Not long ago, the DayZ Twitter account posted a riddle that was almost impossible to solve and showed a strange new in-game item accompanied by the very simple question “What’s this thing called?”. Almost instantly, the gaming community erupted in confusion, jokes, and some really nice answers to the medieval-looking headdress, which, still being a riddle came with a very simple question “What’s this thing called?”.
It looks like the DayZ developers planned to have a little fun with the players unmasking the bizarre-looking medieval headdress that was similar to a knight’s armor. The image shows a hood that appears to be made of metal created from overlapping rings, and to be honest, it looks like it would both keep you safe and be extremely uncomfortable to wear during a zombie apocalypse. Nevertheless, the main thing here is not just the item but rather the community’s reaction to this hidden message.
Many players rightly identified the item as a coif of chain mail, which is supposed to be a part of a more extensive armored hood mix in the game. User Tobie Venne provided a comprehensive description, “when added to a Witchs Hood you can craft a Armored Hood.” Moreover, he advocated that the Witchs Hood should be available all year round rather than just during Halloween. That would be a great thing since DayZ has been increasingly introducing medieval-style armor pieces, thus providing players with more protection options in addition to military gear.
On the other hand, not everyone was ecstatic about the new item. The comments section quickly turned into a place to have fun, with user Marks_1616 carrying out what looks like an everlasting joke about misclassifying the item, saying “I’m never gonna be allowed to forget this moment am I?” along with crying emojis. User HollyRexTwitch chimed in, “Wait, what did you call it??” using the shocked emoji, implying that there could have been some… imaginative naming during a stream earlier when the game was played.
The language barrier didn’t pose a significant challenge either when user reyantm responded in French “Une coiffe en maille,” which translates to “a mail coif,” pointing out that the DayZ community is global and multilingual. When another user asked reyantm why they were speaking in English if they weren’t English, reyantm casually replied, “Its dificultad to translate,” which is really—mood.
Still, other gamers saw it as an opportunity to make their voices heard concerning their displeasure with the game’s development direction. User Rathient straight up confronted, “It’s called where’s patch 1.29?” while TWModern humorously remarked, “A major update delay with little communication? Oh wait, no that’s not right….” Such comments indicate that new content is indeed accepted with open arms, but still, many players are left waiting for bug-fixes and the so-called major updates that have been delayed.
Among the players, there were a lot of creative ideas; for instance, Lee Saunders was talking to another user about their wish list, which included “recipes, a functional electrical grid, or to be able to connect the lights in the house to a single power source. Some different vehicles, like more military-type jeeps, maybe even an APC with a machine gun turret, add the RPG too, which is already in the game’s files. A helicopter or plane too.” This shows that players want the game to be bigger than just adding more wearable items.
User Trevorbean79 articulated the popular sentiment shared by survival horror game players, “Something that will interest players for a day how about a bow and arrow for the survival game” which probably—fair point. In a wilderness survival game, not having bows or similar basic weapons seems like a big mistake.
However, the humor was not over yet and KempasUK made a joke saying, “Spare loot. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, just joking,” along with a GIF, whereas jerm_o7 coined it “Ye olde shiesty,” thus, giving the ancient headgear some modern street credit. User Pl4yerTen simply remarked, “Make you bald 9000,” which if you have ever worn chainmail you probably understand the hair-pulling analogy.
WOBO, a well-known DayZ content creator, seemed to have a funny moment in a stream already and suggested that the item description should read “A fine piece of headwear once mistaken for something far less noble.” This would imply that during the reveal stream, someone might have misidentified the chainmail coif as something… less proper.
What is particularly intriguing is that a tweet about an item can tell a lot about the current state of the DayZ community. There are players who know the game’s mechanics in great detail; others who are frustrated with the development speed; some just want to meme and have a good time; and then the polyglot crowd that is trying to communicate over language barriers. It is a microcosm of the wider gaming community all reacting to one picture of a chainmail hood.
The tease’s timing is also noteworthy as WOBO tweeted separately “DayZ Halloween Event Details + 1.29 News,” suggesting that this chainmail coif could be part of the seasonal content that is coming or the next big update. DayZ has historically used holiday events to limited introduce-time items and features, so this could be a case of testing the waters for something larger.
In the end, it does not matter if this chainmail coif will be a groundbreaking piece of armor or just a cosmetic item, the reaction has shown that the DayZ community is still very much alive and engaged with the game even after years of release. They are in total control of the situation, watching every little detail with both helpful information and witty remarks at the ready, and still, their love for the game is so strong that they even discuss the pros and cons of medieval headgear in a zombie survival scenario. The item might be called a chainmail coif, yet, the entire episode is about how a simple question could bring out the best and the funniest among the DayZ players.
The community’s engagement spans across platforms, including PlayStation and Xbox, showing the game’s broad appeal.
