Day Z Video Diary -- Emotional Rollercoaster

Evan Lahti at

day z diary

Day Z does something novel and counter-intuitive that I love: it makes being victimized exciting. You feel a lot when you're face-to-face with permadeath—when you're being bandited, zombied, starved, or dehydrated.

I had an incredible session in Day Z last night during an impromptu livestream. In 15 minutes of action, I felt a greater spectrum of feelings than I have in a month worth of gaming. Come behold my tornado of terror, guilt, joy, and cowardice.

SETUP:It's night. I'm looting a particularly dangerous area of Day Z with a guy named Vipeaxe, the one in the ghillie suit. He happens to be a server administrator for Day Z, and he's survived for an incredibly long time with his current character.

SETUP:13 minutes later, I cruise along toward the southern barracks in the Northwest Airfield, hoping to find rare loot and end my hours-long session.

Click for a larger version.

I drew this up to try and summarize the arc of things I felt through this sequence. Man, I still can't believe that the shock of simulated death got to me so much that I couldn't figure out if I'd acted in self-defense. Why the hell was I apologizing to the guy who'd clearly tried to kill me? Anyway, keep an eye on my Twitter page for more livestreaming.