Squirtgunsquirter
Demi-God
I'll keep watching SA, as Capetown nears "Day 0".
On another subject, I came across some videos on youtube. The videos are of people playing an online video game called Day Z. Normally this isn't something I am into, but from watching several videos the human interaction is revealing.
The game is a survival game, in an area of 225 square kilometers. There has been a "zombie outbreak" (original) and you begin the game with the clothes on your back, and a random starting location. If you get wet, you can die of hypothermia or get sick. You can starve, or die of thirst.
You can watch the following things happen as people scrounge for supplies and interact with other players.
1. Many people quickly adopt a "KOS" or kill on sight principal. Many players will fake being friendly, laying down there guns and raising their hands, shouting that they are friendly, to draw out other players into the open so that the rest of their team can line up shots in the open. The only way to survive is to hide, and run from all contact, or find a decent rifle, and kill anyone you see who doesn't run.
2. If you try to barter, or help other players, you WILL be betrayed and shot in the back. One player actually conducted an experiment in the game, where he approached other players (who did not have visible guns) and offered them a pistol, without ammo. However, the pistol did have ammo, but was jammed. Once the other player picked it up, he would say that he had made a mistake and asked for the pistol back so that he could take the ammo. This resulted in the players who had received the gift pistol, raising it and pulling the trigger, only to hear it go click. This was the result in something like 90% of the times it was tried. You can watch on the video, as the person says, very kindly "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to give you the pistol ammo, I actually need it. You can have the gun, can I just get the two bullets back?" And the other player almost always points the pistol at his face and pulls the trigger. And this, after a very nice conversation during which the gun is given freely with no threatening behavior.
3. Cruelty. Its a little disturbing to watch. Of course it is a game, but the game is made to be very realistic. You can tie people up, put bags over their heads, make them kneel, all of that. And many players become bandits, and join other bandits to form larger groups, and all they do is victimize newer players, who have less gear. In this game, you can forget being a gray man. If you walk down the street, someone will shoot you just because they can. And the thing is, that forming a friendly group has benefits. Some people can look for food, others do security, others find water and supplies. But most of the players just shoot each other to steal supplies rather than go long distances to find them.
4. Cannibalism. It happens. If someone has a "character" that they have worked hard to build and get gear for, they will eat another player rather than starve. Some of them do it because it is easier to let the "food" come to them. It takes more energy to move about hunting and scrounging than it does waiting on the roof of an apartment complex, shooting people.
5. Curiosity. It amazed me to watch new players come into the game, wander around, and spot a pile of dead bodies, with lots of backpacks and tools. They would be nervous, but in the end they almost always try to run out and snatch something and get nailed by the sniper who is using that spot as bait. Its not desperation, they could walk right by and go scrounge food and water in a house, but nope. They want that shiny backpack full of sardines.
6. Conversion. Players who start out with the intention of being good, and helping others, get backstabbed and betrayed so fast, if they live they go to a policy of kill on sight. Some players will do things like put their little sister on the microphone, and have her pretend to be lost, so that she can get into another players refuge and drop a grenade, or spy out the interior. You really cant trust anyone.
7. The Best of the Best! The players who seem to survive longest, and end up with the best gear, don't go into towns often. They wear Ghillie suits, and carry the best military gear and camo clothing they can, and live in tents in the forest, far away from areas of high activity. They always sneak, AWLAYS, running crouched, moving slowly. They don't randomly shoot people, it draws attention. If they are spotted, they shoot, then leave the area immediately. They don't join groups, because someone in the group will turn on them (in the game this can be just out of boredom or for "fun"). The players that survive this way have the best survival rate, the highest kill numbers of other players, and by far the best gear. Now I don't know how well this relates to real life, but at the sight of one of the true "survival" players, in a ghillie suit with a FAL and an ACOG scope, many other players will just run away. The "survival" players aren't going to be drawn in with promises of friendship, many of them don't even speak to other players. The real "survival" players are known to be dangerous, and best avoided. Even large groups of bandits avoid them, you can hear them speaking on the game, talking about trying to take them out and usually deciding its not worth the risk.
Overall, I took some lessons from watching people play, I don't think most people here need to be told what I learned, its pretty obvious. I still think that in a real life SHTF crisis, many people would be the same decent people they started out as. But if the game is any indication, a lot of people will also choose to survive at any cost. In the game, a can of tuna might be the difference between living another day, or starving, and that drives some pretty brutal actions.
Just a video game, but still. Peoples natures seem to come out.
On another subject, I came across some videos on youtube. The videos are of people playing an online video game called Day Z. Normally this isn't something I am into, but from watching several videos the human interaction is revealing.
The game is a survival game, in an area of 225 square kilometers. There has been a "zombie outbreak" (original) and you begin the game with the clothes on your back, and a random starting location. If you get wet, you can die of hypothermia or get sick. You can starve, or die of thirst.
You can watch the following things happen as people scrounge for supplies and interact with other players.
1. Many people quickly adopt a "KOS" or kill on sight principal. Many players will fake being friendly, laying down there guns and raising their hands, shouting that they are friendly, to draw out other players into the open so that the rest of their team can line up shots in the open. The only way to survive is to hide, and run from all contact, or find a decent rifle, and kill anyone you see who doesn't run.
2. If you try to barter, or help other players, you WILL be betrayed and shot in the back. One player actually conducted an experiment in the game, where he approached other players (who did not have visible guns) and offered them a pistol, without ammo. However, the pistol did have ammo, but was jammed. Once the other player picked it up, he would say that he had made a mistake and asked for the pistol back so that he could take the ammo. This resulted in the players who had received the gift pistol, raising it and pulling the trigger, only to hear it go click. This was the result in something like 90% of the times it was tried. You can watch on the video, as the person says, very kindly "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to give you the pistol ammo, I actually need it. You can have the gun, can I just get the two bullets back?" And the other player almost always points the pistol at his face and pulls the trigger. And this, after a very nice conversation during which the gun is given freely with no threatening behavior.
3. Cruelty. Its a little disturbing to watch. Of course it is a game, but the game is made to be very realistic. You can tie people up, put bags over their heads, make them kneel, all of that. And many players become bandits, and join other bandits to form larger groups, and all they do is victimize newer players, who have less gear. In this game, you can forget being a gray man. If you walk down the street, someone will shoot you just because they can. And the thing is, that forming a friendly group has benefits. Some people can look for food, others do security, others find water and supplies. But most of the players just shoot each other to steal supplies rather than go long distances to find them.
4. Cannibalism. It happens. If someone has a "character" that they have worked hard to build and get gear for, they will eat another player rather than starve. Some of them do it because it is easier to let the "food" come to them. It takes more energy to move about hunting and scrounging than it does waiting on the roof of an apartment complex, shooting people.
5. Curiosity. It amazed me to watch new players come into the game, wander around, and spot a pile of dead bodies, with lots of backpacks and tools. They would be nervous, but in the end they almost always try to run out and snatch something and get nailed by the sniper who is using that spot as bait. Its not desperation, they could walk right by and go scrounge food and water in a house, but nope. They want that shiny backpack full of sardines.
6. Conversion. Players who start out with the intention of being good, and helping others, get backstabbed and betrayed so fast, if they live they go to a policy of kill on sight. Some players will do things like put their little sister on the microphone, and have her pretend to be lost, so that she can get into another players refuge and drop a grenade, or spy out the interior. You really cant trust anyone.
7. The Best of the Best! The players who seem to survive longest, and end up with the best gear, don't go into towns often. They wear Ghillie suits, and carry the best military gear and camo clothing they can, and live in tents in the forest, far away from areas of high activity. They always sneak, AWLAYS, running crouched, moving slowly. They don't randomly shoot people, it draws attention. If they are spotted, they shoot, then leave the area immediately. They don't join groups, because someone in the group will turn on them (in the game this can be just out of boredom or for "fun"). The players that survive this way have the best survival rate, the highest kill numbers of other players, and by far the best gear. Now I don't know how well this relates to real life, but at the sight of one of the true "survival" players, in a ghillie suit with a FAL and an ACOG scope, many other players will just run away. The "survival" players aren't going to be drawn in with promises of friendship, many of them don't even speak to other players. The real "survival" players are known to be dangerous, and best avoided. Even large groups of bandits avoid them, you can hear them speaking on the game, talking about trying to take them out and usually deciding its not worth the risk.
Overall, I took some lessons from watching people play, I don't think most people here need to be told what I learned, its pretty obvious. I still think that in a real life SHTF crisis, many people would be the same decent people they started out as. But if the game is any indication, a lot of people will also choose to survive at any cost. In the game, a can of tuna might be the difference between living another day, or starving, and that drives some pretty brutal actions.
Just a video game, but still. Peoples natures seem to come out.
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