The Zone is a place, and you are a person in it. A haircut costs two cigarettes, a tattoo three, and every jacket you wear is one you found, traded for, or cut off a corpse.
The wardrobe
Hundreds of addon garments circulate as loot — men's and, since September, a full women's wardrobe — and every piece you can find is in the site's 3D armory to spin and inspect. A spare garment is worth more as cloth: salvage it with any blade. Every weapon you carry shows on your back, so people know what they are walking up to.
The first hour
New survivors get an intake: a radio voice that walks you through eating, drinking, dressing a bite, a first search and a first cooked meal, and hands you a starter pack at the end. A Survival Guide rides in your pack after that, and a handheld GPS shows you where you are. Talk with your hands when the words run out — emotes, and searches of the downed and the restrained, are all in the game.
- Barber and tattoos paid in cigarettes
- Hundreds of scavenged garments, men's and women's
- Weapons visible on your back, salvage for cloth
- An intake, a guide and a GPS for your first hour