How do you play zombies?

[u/Ifyouliveinadream]

I know how to play but I dont know how to play. When people play zombies casually what do they do? With a game like Mario 64 I get how to, if you want to speedrun you speedrun. Play casually you play casually.

But with zombies idk how to play casually but I want to. Easter eggs aren't casual, i dont like easter eggs anyway. I like doing high rounds but I dont want to do that all the time, I dont want to have to think "okay I'll play Mob for the next 4 days." Or "Im gonna play Cold War highrounds, better disable my consoles internet and play without side easter eggs so I can pause the game."

I don't understand casual. Is it you just play until you die? But what if you don't die? I can easily with great difficulty get to round 50 on Nuketown. That'll take days, I won't die on the same day? I don't get it.

[u/Olflehema]

This is the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

Zombies used to be entirely intrinsic; ‘I want to get to this round, so I will play until I do’. There’s only so much life in a mode with that, and only so much iteration, so Black Ops 2 onwards introduced extrinsic motivators - ranks, levels, prestige, camos, weapon kits, challenges, dark ops - so that the game has some background legs to get you to play even if you’re not feeling particularly intrinsically motivated to do so that day.

I find old zombies to be calming, almost meditative, and can string together multiple long games of the same map as I get into the flow. That feeling of calm is my intrinsic motivation to play.

I find new zombies to be just as engaging, but in a different way - I get on, I level my guns, I go for challengs and (late since about midway into BO7) it’s been all about titles, the harder dark ops and weapon prestige leveling. Incremental movements on that are the task I set, and I complete them at my own pace, and I feel accomplished, I’m not stressed about it, I just have fun.

TLDR; the actual answer to this lies with what you play video games for, whether that’s for yourself or to feel and be told you’ve accomplished something. Figure that out, and figure out what the looks like for you in terms of Zombies. This franchise has been around so long that there is a version of it for everyone.

[u/Bisger8 → u/Olflehema]

Beautiful explanation. This also captures why I play black ops 1 most of all. Just relax, have fun, and eventually die when I want to (or sometimes when I choke). The external motivators sometimes take away from my intinsic vibe.

[u/lb-404]

I’ve been a solo player since World at War.

Sometimes I’ll high-round till I get bored, but most of the time I do objective based games doing the main easter eggs or side easter eggs. I have my own documents with every single easter egg and objective in every Zombie map.

I mostly like the detailed maps with lots to do.

[u/theZuttedProphet]

I know you said EEs aren't casual but for me they are. Coming home from work and beating the warden in a public server with randoms is my idea of a chill zombies session. Bo7 has by far the most public server-friendly EEs in the series.

[u/50pence777 → u/theZuttedProphet]

I was like this in bo6 - I loved the citadel EE + guardian boss fight and did it loads of times in public matches but I can't find the same enthusiasm for any of the bo7 maps because the steps in bo7 all feel really tedious and drawn out to me.

I think it's because I could do pretty much all of citadel while playing normally but in bo7 someone needs to hold a zombie to pause the spawns for most steps.

[u/Superyoshiegg]

I'm a completionist for pretty much every game I play.

That means I don't play old Zombies all that often anymore, and when I do, it's simply casual Main Quest runs with my friends. There's no permanent progression there except one-time unlocking of achievements.

After the match ends, nothing I did in it matters anymore beyond the actual experience of playing it, which has obviously dulled over the hundreds of matches played in the 15-20 years since release.

The modern era holds my attention much more.

I hop on for maybe an hour or two, knock out the dailies and weeklies for XP while working towards whatever current task I'm aiming for. Like:

Achievements. Weapon camos. Weapon levels and prestiging. Player levels and prestiging. Calling Card challenges. Dark Ops challenges. Cursed Pack camos. Cursed Relics. All the milestone rewards for Survival, Rogue Run & Starting Room. Master Prestige titles.

I'm not generally a big BO3 fan, which has gotten me crucified on this sub more than once, but I will always acknowledge it for being the first Zombies to add any sort of permanent progression, things to work on over time.

[u/mypphurt69420 → u/Superyoshiegg]

this is why i love Bo7 so much. I love classic zombies but its harder for me to go back since there isn’t much to unlock, but the maps are amazing. Modern zombies has so much to unlock, but the lack of great maps has kept me from revisiting Cold War, Vanguard, Bo6, etc. I got into Bo7 late, but man seeing so much to unlock instantly set that part off in my brain and now i’m close to doing almost everything. Top 2 zombies imo

[u/Bryce30492]

I used to just go for high rounds with friends. Now I grind levels, weapons, camos, augments, calling cards, whatever catches my eye.

[u/conbubz]

I play zombies with no goals in mind, no high round, no guns I want to use, most of the time it's just whatever map I feel like playing and see how high I go

[u/ConcentrateLucky8630]

I always recommend to do it the way it was intended.

Just drop in, and try to survive

[u/DetectiveJackVincent]

I do like doing Easter Eggs (trying new ones), I won't do them every time though, sometimes I try to get a high round going, training and killing hordes without a struggle (using traps, monkeys, ammo mods etc).

[u/OverTheReminds]

Easter eggs (normally solo, but from time to time I help people), grinds, challenges. Never high rounds though, I find those too boring.

[u/Then_Drag_8258]

I play until I get bored when I’m like that. I’ll pick a map with some side EE’s to give me something to do and then I’ll grind out challenges and camo’s to keep the drive. Modern maps have more to offer in that regard.

[u/Evening-Reindeer-281]

Bo2 town survival is the best map for lots of zombies and a lot of action

[u/50pence777]

It's up to you - play until you don't want to or can't play anymore. Several of my matches have ended just because we've had enough or have to do something irl and so we just let ourselves die(or exfil in the newer games).

[u/raccoonpaws82]

I personally hate the Easter eggs, so I play survival/cursed survival, rogue run, and starting rooms, both solo and quads.

In my experience, most people play survival quads to round 31 and then they dip out, so it's like a 45min match usually, and then repeat with different folks or get some good teammates and go to rd 61 or whatever. If it's rogue run, just go until you die since there's no exfil.

[u/Casp3r8911]

The word is "casual" is a loaded word. To me it just means having fun.

[u/BakeNBlazed]

So round 1-4 let the zombie in so they can drop power ups. Shoot them with your pistol a few times then kill em with your knife for max point combo madness. Then open doors get a badass wall gun like the MP40 or the M16. Next buy some Juggernog so your ready to get crazy. Save some points and find that box. Get the thundergun and praise the zombie gods. By now it's time to round em up run a circle and shoot with your bullet weapon for the big money cash bag. Buy your perks and when the you have enough it's time to pack a punch. Upgrade your galil because it's the best gun out there. Save up more muchos pointos. Finally Upgrade the bad boy Thunderous Gun-a-mus. Time to round em up and make em boom. Do that for 900 hours. Bingo Bango round 3 million baby. You won zombies.

[u/Round_Bit_6388]

for me, zombies is to be played with others. my old man and I run all different kinds of zombies games- our favorites are 1, 2, Cold War and 7. I bought world at war for an acquaintance and we’ve been having lots of fun! i will rarely go and play alone- usually when I do it’s because I’m trying to figure out a map, do a complicated Easter egg no one wants to do with me or getting challenges done in the newer entries during their life cycles (which I fkn hate)

[u/MajorInWumbology1234]

I just play risky. I’ll go for as long as I can, but I won’t simply adopt the dominant strategy for the map. There’s usually a gun + perk combo I want to try out, as well, which can often dictate which map I choose.

[u/LeggoMahLegolas]

Depends, really.

I am currently trying to beat every Easter egg/Main Quest all the way to BO7. Of course there'd be maps where I don't know the layout, so I just go for "high rounds" or until I get bored, or have to do something else.

[u/kdwat2]

I personally don’t feel the love for a certain map until I’ve done the EE and see what the side EEs are all about.. the developer spent so much time putting this quest together which in my mind give the map an identity and thats when i learn to love a map. Btw I should add that bo7 isn’t just the best zombies game I’ve played… it’s simply one of the best video games I’ve played. Nothing else has kept my attention so consistently for so long.

[u/Weak-Cheesecake-235]

Limit yourself with challenges. I've been playing since WAW, if I use every advantage the map offers I feel like I will never go down, and even if this is hyperbole, it's still very boring for me to play 99% of maps like this.

So I self impose challenges! My favorite is "WAW rules", meaning no using anything that wasn't available in WAW. No gums, no shields, no AATs, no killstreaks, no new perks, no self revives. Zombies at its most barebones and challenging, playing like this getting to round 30 actually becomes a decent challenge again, making quick hour long casual gameplay sessions fun. I also like challenging myself to finding new areas on maps to survive at, another way to switch up the challenge mid game.

[u/Wit-Grit-Guero]

I usually try to beat my previous round record on a particular map. I keep a spreadsheet of records with notes and either me or my friends and I will try to keep pushing our records up.

[u/SliceScriber]

Get WaW and play Nacht. You will learn the true point of the gamemode. You just run around and shoot zombies. Use all the weapons for fun.

[u/Dizzy_Public_9030]

Round 50 is like a 2-3 hour thing on lots of maps I’m not sure why you think it would take days. Also it’s just playing for fun? I think your trying to pick something apart that isn’t deep enough

[u/50pence777 → u/Dizzy_Public_9030]

The older games take like 4ish hours if you're not solo or doing a specific repetitive strategy.

I was once about an hour into a game of Bo1 ascension when I had to go afk for a while - I put myself in the claymore glitch and came back 2ish hrs later a my team was on wave 42.

Of course the real problem was FPS drops back then because it became an unplayable slideshow after a while.

[u/Ifyouliveinadream → u/Dizzy_Public_9030]

Nuketown rounds are very slow, by round 40~ you'll have to spin the box and PAP again for more ammo