Heaps Of H1Z1 Players Drop Weapons In Protest Against Violence

The scene: a battle royale (that is, last man standing) match in zombie survival MMO H1Z1. The goal: to convince a teeming crowd of bloodthirsty players to drop their weapons and survive encroaching toxic clouds together, hand-in-hand. The result: improbable success! Well, mostly.

In this video, streamer and YouTuber CDNThe3rd rallies an entire (or most of) an H1Z1 battle royale crowd into laying down their guns, putting up their hands, and climbing a mountain to escape the mode’s creeping fingers of noxious gas. It’s more than 40 minutes long, but it’s worth a watch — or at least a quick skim. There are many tense moments, not to mention downright heartwarming ones. On a couple occasions Ceez even had players come together to form “trust circles” and say who they were, what they were all about. It was kinda moving, in its own way.

Admittedly, CDNThe3rd — or Ceez for short — hams it up a lot of the time, pretending to be on the verge of tears when his band of “brothers” collaborates instead of blowing each others’ tasty, tasty brains out. He’s also prone to long-winded (though impressively convincing) speeches, and then of course, there’s that music. But still, there’s a hint of sincerity to it all, especially after Ceez and co defuse multiple hair-trigger moments where the whole thing nearly blows up in their faces. Also, I couldn’t help but feel my heart’s wintery popsicle glaze melt a little when everyone came together for a nice group hug:

I did not expect to feel emotions by the end of this video, but feel emotions I did. I blame the music.

Sadly, Ceez and co didn’t quite make it to the bitter end together. Ceez offered up one final speech to his small group of cheering survivors.

“Gentlemen,” he began, “I want to tell you guys a story. All the versions of myself and all my past lives before me, I’ve tried to complete this mission. But I’ve failed. I’ve lost so many soldiers, so many good guys along the way. Men with families! Men with wives! Men with purpose! Gentlemen, today we stand from all parts of the world together. We have Canadians, Americans, South Americans. Boys, we defied all odds. WE SURVIVED BATTLE ROYALE.”

“My only question is, gentlemen, what’s next?”

And then the cheering stopped, and an uncertain silence overtook the exhausted audience. Nobody knew.

One person suggested they “get it on.” That didn’t go over super well (darn), and that’s when someone else whipped out a shotgun. Moments later, corpses went comically cartwheeling down the mountainside.

Ceez laughed in disbelief as his ragdoll body skidded into a forest. “Not like that! Why did it end like that?”

Still, he came damn close. Bravo, Ceez, for putting a stop to the violence — even if it was only temporary. Because truly, that’s all we can ask for in this fucked up world.

Sorry. I guess the corny speech bug is contagious.