Week 14 Article 2



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GC History interview with Shrapnel by Necromancer
Editors note: To find out more about Global Conflict history, I thought to interview some of the oldest members who are still active in the community. I was afraid the answers would be short and they would overlap each other, and when I was done I was going to add all the answers into one interview article. I underestimated the size of this task. GC has gathered a lot of history in the 10 years its been running - every one of the interviewers tells the story from their own point of view, and at some point each person has been absent for a long period. Thanksfully, the others filled in the blanks.

So, without further ado, I give you the first Interview about GC history. May GC continue for at least another 10 years!

Shrapnel tell us a little about yourself Hobbies: Video Games (of course), Movies/Home Theater, Audio (build my own speakers), running and skiing. Age: 34 Hometown: Originally Chicago, but I've lived all over the place Occupation: US Navy

how did GC form up? I joined during GC's 4th BF42 campaign so I can't really claim a hand in the formation of the community. I do know rough hand the origins of GC but it would probably be best to get it from Ghoul, Tube and Brummie. However, I did play a major part in the revival of the risk system during our BF2 campaigns.

what games did GC go through? BF42, BFV, BF2, Project Reality (BF2 MOD), BFBC2, BF3.

'''how did battledays look at first? how did they change?''' We've been playing six hour battles on Saturdays since I joined. Tuesdays have changed though. We used to do full battledays on Tuesdays (6 hours and normal risk attack rules) and had full servers (32v32 in BF42). Interest in the mid-week battles waned as BF42 started winding down and they never regained their former glory. Instead we came up with the black ops battles idea (not sure who originally floated the idea but I know several of my suggestions were the first ones used). BOs have changed in purpose many times over the years having different effects on the campaign. Originally it was a mirrored campaign map (capital cities in every territory) but fought exclusively on the smaller version of the maps. The cities had equal weight in WCP as territories. This was superseded (primarily because the WCP generated by the BOs was imbalanced due to numbers issues) by the idea of performing "actions" and using the BO battles to decide their success. So a side would declare they were assassinating or para-dropping or spying etc. and the outcome of the battle decided if they succeeded. There were a couple of other ideas in the interm but we came back to the "actions" idea but changed it up by adding an economy. Now armies earn credits which can be spent on actions.

'''was there a time where GC was about to close? how did you overcome the crisis?''' The end of BF42 was pretty bleak. There were still many active or semi-active players but we were playing with <20 on a side and interest was dieing fast. We tried BFV but there wasn't much interest in that and we ended up going into hibernation for quite some time until BF2 came out. There was just a handful of guys active on the forums prior to release, myself, Goggles, Cheesy, Sushi, Brummie, DaGrooved1, Madcow, and Von Krieg primarily. Maybe one or two others that I don't remember. About three months before release we set out designing a campaign for BF2 and an advertising campaign for GC to get people back in the game. This is when myself, Goggles, Madcow, Cheesy and Von Krieg completely re-worked the risk rules for BF2. One month after release we launched the BF2 C1 sending emails to all the old members and posting on forums that GC was BACK! OMG vets came FLOODING back. We went from having around 12v12 to full servers in just a matter of weeks. This was no reddit rush in either numbers of membership though, mostly what we were getting were GC vets returning after taking a year long break post BF42. So we didn;t face the same challenges we did with restarting for BF3. Most of our members already knew what GC was about, knew how to SL and FC and longed for the glory of the BF42 days.

We had another bleak period after BF2 ran its course, but I was deployed for most of that so I can;t comment on it really. I came back in time to help set-up the first BF3 campaign and then served as general in BF3 C2.



any memorable campaigns? Short answer: Yes, too many to count. Every campaign is memorable for one reason or another.

I'll recount just a couple personally memorable moments.

BF42 C4: First campaign at GC. Five weeks in and I was identified as a SL/CO, which was very different in BF42. I don't think I was really ready for the position, but we had lost higher ranking officers and they needed someone to fill the CO (company officer) position and Rickey (now known as Fluffycat) assured me that I was going to be good at it. I've filled either an officer or TA position in all but three campaigns since then. It was trial by fire and I guess I survived.

BF42 C5: First campaign leading a company from the ground up. Made many good friends that campaign and developed kind of a following. The guys I had in my company (Klapperschlanger? copperheads) seemed to join my army and my company in every campaign since then. Many of them also went on to become COs, HC or Generals themselves. Some of them still play with us, though most have been lost to RL.

BF42 C6: Memorable for the wrong reasons.

In BF1942 the game did not have in game squads, the best you could do was set-up a buddy list which would turn your buddies green on the mini-map instead of red or blue. Since there was no imposed limitation on squad size, members were organized into companies who would play together through out the campaign.

A typical army set-up would be 2 infantry companies, 1 mechanized (armor/infantry) company and 1 air company. This varied depending on how the HC wanted to organize things but was the most common set-up.

During battle the FC would order the companies to different flags, the same way we do squads now. However, since there was no in game size limitation and BF1942 supported 32v32 instead of 32v32 the companies were much larger than they are now. You could quite literally have 30 guys on a single flag and still have 10-12 guys on two other flags. Of course this was also true of attacking so the FC would want the larger company on the flag most likely to get attacked since it was very unlikely that 30 guys could sneak around to the back flags. This meant the smaller company, or company with less attendance, was usually put on the back flags.

This campaign was terrible as an officer. It started great, I was again put in charge of a company and it seems everyone wanted to join my company. After the first week I had around 40 people in my company and the other company had 7. Which prompted the other CO to start PMing people in my company and asking them to join his without HC consent. He didn't update his roster so for the next week everyone who signed-up joined his company and the tables ended up reversing with people leaving my company so the end numbers were something like 60 in his and 12 in mine. This imbalance meant my guys were always on back flag detail and really tied the hand of the HC. I'm not sure why the HC didn't step in and fix it, I certainly let them know what was going on. The next thing that happened was our General rage quit. We promoted another guy to general, but he still didn't fix the main issue. It was so bad that we had HC from the opposing army joining our TS channels during battledays and asking "What the heck it going on with you guys." I explained the situation and the execs eventually stepped in and ended the camp.

Some where in the next several campaigns I really came into my own as an armor driver. You might not know it by my current abilities but I was once one of the top 3 tankers at GC. Sides would fight over who got us and how to balance us. One camp all three of us (Davout and Thomy were the others) got onto the same side which lead to wide spread complaints of imbalance and frequent rounds of us raking up Daskro-esq 80-100 kills 0 deaths...each. That was back when I had MUCH more free time and the reflexes of a twenty year old though. I'll never get back to those abilities.

BF2 C8 (Cheesy will know as he was a general): My first campaign as a TA: Having had a major hand in designing the ruleset for the campaign I was made a TA. It was a a lot of work, but probably the most fulfilling camp I've had at GC because I saw my ideas and months of work on the rules result in the longest and most balanced campaign in GC history. I certainly didn't do it alone though. The guys I listed early had an equal part in it.

Finally, BF3 C2: My first campaign as a general. I was very concerned at the start of the campaign that I was making the right choices with my officers and draftees, but in the end I had the dream team officer corps. Goggles, Cheesy, .Sup, Chefcook and Robawillis. Those guys were awesome, incredible job all around, especially when the reddit rush hit. I have no idea how we managed simultaneous battles on two servers but we made it work. I definitely couldn't have done it without my officer corps they were simply amazing. Huge props to the TAs and Hitman's HC for their handling the situation too. My army ended up with the victory, but it was somewhat empty because I know Hitman's HC just up and quit on him which put him at a huge disadvantage. This was also the only campaign I know of where we actually switched people between armies permanently. It was a bad move and we learned from it. I don't think we'll ever switch people again. In the end it was a great campaign though because GC gained so many great new players from it!



'''how did the rules form up? were there rules that were set due to a specific event?''' One word: Ghoul

The man, the myth, the legend.

'''how does transition between games work? how does it impact the community?''' It's always tough as we don't know if people will buy the next game and EA is so flaky with their QA and support that we never know if the next release will be good enough. GC members seem to purchase whatever we're using though.

'''what do you think of BF3? does it favors GC game style better or worse?''' Well, yes and no. There are some things that I really like and some things that I miss from earlier games.

I don't like the imposed size limit on squads. The large companies of BF1942 really inspired camaraderie among members. Even the limit of six in BF2 seems an easier number to work with. However, the ability to spawn on the SL and quickly organize people into squads instead of having to manage buddy lists is a clear improvement.

In BF42 you could spot, but no icon would show on the mini-map. This made spotting a skill as you have to keep yourself pointed at the target while your arrow flashed so your teammates knew at least the direction of the enemy. It also made teamwork and coordination on TS much more important. Now you just tap Q and their exact position is revealed. Some may think this is an improvement, but it is really unrealistic and promotes player skill over teamwork. Of course the game plays MUCH faster now so communicating on TS the way we used to is even more difficult.

The commander screen for BF2 was a great tool for the FC. I really hope they bring that back for BF4. FCs used to basically play an RTS where they could place markers on the mini-map for squads to move to and specify with the marker if the squad was supposed to attack, defend, place mines, etc. They could also drop jeeps, ammo and call in arty strikes.

I also miss spotting for artillery. Using a SOFLAM is similar, but any vet will tell you it's not the same. Good coordination between a scout and arty driver was devastating (remember there was no revive and you could only spawn on flags).

In the end it works and we have fun playing it.

what do you think about the current shape of GC? I think GC is in pretty good shape at the moment. I do wish we had most people willing and able to step up to leadership positions as us vets don't really have the time to devote to it that we used to. Jobs, family and RL seem to become more invasive as you get older. I think GC will be around for years to come though. Soon enough we'll be setting up camps for BF4!

'''what do you think about the current campaign? who will win?''' I'd rather not answer this one.

'''what do you think is the future of GC? what would you like it to be?''' Same as it is now and always has been. We always say we would like to see more involvement from the members, volunteering to do the things that need to be done, but it always seems like someone comes along to do it when we really need it. I think future campaigns will only get better as the community becomes more experienced in the GC style of play. Right now I think most of our members only have 1 or less camps under their belt.

what do you think is the best part of being part of this community? The friends you make. Playing with friends makes BF much more fun...and shooting friends makes it MUCH MUCH MUCH more fun.

what things do you think the community still has to work on? There's always something in development, though I'm not sure which direction you mean to take this question. I mean we're developing ABC and other forum tools, developing and adapting the campaign system, etc. However, I think you may be asking where does the membership need to improve. That is a sticky question. I mean, every group has it's trouble makers, but the ones that don't fit the GC mindset tend to find their way somewhere else over time. I would certainly like to see more quality members join. Members that are willing to volunteer some time to help GC in one way or another.

longest campaign you remember? As I mentioned earlier I think it was BF2 C5.

shortest campaign you remember? I don't remember, I think it was one of the ones while I was deployed.

which one was the best campaign in your opinion? BF2 C8, my first camp as a TA for reasons already mentioned. After that, BF3 C2 as General.

Do you want to say anything the new recruits? Stick around, participate in the forums and TS and volunteer you talents, GC only gets better!

Do you want to say anything to both PMCs? It's been a hard fought campaign with highs and lows on both sides, keep fighting, bot don;t let your desire to win overrule the GC traditions of fair play and gentlemanly conduct.

'''Last one, looking back at the road you took from start to current days, whould you change anything, in your actions? or GC past?''' I would have volunteered for general earlier and more often. I really wish I could have been a general during BF42. Other than that, no.

Big thanks to Shrapnel and Digz for the help.

GC History interview with Shrapnel Back to main
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