I disagree, (you say there should be two versions of DayZ,) but there is this sort of split happening in DayZ. The official game should favor the more hardcore audience; that's why people come to this game. The other side of the split then would be the modding community who shouldn't be intentionally prevented from modding it back; but by no means supported at the cost of the base game, (unless it is an extreme case.)

I think it would simply be a matter of adding a new server type—like "realistic 1PP" or "realistic 3PP"—with just a few different settings (specifically regarding nighttime).

It’s like the options you see in many other games—hardcore modes, no-night servers, no-ath, and so on. It wouldn't force anything on anyone; it would simply open up possibilities for the many players looking for that kind of experience.

Why does nobody say that dark nights are too dark (they deffinitely are and make the game unplayable)
And at the same time bright nights are too bright?

The game needs something in between!

The problem with bright nights is that many crafted items—like torches—and other gear such as glowsticks, headlamps, flashlights, car headlights, and night-vision goggles become useless. Since this change, I’ve never needed these items, nor have I seen anyone else use them (except for night-vision gear), which removes an element of the gameplay.

However, it’s a matter of personal preference that divides the community; that’s why it would be great to have two different types of servers—much like the existing 1PP and 3PP options—so everyone could find what suits them best.

It would be great to be able to experience pitch-black nights, simply dark nights, and slightly bright nights on the server. If this is unfortunately not feasible, then something in between is needed. So that light sources and night vision devices have a purpose, not the way they are now.

In general, I agree with the assertion that official servers should represent the game in its true, hardcore form. Removing features like dark nights from the game to please new players deprives it of the uniqueness that made it loved by seasoned players.

with the occasional brighter night, depending on the moon cycle and the weather ;)

light sources are not being used on dark nights either, this is a death wish. they work only on non-pvp servers or on coast where you simply not care...

Personally, I’ve seen plenty of players—myself included—use those items, or spend 30 minutes as a "freshie" in a house with a fire, waiting out the night while hunger and thirst weakened me for the rest of the journey. But that’s what DayZ is all about—it’s a survival simulation. A lot of players just log off to avoid that; out of 60 players, maybe only 20 would stay during the night. However, if everyone who actually sticks around across all the servers had access to servers designed that way, those servers would stay full of the people who enjoy that kind of gameplay.

In real life; some nights you cannot see at all, and some nights you can see like it's day time. That's how it works. I think the rate at which there are dark or light nights shouldn't be 1:1 with real life though, but I don't actually know how that's decided so I would want to know first how they decide when a dark night is and when a bright night is; as it seems like they are often bright, I have not seen a dark night for a long time. In real life it's more often the other way around. Having two different servers with different versions of the game would be a nightmare for devs to manage. The split would only grow, amounting to more differences and make way for more splinters. This would not be good for the community.

In regard to the comments about light sources, I use light sources myself, even though most often I can see at night. It does still help you make details out.

For the comments about not being able to see; in real life some nights the fog will reduce visibility to less than 4 feet in front of you, it's terrible, it's anxiety inducing, you have that feeling that you want to get away from it to be able to see, and it isn't possible. Sometimes it can be so dark, (especially in a forest / wooded area,) that you cannot see at all at night, in fact most nights it would be that way. This would be good for the game.

I understand that players don't want everything in real life to be 1 : 1 with DayZ, I am of that same camp. I think that there should be things that are ~0.9 : 1 though.

Yes please make the Official server nights dark again on Chernarus i have also provided a seperate feedback post (before i saw this one) im glad to see other people also wish it was still dark again, Either via new seperate Official servers labeled as "hardcore" or return it so just the 1PP servers have dark nights again, The 1PP official servers should be the original hardcore experience that the game has always been, if people wish for alternate experiences thats what the community servers are for.

And regarding players logging out at night, This wouldnt be the case with servers labled as "hardcore" because the players know its going to be dark and the people on that server are there because of the dark nights and wont be logging out at night because they actually want to interact with the game whilst at night time, The players who log out at night are more than likely going to be the players that stay on the bright night servers.

This also drastically prevents gamma boosters because those people can just play on a bright night server and they wont have the need to do that anymore.

In terms of raw player retention metrics and player count it would increase and stay more consistent across all servers as players that enjoy a specific playstyle wont feel the need to log out at night as the server they are in will cater to what they want.

I feel like its 100% worth adding some dedicated 1PP official "Hardcore" servers into each region for a few months to collect some data and see how the players actually react, I genuinly feel it would be a positive reaction from all people as everyone gets what they want, The playercount is more than strong enough facilitate this even in the low pop OCE region it would definetly hit 60 players on standard and "hardcore" servers.

That’s exactly what I mean; it’s great to see other players thinking the same thing, and I really hope these reactions will lead us there :D

I like the idea of having darker nights. Although splitting the servers isn't a great idea, if 1pp servers are to become hardcore, then the 1pp servers should be labeled as "hardcore" so players can at least expect something will be different.

It is not realistic that players would stop logging out at night, and stop using gamma on these hardcore servers. The reason players use gamma is to get an advantage; they would definitely have this advantage on a hardcore server. Players could log out at night for a variety of reasons, some may view it as an oppourtune time to stretch and get a snack.

A mitigation for each: For the gamma, you could add artifacts to the game, that would be indistinguishable to players with sane gamma settings; to players with abnormal gamma settings the artifacts would exponentially become more noticable, and blind the player essentially. Meaning a players gamma setting is a very sensitive very balanced setting when in DayZ. You could also add items to the game like strobes that create these artifacts, which players can use to blind other players and make it hard to see; for a regular player it will make it difficult to see and add blinding effects, for a gamma increased player it will virtually make it impossible to play. For the logging out, you could make players stay after logging out like in rust, on these hardcore servers. If your player is going to stay when you log out; you might as well keep playing if you are going to keep playing.

There are so little features and mechanics in DayZ that making nights dark will not change the bottleneck in the rolling player count, or retention.

A hardcore server, if advertised properly, would cause a surge in players and retention, I expect it would trend down if it was just like the other servers; but I can't guarentee how the market will move.

What would be even better for the game, and the community, and it will give you what you want as well (I may make this a seperate feedback report, seeing as how it contains a lot of detail beyond the scope of context of the reply): Making experimental servers actually an experiment, and creating a new type of server for the role experimental servers currently fulfill: "Testing-Stable". Experimental servers should be an outlet for the devs, and a chill environment for the community where you have to work to have a serious run. Some days you should boot up experimental and it doesn't even boot, it just crashes and it's like that the whole day. The devs should add all kinds of weird features and run all kinds of experiments. It doesn't matter if the code you push causes eating apples to crash the game, it doesn't matter if it "accidentally" spawns a bear 50 meters from the player when they eat an apple. It should be that; an experiment. You could split the experiemental servers down the middle, and keep 2 experimental, (or even just 1,) and then make the other ones left "Stable-Testing".

If they did this, then they could start out by making it "hardcore", advertise it properly, advertise they are making experimental servers actually experimental, quirks and features, polished and buggy, releasing it with a very requested and loved "hardcore server", and then you get what you want for now then they change whenever they feel like it. When they change it from hardcore to pure experimental, they will be able to see how upset players are that the hardcore is gone, by gauging the sentiment, they will have collected the results of the community opinion of a hardcore server,(This is what you want). The experimental servers, will greatly increase new player count and may even create an entirely new fan base. Additionally the devs could start publishing a list containing all official servers, and their ip:port,(with a dynamic status for the server, showing if it is online and how soon till restart), so that players can know whether they are connecting to a legitimate server.