Ok, here's a few tips to start playing DayZ and surviving (zombies).
Tip 1: If you're being chased by a zombie, there are 2 reliable ways to lose them. First: Run through an enter-able building. This causes the zombies to lose agro and walk to your last known position (the last known for them). Second: Run directly into the base of a fir tree and wait. They will eventually stop chasing and even if they're right on you, they cannot hit you while you're inside the tree's branches. This isn't even an exploit. It's part of the game's mechanics. The only ones that work are the ones with the low lying branches that are actually touching the ground. The others won't work.
Tip 2: Find a hatchet (or a crowbar, but they suck compared to the hatchet). Hatchets are quite commonplace. You can find them pretty much everywhere but they spawn in industrial zones more readily. Barns are a common spot, as well. I don't think they spawn in residential or military spots, though. Hatchets kill zombies in one hit but the "shots" from them can be a bit wonky to actually land. Best tactic I found for it is to just slowly walk backwards and swing at the zombies as they run up to say "Hi". You have to reload them before you can use them as of the current build, though. Doesn't need ammo or anything. Just need to hit "R" before you can swing. To equip one, just right click it in the inventory screen and select "Remove from toolbelt". Same for the flashlight. The hatchet/crowbar will take up your main weapon slot and the flashlight will take up your secondary slot.
Tip 3: Don't trust anyone. Sadly, since hitting mainstream, the community has become "kill on sight" for anyone outside of your team. Oh, try and find someone to play with. It becomes much more fun and easy when you have friends backing you up.
Tip 4: DO NOT GET ATTACHED TO YOUR GEAR!!!!!1212!!3 You WILL die. Whether to zombies, another player, or some glitch, it will happen. When it does, just shrug your shoulders and keep going. Gear is easily replaced when you know where to look for it.
Tip 5: Get acquainted with the map. The best places to look for food and general supplies (and players) is Chernogorsk and Elektrozavodsk. Supermarkets spawn food and drinks (obviously), general supplies like maps, watches, bags, matches, etc. Houses and the like spawn guns, minor medical supplies, food and drink occasionally, hatchets/crowbars, different kinds of clothing (which is sorta bugged, atm), and general supplies. Industrial zones include gas stations and industrial looking buildings. It's quite obvious just by looking at them. They're usually large, ugly, and look like they serve some other purpose other than housing. These places spawn toolboxes, hatchets, crowbars, food (rarely), parts for fixing up vehicles, and other junk. General military spawns include fire stations, deer stands, military tents, and pretty much every building near air fields. These spawn the better guns. Farms spawn low level guns and general supplies. Finally, downed choppers, while rare, spawn the best guns and ammo, night vision goggles, medical supply boxes, and...that's it, I think. The choppers can spawn in any open field near towns or forests.
Tip 6: Inventory management. Learn to sort your inventory. Keep what you will need readily available in your main inventory and store the rest in your bag. You start out with a Coyote Patrol Pack but there are other bags that spawn pretty much everywhere. The best is called Coyote Backpack with 24 slots.
Tip 7: Noise and visibility levels. Crawling obviously makes the least amount of noise and visibility whilst being the slowest. Crouching is a great way to cover ground and remain mostly concealed while running is the fast but most visible. Shouldn't need to cover that too much. Weather has an affect on these levels. Rain will muffle your noise levels while fog increases it. Rain also lowers your body temperature during the night (not sure about day time, though). Going below 36 degrees will open up risk of getting sick. Sickness causes your character to cough violently, alerting any nearby zombies and lowers your maximum blood levels to 6000. Antibiotics spawn in hospitals (located in Cherno and Elektro) and instantly cure you of sickness. To keep from getting cold, you can build a campfire or use a heatpack. Heatpacks instantly max your temp, so always keep at least one on you. Sickness sucks.
Tip 8: Medicine. Painkillers relieve "extreme pain" condition, indicated by shaking uncontrollably in first person view. Heat packs: see above. Blood bags fully restore your blood levels but MUST be administered by another player. Blood is also restored by eating food. Normal canned foods restore 200 blood and cooked meat restores 800. You can get cooked meat by killing and then gutting wildlife. To gut, you'll need a hunting knife. To cook it, you'll need to make a fire using a hatchet to first gather wood from a forest and then right-clicking matches to make a fireplace. You can then light the fire and cook the meat. Morphine auto-injectors will cure you of your broken leg status, indicated by a broken bone symbol. This is the only way. Bandages cure you of the bleeding condition, indicated by your blood drop on your HUD flashing a "+" sign. It also has a small chance of healing naturally. Shock is from taking large or sudden damage. Not sure if zombies can cause it just from hits but getting shot or falling from a tall ledge can cause it. Can't cure it but it will go away on its own. If you log out in shock, the next time you log in, you will pass out on the spot for 5 minutes. Speaking of passing out, epinephrine will revive any unconscious players. Cannot be self-administered.
Tip 9: Glitches to watch out for. Rocks can randomly break your legs, knock you out, or just straight up kill you so try not to run over them. Do not go swimming while you're fully geared. You'll lose your gear. You can pick it back up on the shore but the server will occasionally eat any dropped gear so don't count on it. While not a glitch, falling more than 5 feet or so will hurt, so try not to do that. If you find any change of clothing, drop your backpack first. It can revert your backpack into the Coyote Patrol Pack. That's all I can think of, right now.
Right, This turned out to be far more wall-o'-texty than I intended but there you have it. Zombies are really very easy to escape from once you know how. Even just running through a small suburb and hopping fences can lose them. Keep these tips in mind while you play and you should be able to learn the other rules quickly and survive rather well. One final tip: just have fun. It can be frustrating at first but it is quite a fun game when played with others. If you have any questions, just check out dayzdb.com. It has quite a nice collection of information.
PS: Being cautious is good. Always move around like you're being watched by a sniper.
