Daylight Robbery

I occasionally like to dabble in Day Z. When I can get the bleeding thing to work, that is.

The other day I logged in and onto a server where my friends regularly play, looking to participate in a bit of co-op zombie killing. However, when I arrived the mood was a sombre one.

The base camp where I spawned has recently been a hive of activity, full of resources ready to be used in combating the undead threat, but as I landed in the persistent world I was greeted to an unexpected sight. There was nothing there.

Everything had been stolen.

Except for a handful of tents, there was nothing left in the camp. Between the hours of 2am the night before, and midday the same day - from when one player logged off and another logged in, a group of thieving opportunists had cleaned out my friends' stash of of virtual gear.

I'm talking about hours and hours of accumulated equipment. Vehicles, weapons, medical supplies, food, and random junk that had been collected by a team of dedicated friends over an extended period of time.

I felt sorry for them, I really did. I'd not participated in any of collecting, but I had been welcomed into their ranks, given ammo and medical aid when required, and they'd helped me out of more than a couple of scrapes.

But it did reaffirm for me the reason I don't play the game all that often - it's a harsh experience, but increasingly for all the wrong reasons: the human players are far more annoying than their undead counterparts.

I relish the solo survival aspect of the game. Sneaking past other players in the dead of night, deciding whether to move against them or stay in cover. Avoiding the undead whether via stealth or panic induced sprinting. Scavenging for resources. Knowing that the end is always just around the corner, and that the only thing separating me from death is my wits and a hefty dash of good fortune.

But throw too many comfortable players into the mix and the game becomes unbalanced, and for me, much less enjoyable. It becomes more about worrying whether your stuff is safe, rather than the primeval fear of being stalked by an irrepressible enemy. Interactions with other players should inform the player-driven narrative, not dominate it. If I want to shoot at other players, for my money, there are far better options out there.

That said, if I want to hide in the bushes whilst the undead shuffle past in droves, if I want to feel hunted in a dangerous world, there still aren't many better alternatives to Day Z out there at the moment. And for that reason, I'll keep it installed on my PC.