A 'Gamer Girl's' Journey Through Pew-Pew and QQ

A Hacker Decided to Cleanse the World With Fire
All This Virtual Survival Will Someday Pay Off!
Hitting objects while your fuel tank and hull is red is not such a great idea.
Cars you can fix and drive have paint jobs and a mouse-wheel available menu.
Spam's Infamous Rifle of Doom
Being cautious will help you avoid a close encounter with death
Surviving in DayZ with my Bros: Vagabond and Spam.

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FREE THE DEVS! – Reblog of Rocket’s Plea Regarding the Jailed B.I. Devs, Ivan and Martin

This is a reblog of Rocket’s plea regarding is friends and fellow developers that were recently jailed and accused of Spying by the government of Greece.  Feel free to get the word out!
Original Post by Rocket as below:

My friends are in prison

I really wish my first personal tumblr post wasn’t something like this, but this is an urgent appeal for help.

Two of my close friends and work colleagues, Ivan Buchta and Martin Pezlar, are currently detained in a prison in Greece, charged with allegations of spying.

Just even writing that down is so absolutely ridiculous to me, I can barely stand seeing those words on paper. I know a bit about military intelligence, I spent five years in the Air Force as an Officer, and re-enlisted in the New Zealand Army as an Officer a few years ago, in the Signals regiment. So I know what information might be valuable. The charges are nothing short of absurd. This is a disgrace to the video gaming industry, and both of them should be freed immediately.

They are Game Developers

Me (left) and Ivan (right) sharing a moment at E3 this year

My two friends are game developers. I came all the way to the Czech Republic from New Zealand just to make games with them. Indeed, Ivan was the first person I ever spoke to in the company, both of us sharing a passion for the mountains. After more than two years of passionate work on Limnos, the fictional counterpart and also a game tribute the to the real place, they were really interested to see the real island of Lemnos. They were there as tourists, and are being charged simply because they were working on a video game. A game that portrays Greece as a battlefield for a fictional futuristic conflict. There is no risk in this game, there is no evidence here that any espionage has been conducted or even that anyone’s safety is compromised. This is at best, ignorance about video games, at worst is is an abuse of power.

They helped me make DayZ

Both guys worked together for me over the past month to help make ChernarusPlus, a new map for the DayZ game I am working on. They put in many hours of work with this, a great deal of which was in their own time. When I arrived in the Czech Republic, I knew nobody. Ivan was there at their airport with a big smile and a warm handshake, driving me to the studio in Brno to begin my adventure with the studio. Martin was always on hand to help me out, translating when I needed a Pizza order late at night working on DayZ. When I went to E3, after the pressure and difficulties of my success, one of my bags stolen and the other lost, I arrived in Prague something of a beaten man sitting at a bus stop feeling sorry for myself, very alone a long way from home. Ivan’s flight arrived later, but he called me, picked up, cheered me up, and drove me home. That’s the kind of guy Ivan is.

We need to get them home

There is much more I would love to say about the situation and the various government agencies involved. It’s up to the Greek Government now to get involved and end this immediately.

How you can help them

You have the power to help me free my friends. I need you to do four things, and if enough people get behind this. The world has their eye on Greece because of their economic troubles, let them know the world has two of their friends held hostage. These things are very important. Petitions and such are great but not as powerful as personal contact, these steps will get my friends freed:

1. Send a twitter message to the Prime Minister of Greece (@primeministergr) letting him know we want Ivan and Maxel returned to their families immediately. This is probably one of the most public and obvious things you can do to help. Social Media works.

2. Call, write, or visit your nearest Greek Embassy (click the link for a list). Let them know what they have done is wrong, and that you want them released. Be civil, but be honest. We don’t stand for this in the part of the world I come from.

3. Spread the word, let everyone know. Please forward my post on, and these links, to anyone who might be able to help. For more information you can visit my friends website at http://www.helpivanmartin.org/

4. Let the local press on the island know what you think on their facebook page, and their twitter @LesvosNet. Read some of the comments on this article for an idea of what is going on. Let’s end it exactly where it all started in the first place!

Posted by  |  September 17, 2012 | Categories: DayZ, Random Bits | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Never Forget Our Wounded Veterans & Their Families

Typically I post about the various games I enjoy playing.  However I wish to talk about real life for just a moment. Tomorrow marks the 11th anniversary of the tragic terror attack of 9/11.  This is a day I always give pause, as I am sure many of you do as well.  Even now, these many years later, my eyes fill with tears and a great sadness hangs heavy in my heart.  Most of us spend a moment on this day, thinking of how things used to be; thinking of how our world changed and of the number of Americans who have paid the ultimate sacrifice since the attacks on the twin towers.

On this day, I ask that you think of our veterans and their families.  They stepped forward to answer the call of our country. With the advances in modern battlefield medicine, our veterans survive injuries that previously would have left them as casualties. Before becoming a Community Manager I worked as a Neuroimaging Researcher at the University of Washington.  I know all too well the severe struggles our veterans face when they are victims of Traumatic Brain Injuries from IEDs.

I encourage you to explore your local and national charities and give back to our community this week.  I choose to financially donate to the Wounded Warrior Project every month.  They do a wonderful job assisting our veterans and their families, whether the issue is a physical injury or battling the severe challenge of PTSD.  Take a moment this week and give back freely in remembrance of what was so freely given. Thank You.

Posted by  |  September 10, 2012 | Categories: Random Bits | Tags: , | Leave A Comment »

Cherno On Fire!

A Hacker Decided to Cleanse the World With Fire

As predicted, it didn’t take long for me to be killed.  I made it to ‘Day 43’ in DayZ only to be killed by a guy that “zoned – in” near our group in an open field. Blammo!  Close range AS50 to the head. I couldn’t quite call it Hacking but it was dang weird for a guy to just show up in a field when we just scanned it and ran by his position.  I just chalked it up to bad luck and the guy loaded in to find a free lunch running right by him.

Yesterday I was busying recovering from that episode and advancing my character just a bit farther.  My friends helped me get my corpse earlier and I was busy trying to make a new tent and find vehicles if I could.  I also decided to cause a bit of trouble near Electro as I heard a huge explosion in town as I passed by on a nearby hill.  Electro was blowing up.  Player corpses were all over town.  I saw two snipers on the roof of the hospital that were strangely unaffected.  Hackers.  I took a potshot at them; I think I might have even winged one.

I rolled to cover and just then I, along with everyone one on the entire server, was teleported to Olivets.  It was a DayZ Mexican Standoff with everyone in one place.  Gunfire erupted and I just pulled the trigger and ran behind a building to log off.  Somehow I was lucky enough to survive that encounter, quite a few didn’t as I saw them falling around me.  I logged onto another server and bandaged, feeling quite lucky for not dying to that Douchebaggery.

Campfires Make The Zombie Apocalypse Just More Warm and Fuzzy

Later in the evening I teamed up with 6runkM3dic, scouring the country side for vehicles. After many treks to remote houses for cars or bikes, we decided to head up to Nizhnoye to see if we could find a boat. Luck was on our side for a moment, for in the crosshairs of my binoculars was a boat right at the dock.  We carefully picked out way through town and found a few jerry cans along the way to help us.  Other than the shambling feet and groans of the undead, the town was quiet.

I lay down on the dock to cover 6runkM3dic as he filled the boat with fuel.  He had just filled up the last drop and was heading back to fuel tank to fill the cans for storage when all hell broke loose.  Gunfire erupted from midair, bullets spraying but there was no one I could see.  I tried to find a target and saw only a wall and smoke from an automatic rifle. Zip. Blam. Dead.

We were both dazed for a moment.  How could someone have snuck up on us? How could someone shoot through a wall?  With luck we both spawned at the same beach near Cherno and our answer swiftly arrived.  OMGWTFHackerQQFLIPDESK.  Gunfire erupted again and it was clear this was a person that was invisible and teleporting to players to kill them. Cut to 10:41 mark for that wonderful moment!

We both respawned again and waited for the Hacker to kill us again.  Instead it appears he got bored of spawn killing us so he decided to Nuke Cherno.  A huge explosion and the sky filled with fire. A wonderful adventure ruined by a small minded individual lacking a serious amount of sportsmanship.  /SadPanda. Respawn!

The House. The House. The House Is On Fire!

Posted by  |  September 9, 2012 | Categories: DayZ | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Day 37

All This Virtual Survival Will Someday Pay Off!

My life has been quite busy this summer with the ‘Big Layoff’ that happened at Bioware for SW:TOR and starting my new job as CM for multiple, upcoming titles at ChangYou.com.  This summer has been brutal for folks in the Game Industry and I haven’t been immune.  Sometimes it feels as if I know more folks that have experienced getting laid off this summer than I do those that remained employed.  The Industry has always been a bit of a risky roller-coaster, but this summer has felt unusually awful with so many wonderful and talented people suddenly finding their lives turned upside down.

It used to be that if you had 3-5 years in the industry, you were finally getting out of the contract work.  Now it is getting to be more common to see mid and upper level jobs being advertised as ‘Permanent Temporary’ with NO benefits and no relocation.  It always feels like a teeter-totter where players demand a responsive developer staff and business demands a temporary staff.  GOOD THING WE HAVE GAMES TO BRING US THROUGH! (… and Sangria!)

So now you know why there has been a lapse in my posting!  I am excited with my new position and took the plunge and picked up my roots and moved to California.  It was hard to leave my house of 9 years; and picking up your life and moving in under 3 weeks is never easy.  I am fortunate I have a family to help me out and support me through this process.

The Glamorous Part of Working in the Game Industry. Just Add Beans and Road Flares.

I finally got everything unpacked down here in my new apartment.  I have my gaming rig back up and running and just spent a weekend gorging on zombie games: DayZ, Dead Island and The Walking Dead.  There is something comforting and centering about battling through a zombie apocalypse.  Maybe it is the virtual success that gives me energy for the upheaval in my real life.  If my character can survive on Beans and ditch water then I can certainly survive the minor inconvenience of the pounding of my upstairs neighbor’s feet on the ceiling or the price of living in Silicon Valley.  It did provide some strange material for my dreams last night, a discombobulated mix of zombies and excel spreadsheets from work.

I logged into my DayZ character this past weekend, fully expecting to have starved to death.  I recall being gone for a few days before and coming back to my character being respawned on the beach. I was surprised when I was still wearing a ghillie suit and the timer indicated 37 DAYS.  I never managed to live that long on my own and I feel like I have cheated. Did they change it?  Was the server I was on somehow altered?  Did the Zombie gods smile down on me and grant me a temporary reprieve? I know with my gameplay, it shouldn’t be too long now before I do something stupid or someone’s bullet finds me.  For now it’s a new town, a new job, a sprinkle of Gangnam Style and trying to see if I can survive another night in the Zombie Apocalypse.

Posted by  |  September 4, 2012 | Categories: DayZ, Random Bits | Tags: , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

DayZ: How to Loot a Helicopter

Just a little video of a fun adventure we had with random helicopter spawns and looted explosives in DayZ. Vagabond found a Satchel charge at the NW Airfield.  We ran into a crashed helicopter and shot all the zombies, only to discover the helicopter had been already looted. We decided to try out the satchel charge and help the helicopter spawn rate, finding a hidden surprise.

Posted by  |  July 7, 2012 | Categories: DayZ | Tags: , , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

DayZ Vehicles: How My Vehicle Obsession Eventually Cost Us Everything – Part Two

Part Two:  It’s a Trap

Ever since finding our Russian Candy Van, I have been hot on the search for every kind of vehicle in DayZ.  I scoured remote locations, peering into thick clusters of trees for any evidence of a bumper or a headlight edging out between the branches.  I wanted that safety net and comfort a car provided. A physical and psychological rock in a harsh world of bandits and dangerous infected.

Hitting objects, while your fuel tank is red, is not a great idea.

I managed to find and steal a small red sedan, stranding it up on a remote hilltop behind a tree; apparently sedans are not great for off-road travel.  My obsession and greed got me killed when I found a tractor, its engine block and fuel tank dangerously low.  I decided to try and use the tractor to haul off gear from the sedan, but a slight miscalculation in turning caused me to hit a tree.  The tractor exploded underneath me, throwing me from the vehicle and killing me.  I did mention I was a notoriously bad driver in video games, didn’t I?

My behavior in game grew more risky.  I would die frequently in the pursuit of vehicles by sprinting through industrial areas, trying to find parts in case I found a car or a motorbike.  I spent my time searching for backpacks and tents just to try and store more car parts.  I would run around town with an axe and a backpack full of wheels and Jerry Cans. Careless survival with a vision of finding a vehicle I could lovingly repair and use to start my survival fortress.

One day I wandered through an area of the map I had briefly visited, Green Mountain.  The top of the hill had a giant radio tower and I had heard rumors of military zombies and gear.  I decided to wander up there just to check it out, not sure if there was anything of value on this site. I crawled on my belly through the gravel, trying to be as quiet as possible among the shambling boots of the infected soldiers.

Suddenly my plan for surviving in comfort and security became a reality.

I crawled around the edge of the front gate and stopped in my tracks. For the first time ever, I caught sight of my dream vehicle, the Land Rover.  A military 4X4 truck, painted in camouflage color schemes, the perfect vehicle to surmount the demands of the zombie apocalypse.  It needed wheels and probably all the other vehicle parts; finally I could repair my own dream truck! I inched my way excitedly towards the vehicle and opened the cargo storage.

Inside was a surplus dream: 30 STANAG magazines, ten grenades and assorted other gear.  I had hit the mother lode!  Spam and Vagabond were going to be ecstatic; this truck would be a game changer for us!  I quickly grabbed as many magazines as I could carry, just in case something happened and crawled off to a safer location to head back to the lobby.  I wanted to get Vagabond and Spam online to help with the truck before someone else found it.

In my excitement I didn’t keep track of how I was returning to the lobby and backed completely out of the server. OH. MY. GOD.  I had been server hopping and I just found the truck of my dreams and now had NO idea what server it had been on.  Was it Seattle 46? Maybe it was Seattle 86?  Panic set in as I tried to get Vagabond and Spam on Facebook and Steam, posting a picture of the truck and frantically trying to remember what server I had been on.

Vagabond logged on with excitement and started heading to towns near his location to find vehicle parts while I tried to find the server again.  Server after server, I logged in to find no truck.  I decided on one server I should at least explore the nearby radio tower while I was there.  Maybe it had something in it at least.  I climbed up the tower but found nothing upstairs and logged off.

The next server had a fuel tank upstairs that I could use for the truck, but no truck.  I left the tank and tried another server. BINGO!  I looked over the railing of the radio tower and below was the gleaming machine.  I relayed the server to Vagabond and Spam; Vagabond switched over to it to continue a search for vehicle parts.

Trying to be sly, I told him I would be right back because the server I had just visited had fuel tank parts at my location.  I was going to just grab them and be right back.  I placed all the ammo I had removed from the vehicle, back in the truck and disconnected from the server.

This is when I discovered what a bad idea it is to server hop and also to do this from on top of a structure.  I logged onto the other server and found myself thrown off the edge of the radio tower.  I fell for a second and hit the ground with a thud. ‘You Are Dead’.  Serves me right for trying to cut corners and server hop; I accepted my Karmic payback and returned to the truck server to embarrassingly respawn.

I raced up from the beach with just my flashlight, making a beeline for the warehouses in a nearby town.  I found a wheel, a windshield and some other parts.  I crammed what I could into my little coyote backpack and took off running for Green Mountain.

I had no idea how much of a noob I was about to become.

I met up with Vagabond at a deer stand and he provided me with a rifle he had found during his search.  Together we made our way to the top of Green Mountain, excited to fix up the truck and take off with the drivable treasure chest.  Except for the soft moan of infected soldiers, the mountain top was quiet. There were no visible signs of activity.  No-one had added any additional parts to the truck.

We were about to become Kings of the Road!

We lined up along the left side of the truck, Vagabond on my left, and started adding the various parts.  Just a few moments had gone by and the truck popped up on its wheels, ready to go.  Just as I closed my inventory window, gunfire erupted and Vagabond slumped to the ground in a spray of blood.  I jumped back to the tailgate of the truck as gunfire sprayed in my direction and zombies started running like maddened hornets.  It’s a Trap!

Vagabond and I returned fire in the direction of the attack.  I decided to try and flank, running across the small yard, towards the back of the radio tower.  I saw Vagabond firing for a moment behind me and then I saw him flying as a grenade went off. He yelled in voice chat, “I am out but still alive, kill those zombies and come and help me quick. I think I killed him.”

I was hoping to draw gunfire and hungry zombies away from Vagabond; he was unconscious and bleeding out, but still alive. I ran around shooting zombies and trying to not present a solid target.  I combed the edges of the field, looking for signs or sounds of whoever had attacked us.  Nothing.  Maybe we had killed him?

I was about to pull the biggest noob move in recent memory.

Vagabond urged me, “Hurry!  I am still unconscious but I am going to bleed out soon.”  I ran over to his body and leaned over to bandage him.  In the middle of the process, I realized I had missed checking a corner of the yard.  I didn’t realize the building in the corner had space behind it.  I could not stop the action of bandaging Vagabond and had to watch helplessly as a bandit rolled out from the corner, took aim and unloaded his rifle into me. Dead.  We had walked right into a trap, the bandit letting us fix up the vehicle for him and attacking us once it was finished. All that work only to be killed in a trap set by a player named Admiral Ackbar, how ironic.

The bandit didn’t realize that Vagabond was still unconscious on the ground.  Apparently my bandaging had saved his life for the time being, at the cost of my own.  Admiral Ackbar started rummaging around in the truck’s cargo hold, unaware of Vagabond regaining consciousness behind him.  With a heroic effort, Vagabond spun on the ground and brought his rifle to bear on the murderous bandit.  The bandit turned at the same time, both of them firing off a hail of bullets and killing each other simultaneously.

The race was now on. All of us knew the truck was still functional.  The grenade somehow hadn’t managed to destroy it and it was sitting there, ready to be driven and full of loot.  Now it was a respawn and footrace to Green Mountain.  A dead sprint through a zombie apocalypse, racing for a survival prize. Spam had logged on during this escapade but was far to the east, doing his best to run to Green Mountain from the other end of the map.

Vagabond was already at the edge of the treeline. We were so close to our prize!

We watched chat as we saw the bandit trying to respawn to a better running position.  Ours weren’t great either, but time was of the essence.  I sprinted through the woods and fields, heading in the general direction I thought Green Mountain resided.  No gun, no food, no drink.  Just my pounding feet and a wild dream of winning the vehicle we had worked hard to repair and obtain.

Vagabond was about half a click ahead of me as we headed toward the radio station, the antenna guiding us towards the prize.  He was about 20 seconds away from the entrance of the radio station when he heard the truck engine start.  Too Late!  We watched helplessly as the truck barreled off across the field, kicking up a cloud of dust and emotional despair.

My dream passes me by with a cloud of dust.

I felt immediately crushed and humiliated for being so dumb to walk into a trap.  I was angry that I hadn’t run around that corner and killed that bandit before saving Vagabond. We had spent the better part of five hours trying to get to the truck, get it running, only to have it snatched away at the last second. If only I had cut left through the trees, or taken a slightly quicker route up a hill; we would have beat the player back to the vehicle and would be riding around like Kings.  Instead we were standing in a field, dying of thirst, weaponless as the sun began to set.  We risked it all and lost everything; such is survival in DayZ and why I love this game so much.

Posted by  |  June 27, 2012 | Categories: DayZ | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments »

DayZ Vehicles: How My Vehicle Obsession Eventually Cost Us Everything – Part One

Part One:  The Taste.

When I had first started playing DayZ, I had seen some videos of DayZ players who had acquired vehicles. I spent hours on the internet, tracking wild rumors of these elusive, steel beasts.  I had made up my mind that these players owned their own servers, explaining why they had all these vehicles. They were part of a ‘survivor elite’ that I would most likely never join.

Vehicles were like mythical legends of the ancient world.  Rumors depicted an almost magical existence; speed, power and safety in a world where creating a campfire or staying dry was difficult. However my understanding of where to find one, let alone how to get a vehicle up and running was based on a menagerie of random bits found on the internet.  How many parts would I need?  Do I need tools? How the heck do you know what kind of vehicle you can rebuild?

Vagabond, Spam and I wandered in DayZ, looking for any sign of a vehicle during our travels.  Without a picture in my mind of what to look for, each burned out shell of a car was its own disappointment.  All I had managed to find were vehicle parts laying about in buildings or sheds.  I let go of the vehicle dream and accepted that my DayZ adventure was going to always involve fear and crawling.

One afternoon, Vagabond and I were hustling along the edge of the Northwest Airfield.  We decided to risk it and run at a sprint across a large, open field.  My eyes fearfully scanned the horizon and clusters of trees for bandits and exposed snipers.  I was looking off behind us, waiting for the crack of a bullet whizzing past my face, when Vagabond gasped across the voice chat, “Oh my god, Kate.  Is that?  WHAT IS THAT?”

I hit the dirt, startled, thinking we were about to die.  Vagabond exclaimed, “I think I see something in those trees!”  We both pulled out our binoculars and scanned a small cluster of pines to our north, about 300 yards away.  In between the branches was the blue, rear panel of some sort of vehicle.  We were at just the right angle and light to see past the natural camouflage.  Filled with fear that a sniper was going to shoot us and driven by the pounding excitement of the DayZ version of the Holy Grail, we ran a fast beeline to whatever was concealed under the canopy of evergreens.

Cars you can fix and drive have paint jobs and a mouse-wheel available menu.

My entire DayZ world changed with the scroll of a mouse wheel. Not only could we have the option of getting in the vehicle, it had all its wheels and was full of jerry cans, parts, guns and ammo. “Oh my god. We can drive it,” I shouted in voice chat, “let’s steal it!”  In a heartbeat, our world changed from panicky survival to exhilarated freedom and power as the engine started and Vagabond and I pulled away with our stolen prize.  The blue, Russian S1203 van careened as we sped off across the field, voice chat filled with giggling and joyous celebration. We were powerful!  We could go anywhere and escape anything.  We had more gear in the trunk than we had ever found before. We could see at night; what marvelous things headlights are. We were Kings of The Road!

The S1203 Russian Van appears to have seating for 6 and a large trunk for cargo.

The vehicles can be a bit difficult to drive as your mouse and your keyboard can be used for steering.

Spam logged on and we quickly overwhelmed him in chat with our news of the van we just stole.  The next few hours were like a party in the Apocalypse.  We learned that we didn’t need any tools to fix the vehicle.  You just grab a vehicle part, stand next to the vehicle and mouse-wheel over the menu.  If you can use the part, it will become an option.  We learned how to fill jerry cans; just like water bottles, when they are empty you can take them to long fuel cylinders and re-fill them! Gear, parts, fuel, we sped across the world in DayZ; learning how to take care of the Apocalyptic Candy Van, running over zombies and raiding at will.

We felt invincible, powerful headlights battling the darkness of night in DayZ.

I didn’t want to log off that night at all.  I didn’t want to lose the comfort and safety that vehicle represented.  We tried to find a good hiding spot for the van, but I knew in my heart of hearts that someone would find it.  None of us wanted to drive it alone without the others, and as predicted, it was stolen a couple of days later.  The freedom and power I felt in that van, the safety in a world of chaos and violence, was like a drug.  My need to find another vehicle became all consuming. Little did I know, that a week later, it would lead us into one of the most brutal, emotional experiences I have had in DayZ.  (To Be Continued)

I didn’t want to log off and leave the modern comforts we had stolen.

Posted by  |  June 26, 2012 | Categories: DayZ, FPS, Gaming, Survival, Zombies | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments »

DayZ: Spam’s New Gun – Facing Death in Novy Sobor

As told in, ‘A Cautionary Tale About Virtual Bromance and Razor Wire’, Vagabond and I had managed to travel to the Northwest Airfield and pillage the military barracks.  Despite a nearly disastrous experience with razor wire, we had managed to secure a new M14 Sniper Rifle for our friend, Spam.  We carted the rifle and spare ammunition in our backpacks, working back to his position the next day.

Together again, our merry band of survivors were well armed and feeling a sense of security and self-assurance with regards to survival in DayZ.  We entered a town none of us had visited before, Novy Sobor. The town appeared to have several searchable buildings surrounded by large, open farm fields. We carefully worked our way to a small brown house near the edge of town, ducking inside to share the fantastic loot from our visit to the airfield.

Spam’s Infamous Rifle of Doom

I felt both a sense of pride and excitement as we handed over the gleaming rifle and ammunition to Spam.  We laughed over voice chat as we shared the story of how Vagabond had fallen into the razor wire and we had escaped death.  Big guns and lots of bullets!  We were feeling strong and battle ready; now we were the ones who were going to cause trouble for once!

We exited the house, and made a quick survey of the street.  There was only one zombie in sight, about 75 meters ahead at the edge of a field.  We had just crossed in front of a road block fashioned from appliances and steel when Vagabond said to Spam, “Hey why don’t you try your new rifle out on that zombie and see how it works?”  We backed against the road block and held our breath in excitement, waiting to watch Spam snipe the zombie. We had no concept as to how loud that rifle was going to be when fired. BLAMMO!  We just violated our precious Rule Number 4, never fire outside of a house!

Not only was the rifle the loudest bang we had ever heard, we hadn’t fully appreciated the amount of zombies in town that would hear that extremely loud shot.  Within moments the streets around us erupted in a massive horde of sprinting and screaming zombies.  Unprepared for the onslaught, we fired as fast as we could while claws and gnashing teeth sought to destroy us.  It seemed the entire infected populace of Novy Sobor had shown up for dinner.

Within moments, Spam went down, knocked unconscious.  I heard his frustration over voice chat and felt my own panic take hold. With a sickening crunch, Vagabond fell to the ground with a broken leg. Cursing ensued over voice chat as the screams of Spam’s character, being devoured alive, played a loud crescendo to the hail of bullets Vagabond and I were unleashing.  I fired at everything that moved, emptying all my ammo (like a dummy I kept rounds in my backpack instead of inventory) and forcing me to my backup pistol. Vagabond lost consciousness and half of the horde dove on top of his body, happy to start its midday snack while I still attempted to plink away at the mound of infected diners.

Claws slammed me and I was pummeled to the ground, blood pouring from me as I fired.  I managed to get nearly all the zombies put down, losing consciousness just as Vagabond and Spam regained theirs.  A few final bullets from Vagabond and Spam, and our handguns had put an end to what the cursed rifle had started.

For a moment I had a difficult time picking out the bodies of my friends from the mountain of zombie corpses in the road.  Spam and Vagabond crawled free and we all began to quickly bandage, our health dangerously low. Luckily we had just enough morphine to fix the broken bones and enough bandages to stop our bleeding… barely enough.

The world around me was a confused tumble of distorted shapes in shades of white and light gray.  My vision clouded and fuzzy, I could barely focus down the trembling length of my pistol.  Somehow we managed to survive, but were still in serious peril.

Luckily I had managed to cart these raw steaks for well over a day.

Near death, shaking from pain, the three of us knew the only chance for us to survive was to find trees to make a campfire and cook the eight raw steaks I had in my backpack.  I had run into a large cow the day before and had the lucky idea to slaughter it.  I had heard rumors that you could cook food to regain health but I had never managed to do this myself.

So many times I wanted to dump the meat to make room in my backpack.  I had steaks and a knife, but to cook the meat I was going to need a hatchet to gather firewood and matches to start a fire. By Luck’s grace, Spam had a hatchet and matches but no knife.  The only problem now was that we were nowhere near any trees for firewood.

Vagabond looks down at me as I am passed out at the edge of a treeline.

We crouched and started to move out of town.  We managed to move a total of about 25 feet when we all started passing out from the loss of blood.  Here we are, on the edge of a pile of zombie bodies, passed out on the open ground and unable to defend ourselves.  Time ticked by slowly as we each gained consciousness and continued to stumble out of town and into a field.

What ensued was a long crawl to the Northeast, towards a small berm of trees at the edge of a large field.  Each of us would take a few steps forward and then flop on the ground, unconscious.  A trio of shambling figures, stuttering steps followed by soft thuds as our bodies hit the ground. Walk another 20 feet and pass out for a while, splayed out on the grass and helpless.

Crawling through a hazy world of blurred vision and shades of gray, we fought unconsciousness and prayed we didn’t run into bandits or zombies.  I panicked when we came to a pond and I passed out at the edge of it.  Could you pass out and drown in a pond?  I didn’t want to find out. It would be a cruel end, to survive such a huge battle only to drown in a dirty drainage ditch.

A little BBQ goes a long way towards keeping you alive in DayZ.

Finally we managed to make it to the safety of the tree line and made our very first campfire in DayZ.  Three survivors, hunkered around an open flame and listening to the life-giving sizzle of fresh meat.  Spam never went back to shooting that rifle, deciding that one experience was enough for all three of us that day. We continued on that night, hunting animals to regain strength and continue to survive another night in DayZ.

Posted by  |  June 21, 2012 | Categories: DayZ, FPS, Gaming, Survival, Zombies | Tags: , , , , , , , | 9 Comments »

DayZ: Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse With Only a Flashlight and a Tin Can.

Being cautious will help you avoid a close encounter with death

I have been playing DayZ for a couple of weeks now.  However my favorite Zombie survival game just moved from an apocalyptic challenge to an infected gauntlet of death.  Entering the updated world of DayZ is like getting dropped into a mix of Bear Grylls survival in a zombie apocalypse, steeped in the stew of desperation found in Amnesia the Dark Descent.

In the past, when you started out, you would have 2 cans of beans, bandages, morphine injectors for broken bones, a canteen and a Makarov pistol with a supply of clips.  Now you find yourself on a beach with no gun, one bandage, no cure for broken bones, no food or water and a flashlight.  Zombies now have a few behavioral changes which means they will be more reactive towards you and hit harder, but you can also lose them in a chase.

Can you survive with just a bandage, a flashlight and an aspirin?

I have collected a few of my experiences below to help players adjust to the new challenges they face in DayZ.  For new players, my recent article on survival lessons will still be helpful in an overall approach to the DayZ experience.

Hit The Dirt:

More than ever, your visibility and noise will have dire consequences.  Zombies have a significantly keener detection ability than they had before; they are now inside structures, as well as outside.  Towns now are dangerous deathtraps, especially when you have no means to defend yourself.  Zombies can detect you more easily and they hit like a mad bull, goring you and breaking bones.  They can easily knock you out and then start consuming your flesh before you have a chance to recover.  With no gun, crawling away from a feasting horde with a broken leg is just momentarily staving off a brutal death.

Crawl on your belly when nearing structures. Being stealthy will help you survive and find equipment.

Don’t enter a town standing straight up.  Even a running crouch is likely to get zombies hot on your trail.  If you have no gun, or the newly introduced melee hatchets and crowbars, you should try to approach any structures while crawling.  This will lower your visibility and noise creation, giving you a chance to get into an open doorway and search for equipment, food and weapons.  This also helps lower your visibility in regards to other players that may shoot you on sight.

Give zombies a very wide berth.  You don’t want to get too close and already be on your stomach when a zombie runs over to rip your flesh off.  Being face down in the dirt can help, but realize it also has its vulnerabilities.  Plot your route and carefully plan when you need to move to a walking crouch position.  You can walk in a crouch by double tapping shift, or just holding shift, while you move forward.  If a building has a ramp instead of a step, you can roll up the step using ‘Q’ or ‘E’, depending on the direction you wish to roll.

Zombies Can Be Distracted:

If you enter a building and find only old tin cans, flares, chem-lights or empty soda cans and liquor bottles, don’t despair.  These items can be very useful when dealing with groups of zombies.  Used proactively, these items can distract zombies and create an easier path into, or out of, a structure.

Tin Cans can be used to distract zombies near structures.

Flares and chem-lights can be used at night to distract zombies.  To use them, place them in your general inventory and cycle to the item using the ‘F’ key.  Once selected you can then use the left mouse button to throw the flare or chem-light off in a direction safely away from where you wish to go.  Zombies will be attracted to the light and will move off to investigate it.  Be aware that using these at night also alerts other players to your presence.  In the deep darkness of night, your flare or chem-light can be visible for large distances; it will be a beacon to bandits looking to hunt other players.

Bottles, tin cans, empty soda cans and smoke grenades are great visual and auditory distractions to use during daylight hours.  If you are trapped inside a building with no weapon and only tin cans, you might try throwing the cans away from you and bounce it off an object such as a house or a tree.  Smoke grenades are great visual and auditory distractions for large groups of zombies, however you may only find these inside deer stands, military bases or military zombie corpses.

Zombies will investigate sounds, better a can than yourself.

How To Ditch A Zombie On Your Heels:

At some point you are going to run into an instance where you have a zombie, or multiple zombies, come after you.  You may not have a weapon or have little ammo.  You may not want to shoot as you don’t wish to gain more attention to yourself, attracting more zombies or nearby Bandits.

Because zombies may lose sight of you at times when you run, this can be utilized to your advantage. Crouch run when you are being chased, this might help keep other zombies from being attracted to the chase, as sprinting will make you much more noticeable.  Head for areas that allow you to turn corners or lose line of sight.  This could be zigzagging around buildings or through a heavily treed forest. Try and find a large object and take a sharp change in direction of travel.  You may confuse the zombie and leave him searching the tree or building that you have dodged behind.

If you are in an open area you can try to use large objects and duck behind them, hoping to lose line of sight that way.  You can circle a large tree or a hay bale, keeping it between you and the zombie. Once the zombie stops running and begins searching the other side of the object, hit the dirt and silently crawl away.

Put a large object between yourself and a zombie, then silently crawl away.

If the only escape open to you is a building with two entrances, you can lure the zombies to the front entrance and then crouch-run out the back; buying you some time to put distance between you and the pursuing death machine.

Posted by  |  June 20, 2012 | Categories: DayZ, FPS, Gaming, Survival, Uncategorized, Zombies | Tags: , , , , , , , | 24 Comments »

A Cautionary Tale About Virtual Bromance and Razor Wire

I have been very fortunate, during my adventures in DayZ, to have two real life friends to play with.  One of the benefits of working in the gaming industry is finding colleagues who are just as crazy about game titles as you are (and are willing to stay up until the early morning).  So far my longest survival time in DayZ has been just under 6 days; without Vagabond and Spam I would have died well before that.  Though, considering some of the situations we get ourselves into, I have to wonder if we don’t propagate our own near death experiences.

Surviving in DayZ with my Bros: Vagabond and Spam.

Vagabond and I have spent many a battle together in Battlefield Bad Company 2 and then Battlefield 3. He has been patient as I have urged him to get in my helicopter, only to accidently hit the eject button or flip it upside down and kill us both.  He has willingly gotten in a vehicle with me and experienced why I truly am the worst battlefield driver known to gaming.  I can unintentionally turn any driving experience into a suicide ride for my entire team in less than a minute.  Despite all the unintended tanks to the face and our aggressive play styles, we still manage to pull out some amazing victories.  /Brofist

This kind of familiarity and history has led us to some very dire situations in DayZ. Having a teammate you can count on in Dayz is probably the strongest resource you can have in that game.  In a situation where you are battling anonymity, darkness, zombies, few resources and the delicate balance between human morality and gamer douchebaggery, having Bros that you can trust is a force multiplier.  The downside to this is that it gives you a false sense of security and empowerment.  You take more risks than you normally would playing solo, and DayZ is happy to provide you with the consequences.

In one instance, we had heard that Spam had investigated the NW airfield late one night on a low population server.  He told tales of an amazing rifle he had found there with a night vision scope.  The tantalizing thought of being able to see in the pitch-black darkness of the night was overpowering.

Up until this point, we had avoided the NW airfield.  I read tales in chat about marvelous weapons, rumors of resources and conveniences that would make surviving in DayZ more possible.  I could imagine that a real life apocalyptic event would elicit the same feeling when hearing about a place that offered both immense danger and the chance at improving your survival. The desire to live and escape the situation you are in, countered by the fear of the unknown and tales of murderers and bandits.

The site supposedly had a large military airfield, hangars, barracks and a control tower. All I knew about it was from watching the chat results of players that ventured up there and then cried about the various ways they had just been killed by a sniper or a larger group of combatants.  With the two of us, we felt a sense of strength. We could possibly take on the NW airfield if we were very careful.

I had envisioned these watchtowers to be manned by Snipers. No-one home.

Getting to the NW airfield was so much easier than I had thought. My mind had a vision of tree lines and watchtowers full of snipers.  I thought perhaps there would be a guild up there that had vehicles and the rumored helicopter gunship from the night before.  Instead it was deathly quiet.  No sign of a battle or even a single player.  Not a single crack in the air as a bullet zipped past my head.

We approached what appeared to be a barracks building.  The area was patrolled heavily by the shambling walker and hopper zombies dressed in military uniforms.  The camp was a scene of wrecked vehicles, burned structures and littered with the bodies of military servicemen that had died before being infected.  Our ingress took nearly a half hour, as we crawled on our bellies through the maze of Kevlar wearing zombies.

We carefully approached the Barracks at our ‘One O’Clock’.

The front entrance of the barracks was blocked by length of razor wire in front of the door.  We didn’t have any tools to cut through the razor wire so we were left with only one option, climbing over it.  I thought for sure that going into the barracks would result in one of us getting injured.  Amazingly enough we were both able to step over the wire and then over a bench that was propped up as an obstacle just inside the doorway.

We had done it!  The barracks was full of ammo rounds and enough armament for both of us and Spam.  I was elated; it felt like winning the survivor lottery!  No snipers.  No roaming bands of bandits.  We hadn’t pissed off any zombies; we had managed to crawl into a honey hole without firing a single shot!  Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner.

We couldn’t believe how easy this was…or so we thought.

With the exhilaration of a survival victory, we sauntered out of the barracks.  My thoughts sidetracked about how awesome my new silenced gun was going to be, how everything was going to be easier from now on.  My mind didn’t quite pick up on the slight growl I had heard outside as I cleared the razor wire in front of Vagabond.  I took up position to the right of the door and was about say ‘Clear’ when I witnessed why Razor Wire is used to keep people inside or keep other people out.  Vagabond’s leg didn’t quite clear the edge of the wire and with a loud, bone snapping crunch he fell into it.  Screaming ensued over the voice chat as blood flew out of Vagabond on the screen.  He was unconscious, bleeding out, had a broken leg and a zombie in Kevlar just shuffled towards us.

I turned and did the only thing I could do, pull him out of the razor wire and stop the bleeding and then try to shoot the zombie.  The only problem is I risk breaking the Basic Rule we have, only shoot from inside a building.  Shooting one zombie outside of a structure will attract more zombies, you will have no protection. I only had time to either shoot the zombie and let Vagabond die, or save him and hope I could take out a few before being overrun.  I finished bandaging Vagabond and turned to shoot the zombie in Kevlar. I shot and I missed. Luckily I didn’t manage to bring more zombies but the military zombie ran straight for me and body slammed me.

The zombie hit me so hard that it knocked me unconscious and broke my own leg.  I was helpless, bleeding out on the ground, unconscious with a broken leg while a Kevlar dressed zombie now saw me as the lunchtime snack. Vagabond was still unconscious as well, lying on the edge of the razor wire. I am pretty sure I also spent some time crying into voice chat with something akin to “OMG THEY ARE EATING ME!  WE ARE GOING TO DIE OMG!’ Luckily at this point, Vagabond had regained consciousness and was able to shoot the zombie and stopped my bleeding.

Never try to jump over razor wire while in front of a zombie dressed in Kevlar.

So there we were, both of us near death but at least well-armed.  We luckily had enough morphine and blood bags with us to fix our broken bones and get our health back.  We moved on to explore more of the area and continue to survive in DayZ.  Little did we know that the rifle we found for Spam would lead to another epic lesson the next day.

Posted by  |  June 13, 2012 | Categories: DayZ, FPS, Gaming, Survival, Zombies | Tags: , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

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