Yea same thing here, I played for 3 hours in one session this morning. Logged out and back in to find a brand new shiny me... Without the phat lewt i found... Really crappy time to try server hopping(happy about that) :D

@Player2 You sir... Are a Hero and shall henceforth be known as Player1

Hey guys, Yesterday on the 23 Jan 2014 @dayzdevteam tweeted this:

"Tomorrow at 10am GMT the Hive Database will be undergoing maintenance for roughly two hours. Sorry for the inconvenience."

Just be patient, they are aware of this issue and are busy working on it.

Also rocket has responded to this thread:
"New Character every time I log?"(see response, follow link below)
http://www.reddit.com/r/dayz/comments/1vwro2/new_character_every_time_i_log/cewrhbe
Clearing up most of the confusion.

Please refer to these to links provided for further updates.

Res:
https://twitter.com/dayzdevteam

http://www.reddit.com/r/dayz/comments/1vwro2/new_character_every_time_i_log/cewrhbe

@avkronnie
No. The materials not being able to load is an unrelated issue that I read about somewhere(cant remember where).

Rocket explained it here:
http://www.reddit.com/r/dayz/comments/1vwro2/new_character_every_time_i_log/cewrhbe