Clan Down!
It amazes me to see how little I've actually posted about my attempted America's Army 3.0 clan considering how much work I put into it and how much it dominated my gaming time for a little while. I intended to post an update about how that whole thing turned out but it seems I never posted much about how it even started out so I guess I'll post the whole story, abbreviated as it may be.
"Myself having just suffered a rare, humiliating death by the VIP."
America's Army 3.0 (referred to as AA3 from here on out) was rumored to be a reboot of the popular online tactical FPS America's Army. It was basically going to be a new game from the ground up. I ran a small gaming "clan" dedicated to these sorts of games with aspirations of playing them in "serious business" tournaments and the like. Since these types of games are few and far between these days I generally keep a close eye on new releases and AA3 really caught my attention - not only was I a big fan of the original game, having played it for countless hours with my old clan [TPG], but it sounded like it was going to be amazing. The more I learned about the game the more inspired I was to take my clan, <8AT>, out of the mothballed state it had been in for years and get things going again. Eventually I got into a last minute private beta of AA3 and I liked what I saw despite it still being a bit rough around the edges. After looking around a bit and not finding any existing clans that interested me I made the decision to relaunch my clan.
And so I did! It took a lot of work - I revamped our website, setup a new Ventrilo server, reserved a ranked AA3 server, and started work on a recruitment campaign, never mind revising all of our rules, policies, and hell, even the entire focus of the clan. This was going to be something slightly different then the last incarnation of the clan and I was quite pumped up to get it going. A lot of my old clan buddies who had played SWAT 4 with me in <8AT> and/or America's Army with me in [TPG] had expressed interest in joining. Things were looking up.
Finally the release date for America's Army 3 arrived and while the game with rife with technical issues it was still quite an awesome and fairly unique experience. There were some troubling things, such as how many of the bugs from the beta hadn't been fixed yet, including some pretty major ones, in an apparent rush to get the game pushed out, and the news that apparently the entire civilian development staff of the game had been unceremoniously fired by the Army the day after the release to move development in-house. Still, many of my old friends joined or rejoined the clan including some I hadn't expected to show up while sadly some I did expect (and hope) to show up never materialized. We started strong though - my old co-leader from the original America's Army days in [TPG], 20kill, was there and took the much needed role of second in command.
For the first few weeks we spent our time suffering through bugs and bizarre issues with the game's central authentication servers, and simply trying to figure out the many nuances of the gameplay. Much fun was had though the bugs and unpolished state were simply too much for some members to deal with and there was a small, gradual exodus of mostly old friends from the clan very early on. Recruiting didn't go exceptionally well either - it seemed that most of the clans in AA3 pitched themselves as super serious, hardcore "realism" clans where members had to follow strict orders, call each other by rank, and all sorts of other silly things. I didn't have any problem with such realism clans but this wasn't what I had envisioned <8AT> as being. Unfortunately though, I quickly noticed that most of the people who were looking for a clan in AA3 were looking for that kind of an experience and the majority of those who weren't simply weren't looking for one in the first place. Thanks to a combination of technical problems with AA3 itself and the fact that we were mostly adults with jobs who didn't play the game 24 hours a day, our server floated around wildly between obscurity and semi-notoriety but never really gained the full on popularity I had hoped it would, putting yet another dent in our recruiting efforts.
The state of the game improved a bit with a fair amount of mostly small patches in the first month of its release in June. Many of the changes seemed like minor fixes and band-aids which did little to comfort us in the shadow of some of the bigger issues that loomed. The communication from the devs also all but stopped during this period which was a shame considering how active it had been in the old days and even lading up to the release of the new game. Finally, after July, the patches stopped, and I had a lot of serious questions in the back of my mind about the decision to dump the previous development team and what it had meant for the future of the game itself. Was this just some sort of fumble? Had the funding been cut drastically? Was the entire project being canned? Who knew.
During this lull in official activity the influx of good new recruits into the clan still hadn't been strong enough to counter the previous departures and I found myself losing a lot of interest. Originally I had to more or less force myself to carve out a section of my free time, especially on week nights, to play AA3 and with the state of the clan and more so the game itself it began harder and harder to do so. I also changed jobs from that of a programmer to that of a network engineer and while the programming tasks I was assigned left a lot of breathing room to surf the web here and there, reading about the state of the game and keeping up with the clan, my new position was hectic and saw me putting in quite a lot of overtime. At around the same time 20kill, who had been instrumental in keeping the clan alive and active, suddenly departed. At first he returned a few times but eventually left and was never heard from again. The clan probably could have survived my reduced commitment but with 20kill now completely out of the picture and interest from the rest of our membership waning I knew the end was near.
"Fighting the fog."
Finally, after a month of silence, another patch was released in early September. Everyone was hoping it would improve things in big ways and breath some new life into the game but it didn't seem to deliver and certainly didn't help out <8AT>. I felt like the depression brought on by the state of the game was something we were all feeling across the board to different degrees. Even the official America's Army forums seemed to have noticeably slowed in activity. Eventually the few remaining members dispersed unceremoniously. The clan was dead.
I stopped following the game and hadn't even really played it since around this time though I did keep my eye out for patches: there weren't any. Surprisingly there hadn't been any patches since that September until February. Finally, another patch was released just yesterday which is what prompted me to write this post. The last two patches were large but don't include any new maps or promised features and seemed largely unimpressive for having taken so long. It seems my original suspicions about the change in development were quite possibly correct - depressing since I did in fact enjoy the game and, even after <8AT> dissolved, hoped it would succeed and I could possibly even return to it.
I have no idea what the state of the AA3 community has been like for the last year (I picture a lot of rage posts) but I can't imagine it had been as healthy as it was in the America's Army days when communication from the development team was frequent and, while patches were often few and far between, they were usually also fairly major. In my opinion if a company wants their game to have "long legs" online it has to try to create and maintain a community and it needs to feed that community with at least little chunks of carrot on the end of a proverbial stick semi-often. With AA3 that online community was literally all there was to the game so it was critical to keep people playing, especially considering the goals of the project as a whole. Personally I find it to be a bit insulting when a developer asks players to commit themselves to a game yet does not offer any commitment in return, at least in the form of the occasional bug fix here and there. This was why the original incarnation of <8AT> stopped playing SWAT 4 - I loved the game but it had issues and the development team and/or publisher seemingly washed their hands of it as soon as they had our money.
Then there is me. Over the years I've participated in several different clans, guilds, and the like, and have often found myself quickly rising up the ranks into positions of leadership. I'm not sure if I have a natural knack of leadership and/or management or if I was just better suited to it (or maybe just to be nominated for it) then others in the particular situations I've been in. At times while being in these kind of "officer" positions I felt the urge to break out from beneath whatever structure or leadership was above me, frustrating me, to start over and do things my own way which is, in part, how <8AT> came about. In practice, however, I've consistently found myself to be much more suited to those kinds of secondary leadership roles where I'm not under quite as much pressure or commitment yet can still be useful and contribute the group. I suppose with this, what might prove to be my final run at running my own clan, I've finally come to terms with this.
Being out there, putting the whole operation on the line by myself was often a big bummer, even with friends backing me up, the pressure felt like it was solely on me - others could come and go as they pleased and often did. I especially disliked having to worry about recruiting and now better understand some of the attitudes I encountered when joining or watching others join past clans and guilds I was in. For me, I suppose, there is a delicate balance in the feelings of pride and accomplishment, and even control, gained from running or helping run a group, and the enjoyment I need to have in actually playing the game. When running the group saps the fun out of the entire thing, or worse, the stress bleeds over into day to day life, then the balance is too far off.
I may give running a clan, guild, or some other type of community another go at some point in the future. It's quite possible, even, that <8AT> itself will have another run some day. Hopefully if that does happen I'll be able to concentrate on running the group and playing the game without also having the state of the game being as much of a concern as it was the last two times. For now though I think I'll be content to let others run the show and try my hardest to resist the temptations of sweet, sweet power. 
Big Fake Robots
With Planetside on my mind and a lot of great memories welling up I'm also reminded of one of my stupidest moments in online gaming.
As I mentioned in my last post I'm a somewhat big fan of Planetside and I've resubbed to the game many times though because of the game's many flaws I can never stay subscribed for very long before I get bored, annoyed, whatever - at the very least I get my fill and cancel yet again. Shortly after renewing my account for the first time in many, many months I received a gaming magazine (Computer Gaming World for the record) in the mail that had a relatively small article about this huge new free expansion they were adding to the game that centered around the addition of what they called Battle Frame Robots, or BFRs. Mechs for you Planetside virgins.
Sometime later I was curious about what kind of idiocy was going around on the official message boards as a result of this (SOE's Planetside forums were always a pretty hideous pit of bitching about the developers, flame wars over balance and whatnot, and immature braggadocio) only to find absolutely no mention of this new content being added whatsoever. Suspecting I might be the first to know, but not 100% positive, I posted a purposely naive message asking what people thought of the new content. Call it trolling if you like but there wasn't really any ill intent.
The first several replies were filled with people questioning my sanity but many others were intrigued and wanted to know more. I then posted a link to a picture of one of the pages of the article. I quickly grew tired trying to explain what I was on about and just posted high resolution scans of the entire article and tried to limit my number of replies as the replies grew more and more heated.
The absolute torrent of flames and acquisitions hurled at me was truly something to behold. The board erupted into frenzy as thread after thread was created on the subject. I was amazed as I watched things I obviously knew to be 100% fact get torn apart and debated incessantly. Some of the amazingly intricate conspiracy theories people came up were quite fun to read though I've got to say. A large number of people replied to my posts or PMed me asking for more proof, wishing I'd die in a fire for being a filthy con man, congratulating me on such a brilliantly executed scam, and, most annoyingly of all, bluntly declaring that I was a liar and betting millions of combined dollars that everything I had posted was pure bunk. Insert some great revelation about "John Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory" here. I admit that after awhile I started throwing out some purposely snarky and slightly misleading replies just to mess with people since I knew the actual truth would eventually come out.
A day or two later when the devs finally responded and confirmed that what I had posted was true I didn't get a single check in the mail or even an apology in my inbox. *sigh* Still, it was pretty exciting being the most infamous person in an entire MMO for a couple of days and I did get quite a big kick out of watching all of the chaos I had caused.
- The infamous thread that kicked this all off.
- My thread at Planetside Universe. I left out a lot of the BS since their community was a lot less insane.
- Someone reposting my PSU thread and getting flamed.
- Why my pictures are or are not faker than hell. Lots of experts in here.
- One of the few people who actually believed me. He paid for his foolishness in flames.
Actually has a working link of my original high res picture... or as he calls it "the bringer of evil". - It's all a hoax!
- A hoax I tell you!
- Proof it's real...
- But more proof that it isn't!
- Oh what a trickster I am! I "WTFPWNT" someone in this thread apparently.
- Finally, vindication! Err... well, sorta. (The comment about how Napster and Kazaa can't be easily closed down makes my heart flutter though. Ha!)
And all that is just a small sampling.
It's funny. BFRs were hated by a large portion of the community the second I posted about them but they were even more hated once they finally made it into the game: as many of us had feared they were grossly imbalanced and the game suffered as a whole due to their addition. Eventually they were nerfed over and over again until they were just another vehicle on the battlefield, albeit still a very powerful one. The controversy still lives on as you can see from the celebratory comments on this news item announcing that BFRs apparently won't be reappearing in Planetside 2. I, for one, liked the idea. 
Quick Planetside Tribute
I noticed a few weeks ago that some of the news sites had picked up on the story that SOE has been poking around about Planetside 2 lately, in particular by putting out a survey to gauge interest in it and, probably more notably, figure out how to improve things for the sequel. I'm generally pretty excited about the possibilities of the MMOFPS genre's future but until hearing about this seemingly sudden interest in developing a sequel to Planetside I wasn't very optimistic about it - it seems as if many non-massively multiplayer FPS games like the Battlefield series and its imitators are delivering more massive, persistent FPS experiences than some of the new and upcoming MMOFPS titles. Planetside, it seems, was one of the few games to really deliver on the concept. Sure, there are other games that could be considered both FPS MMOs but most of them (Neocron and the newly released Fallen Earth for example) mix in RPG elements much heavier than Planetside ever set out to.
"Staring up in awe as a friendly Galaxy dropship's pilot ejects, potentially sending it crashing directly into my face."
Do I sound like I'm gushing about Planetside yet? Good. I'm a big fan of the game. It's highly flawed in many respects but not only did I love my time in the game (and I've gone back to it many times!) but it also holds some of my best online memories. It's also where I met The Praetorian Guard - a clan/guild that I ran with for several years in quite a few games, many of the members of which I'm still in contact with.
"A rare meet up with enemy soldiers in a Warp Gate's safe zone."
Let me try to briefly sum up the game for those who had never played it: The player picks one of three factions to fight for that each have their own distinct look as well as some faction only weapons and vehicles. Players are awarded certification points as they level which allow them to purchase different "certifications" that let them use certain types of weapons, vehicles, and utility items which include things like medical, repair, and hacking equipment. Players are also awarded a few implants along their character's progression which they can select from to give them special abilities. This is one of the coolest things about Planetside in my opinion - the only thing separating a new player from a veteran is how many certifications they can have at once. For example, my level 5 character might be able to drive tanks and use assault rifles just like my level 20 opponent, but the level 20 can fly a dropship as well. This adds flexibility to characters without destroying the balance by making it so that the best weapons can only be accessed by the highest level characters. Additionally these certifications and implants can be changed more or less at will so, while a low level character might not be able to do everything at once, they certainly aren't cut off from experiencing all aspects of the game.
"One of TPG's infamous vehicle nights, this time the hilarious Lightning light tanks menaced the countryside."
There's a variety of weapons - your standard fare of assault rifles, missile launchers, sniper rifles, etc. and even different levels of armor, from the sneaky stealth suit all the way up to the walking tank MAX armor. Vehicles include ATVs, buggies, personal tanks, bigger battle tanks, flying vehicles, bombers, even utility vehicles such the all important ANT fuel tanker, the Galaxy dropship, and even a flying vehicle transport. Players are free to go, whether in groups or by themselves, to practically anywhere in the world from their faction's home area via a variety of methods, including some designed to get them into the fight as soon as possible. Once in the field the action resembles that of a game of Battlefield or even Tribes at first, though on a much, much larger map and many more players. The actual core of the gameplay involves taking over and defending bases and towers. Because of the open world battlefield battles often rolls seamlessly across the map from tower to tower, base to base, along battlefronts until one side eventually drives the other off the continent. That's about as much as I can say without going overboard with specifics.
"Stupid stunts were also a fun diversion."
As I mentioned the game does indeed have its flaws. I'm not prepared to write a real review but just off the top of my head the lack of any real persistent change in the world is probably the biggest issue for me. The only real persistence is your own character's (and i suppose the other player's, friend and foe) progression. This could make logging in for the night for the 2nd or 3rd month in a row feel a feel tedious and pointless, especially after reaching the basic level cap. Another flaw, the lack of interesting things in the world, be it wildlife, cities or other buildings, or even more variety in bases and towers, adds together with the first to conjure up a hilariously bleak vision of what life must be like for these imaginary Planetside soldiers - constantly fighting over the same towers and bases and eventually dying in vicious battle, only to be reborn, and do it all over again in the exact same places the very next day.
"One good backstab deserves another."
Another problem I had with the game was the payment model. I didn't mind paying 15 bucks a month for Planetside though quite a few of the FPS gamers the game set out to hook wouldn't even look its general direction. I did, however, want a bit more out of my money. I expected the content patches to roll in much more quickly. What do FPS players want? More vehicles, more weapons, etc. I feel like if they had cranked out updates at a quicker pace I would have initially stayed hooked much, much longer. Still, I feel like the large amount of content they added over the years was mostly pretty good, even the BFRs mechs they added ended up being decent additions once they were properly balanced. It was pretty clear from the onset that the various producers of the game (a constantly revolving cast) didn't really seem to know what to do with the game and/or how to do it. Hopefully Planetside 2 will be designed more with providing compelling updates in mind though it is probably more likely they'll just implement an entirely different subscription model.
"An annoyed enemy in a Reaver aircraft watches me on the other side of a bulletproof window."
There were plenty of issues with the game such as how there always seemed to be one weapon or vehicle that was generally considered out of balance though of course the grass was always greener on the other side. I'll probably talk more about Planetside in the future. For now, in tribute to it here's an exert from a quick blog entry I made about the game two days after playing it for the first time, on launch day, inspired because of how anxious I was to get home from work and play it again. Enjoy:
It took me a good portion of the first night to install the game, patch it, and setup my account. I then went through all of the offline training missions which give you some of the basics on the game engine and are quite worth doing, though only once. Next I created my character on the Konried server (new, lower population, and east coast) and joined the "New Conglomerate" army because I liked their politics (not that they affect gameplay) and the way they look. I had read on the Planetside forums that you could get to rank 3 simply by going through the "virtual reality training" so I decided to do that first. VR training is actually QUITE a cool feature that more MMOGs should have - it lets you try out all of the weapons and vechicles without actually having to meet the normal game requirements to do so. I can imagine popping in there for a bit when I'm thinking of trying a new skill template just to test it out.
Anyway, after training I decided against spending my 6 "certification points" until I have a bit more combat experience to help me make a better decision so I hopped on the "HART" (High Altitude Rapid Transport) shuttle system which basically lets you go ANYWHERE in the world. I picked a fairly isolated battle which I thought would be good for getting my feet wet. I slowly approached the scene but while I was screwing around with the interface I accidentally hit the "instant action" button. The instant action feature will spawn you at a random battle that your forces are involved in somewhere in the world. I respawned, re-armed, and started creeping around this new area. It took me awhile to figure out that I spawned in a NEARBY base rather than the one where the battle was... doh! This is when I learned about the nifty waypoint system and started my run to the action.
I slowly approached the scene of the battle... a road leading to a large enemy complex with a huge open gate and a few scattered bunkers around it. I could see several of my own men on the opposite side of the road pinned down in a rock formation, part of a large firefight unfolding. I, however, had somehow (by dumb luck) flanked both my own troops and the enemy's! Eventually my troops made a run for it to the gate so I joined in. I ran to the opposite side of the gate and once again they were pinned down. I decided to run to their side to join them, possibly putting myself in EVERYONE's line of sight and just when I made it I watched all but one of them get gunned down. The remaining soldier dove into a bunker leaving me standing next to the wall. I then noticed what looked like cloaked soldier... and he wasn't wearing my army's colors! He seems to ignore me for whatever reason and was going after my comrade in the bunker. It took me awhile to decide to do it, but I jumped out and opened fire. Wow, dead before I had even realized... my first kill! The troops ended up inviting me to their squad and I racked for 7 kills in the short time I played.
The entire next day I prepared for Planetside - reading forums, strategies, investigating outfits (Planetside's name for clans) and deciding what to spend my valuable certification points on. After a quick trip to the VR trainer I decided I'd purchase "medium assault" which gives me access to some groovy weapons like the more accurate Gauss Gun and the assault gun with the auxiliary rocket/grenade launcher. I also decided to try out the fast light scout aircraft the Mosquito. Again, I took a HART out to a fairly isolated battle. This time I got a Mosquito and went scanning around for enemies. I spotted a few and managed to blow them away with the craft's minicannon... yay! Then I approached the main battle. I ended up doing something incredibly stupid and ramming my plane into the communication tower of the base and had to land and go it on foot. I went in and help a large squad attack and then defend the base's flag room... lots of fun killing stealthers!
Ugh. It's depressingly astounding how little my writing style and voice has changed over the years. Well, that is one of the main reasons for this blog... to get better. Ugh, I can't believe it's been a month since my last update. Believe me, it's not for a lack of trying. I just haven't had the free time I used to have. Hopefully the next post will be in very short order.