Seriously

Seriously, I intend to provide more regular updates now that I have finished travelling. And while most of the information provided is vital to survival after the fall. Some posts, like today's, will simply be undead related.

For instance this video, just some good old fashion zombie fun.


And this video is a little more zombie learning directed. I do have one major issue with this video, do not set zombies on fire unless you can completely control the situation. A flaming zombie is more dangerous then a normal zombie and the amount of time it takes for the brain to boil might surprise you. Also note this is extremely simple in it's design and intend, it is not an extensive guide.



Follow me on Twitter for on the spot Zombie Tips and Awareness.

I have only recently got myself a smartphone and thus have begun to explore the world of apps. Naturally my first action was to download a few dozen zombie keyword apps. Here are my thoughts on a few of them.

Stupid Zombies is a puzzle game in which a character who looks an awfully lot like Ash with a boomstick, has a limited number of shots to kill all the zombies on the level.

It's fun, it's problem solving but it provides no actual zombie training. Unless you count the problem solving aspect, but even then the game, while hard to master, is easy to play and won't really push your problem solving skills too far. It's an entertaining way to spend a bit of time but not worth anything in the long run.

Zombie Village is another entertaining little game without too much training value. Kill zombies to gain coins and ammo, search houses to gain coins and ammo. Spend coins for better weapons after each level. The strategy of hiding is very important and should be a lesson well learned if it's not already understood. The benefit of surviving far out weights the benefit of whatever money or supplies the zombies might drop by you killing them. Never be afraid to hide from the undead.

Coins vs Zombies is a bit of whacky fun. Nothing too complex here, its a crazy game that actually requires a little bit of skill and timing to play. But the real joy of the game is just letting loose and everything happening at once. Any training or survival value here? Nope, unless you have the battery power to play just to ward off boredom.

Zombie Killer is a fairly standard side-scroller, melee/ranged attack game. What makes it a little different is interesting art used in the game but the art never really changes so it in itself isn't a selling point. Lessons like ammo saving and learning to take the path of least resistance are notable here but as with any side-scroller, better learned somewhere else, like in real life training. Definitely among my favorites in the genre, the genre just doesn't impress me a lot.

Stay vigilant, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

Space Zombies part 1

Every mythology seems to have a version of zombies. Often causes this is simply zombies, nothing hidden or changed about it but what has always interested me is how futuristic settings always seem to have zombies of one sort or another. I would like to talk about two types of zombie.

The first is set in a dark universe 38,000 years in our future. Mankind has conquered the galaxy, more or less. Other races still wage war on man and the hellish alternate universe exists, constantly trying to destroy our own. Also a strange new race has appeared, a race that travels from galaxy to galaxy consuming all there is to consume, adding everything to it's own massive army and moving on. This is the world of Warhammer 40,000.

The last race I mentioned is the one I want to talk about. Already it sounds a little zombish; a race that literally takes every bio-organic life and substance on a planet and converts it into goo which it uses to create it's own mindless (or rather, Hive-minded) army. There is one particular type of creature in this strange army that works slightly differently, Genestealers. There are two myths about where the name comes from, the first is that these dangerous monsters have ended many family lines and possibly entire races own their own, thus steal the genes from the universe. But while they have done these things the name comes from something else entirely.

Genestealers are humanoids, barely. With two legs, a torso, a head and six arms. Each arms ends in three twelve inch long claws that can rip through the most powerful in the galaxy. The body of the genestealer is covered in a hard carapace that requires significant force to penetrate and has mutated to have 0% body fat. The legs in particular have enhanced muscles to make these creatures move at incredible speeds, faster then most vehicles in fact. The head has also mutated to allow for a massive tongue and dozens of teeth just as sharp as the claws. The head has also formed a massive shell as it grows larger and in this shell is the brain but also a virus, the virus is transferred by the tongue to the claws and teeth making even the slightest scratch a dead sentence and worse.

I mentioned a couple times that these attributes of the genestealers are mutations. This is because the virus which kills a genestealers victim, also mutates and reanimates the body. As soon as the victim dies the virus starts changing the DNA of the human. Literally stealing genes and replacing them to create an entirely new creature. Once the transformation is almost complete the body is brought back to live and the muscles finish growing and forming while the genestealer starts looking for it's first victim. Genestealers have also been suggested to not be part of the Hive-mind, they are supposedly just killing machines with the sole purpose of the continued spread of the virus inside them.

All of this really sounds like a creature we already have here on earth. So are genestealers in fact space zombies? Well we can take a look at the things that make a zombie and compare.

Cause: Virus
Undead: Yes
Body: Humanoid (mutated)
Freewill: No
Infectious: Yes, via bite and scratch.
Fear: No

Well fellow survivors I have to say I am glad to be alive today and not in the year 40,000AD, because these creatures are in fact futuristic space zombies. They match up to being a zombie better then zombies from most zombie films or books do.

Stay vigilant, may the infection never reach space, and the Space Marines have the firepower to do what is needed should we all be so unfortunate, Mike D.

Zombiegeddon

This could be a post about the lesson of never blowing something off based on appearances.

Imagine this: a hobby shop, there are comics and manga and board games and action figures and character busts. Enter me. Looking for zombie books or board games. Looking through the board games I see a big box with the title Zombiegeddon. Looks lame. $25 (it's cheap) probably lame. I get something else. Repeat this scene a couple of times over a few weeks. Finally the scene changes, the game is now $10 and I have bought almost everything else is the store zombie related. So I buy the game.

In a new scene we see my home. My shelves of zombie games, books, films, weapons, survival guides etc. I am having some friends over, I go to the shelf and look at my pile of board games. I see Zombiegeddon, I shake my head and pick something else. Finally the scene changes, someone else goes to the pile and picks out Zombiegeddon. So the game finally makes it's way into my experiences and I wish I had not waited so long.

First off it's an entertaining, QUICK game. In a world of three hour complex games which might as well be RPGs and weekend long RISK tournaments, a nice 45-minute board game is a rare find.

Now I will get into the training that can be taken out of this game. The biggest thing of note is without weapons you basically have to let enemies walk all over you. Now obviously in real life this is not completely the case but if you are not a trained, experienced fighter when raiders or even aggressive looters come to take things from you and you are unarmed there isn't much you can do. So either train up or make sure you aren't without the proper gear. It can also be noted that there are a lot of barricades and this, while annoying, makes complete sense. Everyone who isn't dead is going to be putting up barricades every where they sleep. That means every night there will be almost as many new barricades as there are people living. Meaning after a while many areas will be literally covered in barricades to try to navigate through.

The main point of the game is to gather supplies which is also a very important lesson to be instilled in any survivor. Gathering supplies has become the goal of life and without food and water, you're "kill count" won't mean any more your empty canteen. The best way to win the game is actually not to focus on gathering supplies yourself but on cutting other people off from doing so. This reflects real life in how raiders, looters and even survivors will have to contend for supplies and be prepared that as things get worse that fight will become more and more brutal.

And I suppose I should talk a little about the strategy of the game. The first half of the game talks place after the zombies but before the nuclear bombs get dropped. The main thing here, get your supplies into the barricades while collecting new supplies and provisions. Having weapons and kills is the quickest way to get big points but the provisions multiply in the end so they are worth more. After the bombs drop the zombies aren't gone! They just mutated! So there are more enemies and less weapons but the main goal is still to get supplies, or more specifically to stop your fellow players from getting supplies. Try to cut off their markers while they are focusing on other areas and narrowing the options they have. Remember though, it's just a game, don't ruin any friendships over it.

Stay vigilant, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

Zombies in Gaming: Resident Evil

Never will you find a game more re-made and over complicated as Resident Evil. This examination will stick to things that are common in all versions. Note that mention of the game as a game will exist but the main objective is to view the use of this game as training and preparation for surviving an outbreak. This is based off of the original American Resident Evil and the gamecube remake.

Story:
... Where to start... this game has kicked off one of the most complicated stories that actually retains some sort of actual plot line to date. The game begins on July 24, 1998 after a STARS team (Special Tactics And Rescue Service) discovers the destroyed helicopter of Bravo team, but there are no signs of survivors; only a severed hand is found. Alpha team is attacked by zombie dogs, one of which kills, Joseph Frost. Alpha's helicopter pilot, Brad Vickers, panics and takes off alone. Alpha team seeks refuge within a nearby mansion.
With the dogs outside, the last Alpha team members (Albert Wesker, Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine and Barry Burton) are trapped inside. Depending on which character is the player, one of the members of Alpha team is separated from the others during the chase and does not make it to the mansion (Barry if Chris, Chris if Jill). The player then explores the mansion and finds Bravoe team members, Kenneth J. Sullivan, (being eaten by a zombie) Richard Aiken, (dying of poison) Forest Speyer, (found dead on the balcony), and Enrico Marini, who reveals that one member of the team is a traitor before being shot and killed by an unseen attacker.  Scattered documents suggest that a series of illegal experiments were being done there by the Umbrella Corporation, a biomedical conglomerate. The monsters are the results of these experiments with the T-virus.
The player eventually discovers the Tyrant. Wesker reveals that he is a double agent working for Umbrella. Wesker is killed by the Tyrant. The player finds the other playable character trapped, and manages to get him/her out by activating the self-destruct system. Chris, Jill and the helper character (Rebecca if Chris, Barry if Jill) head for the heliport, the other characters are separated from the player. The player gets up to the heliport and manages to contact Brad and meet the other two survivors there, but they are attacked by the Tyrant yet again. After the beast is brought down, the heroes manage to escape the premises in the team helicopter.
Note this is the "best" ending. There are various endings in which some of the characters do not survive.

Zombies:

• T-virus Zombies - Slow moving, mindless, tend to sneak up on you or appear around corners. Vulnerable to fire and bullets.
• Tyrant - A human exposed to a lot of T-virus over a prolonged period of time. Bigger, stronger and nastier then normal zombies. He is a mutant of sorts and does not infect other humans but simply kills everything he sees with his one arm which has transformed into a sort of human blade. Vulnerable to rockets.
• Cerberus - Zombie dogs. Fast but relatively weak. They travel in packs and like to leap at victims knocking them down and surrounding them. Vulnerable to bullets.
• Hunter - Part reptile, part human, all zombie. The hunter is just that, it retains some very basic intelligence, the ability to track and fight. Vulnerable to fire and grenades.
• Lisa - Lisa was given the P-virus. An earlier version of the T-virus. She survived it and all other experiments done on her. Eventually Umbrella would extract from her the G-virus which is used to create the Nemisis Bio-weapon. Vulnerable to emotions.
• Giant Spiders - Zombie spiders... infected by the T-virus Spiders grow and carry their babies on their backs. Vulnerable to fire and grenades.
• Neptune (Giant Shark) - The scariest things ever. Zombie sharks. Faster, stronger and bigger then normal sharks (obviously that's what happens when sharks become zombies) these mothers are scary! Vulnerable to shotguns, electricity and Tom Jane.
• Chimera - This is what happens when you meld flies, humans and T-virus. Not pretty, or useful. But plenty deadly for no reason! Vulnerable to fire and shotguns.
• Yawn - Continuing with the idea that all small animals become huge when injected with T-virus RE brings us the giant snake. Vulnerable to grenades, explosives and book shelves.
• Plant 42 - Plant life can also be infected by the T-virus. (This seems strange but has common ground with some other zombie lore, including House of the Dead and Edge of Darkness) um... yeah. Vulnerable to fire and lots of bullets.

Survival lessons:

• Become a Master of Picking Locks.
• You don't have to be able to move and shoot at the same time to survive.
• Don't trust anyone, even those of the greatest morale fiber can have that used against them.
• Don't infect anything with T-virus it grows larger and wants to kill you.
• If you can't see around a corner there are probably zombies.
• In areas you've already checked and secured there are probably zombies.
• If one member of the team can never be found, don't look for him.
• Dying people will always give you their free stuff (better then letting you just loot it.)
• The guy who wears sunglasses at night, in a dimmly lit building, keeps a journal of everyone's behavior and disappears all the time: kill him early on.

Stay vigilant, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

What this site is not.

Fellow survivors,

What I do not want to do on this site is blinding promote and advertise every zombie related thing out there, other blogs do that. And I love those blogs. I love everything to do with zombies which is why I was so excited about Dead Island that I almost gave in and created a post solely about this upcoming game. But I will hold true to giving the public not just another site advertising everything that comes along but a site that sifts through the hundreds and thousands of zombie films, toys, sites, blogs, games and what-have-you to give you what is helpful and what is not.

I will do my best to serve other survivors even if they do not know what good it will do them. When a person encounters the living dead they will know where to turn for their needs and support, the Zombie Learning Centre.

Note that I love Zombies and Toys for the service they do provide and I will be the first person in line to pick up my pre-ordered copy of Dead Island. So I am not putting those things down, just being clear of my mission statement. For example instead of telling you what new things are coming out related to zombies, I will tell you the actual usefulness of those things and instead of being a free promotion for Dead Island, I will provide a full review of the lessons and usefulness of the game as training material.

Now and forever ZLC will be a real resource to survive the fall.

Stay true, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

True test

What would you do in another actual outbreak? There is really only one way to find out, to be in one. Or is that the only way?

This hypnotist takes zombies to another level and puts a man inside of a video game. An experience I believe is invaluable as it would truly test how a person would respond to actual zombies.

The integrity of the internet is in the user however and you can look at this however you wish. There are sites out there who prove it is fake and sites who prove it is real. As with everything decide for yourself.

Incase some of you don't know what's happening, the hypnotist creates a video game which will put about one in three players into a sleeping state. He then takes that player to the warehouse the game was made to look like and gives him a somewhat real looking compressed airgun and wakes the man up. Then the zombies start coming.

As I stated before, you can see how this would be the ultimate test of a person's response to real zombies. As with many things like this I have to say lucky for the zombie actors that this man wasn't a crack shot or a well trained martial artist. The first would have quickly seen through the veil and the second could have seriously hurt someone. This man on the other hand would obviously not survive even a few hours after the fall, rather he would be among the horde seeking out true survivors.

Stay awake, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

Morale and interaction

Hello follow survivors, this post will cover a number of topics regarding morale so strap in and put your thinking caps on.

First we start by mentioning games, which serve a number of purposes after the fall. The number one reason for games is to occupy your mind. The long term effects of boredom can be devastating.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=bored--find-something-to-live-for

This article is one of many that can be found  describing the effects of boredom. The most interesting thing mentioned here is this, "This heightened appreciation of self and immediate surroundings also lies at the heart of mindfulness." Now when could one be bored during the zombie apocalypse one might think. After all you will appreciate your surroundings a lot more. But boredom also has to do with growing tired of repetitive tasks, lack of entertainment and a number of other things which will still effect a person even when the undead have taken the world.

In an ideal situation you will be bored a lot. If you’ve done your job and are in a safe location your contact with the undead should be at a minimum leaving a lot of time in your hands. There are many ways to use this time. Here are a few: Building/setting/checking traps, Farming/gardening, Caring for animals, Prepping food, Searching for supplies, Training/practicing, Exercise.

These are just a few of the ways to pass the time and they should all be done regularly but you will still manage to find time in which your mind needs to refresh. These tasks are quite mundane and after doing them for even a short period anyone will begin to grow tired of them. One way to refresh the mind can be in the form of talking with other survivors but that brings about its own problems. Social interaction in the post-apocalypse can be strange and foreign. After all many of the things we talk about everyday will seem very minor compared to the daily fight for your life. You will also find that you are forced to be with people by circumstance who you may never have interacted with in our world.

But these are not as large of obstacles as you may think. You can still talk about the past as you would talk about it now. The main difference is to be aware that it is in fact the past and your new life doesn’t have to be horrible but may seem as such when compared to the past. For this reason I would still suggest staying away from the topic unless all survivors involved are fully settled and accepting of the new life they lead.

Some things to think about your new life are: no longer having to pay insurance, no more bosses or managers, not having to pay for anything really, learning new things like the barter system, fewer hate crimes, new social order, no traffic laws, never having to pay for parking. The list of things better about the apocalypse are almost numberless though they appear small. It will be in this time that the people who can appreciate the small things in life will serve a better chance of making it in the long run. It is so easy to lose hope in our world as it is, once most of the world is dead hope and happiness will be hard to find but rest assured it is there! Being able to find the joy in the small things will help you stay in high spirits which is one of the most important parts of surviving any battle, any military mind, sports fan, soldier or player can tell you that most of the battle is in the mind, if morale is low chances of winning drop to zero but if morale is high every movement and task seems easier. This fact is so true it even affects our relationships and chances of success when dating or doing daily tasks like laundry and cooking: which will still exist after the fall.

So as long as people are able to live in the current world and not lose hope then talking about the past can be both therapeutic and entertaining. Another caution though is to let go of judgments passed on past lives. It is good to know a person’s skill set from before but their “social rank” no longer applies. A homeless person will have a completely different skill set then a lawyer and it will not matter how much money either one has after the fall. Each person must be judged solely on their merits. Not on how much of the idea of money they possess.

To understand this, understand that money is only an idea. Money is the idea that the whole world agrees how much wealth a person has. If the whole world decides that money is no longer worth anything then those people who are rich and powerful suddenly lose all status. In the end knowledge and training, skills and materials will become what is truly of worth and value: money will be an idea without a purpose or meaning therefore no longer giving those who have it power.

The more people to talk with the more there will be to talk about and more opinions to bounce ideas off of and topics to talk about. This however can also be a downfall of many groups. So many opinions and especially too many leaders in a group will lead to group separations or worse, groups staying together and eventually destroy themselves. Never be afraid to split ways with the people you are with. This will in fact increase your chances of survival as you will have multiple groups with good relations too each other and you can potentially  get help from if you are ever in need and manage to find them. Smaller groups are also easier to hide from hordes or belligerent raiders.

As you discover these other survivors who you never would have known otherwise you will be able to share completely different viewpoints and experiences. Don’t be afraid of this. Learn to accept each person’s opinion as valid and every idea as a possibility. But also beware of people who will try to use you and give nothing back or who lack moral fiber. In the final days any person will be welcome from the loneliness but every person becomes a potential enemy just as much as a potential ally.

If you yourself are a leader you should find people who will follow you and have skills you can use examples might include: soldiers, firefighters, sports players, construction workers, mechanics, handy men, Scout leaders, cooks, drivers, hospital staff, university teachers, technicians, entertainers.

If you are a follower you will need to search for a leader who will keep you alive. You are likely to find leaders among the following groups: police, criminals, hospital staff, writers. Leaders are hard to find, they can be found in any group as any person can be a strong leader, they are often the people who in the real world stick up for themselves and the people around them. They are the people who rock the boat OR make the boat run smoothly. Leader are not the type of people you want following you but they can make very valuable allies and if you are not a leader or an extremely talented survival expert, your best chances of survival are finding a leader to join with and having skills that leader can use.

Being alone is another option but requires a great deal of skill, combat ability and luck. Everyone will have to spend times alone and in these times the weak will die and the true survivors will be left to fight on. But the time alone can be minimized by finding a good leader or being a good leader.

Having people around also offers the ability to play more complex games. As I mentioned, games can be a valuable asset in fighting off morale, fear and in being prepared. There are many zombie games available which keep the player in the mindset of surviving and thriving in a world covered by undead. Obviously these games are not completely representative of the true apocalypse but they can offer suggestions, ideas and allows the players to play test scenarios which may come up in the real world.

Films are also a good source of preparation. The opportunity to watch films may not come up often as time passes after the fall, nor should time be wasted in front of a television BUT nothing will boost morale quicker than a movie night after a long time away from them. And many zombie movies offer different view points on the undead. Views which you can either confirm or deny based on your real life experiences. A film may also provide ideas or tips on defending against the undead or destroying the undead. It may bring up things you never thought to ask yourself about. This is especially important before the apocalypse, to be prepared for as many potential situations as possible. It is not yet known how the virus spreads except via liquid transfer with an infected. Thus the many outbreaks around the world are unexplained as to how they first come about. Many films offer suggestions on how the virus transfers besides direct contact and thus provide ideas of things to avoid or protect yourself against.

I hope this article helped with suggestions about morale and its importance. Also giving some brief insight into interaction with other survivors.

Until next time, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate,
Mike D.