Jim “MAYPOLE” Mesteller, President, Playnet/Cornered Rat Program: Battleground Europe is not a game; it is a hobby. People invest time in BE as much as an avid golfer does in his game. They never sit down, play a speedy session and then leave. They can and do invest hours of their time learning, playing, socializing. They have an interest in WWII history, and they bring that to the battlefield and to the discussion forums. They have a great community that is built up over the years; lots of people stay for that.
If you could point to a couple of key reasons for WWIIOL’s longevity, what would they be?
They have got players who are dedicated fighter pilots and some who prefer to do bombing runs. Others enjoy scouting, sometimes spending hours stalking enemies out in the fields and hills. They have got heavy tankers, light tankers, snipers, destroyer captains, anti-aircraft gunners, mortarmen and more. All of them need a different skill set, skills you cannot learn overnight.
Another thing I feel that keeps players engaged for so long is the freedom from a scripted game. There is not a list of set quests or storylines; there is no finish boss. Players direct the game, generate the experiences, and write the tales. And it is different every time they log in. Sessions are not limited to one type of combat — or even to combat alone for that matter.
Tales fill our discussion forums ranging from reports of intense dogfights that last only minutes but leave both players shaking and filled with adrenaline, to after-action reports of huge battles that last for hours and hours, the combatants exhausted but thrilled to have been part of it. These are memories that last. You don’t find that in every game. Most of them are finish and forget.
The game is diverse in terms of land/air/sea battles and team-based combat options. That said, are there any particular aspects of WWII or combat in general that the game has not managed to recreate (or recreate as well as the dev team might like)?
Dana “GOPHUR” Baldwin, Senior Producer: There’s lots of things that come to mind when trying to make a game out of a simulation of actual war and combat, both tactical and strategic. Getting strategic bombing and naval supply convoys to have an effect on victory for the campaign is definitely high up there. Because it is a game, it is difficult to have that effect be a true-to-life reduction in the actual supply for the game, because players need equipment to play with, even when your battles are based on attrition of supply.
Al “RAFTER” Corey: Nobody likes to discuss his shortcomings! I think the development team feels that the naval portion of the game has not yet reached anywhere near its potential. Sometimes the market plays an element in driving dev decisions, so we have spent more time in other areas of the game. We’d definitely like to get back to that and give the navy boys some attention. We’d also like to expand the game in to new theaters of operations. There is lots of work ongoing to create new terrain systems to support that but nothing they can discuss today.
Other areas that are hard to do but still on our wish list are trying to recreate the feeling of set piece battles and having a more comprehensive process of team objectives in a command structure. These are both often at odds with gambling where players are not in a military command structure.
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