Hi, OBars! Welcome to the community! To answer your question: Yes! DayZ is definitely still active, and so is our community. DayZ is from my experience not that hard to get a hang off, once you understand the basic crafting mechanics and inventory system. It has a few quirks here and there, but you will notice them fairly quickly. You'll learn the game as you go along, and I'm sure the members of the community are happy to help you out with any questions you might have. If you're in doubt about a mechanic of the game or just any general know how, throw up a question on our Discord or here on the forums. We hope you will enjoy your time with us, and I hope to see you in game!

Depends alot on the character. I like to stick to civilian clothing when I am playing a character with no military experience. I usually carry a main weapon and a sidearm of some sort; usually an SMG. I like to have a small footprint as a character, yet make them distinguishable. I usually wear the same stuff on my character clothing wise when I have constructed a recognizable look. The look for my main character Aslan is: South Face Gorka jacket Blue jeans Green baseball cap Green face shemag Hunting boots Everything else in situational. I find a consistent look helps a lot with recognizability. People are able to tell that it is me when the see me. Lootwise, I keep plenty of food on me, and then probably 1-2 mags spare for my guns along with a bit of loose ammo. Basic tools and other necessities like duct tape or sewing kits. Other than that, I rarely trade, so I don't tend to pick up random stuff that I think might have value. If I can get around not having to wear a backpack at all, I usually will. Belts and pouches are way more favorable to me. It limits me from carrying too much junk around.

-WIP-

Aslan gets woken up by the radio broadcast. He would rub his eyes and fumble for his radio by his bedside.. "Hello? Who is talking?... I ran into this phenomenon... A couple days ago I think? In Radunin I believe..? One of my close friends, not naming who, had their house broken into. It also had bodies scattered around... Heavily disgruntled... With these numbers carved into them. There were some photos... Polaroids it must have been. I wish I never saw those... Anyway, believe it or not, I found some leftover tools and such in a pile outside the building in Radunin where I encountered a body of these myself... I found this small bag amongst the supplies that was left behind. These white pills with a sort of red smiley face on them... One of my friends recognized the pill as "comfort"... Some sort of drug that was prevelant in Chernarus... I wouldn't know... I've never been more than once. I gave one of these pills to one of my friends. He said he wanted to try one... I have some left. I should probably just throw them out... Aslan out." Aslan would put the radio back down on his bedside. He would reach into his pockets and feel the small ziplock bag in his hand...

If there was a way to add a big fat "Remove Cooldown for All Players" button, in case a server went down completely, I think the cooldown system would be a viable option. That's definitely the way I would love to see it handled myself, and the most realistic compromise we can have, unless the lore i re-written. But as I said, I would prefer Chernarus and Livonia to be somewhat seperated. I think it's a healthy dynamic to have.

Here's how I personally would do it: Add a cooldown, not where your character is inactive for a set amount of time, but a cooldown to commit to either one of the servers for a set amount of time. Example: I'm on Chernarus, and I want my character to go to Livonia. I change servers and make the switch, and a cooldown timer starts, for maybe 12, 24 or 48 hours. Where my character now HAS to stay on Livonia for that set amount of time. I don't want to get too much into the RP aspect of moving between the borders, as the information about how you got there mostly seems irrelevant, and no one really cares. All I'm trying to combat, is the constant switching between them, to remove the awkward situations where your character was in Livonia, went to Chernarus, and then return back to Livonia the same day. It would also add a risk/reward to going between the countries, in the sense that, if you have something left behind in say Chernarus, you have to comit to going to Livonia, and in doing so, you can't go back to defend it for a set amount of time. The another option would be to re-write the lore and put Chernarus and Livonia next to eachother, and make them neighbouring countries. I am personally against this, as I think it's a good dynamic for the two countries to be seperate, and have seperate stories and things going on. A third option would be to force a character to either one of the maps, so that you have 1 character for each map, and you can't transfer them between the countries. Personally, the awkwardness that derives from seemingly teleporting between the countries at a moments notice ruins the immersion and fun for me, so I'd like to see some system in place to improve this aspect of our roleplay and stories.

Excited to see where you take this, and how you plan on playing out this hero group!

@Georgia Banks always a pleasure being around you. There's always something happening, something to do and people to help. We keep developing our relationship, and I get to know my character more from every day that passes. Now you know EVERYTHING about Aslan, so I'm excited to see where you take this knowledge. Stellar RP with you as always. @Wynne& @Vandire my favorite RP couple. It's crazy how well we get along IC. There is much much more to come, and I'm so excited to develop our relationship further. @ImBlisna so excited to finally get behind the mask of mr. Shelby. There is much, MUCH more to him than I initially thought, and I'm excited to explore his future. Alot can happen. @YAKMOUTH, @poopslayerHP & @RoverBeastHP always a pleasure to be around you guys. There is so much to you guys as a gang, and I keep discovering new sides of you every time I see you. Getting to know you all is super interesting, and I can't wait to see what you get up to. @Maverick Cobalt the grand return. Such a well constructed and interesting backstory. Sharing our characters childhoods and stories, building relationships, and fighting amongst men is so enjoyable. Good to have you back, buddy. And to everyone I haven't mentioned but have had minor interactions in-game with, thank you! So much has been going on, and every one of you help constantly keep it interesting.

Welcome to the community! Hope you've been enjoying your time with us.