Just happened on US6, nobody could go out of deathmatch range without getting struck by lighting. I ran to one of the only chests in the circle (the blue building thing), got a stone sword and ended up winning within the first two minutes. It is very odd.
EDIT: Just happened again on US6. I killed a guy with a wood sword with my fist. Then used the wood sword to get a stone sword from a guy, then died from a iron sword.