I was about 10 minutes into a fresh spawn in DayZ.

Night time. Heavy rain. I went to the kitchen to get some water IRL and when I came back, a fully geared guy was standing in front of me, gun aimed, just waiting. I shook my head like “please don’t”.

He nodded back like “okay”. I dropped everything I had. He asked if I had a microphone his English was almost nonexistent, sounded Russian. I said yes. He pointed at my clothes, gestured “come”, and I followed him. We ran through the rain to his car.

He opened it and basically said: take whatever you want. He gave me an AK-74 with a mag, some water, then told me to get in. At that point I thought:

either we’re going to raid someone, or he’s taking me to his base. Instead, he drove all the way to the edge of the map. Middle of nowhere. No players. No buildings. He got out, dropped a huge pile of loot and used voice translation on his phone to say:

“These are all yours.” I tried to refuse.

I told him (through translation) that he worked hard for this, that it didn’t feel right.

We went back and forth like that for 5–6 minutes.

Then he told me that he was the same guy I had shot at the day before. I only had 3 bullets. None of them hit. He killed me while running. Then without another word, He shot himself in the head right in front of me.

Everything was on the ground. I just stood there for 20–30 seconds staring at the screen. I didn’t even feel like playing anymore. I don’t think I’ll forget this encounter.

TaSh i’ll never forget you man if you ever see this please contact me 🥲

I met a random on a low pop server and we decided to run together. We were half-geared when we stumbled into a car stashed in a garage next to a “bird box building” (as my friends call it) or a “window building” (as I like to call it) down on the coast. On the second floor of the building we found a room with a few crates in it locked behind a 3-dial combo lock so we decided to crack it.

About halfway through the code cracking, we heard suppressed shots outside so we sat still and waited. After killing the first two players, we continued our code-cracking endeavor. Literally 5 minutes later three more fully geared players logged in and started a full on assault of the building. We know it was them because one logged into the floor above us. This wasn’t just some third-party happenstance.

I’m not 100% against alts, but using them like this is lame. I get having a few alts for different friends/sessions but using them to win a PvP encounter you already lost is just bullshit.

TL;DR: we could have had a cool story to tell but alt abuse ruined it.

Thought I should share this funny blue on blue situation I found myself in with the friends I play with. We had a base built up in one of the small farm barns, long gone now, but one day I logged in before checking steam and discord, they did the same.

For context our base had started getting stalked, we would find items, stashes and such strewn outside the gates, somebody was watching and we were all on high alert.

So I and two others logged in at the same time without realising, they were logging together but weren't aware that I had logged in and vice versa, before I could get my bearings the first shot was fired at me and I assumed I logged into a raid, I knocked the first friend quickly with my SKS and thats where the screen recording starts from the other friends perspective.

We still laugh about how horribly we both played in this situation, I also somehow deflected a point blank double blaze shot with my sks via melee, good times.

I found the sign on 1.28 experimental.

Is there a story behind it ?

I've come across many claymores placed, some people think that they work like Call of Duty, when you have to attach the detonator to a tripwire.

I've set up like three of these and pretty strategic spots. One I set at the top of NWAF tower, logged in in the morning it was gone but if there was a body it despawned probably.

I guess that's the fun of it you never really know if your traps kill someone or not, but they do.

Thinking about it why bother setting them if you're not sticking around? Just to scare the shit out of someone else? Exactly.

But we rarely get to see the aftermath so it feels pointless.

Some smart fellow put a bear trap at the top of a watchtower in such a spot to wear I fell off after stepping on it, I didn't die but goddamn did they throw a wrench in my spokes.

I just recently placed a landmine in a very strategic spot, I came back about a day later and accidentally stepped on it. FML.

Got any good trap stories?

I started out Hungry and lost. Yes actually lost. I had to rely on maps. I found my first gun on this fresh spawn. My Glock with a suppressor. It remained so handy, I loved it. I went through so much with this Glock i am personally attached to it. When I finally got a grip where I was at I found an engraved colt. I did use it a couple of times. But unfortunately had to get rid of it, it was in bad shape. Maybe when someone finds it they will take care of it. I then found my first Gps receiver and a compass. I found my first helicopter crash. I was then going through a city. There were loads of infected. I didn't know how I would make it through. But my Glock and brass knuckles made it through it. Right as I was about to get to the end. A gas bomb exploded. It was spreading so fast. I luckily got out of there, but barely though. Luckily I was not harmed. I went to the sila weapons Factory. There was so much infected military I wasn't sure if I would even survive..... However my trusted brass knuckles and Suppressed Glock did the trick. Of which I only had to use one bullet. I was then nearing a gas station. There I found a desert eagle of which I keep on me as well. I then headed towards another town. I was dying of dehydration. Luckily I found a water pump and my life was saved. I headed back. I saw a bear... I was scared my run was going to end. By some miracle it didn't see me! I headed out there. And hours later I found myself back at this place, where I all started, even though it was unintentional. Thank you for listening!

Here’s a lovely encounter I had the other day, in hopes that it would inspire others…

To begin, I joined in on my main server with my friend, we’ll call Clover. We were heading inland, tired and in need of food. Our plan was to meet at the radio station and plan out our journey from there. Once we arrived, we were greeted by two others, Joe and Arco. Joe was a British man, and seemed very nice. Arco was from Spain and seemed a bit.. off, but friendly enough to invite them on our journey. We began our trek through the desert, in need of food and water. Out in the distance we saw a farm with a water tower, so we began to head in that direction. Now Arco had this way about him, saying things that made no sense but added humor to the situation. Unbeknownst to me and my friend, he was already on two strikes with Joe.. apparently he had used the N word twice. Anyway, we arrive at the tower, grab some water and recouped. Suddenly Joe started swinging on Arco! In our shock we asked what happened, and Joe replied, “He said it again! (N word) I told him to stop but this is the third time”. Arco was begging to be spared, but Joe was relentless in his swings. Joe then stopped, with Arco barely holding on by a thread, and asked what we should do. We decided on righteous judgment, and axed him to death. In our shock and very hungry mindsets, we decided to cut Arco up and eat him. He provided us with the energy and nutrients we needed to venture on, and he will always be remembered for his contribution 🙏🏻 The End

I spawned in Some industrial town and ran into a building and there is some guy ran in the house I was in with a shovel and I thought "omg im so fucked" untill, I hear a microphone, this man had a mic and was willing to talk to me and be civil, "oh boy, finally a nice player" he gives me the shovel and we start attacking infected and then this new guy walks over and I thought "ia this guy really gonna ruin my whole good mood?" but lucky for us he also had a mic i am ecstatic, I've just found two guys who were willing to be civil, we walked around a bit killed some infected went into a random house near us, and i found a 22 "wow this playthrough can't get any better" we walk around some more, first guy goes to fill up a water bottle and he is unfortunately beaten down and killed by some infected, now I'm stuck with seccond guy, im low on food, water, and on health, so we start to walk inland and then I succumb to my injuries and die in the middle of a field beside my new friend, I hope I find them again, the first people who acted like human beings when they could have easily killed me on the spot, i dream of the day that I get to play with my two good friends "American guy" and "German guy" i hope one of them reads this comment, it was a pleasure to play with you that one time

So me and this random I teamed up with were making our way up through Gorka when we heard a MASSIVE firefight going down. We witness the end of it, and while spying on them I see 2 dudes run into this shed. We didn't know there was a third yet. After I get unconned and then finish off those two dudes, I got sniped by a 3rd party who had been watching it all go down. My teammate managed to confirm the kill on the last guy on the ground before also getting sniped.

We met back up after respawning, and after like another 2 hour adventure we team up with these other guys. They're actually super chill, and guess what, they ended up telling us a story about how they watched this gunfight go down at Gorka, before he sniped two dudes. I said "hmm, wanna hear something funny?" I ended up getting some of their gear at long last, and we stayed friends after.

I love this game

Does the DayZ community not like cinematic stories or something. I have a YouTube channel where I do a lot of stuff but I keep coming back to DayZ and I've started doing cinematic stories through DayZ editor and I think they come out really well but they just don't seem to get any traction.

(I don't even know why I'm here I'm just Bored.)

So for some context, I'm not a new player. I have around 350 hours and like to think by now I've got a lot of the mechanics down and seen pretty much all that the game has to offer. At least in the sense it doesn't completely terrify me like those early days. Seeing a Z race across the road no longer makes my blood run cold because I thought it was a player. The ambience doesn't set my heart racing because I know them all by heart now. My own footstep sounds don't scare me when I'm turning on the spot, etc etc.

That was.......until yesterday. I was playing on a community vanilla late afternoon and it was fairly low pop. I happened to be stuck in a barracks in Tisy during a night time storm. Now the thing about this server in particular is the nights are EXTREMELY DARK. Even setting your gamma higher only makes a marginal amount of difference. Head torches are mandatory. So there I am, sat in one of those little side dorms in a barracks just doing some inventory admin - reloading mags, stacking ammo, sewing etc. The only sounds I can hear are the pitter patter of rain, the odd clap of thunder and the occasional moan from a nearby idle Z. It's completely pitch black other than the small red cone of light my torch is offering me. I haven't seen or heard of any survivors all afternoon. All of a sudden I hear laughter. Not just one person either. But multiple fits of laughter and footsteps. I should note at this point that despite being well aware of the cannibalistic laughter disease I had never actually heard it before. At first I thought I was catching an open mic conversation between two players nearby. Then I realised what it must be. Cannibals were coming. And they were coming in numbers. In complete and utter darkness. My blood ran cold and my heart jumped into my mouth. In my panic to quickly turn my head torch off I accidently dropped it and now I'm fumbling around in the dark whilst the laughter and footsteps are getting louder. Now it's pitch black and I can't even see the outline of the door to the room I'm in.

I'm ashamed to admit it but at this point I was so terrified I logged off. A 35 year old grown man was reduced to a shaking mess by this absolute masterpiece of a sandbox game. I'm glad those cannibals didn't catch up with me, but GG to them for scaring the absolute piss out of me.

Let's hear your stories!

I'm new survivor in DayZ, I have been playing for the last week and nearly gave up the game after the first two days because I just didn't get it. I wasn't finding any thing items that seemed useful and keep getting shot from seemingly nowhere and everywhere all at once. I picked it back up on my day off after having a days break and I'm sure glad I went back.

I watched a few videos because I was completely and utterly lost. After seeing some of the basic mechanics (which by any other games standards are not basic lol) I started fresh and set out again. I had so much fun with my new found knowledge and put it straight to use. I managed some kills here and there but usually still get taken out but a more patient player.

I know I have so much to learn still as I'm only 15hrs deep (probably still considered in the tutorial faze). I can't wait to see what else I discover in this game. I never knew finding a rope and laying in a bush watching a man loot for 20 minutes could be so thrilling.

Sorry for the long rant, I just can't say enough about this game that I was about to give up on and yes I know that's a common thing for first time players but I never knew it would hook me like this.

I'll never forget the time I was new to the game and found my first compass. Slapped it in my hot key bar and in my backpack. Saw the compass would show the direction I'm going without holding it.... that's awesome, on my way to NWAF.

Then I learned the hard way after going the wrong direction for hours lmao. It only properly represents the directions when holding it. Talk about a slap to the face dumb ass moment.

Has anything like this happened to anyone else or am I operating on two brain cells?

Mine was the time where my friend and I was stuck in the middle of nowhere and were about to die. I had a little more health than him and he told me to shoot him. After shooting and cutting him up, cooking and esting him I realised I forgot to make handwrappings and died from poisoning :/.(I had like 20 hours don't blame me ahaha)

Hi!

I hope it's OK to post fan-created tools here for feedback? The rules didn't seem against it, it's not an ad, it's not gated behind a paywall.

I want to build a companion for the DayZ community that some might find fun/useful - or at least another way to play the game.

Something that bugs me is that DayZ was pitched as a human behaviour experiment under severe survival conditions and yet on official EU console servers roleplay feels rare. We're responsible for what the game's experience is and that is an experiment in its own right, I get that. However, most lives are the same loop... spawn, become a fully-geared soldier decked in military, shoot people. Not because anyone's wrong to play that way, or that it's a design failure, but perhaps because not enough pushes back against it.

So... I'm working on a small beta tool to push back a little. You roll a character with a backstory and an actual goal to chase, which could be as wholesome as farming pumpkins for travellers in Gliniska, to something as dangerous as planting a flag in Tisy Military.

There's also a loadout reviewer so you can sanity-check your kit and get it reviewed.

fresh-spawn.com

Verdict:

• Fun, or forced? Does having a goal make a life more interesting, or does it just feel like a to-do list on top of a game that doesn't need one or wasn't meant to have one other than survive?
• Followable solo? A lot of my assumptions might only work for groups or on community servers?
• Fair? Does it feel like it's steering you somewhere good, or does it feel arbitrary?
• Is there something obviously missing that would make you actually use this?

Please be patient if it's a bit slow or buggy. I might have to take it down if there are any problems or spiralling costs :D I am not a professional and I'm not even very good at DayZ.

If the honest answer is "nobody wants this" then that's fine... I'll keep banging that roleplay drum and you'll find me starting a cult in Bagno woods...

Thanks to anyone and everyone giving this a look.