Why I don't play DayZ

I find it weird to say but I love zombie entertainment. There are a few books I really like, movies, tv shows, games, and even radio dramas. I also enjoy survival games, and really, zombies and survival are perfect bedfellows. Recently I have been playing a lot of Project Zomboid and State of Decay.

So why don't I play DayZ? Well when it first came out I found it hard to install. Also whenever I tried to join a server I would get timed out for having a high ping. Now its easy to say, "Just join a server with a lower ping." and you would be right that for most part that is an easy solution. However that leads me to the next reason I didn't play... Different versions of the game. I'm not talking about different mods, I'm talking about different base game versions.

Every New Zealand server that had low ping also ran a different version of the game. There were some aussie servers that were alright, but they weren't very well populated. Now I'm sure these problems have been fixed with integrated Steam install, but have no idea. Why don't you host your own server? This brings me to the number 1 reason why I don't play DayZ. Players are unable to host their own servers.

This is true for both Standalone and the mod. Now I am okay with Multiplayer only games, but not when the user is unable to host the said game.

EDIT- April 1st, 2014: It has come to my attention that servers for the multiplayer only game RUST is also available only through sponsored hosts. You are unable to host your own private server for it. As the game is in early access this may change in the future. However there has been no word on whether or not that will occur.

As far as DayZ, I have also learned that you are unable to reserve player slots for servers, that means if the server you pay for is full, you can not join it until someone leaves. You are given no priority or special access to the server even if you are the one paying.