The Rust Diaries

Rust is a new open-world, sandbox, multiplayer survival game available as an Early Access title on Steam. On the surface it seems quite similar to other survival games such as DayZ, but after an hour or so of playing, you get the feeling there's more to it than that.

When you first load up the game and join a server, you aren't given any kind of briefing or tutorial. You won't start in a protected spawn area or be given a specific goal. Instead, you just spawn somewhere on the map, likely in a field full of trees, with nothing but a rock, some bandages, and a torch that'll barely last through the night.

Rather than just describing the gameplay, I'm just going to include some excerpts from the notes I started taking once I realized how much fun I was having.

Day 1
Alright, I'm holding a rock and standing next to some mountains. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I've discovered that hitting Tab brings up my inventory, and I can collect wood by hitting trees with my rock. Cool. There also seems to be a crafting system, but I don't have any supplies. It seems to be getting darker, must be dusk. I don't see much of anything except trees. I have indicators on my screen for health, hunger, and radiation.

It's getting really quite dark now. I tried wandering around in the dark but I kept running into things, so I took out my torch. It seems to be running out of fuel pretty quickly. I still don't know what I'm supposed to be doing so I suppose I'll keep exploring.

I was hitting trees and I got killed by a bear. Damn. Let's try this again.

I ended up climbing one of the rocky hills near me. I can see what looks like a valley on the other side. I'll explore there when the sun comes up. Also, I'm apparently cold and pretty close to starving.

Day 2

The sun's coming up now. I headed down into that valley and found some piles of wood. Apparently, hitting them gives 7 pieces for each hit! Jackpot. I would love to craft a stone hatchet but I don't have any stones. Hitting the big rocks by the mountain doesn't seem to do anything.

Oh, so there are specific rocks you have to hit in order to get more stones. They also give you ore and sulfur. Interesting.

I'm really getting hungry now. There's some kind of animal in the distance, and it doesn't look like a bear. I'm going to try killing it. 

Success! After chasing a pig around with a rock for five minutes, I now have... a piece of chicken breast? Weird. 

I ate the chicken breast and threw up. Apparently, raw meat is bad for you. My hunger is now at 0 and my health is going down slowly. I think I might be starving to death... yep, I'm dead again. Okay.

I'm somewhere new now. At least I have some more direction now. The in-game chat tells me I need to cook my food over a fireplace before eating it. I'm going to look for another animal.

I found a deer, but when I tried hitting it, it ran away. It's really quite fast and I don't think I'm going to be able to kill it with my rock.

I found a pig, but on my way to kill it, I got attacked and killed by a wolf. This is getting tedious. I need to be more careful.

Whoa! Apparently you can keep hitting an animal after you kill it to get more supplies from it. Neat-o. This life has been more successful. I have a couple hundred pieces of wood and some cloth and stuff. 

I've climbed to the top of a nearby hill and started building a base. The crafting system is cool. You start out with a wooden foundation, then you can add pillars, walls, doorways, and windows on top. There are stairs too, but I'm going to keep my base to one story for now. I don't have enough wood to wall off my entire base, but the sun's going down again so I'm going to have to wait until morning to get more. I figured out how to build and use a firepit, so I'm going to cook my food overnight. I've also made some pants from the cloth I got from that pig. I'm still cold, but I'm fine if I stick near the fire.

Day 3

I spent the whole day gathering wood, stones, and supplies from animals. I've crafted a sleeping bag, but I can't seem to do anything with it except move it around. Oh well. I've also created a furnace which I'm using to smelt my ore into metal shards. I think I can use those to make better tools and even guns.

Day 4

I was out gathering wood this morning and I saw someone in the distance. I headed towards them to say hi, but was greeted with a gunshot. They missed, so I ran to the hills where my base is. I circled around and may have lost my pursuer in the rocks. I hope they don't find me.

Well, they found and killed me. I think they also took whatever was in my house, not that I could find it again if I tried. Starting from scratch again, I suppose.

Introduction

Gaming has changed. The traditional stereotypes of people who play video games have all but disappeared. Gamers today are female or male, young or old, having an average age of about 30. Gamers today are intelligent and ambitious people, coming from many backgrounds. Many of us are scientists, engineers, programmers, lawyers, or doctors. Some of us are graduate students who use our extremely limited free time to immerse ourselves in video games. Many of us have spouses or children. Games, along with the evolution of the internet, have created a true global community for the first time in history. The ally you just saved in your latest Call of Duty match could be from any country in the world. The opponent you just faced in that heated Starcraft match could be of any age or nationality. Gaming transcends languages, borders, and ideologies.

For me, gaming is more than just an escape from the demands of school, work, and everyday life. Gaming is a very social experience that lets me stay close with good friends who have moved across the country. Gaming is an outlet for my creativity, intelligence, loneliness, and frustration. Gaming is an opportunity to imagine other worlds and universes, then reflect upon our own. Gaming is a distraction that helps us stay sane in the insanity of the modern world. Gaming is a way to learn from mistakes and constantly seek self-improvement.

Like gaming, I intend for this blog to be an escape and a distraction from the demands and stresses of life. I hope to share my thoughts and favourite experiences with games and the gaming community.

Cheers!