irony I see with the DayZ hype is. Why do some players hesitate to spend $30 on ARMA 2: CO and demand a sale all over steam to buy it cheap when they all want DayZ so bad, yet when they see the release of a new COD for $60, they won't hesitate to buy it and will buy it on the spot. I see $30 for ARMA 2: CO would be more bangs for the bucks, but I hate how everyone is so oblivious towards what ARMA truly is and just see and scream out DayZ DayZ DayZ over and over. I also see on giveaway sites I visit (steamgifts) and whenever theres an ARMA giveaway, people are just screaming out "gotta get it for DayZ". I see it as wasteful if they're not going to try the actual game itself.

[dmarkwick 261]

The irony I see with the DayZ hype is. Why do some players hesitate to spend $30 on ARMA 2: CO and demand a sale all over steam to buy it cheap when they all want DayZ so bad, yet when they see the release of a new COD for $60, they won't hesitate to buy it and will buy it on the spot.

This is what happens when you insist on grouping all other demographics into one group and applying all your assumptions to them. Why do you assume that all players who complain about the cost of one game do not complain about the cost of another?

I see $30 for ARMA 2: CO would be more bangs for the bucks, but I hate how everyone is so oblivious towards what ARMA truly is and just see and scream out DayZ DayZ DayZ over and over. I also see on giveaway sites I visit (steamgifts) and whenever theres an ARMA giveaway, people are just screaming out "gotta get it for DayZ". I see it as wasteful if they're not going to try the actual game itself.

I don't really see the issue, these people are easy to ignore there's no reason to become annoyed at them. They're just gamers, just like we are. But with a different interest.

[antoineflemming 14]

And if DayZ becomes its own game, then all those prospective ArmA players won't even give it a chance, they will just go out and buy DayZ.

But I do understand the monetary appeal that a full out DayZ game would have for BI, and I respect that.

-Craig

There are many who basically are doing that now, at least that's their mentality. I don't think there's a large portion of DayZ players that have migrated to ArmA2. If those players are hungry for ArmA and what it has to offer, then they will find it. You act like DayZ is the only medium for people to enjoy ArmA. ArmA has been around way longer than DayZ. DayZ isn't the sole answer for people coming to ArmA. ArmA existed before DayZ. It will exist after DayZ.

[Binkowski 26]

ArmA existed before DayZ. It will exist after DayZ.

That uh, pretty much summed up my thoughts on this whole matter.

[max power 21]

From what I've seen, most of the griping is because of some of the kinds of players that DayZ has attracted. The problem isn't jealousy over the fact that DayZ is popular, more popular, MAYBE, than ArmA. The problem is that you have newcoming, DayZ players saying that ArmA is crap without DayZ. That it is DayZ that has made ArmA good, and that it wasn't any good before. Basically, comments like that are an insult to BIS, to the amazing games that BIS has made, games that make DayZ possible, and it's an insult to the existing ArmA community, who enjoy ArmA's "boring, lame, not good" gameplay. That's what annoys me at least. The fact that it has attracted players who don't care at all about ArmA. Because, when you have players like that, and game article writers like that, who only see DayZ, then, when there are articles about ArmA3 that always bring up DayZ, it does take away attention from ArmA3. ArmA3 is slighted, it's "specialness" diminished, when articles mention DayZ without mentioning that ArmA2's realistic sandbox-oriented gameplay and extensive moddability is what makes DayZ possible. And I've seen a whole lot of articles about DayZ that don't highlight that.

The main issue is with DayZ players, not with the mod itself. One, that there are players who have the audacity to think that DayZ makes ArmA, not the other way around. Two, that the mod feeds off of a general obsession with zombies, and that this primarily is what makes DayZ popular; that, considering all of the zombie games that have been announced, just creates a kind of sense that DayZ is an opportunist mod that is trying cashing in on zombies because others are doing so.

That last one is kind of what I've seen people complain about, mostly on Youtube (because that's where the vocal debates are, mostly). Because, the sense is like DayZ is getting all this undue praise. The general animosity towards it is that DayZ is a good mod, but it's not like the best thing in gaming, but that seems to be the level of praise it's getting. And, what a lot of anti-DayZ people have said is that DayZ isnt the best thing for ArmA just because it's popular[./I] For me, I recognize that DayZ is a good mod, a popular mod, but I don't think it deserves praise more than ArmA does. I'd say what DayZ is to other zombie-themed games and mods, ArmA is to the shooter genre as a whole, if not more so. But ArmA doesn't get that kind of praise. Why? Because it doesn't cash in on a popular fetish so to speak. I honestly haven't seen a whole lot of difference in ArmA2 from before DayZ came out to afterwards. I haven't seen anything revolutionary that has migrated from DayZ to ArmA2.

Popularity isn't necessarily a sign of ultimate success. Nor is popularity or fun an indicator of the direction ArmA should go in. Twitch shooters are also extremely successful, popular, and fun for a lot of people. Just given the example of DayZ servers that have turned into shoot-fests, I think it's clear that DayZ itself does not automatically engender a desire to play "more methodical[ly]". The rest of the industry doesn't have much to take notice of. The only thing it has to take notice of is that they need to always be doing something "different" to draw even more players than the many they already have. Yes, it's good that DayZ is designed around survival, and slow-paced, thought out gameplay. So is ArmA. But that doesn't mean you're forced to play it that way. Modern Warfare is designed to be a fast-paced, arcade shooter, but there are "hardcore, tactical" players who setup crouch-only, friendly fire, increased weapon damage, no hud servers.

Ultimately, I don't think you're right that people gripe over DayZ's popularity, or the number of DayZ players, as if non-DayZ players are jealous of or feel intimidated by DayZ players. If ACE2 were as popular as DayZ, and resulted in large numbers of sales for ArmA2, you wouldn't have community members being against the mod or the players it brought in. Why not? Because the ACE mod builds on the kind of game ArmA2 is. And it attracts players who recognize what ArmA is and what makes it unique, and who have a general sense that the mod they are playing is meant to make ArmA better (and you judge what's better by what kind of game ArmA is designed to be and what it's marketed as, a realistic, highly moddable military sandbox game). Where as there are DayZ players who don't share that view. And there's not a direct, apparent, obvious correlation between DayZ and improvement for ArmA. There's speculative hypotheticals of what DayZ could mean for ArmA. There's the renewed interest in releasing MP improvement patches, but that's spurred on by the renewed community focus on MP and that DayZ is an MP game, not by the kind of mod DayZ is. And I'm using the term ArmA to refer to the series as a whole, not ArmA1.

That last last statement is not what I'm talking about at all. The popularity of DayZ is bringing in good players, bad players, and different players. But I think the intimidation factor is something you have all wrong. All I read is about players who are afraid that BI is going to neglect the milsim elements of ArmA for fixes or development related to DayZ and its zombie survival game. They say that it brings in the wrong players, and inspires the wrong patches, and dominates all servers. I don't know how you can separate these statements from an intimidation- or at least an inconvenience- of DayZ's popularity.

[dayglow 2]

Dont know why people complain influx of new players into mp and how they are bringing down the gameplay.

I've never know public servers to be all that great. That's life, just like if I go to the Y for a pickup game it's going to be a mixed bag. Unless you know who you are playing with you will always get a mix of skill.

[maturin 12]

I've never know public servers to be all that great. That's life, just like if I go to the Y for a pickup game it's going to be a mixed bag. Unless you know who you are playing with you will always get a mix of skill.

This is what everyone seems to be forget

[4 IN 1 0]

I usually handle those DayZ playing ARMA haters the same way scientists handle a conspiracy theorist

[Redjevel 1]

I played dayz for zome time, and even other previous zombie mods on arma oa.

I would say its nothing special, but the good thing about dayz that there is much hype about it, so bohemia will get some more money, and maybe some good players, not mentioning that there will be more and more noobs destroying the game on normall servers.

[LeeManatee 4]

when server filter "NOT" will be implemented i would not give a dam about dayz. but untill then i will be stay slightly mad

[das attorney 858]

The presentation hall for DayZ was packed out. I didn't get any audio or video, but here's a summary of what Dean talked about in the presentation. Please bear in mind that this is my recollection of the presentation, but I hope to be unbiased in my scribblings. Please also note that he was very courteous in his answers and didn't belittle anyones questions.

Firstly, Dean introduced himself and gave us a bit of personal background. He went over time spent in the NZ air force, army and then previous jobs with other xbox software companies. He mentioned he hated most of the games he was involved with and wanted to camp outside stores on the release dates and put people off buying them! (That got a few laughs) :)

He then gave us an overview of the mod (presumably for people not familiar with DayZ), and then opened the floor up to questions. The questions have been abbreviated here and are may not be listed here in the correct order they were asked..

___________________________________________________________

Q - The banditry mechanic (humanity) has been removed. How are you intending to replace this in future iterations of DayZ?

A - Dean explained he will support banditry and will not be removing it as a feature of the mod. The KSK skin mechanic wasn't working and he pulled it because players were being skinned as bandits when they fired in self defence. He said that currently, he's experimenting with the heartbeat and also wanted to look into possibly changing facial features, to make players scowl if they have low humanity. It's a WIP so he might add a system, let the players test it and then pull it or modify it if it's not working out.

___________________________________________________________

Q - Will you stick with the Arma 2 (RV) engine or look at other engines for DayZ?

A - Dean said that the Arma 2 engine provides the flexibility he needs to make DayZ work. He said that ultimately he wants to explore DayZ as a standalone release, but the framework provided by Arma 2 is enough for the moment to use. There are things he would like it to do that it wasn't designed for and at some point, the needs of DayZ might require it's own core code.

___________________________________________________________

Q - The zombies can move really erratically sometimes and do weird things like clip through walls. Have you got plans to sort it out?

A - Dean said he's recorded some new anims with Marek Spanel as the mocap guy. The anims need to be cleaned up and put in the game but it wouldn't be immediate as he has other priorities like stability to consider first. He said it was because a designer (Dean) was doing an animators job and just basically turned up the anim value in the config rather than going through the whole anim process. He also mentioned that the speed will need to stay reasonably high so that if the zombies go the wrong way, they can catch back up to the player. It's primarily a pathfinding issue.

___________________________________________________________

Q - Some other games (like L4D) feature super zombies that can spit venom and do other weird things. Will you add those kind of things into DayZ?

A - No. He said that he wanted them to be infected, not classic reanimation zombies and there wouldn't be any variation in the types of zombies. Although they provide a big risk to survivors, other (hostile) players should always be the main threat.

___________________________________________________________

Q - Some people log on to have fun whereas I play DayZ for the hardcore survival aspect. What can you do to make it more interesting? Maybe natural predators?

A - Dean explained you should be able to play the game any way you want to (and that you should have fun too)! He's considering adding in dangerous animals but it's not just a case of getting a (bear) model and porting into the game. There's a lot of issues like anims, pathfinding, scripting in the attacks etc to consider.

___________________________________________________________

Q - Will you expand DayZ to new maps?

A - One of the issues with Chernarus is that it was never designed with this type of game in mind, so there's lots of un-enterable buildings. He wants to look into this in the future as Arma 2 can support maps up to 500 sq km and Chernarus is only 225 sq km, so there's lots of possibilities for expansion in the future. (To be honest, I wasn't sure if he was thinking aloud about Arma 3, given that BIS recently mentioned they want to re-visit Chernarus for Arma 3).

___________________________________________________________

Q - Will you add in some kind of currency/bartering system for DayZ? Also, if somebody does set up a safe zone, then devious players can spawn into the safe zone on that server to kill everyone. Can you look at that?

A - Dean said that if the zombie apocalypse happened, then the first question on everyone's mind wouldn't be "let's get some cash". He doesn't want to add in any kind of system for money and would rather leave it to players. He touched on the issue of 'safe zones' and said it's difficult to enforce currently, but they are looking at ways to stop people exploiting the game like that.

___________________________________________________________

Q - Will there be any kind of higher purpose/quests for players?

A - Dean got very candid in his reply and talked about a few things he wanted to look into. He doesn't want to have scripted events happen, but he wants to provide the framework for the players so they can do their own thing like construct a fortress/camp and guard it (no specifics on things like power grids etc). He conceded that the game doesn't do this currently, but it is on the list and he's looking into it. He said that the barbed wire and sandbags were added to see if the game could cope with lots of spawned objects (stress test) and they aren't ideal but it's given him some data to work with for the future.

___________________________________________________________

Q - With the removal of global chat, players can't communicate and organise themselves like they could do in the past. Have you got any solutions, like adding in radios/CB's?

A - Global chat was removed because Dean felt it broke the immersion. He referenced his 'Anyone in Cherno?' T-Shirt and stated that he will add in a mechanic for communication, but it's hard to do and so won't be in the immediate future. He mentioned ACRE and said he'd like to something like that so that players could communicate effectively (if desired).

___________________________________________________________

Q - Do you envisage the servers being ran by the community (current model) or moved to in-house?

A - Dean said that he never thought it would get this huge, this quick. The current model is the one he wants to run with as any changes would be hard to implement and might not be a step in the right direction. He's killed too many servers updating the central database to think about it right now! He also said that he would love to add in an underground tunnel network that would be shared by all servers! Personal opinion: Arma 3 maybe?!

___________________________________________________________

Q - Will you look at a SP/co-op mode?

A - No. Dean felt it would dilute the game and remove some of the more interesting gameplay (see banditry answer above). Essentially, it would become boring and besides, there's many other games (some of them being demoed at Rezzed) that provide a better SP/co-op experience.

___________________________________________________________

Q - A while ago, you were talking about adding Dogs (DogZ) as a player companion. Is that still happening?

A - It's in progress. Dean said he's mainly thinking about all the posts on the DayZ forums with players lamenting the death of their beloved pet :D He said it's not done, but he is thinking about it. He also said there should be some cool missions in the new Czech DLC for A2 featuring dogs. I got the impression that he can't go forward with it until some code has been patched into the main game when the Czech DLC comes out. (My personal opinion).

___________________________________________________________

Q - There's some hacking going on that ruins it for genuine players. What are you doing to combat that?

A - Dean said that hacking is ALWAYS going to be an issue but he and his team are working flat out to minimise the threat. In fact, hacking very nearly killed the mod recently so he had to spend lots of time that he could have spent on developing the mod, making it secure. He stated that the RV engine traditionally lets players (clients) run scripts that can have effects globally but it hasn't been much of an issue in the past because it's normally like-minded groups of players getting together and playing. He said that if DayZ ever moves to a stand-alone release, then he could have more freedom to lock parts of the code down.

___________________________________________________________

Q - I recently heard about some guys who kidnapped a player, disarmed him, and made him run into houses to check for zombies. Are you surprised about the weird things players are doing to each other?

A - Dean - I heard about some new guys who started together and went up to the airfield to find loot. First mistake... They then ran into a guy with a hatchet who wouldn't reply on comms and kneecapped them. They were trying to crawl away and saying "Why did you kneecap us?". Second mistake... He then executed them all. I love that story.

___________________________________________________________

Q - Are you thinking about adding in skills for the players?

A - Dean said he believes that if you have a skill in real life, then it should be applicable to the game. If it's night and you can read the stars to work out North IRL, then you can do it in game. He said that he didn't want to artificially add skills or classes, like "I will spawn as a medic, or I will spawn as a Hillbilly" :)

___________________________________________________________

Summary:

As I mentioned, this is what I can remember to the best of my ability. I hope I'm not putting words into Deans mouth, so please clarify anything with him if you need to :) He went to great lengths to thank everyone who's spent money on Arma 2 so they could play DayZ and also was very appreciative of the support he's received from BIS - I hope he gets a pay rise for the unexpected business he's bought in!

He was aware that it's not an original idea and said that probably most people in the room have though of making/playing a game like this. IMO, he was the right man at the right time (with the right skills).

Last of all though, he said that everyone playing this sends out a message to the games industry and thanks everyone for voting with their wallet.

I really enjoyed the presentation and it was good to see the "BrainZ" behind it in person. In fact, the whole day was doubleplusgood, with lots of interesting games on display and some thought provoking lectures. The Paul Wedgwood and Gamejam shows being my other personal favourites.

EDIT: one of the questioners (radio question I think) referred to players who like to group up as 'Carebears'. It seemed to me Dean was pained at the expression and referred to it as "The C word". I intimate that he doesn't want to get into player politics and values people who like to play co-operatively as much as he does people who like to attack them. They aren't supported as much as bandits at the moment, but as mentioned above, it is on his mind and it seems he has plans to make it playing co-operatively worthwhile. Again, just my opinion but that's what I got from what he was saying.

Edited July 8, 2012 by Das Attorney

[Alpha-Kilo 36]

Thanks for taking the time and effort to write this interesting summary, Das Attorney.

[metalcraze 290]

Dont know why people complain influx of new players into mp and how they are bringing down the gameplay.

I've never know public servers to be all that great. That's life, just like if I go to the Y for a pickup game it's going to be a mixed bag. Unless you know who you are playing with you will always get a mix of skill.

Well you won't see people complaining about PR players. The problem here is how DayZ players and reviewers are very arrogant. I like DayZ but I'm really annoyed when people ask questions about DayZ in ArmA interview/presentation like it's some kind of a platform for their precious DayZ. I really hated it when there's was some ArmA3 E3 presentation finally beginning and the dude asking questions suddenly was like "let's talk about DayZ". So the only thing to do was muting the sound and watching the graphics.

As a result we are able to get some proper info about ArmA3 only now through Gamestar weekly bits.

[Tonci87 163]

Thx Attorney, those answers sound good