TheRunningManZ · @TheRunningManZ
19th Jun 2021 from TwitLonger
What type of game is DayZ? Why choice matters more than realism at times to me!
So I've been doing a lot of thinking over the last few weeks and I wanted to get something vaguely thoughtful down on paper. Mainly this has come about because of the subject of plate carriers and just how powerful they are now after they were changed in the 1.12b update. Also how some people seem so happy to say "lvl 3/4 armour would tank that round IRL, so it should in DayZ!" Without considering that DayZ is still a game, where some elements have to not match real life to make it work, there are "zombies" (alright infected if you're one of them!) for one, I died at a well the other day as an old dude, then I spawned in and went and drank next to my dead body as a nice blonde lady (how real is that?)! Broken legs heal in 20mins, but the plate carrier taking 4 of the very best rounds in the game (.308 or Mosin) to get the kill is fine because it seems real (even though it doesnt, what about broken ribs, of being knocked of your feet from one bullet etc!)?
More on that in a bit! For now I want to talk about DayZ and what it is. I'm seeing so many people say "it's a zombie game ffs!" or "it's not just for PVP, you're just talking through your playstyle, through what makes good content for your channel!" etc. I'm not the "one true expert on DayZ," I didn't play the mod first, I think I first played DayZ on Jan 2nd 2014. However I've read every status report, I've seen every video from back in the day, I've followed all the comms through "sooner that you think" to "Heli's for Xmas" to Dustin Hucks giving DayZ content creators follows because of a weekly raffle and not because they were doing something of note that made then follow worthy for the DayZ twitter (I'm not bitter, much!). If you go back and check through a lot of the early DayZ promo stuff I'm sure you will come across slides with this written on it...
"DayZ - It's not a zombie game!"
It really isn't either, the main threat has always been envisaged as coming from the other real world players. In fact I remember quite clearly nodding along in agreement when Dean Hall presented "Hall's Law" back in 2014, I even used it word for word in one of my old vids. It stated...
"all things being equal, a random interaction between human players will always be more compelling than one that is scripted"
Source: https://imgur.com/ga9rbqT
That was the main theme running behind DayZ as an idea I believe. If I was to try and describe DayZ I'd be calling it a "hardcore survival SANDBOX game." The key to this is the word sandbox, this is what has kept the game popular at differing levels over the years. It's not that zombies were too easy, or too hard, it's not that the loot was too easy or too hard, or the game was so hard it made you feel like 6 hours in the Long Dark was like a walk in the park on a summers day. I believe what keeps people coming back to DayZ is the weird and wonderful things that can happen. DayZ is a story writing game. If I were to try and sum DayZ up I would say that at it's very core it's about two things...
1- Choice
2 - What happens when you meet other people
There is a whole lot of survival in "choice." I remember there being talks about the early ideas for standalone and Dean Hall trying to recreate the joy of another human sharing a biscuit with him when he was mentally and physically wrecked after an arduous military training exercise. DayZ is a lot about choice, when you start do you carry that alcohol tincture, you don't need it now, but you know you will need it down the line, or do you carry the beans, you don't have space for both, you can't eat the beans yet, one must be dropped, weigh up in your mind what is more important and on you go! Do you take the big mountain bag, it fits more stuff in it, it keeps you a bit warmer, but its red, it might get you seen, it might get you killed and your small improvised bag has better camo and could help not get you killed? All through the game there is choice, you make choices on what route to take from spawn, what gear to pick and what to leave, what guns that don't have bullets are worth you carrying and what aren't, whether to carry a splint in case you break your leg and lose inventory slots or not. All of these choices affect your game play loop, you don't notice it happening but what you choose affects your outcome later. You pick up all the 9x39mm rounds that nobody else bothered and that one time in a hundred it pays off and you get an ASVAL at a heli, or whatever it might be. As you play through the game, it constantly presenting you with choices, you make snap decisions all the time and later on these prove to be good or bad decisions when you needed the thing you left or you were so glad you actually decided to take it. Or when you decided to push for the next town in the dark without a gun, but then got attacked by wolves and were defenceless and died. The little micro choices you make on each life is what builds your character and your chances of survival as you go.
Now I'm not going to dwell on "What happens when you meet other people" too much because I think most scenarios are pretty obvious whether it be KOS or the friendliest player you ever met, all options are on the table. Choice still comes into this though a lot, you can choose to shoot someone because they have that gun on their back you've just spent an hour looking for, or you could trade and talk them into giving you the gun for something else, or give them the scope and rounds you've got squirreled away in exchange for something else etc. There lots of choice at times, and also no choice at times when meeting players. This is where a lot of different playstyles come out and they are all needed and viable from hardcore KOS, to hold ups to teams up etc.
These two things are what really form the basis of DayZ to me and many others, the zombies add to the choices and in which way you tackle them, as does lots of other PVE elements. The devs subtly create ways to increase player interaction and chances for these stories to happen, they make us go to towns for food/supplies, hospitals for meds, mil bases for bullets, hunting areas for scopes and so on. As we travel the map plotting our route and making our choices and searching for the things we need, lots of other survivors are doing the same thing.
Now here is where lately I think the "choice" is being eroded a little and this is a problem for the game. If the game isn't balanced it can remove choice and I feel it is gradually heading a little far in this direction. Here are some examples:
The clothing and heat values, this is great for Namalsk, it really adds something amazing for the gameplay loop, especially with the best and only good soft skill in DayZ (frost resistance!) its a truly amazing survival experience. However on Chernarus are we really sure this is good? It's always cold, you spawn in and you're cold, you travel inland and you are cold. Yes you can make fires and collect better clothes. But what does this lead to? It leads to everyones end game character looking like a clone of each other. Where we all wear best in class hunting clothing, with the best gloves, and a balaclava, and the warmest boots, and the warmest bag etc. The final destination for geared characters by and large is some kind of "borgesque" collective of the best gear to fend off getting cold and having to eat every 2 mins. Is this truely good always for Chernarus? Or would it be good if some days it was cold, and some days it wasnt? So that choice and everyone's end game could be different sometimes?
How many guns you can carry? Two on the back and then several ARs in backpacks. This is not adding to the choice in DayZ, it's taking it away. If you want to be a ghillie with a sniper rifle, you shouldn't be able to keep an SKS, AKM, M4 etc on the other shoulder and then plenty of mags in your inventory. You should be forced to always carry a gun, or use the secondary weapons in the game, like an AKS74U in your vest, or a pistol or whatever. If you want to be a sniper, it comes with some pain elsewhere. We shouldn't be able to carry a Tundra on our backs, another gun on our other shoulder and 3 spares in a big bag. If you want to be an AR player, you loot that and roll with it, if you also want a blaze it should come at more cost than just a few kilos on your back. Every player can carry whatever they want and still maintain enough stamina to carry on PVPing and looting without too much of a care.
And finally the plate carrier. If you have no vest, then one Mosin shot to the chest and you die. If you have a plate carrier you lose a chunk of stamina (but it's manageable) and then it takes 4 bullets to kill you. It seems the community is really split on this feature, some love it and also many really hate it. But here is the thing, if you see a plate carrier now, can you realistically turn it down, or do you really have to take it? Can you chose to carry one gun, a small vest for space, no back pack, in favour of a "fast and light" playstyle and do well in the game. Or is the plate carrier now so OP it is forcing it to be a "must take" item. I think it's now a must take, and I don't think that is for the good of DayZ on the whole.
There are many others, they are just a few that stick out. We are heading to a point in the game where the cold is forcing us to wear the same clothes, the armour is a must because it's so OP, we can carry every gun we want and more for a stash. The game is not letting us choose a particular playstyle we are heading towards a "one meta way to win and if you don't have that, you are fooked if you meet someone that does." This is why balance matters in the game. To the people I see saying "ergh why do people talk about balance, I want REAL!" If you don't have balance in the game then what it leads to is a pyramid where ever player ends up aiming for basically the same end game destination every life, every time! Choice matters so much for the game, not choosing a plate carrier needs to be viable too. Just like choosing to avoid all players and being a farmer around Stary Yar does. Balance for DayZ doesn't just affect one play style, it affects them all.
Too many "must take" superficial items like clothes and vest IMO is turning is all into the same survivor. Choice matters!
Sorry for the ramble, I could have done more.
Paul
PS plate carrier shd be one hit witha Mosin, you are a bit hurt, second hit you are uncon, third hit = dead. Not two hits and still running, three hits is a bit of problem IMO. 1.12 went from one end of the scale with the change to 1.12b from the polar opposite, there must be a middle ground?