Well, aside from the narrative answer of "because it would be very boring to have them always solve all zombie problems with a bucket of guts" if you want a more "realistic" answer, it's a fucking biological hazard to hell and back. I mean seriously, constantly covering yourself in human entrails, that have been decaying for who knows how long? The risk of infection/death from the insanely myriad number of things that could make you sick doing that on the regular, make it something I would just NOT want to do. There is a reason we isolate biological hazards from other sources of waste, and why, if you are smart you wash the fuck out of yourself whenever you are dealing with organic materials. The human body is, on a good day, a constantly bubbling and decaying and oozing collection of meat and organisms, that are dangerous to be around. Add on top of that, actual rotting, diseased zombie flesh, a complete lack of any medical infrastructure, makes it entirely reasonable to me, for them to not always resort to that plan.
One thing I never understood about a Zombie Apocalypse.
- Thread starter Samtemdo8
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Personally, I'd risk an infection over my ability to remain hidden from a pack of hundreds, if not THOUSANDS, of stumbling people eaters. I think with careful planning (once the idea it's a feasible option) to cover sensitive and vulnerable areas, it could have worked more frequently than they utilized it. But I understand, for narrative/suspense purposes, sometimes you gotta have the figurative "cute white girl pursue the noise downstairs with little more than a bat and a timid 'hello?'" to draw the audience in; I'm just saying, don't introduce an entirely viable and successful option into your narrative just to eschew it almost immediately without explanation. Maybe had it only partially worked, like the zombies weren't any the wiser until they weren't following the herd's collective path of travel or if it only worked temporarily, something, ANYTHING that showed a flaw in the plan beyond a tacit-if-reasonable fear of exposure to the infection, I could have swallowed it a bit easier, but afterwards, watching them play hide-n-seek with zombie guts galore at their disposal to mask themselves, c'mon, man...
Maybe they feel the same way we do about eating species further down the evolutionary chain.
Well they did somewhat point out the flaws in it. If it's raining, it washes the funk off, and you are now exposed in the middle of a horde. I do broadly agree that it's a bad idea, narratively, to introduce a VERY effective tactic, and then conveniently forget about it. But I do think, that given the extreme hazard of this method in particular, that it's more believable that they wouldn't implement it at every opportunity. I was more curious about how it worked. I mean if it's all scent based, then wouldn't some kind of fully enclosing bodysuit work? Like a hazmat, or something else that they could wrap up in, that would contain their living stink? I stopped watching the show around season...2 I think? 3? The season with the "ideal town" where the leader kept his zombie daughter chained up to play house with. So maybe they did try this later.
I frankly had too many other problems with that show that pissed me off, to really worry about how accurate their zombie gut stealth mode tactic was being implemented
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Yeah, the show lost me a few seasons in when the zombies become secondary and the show focused purely on all the shit last vestiges of humanity being shit people to lone survivors just seeking shelter. Would have been fine as a plotline for a singular season, but at the end of the day, I was more concerned with 1.) where did the infection come from, 2.) how did it spread so rampantly (maybe my experience with COVID and restrictions have made me a tad more sensitive in that area,) and 3.) WHERE ARE WE GOING?!? All the incessant wandering around, trying to establish normalcy with myriad groups of supposedly normal people until their leader turns out to be a complete ass-hat megalomaniac. I figured at that point they could drag this story out for YEARS without any satisfactory conclusion let alone clear goal in sight, so I quit.
Granted, I don't think I'd have been any more satisfied with a compete zombie-focus the whole time either, so I'm not really sure what that show could have done to keep me riveted. Maybe I'm just tired of zombies and dramatically shit humans?
1/2. Personally that wasn't a big issue for me. It never really is in any post-apocalypse story, as usually it's just a vehicle to set up the story they want to tell. I'm fine with "either human-made, or naturally occuring, and it got out of hand" as a rationale. I recall reading World War Z, where they do go into detail about how the infection spread from Patient Zero, out. And it basically boiled down to "human behavior/stubborness." Things like not believing it was really a problem, that it was just a hoax, people refusing to think they (or a family member) were sick, and that what was wrong with them was not the Z-virus. People capitalizing on the chaos to make a profit, people with resources using those resources to circumvent regulations in place to try and contain the virus, etc. It was entirely believable, ESPECIALLY considering we've seen several of those factors play out IRL in the covid situation.
3. That I can't tell you. I mean tv shows are notorious for just dragging shit out as long as the ratings make it profitable. Very few ever actually intend to go anywhere with the material, and have a concrete resolution. Plus if they are pulling from an ongoing source material, like TWD is doing, it's even less likely they will make things go somewhere.
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@Xprimentyl
Seriously if you haven't read it, go pick up World War Z. As far as Zombie Apocalypse stories go, it's probably my favorite. Brooks went to a LOT of trouble to try and be accurate with how such a contagion would spread, talking to multiple first responder groups (police, EMTs, firefighters, etc) and doctors of various fields, and basically asked them "if everything were to collapse, how would it happen?" And then framed the collapse around the data they gave him. He doesn't explain EXACTLY how the contagion begins, but he does give a Ground Zero for where humanity thinks it first started, based on data. The how/why of the actual contagion itself, is left vague, and for me that's fine.
But Brooks actually considers things like "how would weather impact zombie survival? when things are frozen, is that good/bad for survivors?" "what happens as the zombies last for longer periods of time and their bodies continue to decay? " Stuff that I can't recall ever being addressed prior to that book.
Anyone that really loves the zombie genre, should read that book, if they haven't already. The audiobook is abridged sadly, and the stories it cut out, were most of my personal favorites, so I wouldn't recommend it. I mean, it's GOOD, don't get me wrong, but, it's one of the few novels that ONLY had an abridged audio adaptation, and I don't really know why. It's not that big of a book, and the stories left out really helped to flesh out the daily life of things. So it's a shame they removed them.
The actual book itself, the full version, HIGHLY recommended.
*edit* Apparently they DID make a full version of the audiobook! So check it out that way if you prefer.
**edit edit** Ok, reading a bit closer, it seems it's still missing stuff? It's now up to 12 hours in length, compared to the original 5 hour of the abridged version, but multiple reviews are saying "there's still stuff left out" So....yeah don't know what to say. Buy the "unabridged" audiobook at your own risk, as it still might be missing stuff.
Play it safe and just get the actual novel in my opinion.
Seriously if you haven't read it, go pick up World War Z. As far as Zombie Apocalypse stories go, it's probably my favorite. Brooks went to a LOT of trouble to try and be accurate with how such a contagion would spread, talking to multiple first responder groups (police, EMTs, firefighters, etc) and doctors of various fields, and basically asked them "if everything were to collapse, how would it happen?" And then framed the collapse around the data they gave him. He doesn't explain EXACTLY how the contagion begins, but he does give a Ground Zero for where humanity thinks it first started, based on data. The how/why of the actual contagion itself, is left vague, and for me that's fine.
But Brooks actually considers things like "how would weather impact zombie survival? when things are frozen, is that good/bad for survivors?" "what happens as the zombies last for longer periods of time and their bodies continue to decay? " Stuff that I can't recall ever being addressed prior to that book.
Anyone that really loves the zombie genre, should read that book, if they haven't already. The audiobook is abridged sadly, and the stories it cut out, were most of my personal favorites, so I wouldn't recommend it. I mean, it's GOOD, don't get me wrong, but, it's one of the few novels that ONLY had an abridged audio adaptation, and I don't really know why. It's not that big of a book, and the stories left out really helped to flesh out the daily life of things. So it's a shame they removed them.
The actual book itself, the full version, HIGHLY recommended.
*edit* Apparently they DID make a full version of the audiobook! So check it out that way if you prefer.
**edit edit** Ok, reading a bit closer, it seems it's still missing stuff? It's now up to 12 hours in length, compared to the original 5 hour of the abridged version, but multiple reviews are saying "there's still stuff left out" So....yeah don't know what to say. Buy the "unabridged" audiobook at your own risk, as it still might be missing stuff.
Play it safe and just get the actual novel in my opinion.
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And THAT is why I don't watch TV shows anymore. I'm at a point in my life where you can have 2 hours of my attention at a time, 3 max [movies]. I may even give you 6-8 hours if you make each of them individually engaging, but I expect an appreciable beginning, middle and end within that time [mini series]. But this "hour at time," years-long, "shaggy dog" bullshit [TV shows]? No, thanks; there's enough perpetual drama in real life.
I appreciate the recommendation, but I'm not a huge zombie person; not big on "grotesque for grotesque-ery's sake." Cannibalism and body horror are two things that'll turn my stomach before they'll pique my interest; combine the two, and you'll get the train wreck response from me: I'll slow down and rubber-neck, but I won't stop, get out and stare. I only started The Walking Dead because it was getting such high praise from people within my circle that hadn't previously shown interest in "zombie" stuff, so it was morbid curiosity more than anything.
I'm the same way, I lose focus on tv shows very quickly when it becomes apparent they're just going to drag it out.
I'm not a huge zombie fan either. I'm passingly interested in the genre at best, but that interest, is mostly because of the book WWZ. And it's not gross for grosses sake. It's more an analysis of how a global pandemic could spread, collapse nations and continents, and bring humanity to the brink of extinction, but how they eventually crawl out of that state and survive. It takes a LOT of time to focus on an individual's personal story, and how it worked into the larger narrative.
So, ok the entire book, is framed as a collection of personal tales, being recorded for historical record, by a guy at the END of the 10 year long zombie war, when humanity has "won", and effectively purged the zombie plague. He realized that all forms of historical record were basically non-existent, at least regarding this incredibly huge moment in humanity's history. Sure there are archives in the ruins of the world, but there are no records of what happened when things fell apart, and up to when they recovered. So, he starts a journey, across the world, to the various pockets of humanity that have re-established a strong foothold, and is talking to people, and asking them their stories about what the Z-War was like for them. The stories follow a rough timeline, in that the first collection of personal stories, are from people recounting their experiences at the outbreak point, then the middle of the book, is collections of stories from the height of the infection and collapse (often with new people included), and then the end are stories from those who had something significant happen at the end of the war. A few characters are recorded at every stage, in particular a soldier that participated in conflicts with the zombies at every stage of the 10 year conflict, and amazingly survived it all.
It's REALLY good. Seriously. I am NOT a gore-hound. I specifically hate horror films, partly because of the gore/gross factor. It's NOT an appealing part of storytelling to me. And I'm telling you, World War Z the novel, is REALLY good.
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Now that does sound more like something I could get into; I might actually check it out! It's a singular book, though, right? Not a series?
I'm the ONE like? Really people? Baffle gives you fucking gold like this, and you all kept scrolling?? @Baffle , your brilliance is wasted on us.
Back ON topic, next question should be why do zombies STOP eating once they've got someone? Why do we find zombies walking around with only chunks of flesh or limb missing? You'd think a swarm of mindless hunger machines would skeletonize anyone they managed to get their hands on (and this is coming from someone who once almost choked on a buffalo chicken wing; I don't want to think I'm dumber than a zombie, but Baffle makes an intriguing point.)
Correct, a singular book. You might see people talking about his other book The Zombie Survival Guide, which he published first, and is more of a comical, tongue and cheek book about tips to survive a zombie apocalypse. But it has nothing to do with WWZ. Self contained story.
I tell you what, I mainly got tired of zombies around 2012-13 when everyone was selling zombies like dollar store fruit chews. Most exciting zombie relatedthing I enjoyed during and after that point was Lollipop Chainsaw, Killer Is Dead (Wires are supernatural zombies and not the traditional flesh eating ones. Though that won't stop some of them from trying to bite people), and Onechanbara Z2: Chaos. The third game I listed came Westward in the summer of 2015 and was my first PS4 game I pre-ordered. Z2 Chaos had more than just zombies you fought and killed: vampires, Jiangshi, gargoyles, leech parasites infecting stone statues, demons, etc.
The most recent zombie fiction I enjoyed was REmake 2 & 3, and Zombie Army 4. Onechanbara Origins I am waiting for a big sale, and as soon as this stupid pandemic ends, I'm going to the arcade in Downtown Detroit and playing House of the Dead 5.
The most recent zombie fiction I enjoyed was REmake 2 & 3, and Zombie Army 4. Onechanbara Origins I am waiting for a big sale, and as soon as this stupid pandemic ends, I'm going to the arcade in Downtown Detroit and playing House of the Dead 5.
Yeah the Survival Guide felt a lot like a trial run for him, and his writing. I seem to recall him saying that he was surprised by how popular the book was, so he thought about taking a more serious crack at the genre. And I'm glad he did, as it's a damn fine story.
Sidenote: Another thing that JUST came to me about the whole Zombie Guts Camo strategy, is the weather and location. I mean, this entire thread is about the "realistic" aspects of the walking dead, so with that in mind, one thing to consider is where that show takes place. Georgia. Now, I live next door to Georgia, in Alabama, and we pretty much have the same weather systems. What hits them, usually hits us, and vice versa. And let me tell you, RAIN and storms, are a big concern here, for a significant portion of the year. We actually just got over, this morning, a heavy ass rain event that lasted pretty much all day yesterday. Between hurricanes often aiming up towards the Gulf of Mexico where we are, to storms from the west moving east during the spring/fall seasons, it's just a big wet mess on any given day.
We don't really have a thing called....what's it called *checks google* WINTER! that's the word! Yes, that thing, it just doesn't really exist down here. It's hot, muggy, and weeeeeet, a lot of the year. And it's very common, for you to have several days in a row, with flash storms that just dump a ton of hard rain down for like 30 minutes, and then go away, and then come back again. Usually around dusk, as the heat is shifting to cooler weather with night. We also have tornados and t-storms on the regular. So, a stealth system, based around coating myself in biohazard material, but is completely negated by a weather condition that is likely to happen for the majority of the year? Yeah I would be hesitant to have that as my Plan A stealth system down here.
I know the SHOW didn't actually put that much thought into it, but we're discussing realistic elements of how this kind of zombie stuff might actually work.
And since the show does actually state it's in Georgia, that would be a concern in my book.Yeah I never played many zombie games, as it's not a huge genre for me. I mostly enjoy post-apocalypse settings, so there is some initial buyin already in place for me with zombie stories, as they are always apocalypse stories. But the quality can very wildly of course.
As far as video games go, I can't recommend Dying Light enough. It's probably one of my favorite games of all time. I don't really know why? Like I said, not a huge zombie fan, but the various elements of that game, just really hit well for me. The setting is a beautiful city, now lain to ruin, the ambient music of the game is haunting and beautiful. The way day/night factors into the game is compelling, and it makes night missions equally compelling for the rewards, and terrifying for the threats that are out. The cast of supporting characters were really fun and enjoyable, and I wish they had been utilized more. The way you can do things like Zombie Gut Camo, and lure enemies with zombie hordes, just made it so fun to play. Stealth+Parkour+Zombie Survival= a really awesome game for me. My wife also loves it, and she's not a zombie fan at all. But she fell in love with that game almost instantly.
The most zombie focused games I played were mainly Resident Evil and House of the Dead and plenty of other zombie rail shooters such as Beast Busters. I watched so many zombie films before 2012, that I was already mostly bored around 2010.
Yeah I've seen some bits here and there about DL 2, and how it's having some....development issues, to put it mildly. Articles describing terrible management, bad behavior, typical AAA shit it seems. So that's less than ideal. I've seen one person quoted as saying nobody has any idea what the game is going to be like. So, that's not terribly promising. That and Kena Bridge of Spirits are my two most anticipated games. To hear that DL 2 is wallowing in development shit, and might be a complete cluster fuck, is very disheartening. I hope it resolves into something at least as good as the first one for me. I'm fine with "as good as DL 1" , better would be....well, better, but As Good As, is still good. We'll see.
If you decide to get it, I won't judge you nor anyone else for it. I know you're aware of the production troubles at this point, because we all saw it on the vg thread.
Excited Kena too, the new Ninja Turtles game, Sifu, King of Fighters XV, and when Guilty Gear Strive comes out in June, since they delayed the game from its April release.
Humans are instinctively driven to avoid eating old/rotting/infected meat. Since classic "plague zombies" lose all higher brain functions, maybe that instinctive aversion is amplified.
I lost any respect for Max Brooks when he claimed that the best hand weapon to have in a zombie apocalypse is a katana. Really? Let's see you pry open a locked door or a crate of supplies with a katana. The best weapon to have in an apocalyptic scenario was already demonstrated to us by a scientist.