A Message from our Commander-in-Chief Community First! It’s hard to believe it’s been a year already since my first All Hands meeting as the CIC. It’s even harder to believe my last All Hands meeting as CIC has come and gone! I talked last year a little bit about culture change here in TAW. Here is a summary of the culture change that has been made in TAW this past year, a little about how it was done and the results we have seen as a result. When I first joined TAW Fox and the then CIC Omega were both in VG with their sleeves rolled up developing a system for spinning teams up into divisions. What they were doing was reorganizing the way a division functions from the field leadership level all the way up to the division leadership level. (I will write more about Vanguard and the impact it is having on TAW in my blog next month). I knew after being elected CIC of TAW I would continue in the shoes of Omega and Fox and take the TAW reorganization to the next level, the community. Culture change has been brought to the community through an aggressive campaign of projects. Key projects in this culture change campaign are the TAW Shop, TAW Cast, The Cutting Edge, the TAW@War tournaments, the TAW Newsletter and the TAW University. Late in the year as most of you remember we also executed a complete structure overhaul of all positions in TAW.
Premier international online gaming organization offering structured gaming while holding paramount honor, friendship, loyalty, and fair play. From The Battlefield Copyright © 2010-2011 TAW Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover, Texts, and no BackCover Texts. All other trademarks, service marks, and copyrights are property of TAW.
This year we will continue to impact culture change with the launch of a new website that will put even more emphasize on our community as a whole. Be sure to keep a close eye on the front page of taw.net and the newsletter as well as catch all episodes of TAW Cast for announcements regarding new community projects. Now if you are results oriented like I am you are probably thinking, yeah Hook I hear you but how do you know we’re on the right track with a culture change? The answer is simple. Last year we doubled TAW from 600 members to 1200 members and we’re still growing!
The 2011 TAW motto is ―Community First‖ GEN5_Hook Commander in Chief of TAW
Community cannot for long feed on itself; it can only flourish with the coming of others from beyond, their unknown and undiscovered brothers. ~ Howard Thurman
2
I Corps Spotlight— Ghost Recon Division
Here are seven of my A B C's for Great Leadership. Read over them and see what you think. Challenge your team to come up with their own A B C's for Leadership. Then talk about them at your next meeting. Remember Leaders don't just happen..They're made!
Accountability: In leadership roles, accountability is the acknowledgment and assumption of responsibility for actions, decisions, and policies including the governance, and implementation within the scope of the role and encompassing the obligation to report, explain and be answerable for resulting consequences. As a Leader you will be accountable to your Chain of Command. You must be accountable to your unit and to
(Continued on page 7)
3
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 has been released since July 2007. Yes, after nearly 4 years, the latest version of Ghost Recon is still kicking! The GR Division is supported and planted in its’ roots with quality and dedicated officers. COL_Silentdeath, and COL_Doc, have been around for a while and know what teamwork does for a Division. Interestingly enough, Doc is a former Rainbow Shield member that has brought his expertise to GR . Silentdeath is a long time member of GR and continues to show virtues of a young, energetic leader for the future. Together these two are the best we have to offer in GR. What’s next after a game that’s four years old? Mods, teamwork, and creative skills. Every game has Modifications that you can use, and GR uses them well enough. Teamwork has led the Division to making some fruitful decisions. What are they you might ask? First, GR is revamping their Division line-up to
better fulfill the needs of the future. Members that are forward thinking and want to help create a GR within GR are excelling. Custom Map building, Advanced Tactics, and Training that goes well beyond that of normal FPS thinking is helping shape the near future of GR. Newer game types such as Coop and TDM together. First if you don’t get shot by the computer generated A.I., you have to worry about your REAL Players at the same time. Homing RPG’s anyone? Yes, we got those too. Thinking outside the box in GR is making it truly possible to maintain GR’s member levels, while creating openings in other roles within the Division. Just ask the publisher of this newsletter Cherrylanekilla, who himself came from the GR Division. Why? Outside skills not possessed by many, and the drive to accomplish tasks and help the Division and TAW.net. This is our Division…..Strong….Ever Changing….Ever Adapting…..We Are One!!!!
MGN_ChicagoONE CC 1CC
Corps II Spotlight It was great to see so many people at the All Hands Meeting!. II Corps has a new member, Beerstud after Hibernator became part of Army Command earlier this year. BeerStud came from the BC division and brings with him, maturity and hands on experience and it's great working with him.
This month in Vanguard The Oceanic Regional Officer position is open and Vanguard is looking for someone from that area of the world to fill it. If you are from that area and are interested please email feanor@theartofwarfare.net Vanguard grew to become the largest current division in TAW with over 225 members! Thanks to all the hard working recruiters, Drill Instructors and staff down there who are making it happen! From the trenches... Bloodline Champions continues to grow in terms of team size, event structure, culture, and leadership. Under the wise leadership of the Vanguard staff and great guys like Denied, Zcuron and Depiction the BL group is well on their way to launching. With over 82 members and new recruits the battalion is poised to launch May 15th to full Division Status! Congratulations and well done!
Company of Heroes breaks 50+ members and has developed a strong leadership and event culture. Like Bloodline Champions, they are close to launching as well and the North American
(Continued on page 10) 4
One of Hook's opening comments was about Community... something I have always felt is one of the most important elements that will help ensure a continued success for TAW. If you look up the definition of community it will be something like this : a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage. Our social group is TAW, our size keeps growing, we reside in TS, we share a government within our leadership... and, we have that common 'culture' culture being, the total range of activities and ideas that we each contribute and how that it is reinforced by its members. Plus look at the history we have as a long running gaming organisation. So we really do cover all the bases defining that word. What do we need to do, to help our community continue? Everyone
here from Recruit to CiC- is a part of it.. We all make it count. By working together.. and what I mean by that is, showing support to each other showing up for your team and being a regular part of it, that's committment from you. Building our friendships and funfactor - that's a great strength... whether you're an exisiting or new member, getting to know one another is what helps build a team and making sure we are all enjoying being here playing these games with each other. Something else that's important is recognising potential in ourselves or others and helping each other either in game or in roles. Because : Running a division takes constant organisation and each officer needs to rely on each other for it to work well, this only comes from presence and communication. .... this is how it can keep growing. Being a Core Commander & part of Central Command is no longer just looking out for just one divison. The responsibilty increases but so does the support. It's about managing but not micro managing. you need to show guidance but still allow the the leadership skills to develop and grow. and with that I just want to finish off by saying I am really proud of the great job the divisions as a whole are doing in II Corps.
“A community is democratic only when the humblest and weakest person can enjoy the highest civil, economic, and social rights that the biggest and most powerful possess.� - Philip Randolph
Online Game communities are social in nature By Cindy Ahuna Who are the friendly characters that will play with you if you play with them? In 1969, "SpaceWar", developed by Rick Blomme, was the first two-player game designed to play on PLATO. In 1961, the "Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations" was the first network to run on the Illiac computer system. PLATO was created by Professor Chalmers Sherwin, under the direction of electrical engineering professor Don Bitzer, co-inventor of the plasma display pane at the University of Illinois. During 1970 through 1977, multiplayer games included "SpaceWar"; a version of "Star Trek"; "Avatar", a Dungeons and Dragons-style game; "Airflight", a flight simulator; and "Empire", which supported 32 players on PLATO. In 1972, PLATO hosted 1,000 simultaneous users. In May 2001, Sony's "EverQuest", a massive multiplayer online role-playing game, hosted 60,000 to 80,000 players daily. In 1973, David R. Woolley designed "Notes", a communications software for PLATO. Due to the release of this software, "Talkomatic", precursor to IRC with handles and chat rooms, was developed for PLATO. A maximum of five people wrote and read each other's messages on the same screen. Chat rooms were open and uncensored. A player logged on using their real or an anonymous name, and played either gender role. In various online chat rooms found on AOL's games and in Sony's "EverQuest", text is censored when gamers use brand or offensive words. Role-playing genders, sometimes referred to as gender swapping or multiple representations, is possible when gamers change or hide the genders of their characters using anonymous names. In "EverQuest", with more than 360,000 subscribers, thousands of gamers play characters of the opposite gender. Gamers are free to explore relationships while in character. Male gamers find that female characters generally get treated better in male-dominated virtual worlds. Sometimes men find it easier to chat with other characters and escape the competition. In online games, multiple representations allow players to see how other players solve problems. "There are a lot of rumors and anecdotes about people referring to play games as men or women because they are treated differently," says avid gamer J. MacLean. In a lecture titled "Programs, Emotions and Common Sense", Marvin Minsky emphasized in his book the idea of multiple representation. "If you understand something very precisely in one way", Minsky claims "you don't understand it at all." "You know it by rote. What does the word understand mean? Understanding means having many different ways to deal with things," said Minsky. Children memorize history by rote, but they usually don't understand it. Sometimes gamers falsely assume they are interacting with a person who matches the gender's name. Perhaps on one level, Minsky's definition can be applied as a working analogy for multiplayers who role-play playing games. If multiplayers had more ways of identifying the characters, they might be able to understand who the friendly characters were when they played with them, but then again, that might take all of the fun out of the game. Artist/curator Anne-Marie Schleiner, describes social developments in gaming: "Multiplayer games can be very social. In the shooter genre, players sometimes band together into "communitys", groups who fight against other groups. Sometimes the social bonds developed in these communitys extend beyond the game into friendship and players offer each other moral support through personal hardship and help each other find jobs," said Schleiner. Social environments evolve from online game communities. "A great example is "Air Warrior", a WW2 flight simulation with players are so dedicated, they've held conventions. Massive multiplayer role-playing games are also famous for the strength of their communities "the guilds in "EverQuest" are a great example of this phenomenon," says MacLean. In contrast to single player games, communities are vital depending on the game. For example, "for a game like chess, where skill levels can be critical, many people prefer to play with someone of relatively similar skill," says MacLean.
5
Operations Support — The past month in Operations Support has for the most part been business as usual: TAWcast is continuing to develop its new format of shows, using smaller segments than in the past. The frequency of the shows is very much dependent on the amount of content contributed, so if you’re interested in getting involved please get in touch with DaSniper or a member of his team. The TAW University recently held a very informative interview with Feanor on the role and day to day operations of Vanguard. The recording, as well as previous ones, is available on the TAW University page. As I mentioned last time, the development team received a good response for our request for new coders. Around one month on, they are getting to work alongside the other team members at hammering out the bugs and wrapping up other code. Like Icarus mentioned at the All Hands Meeting, the project is currently at around 80% completion and is coming together nicely. If you missed the meeting and the sneak peek screenshots we showed there, they will be going up alongside the recording, so keep an eye out for the thread. If all goes well, we should be in a position to set a release date in the fairly near future. I’d also like to add my congratulations to HeyManNiceShot on his promotion to Brigadier General and on becoming the Information Security Lieutenant Commander. He has been putting in consistently great work towards both the current and new sites, and has been pretty much the right hand man to Bones for some time now, but now it’s official.
In the Scope P.I.O. Interview with LGN Hibernator The purpose of the Member’s Spotlight is to honor and showcase TAW Members who have risen above the norm, be it through acts of Meritorious Service or through acts done on the Battlefield. This month as a continuation of our ―Community‖ theme, I have interviewed LGN Hibernator of Army Command. His honest approach to leadership has always impressed me and if you have the change to hear him speak, you too will be impressed. Thinking back, what drew you to TAW? I was playing the Call of Duty game in a server with a lot of people that were not cheating, hacking and cussing and then I received an in game text from someone called ―OKC Sooner‖. He invited me to check out the TAW clan and ever since was very impressed with the organization. What do you find most challenging about TAW? Dealing with all of the wide and varied personalities.
Most everyone thinks they should be in charge and when someone else is promoted over them, now you have to deal with that situation and it depends on the age of the person, their background, experiences, etc. Always a challenge with just about every decision in TAW because it affects each person a different way. What's the best/worst thing to happen since you started working with TAW? I hate to see players make bad decisions and try to ―game‖ the system. The rules and policies are in place as guidelines but lots of folks try to see what happens when they push the limits. Most of the players are good guys and gals but go over the line sometimes. And just like any military organization you can’t have that. We are a society that lives by certain standards of conduct and rules and when you go outside the boundaries, you can’t participate in that society. Speaking of civilization....one quote from a famous football coach sums it up, ―Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.‖ -Vince Lombardi.
(Continued on page 7) 6
(Continued from page 3) TAW University your leadership. If you fail, at being accountable, to either.... you will influence both those who look up to you and those that depend upon you, in a negative way. Take a lesson from a Basketball player...when he fouls and the whistle is blown...he raises his hand acknowledging his mistake. Bearing: In leadership your Bearing is a reflection of the manner in which you conduct or carry yourself, including language, gestures and attitude. As a Leader you will be placed in many situation, some good and some bad. You must always be on guard never to disappoint those you lead and those you serve. Your "Bearing" is what people know about you,without you saying anything.You can use your Bearing as a tool to let people know you are in charge without saying much. Think about the strong leaders in history who's calm, cool presents lead their troops through good and bad times. Consistency: In Leadership consistency is harmony of conduct or practice with profession...As a leader you will want to show consistency in all aspects of your leadership ability. Consistency may be the more uninspiring elements of your command presents, however it is one of the hardest to master. Think how easy it is to discharge the newer member when they
(Continued on page 14) 9
TAWcast is the beginning of an all new generation of TAW Media Entertainment. The goal of TAWcast is to bring the aspects that make TAW great into a media environment for everyone to see. Striving for Quality and Entertainment, TAWcast Staff hopes everyone enjoys each episodes as much as we enjoy creating them. Fox’s Maxims:3. Ninety percent of all strife, drama, and member flameouts in TAW are directly or indirectly the result of someone feeling they are entitled to a rank, position, or the ability to make the key decision.
(Continued from page 6) In the Scope If you could change one thing about TAW, what would it be? Pay the folks that are working behind the scenes to keep TAW up and running. There is so much going on for so many for no monetary gain. There is an incredible amount of work being done by volunteers behind the scenes that most players are not aware of. Jobs such as money management, server management, website coding, bringing new games to TAW. I could go on and on and all of these volunteers have other things they could be doing but are dedicated to providing outstanding support to the TAW Community. My hat is off to everyone that donates their time and efforts for the good of the TAW community. What do you wish other people knew about TAW? See above. What would you say are some of your strongest beliefs about TAW? Leadership should take care of their people. If you take care of your people, they will take care of you. CC, DC, DO, CO, XO, SO, SL, etc. all have a role to perform with managing their personnel. When everyone does their job correctly, everything works like a well oiled machine. But when folks do not do their admin, or do not protect their people, things start to break down. Every leader should know who is under them, their names, their issues, their concerns, their goals. In order to be a good leader, you have to care about your troops and you have to take care of your troops.....If I see a person in a leadership position not doing those things, I am looking for their replacement. What might someone be surprised to know about you? My age, my stamina, my work related travels. What do you think will change about TAW over the next five years? That depends on the leadership core. If we promote knuckleheads, it will die on the vine. If we foster, promote, train, teach, encourage the next generation of leaders, there are no boundaries.
How Does Online Gaming Affect Social Interactions? ScienceDaily (Sep. 20, 2007) — Online multiplayer communities are social networks built around multiplayer online computer games. Members of these communities typically share an interest in online gaming and a great deal of the interaction between them is technologically mediated. Marko Siitonen from University of Jyväskylä studied social interaction in online multiplayer communities in his doctoral thesis of speech communication. Online multiplayer gaming is a playground which can give us clues about the future of social and technological developments, Siitonen states. Online multiplayer games enable the formation of lasting relationships Online multiplayer games typically encourage interaction between players: some go even as far as demanding it. Collaboration with other players may be a prerequisite for making progress in a game, or a game may be based on competition between players. Typical online games can be played fairly independently, without seeking closer contact with other gamers. However, social interaction is a strong motive not only for playing multiplayer games, but also for forming lasting social relationships with other gamers, Siitonen says. Online games are based on the possibilities of computer networks. This shows in the scope of modes of communication that typical multiplayer games offer. A single game can support communication based on text, image, and sound. In addition, a game may provide tools for interaction between two people, as well as enable communication between whole groups and communities. In addition to using the modes of communication offered by games, members of multiplayer communities may keep in touch face to face, over the phone, via email, or in IRC, Siitonen explains. Long-term interaction lays the foundation for a feeling of community Social interaction between members of multiplayer communities shares similarities to interaction in face-toface groups. Shared values and goals are the basis on which a shared understanding and a sense of community are built on. Negotiating values and goals is an ongoing process that takes place throughout the existence of a community. They are reflected e.g. by how new members are accepted n the community and by how the roles that are significant to the operation of the community are cast. Disagreement concerning these issues may lead to conflicts within communities, yet solving these conflicts can serve the purpose of strengthening or changing the community’s foundations. The traditional building blocks of identity, such as appearance or age, are often insignificant in multiplayer gaming communities. A 13-year-old French schoolgirl, a 27-year-old Swedish housewife, and a 44-year-old American engineer can all be members of the same community. When the members never meet face to face, they form perceptions of each other based on e.g. how active or reliable they think the others are, Siitonen describes. Forming images of the other members can be quick in a technologically mediated environment. Still, reputation based on long-term social interaction does have real significance in online multiplayer communities. Activity and motivation are emphasized in technologically mediated communication, and the most active members often hold the leading positions in the communities.
8
(Continued from page 8) How does online gaming affect social interactions? Online multiplayer communities are susceptible to changes. Old communities perish and new ones are born constantly, and gamers frequently shift between communities. However, the social networks and personal relationships that form the base of these communities may survive even though the disbandment of a community. It is possible that a new multiplayer community rises out of the old one’s ashes. Siitonen used interviews and information gathered by participant observation as the data for his study. The observation data was collected from two different communities within an online multiplayer game called Anarchy Online. Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of The Art of Warfare or its staff.
Brink and Section 8: Prejudice come to TAW! TAW is excited to announce the creation of two new Vanguard units: Brink and Section 8: Prejudice. These games have been highly anticipated by the computer gaming community for a long time, and now TAW is proud to offer them to gamers from around the world. Brink is a new First Person Shooter game by the awardwinning developers of Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. In fact, most of the game’s code directly pulls straight across from Quake Wars including the idtech4 engine, the server launcher and the majority of the netcode. Brink is an infantry-only FPS that will ship with 8 maps. It will have objective and team-death match game modes and has team size formats of 8 v 8 and 6 v 6. Brink will feature user-end dedicated servers, allowing gamers to host servers out of their own houses. This will also allow groups to rent dedicated servers from Game Service Providers and get full remote windows access on those machines, unlike most of the FPS games released in the last 2 years. Brink is also featuring a revolutionary movement system known as SMART or ―Smooth Movement Across Random Terrain.‖ Gone are the days of being unable to jump over a large rock or having a wall or fence block you. The new SMART system will parkour the player across any terrain in creative ways. Brink will be a Steamworks title, so it does require Steam to play the game. If you are interested in applying to Brink, please apply on the website or if you are an existing TAW member contact your Division Commander and request a transfer to Vanguard. Brink is being released May 10th and TAW is participating in a net-based launch party hosted by Brink.tv on launch day. http://thebrink.tv/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=37 Section 8 was a First Person Shooter released by Timegate Studios in 2009. It unleashed many ground-breaking concepts and was a highly-tactical FPS. The game introduced the idea of ―spawning from orbit‖ as players could choose anywhere on the map they wanted to deploy and then ―burn in‖ like a meteor falling to earth. Skilled players could even aim at and land on enemies as they re-entered the atmosphere and crush them on impact. The game had many elements from other successful FPS titles such as configurable suits like in Crysis and large scale maps, huge teams and objective-based gameplay like in Battlefield. The team size format is 16 v 16 and the game features mixed infantry, vehicles and turrets on giant maps.
11
Easy Ways to Work on a Virtual Team Without Conflict
(Continued from page 4) Fresh Blood
Alan Henry — It doesn't matter whether your work remotely or from home, or if your colleagues or classmates are scattered across the globe, trying to coordinate efforts when everyone is in a different time zone or working from a different location can be difficult. Here are some ways to smooth the distance over and stay productive.
squad has picked up recruitment also. Things are looking up here to have this join Starcraft as TAW’s 2nd Real Time Strategy game!
Working from home has serious benefits, and we've already talked about how to make sure you're productive when you work from home, but what about your team or your coworkers? Making sure you're all on the same page can be frustratingly difficult. Whether your virtual team consists of other paid employees or a distance learning class full of people across the country, Square Jaw media has some tricks can help bridge the divide.
The Crysis group has struggled to keep their numbers up and if anyone is interested in transferring over please contact the VG staff immediately!
For one, set expectations early, and reinforce them often. Even if you don't manage a group of people or you're not the team leader for a specific project, you have to let everyone else on the team know when you expect to do your part and what the level of effort is. Essentially, set your own deadlines before someone else does it for you.
Homefront has continued solid recruitment efforts now with 18 members and 3 European members to boot! With the release of user-end dedicated server files for the game, TAW will be expanding the number of servers that it hosts. If you are interested in large scale 16 v 16 combat with mixed infantry and vehicles & different game modes, then this game is for you! Transfer or apply today!
Another great tip is to respect everyone to get their work done. Sometimes working remotely or working on a virtual team can lead to a sense of distrust among the team members: everyone feels like no one else works as hard as they do. Try taking the lead and make a point to tell everyone that you know they'll do what they have to do to make the class project or the company project a success.
World of Tanks has exceeded 60 members and under the personal leadership of TheGame and Toxyn as acting COs and XOs, the SOs have been able to focus their attention on recruitment and onboarding swelling the ranks of our members ever greater. Come see what all the rage is about as TAW gets ready to make WT it’s third MultiOnline Battle Arena game after League of Legends and Bloodline Champions!
Most of the tips in the article are designed for people who work on a virtual team, or who manage employees scattered around the globe. Still, most of them work just as well when applied to distance learning classes, which can be more frustrating because of cultural nuances or differences in classmates' ages, work hours, or life situations. What are some of your favorite tips for working with people you don't see face-to-face? How do you get the job done without stressing yourself out in the process? Leave your tips in the comments. Photo by Soctech.
Star Wars the Old Republic is still meeting once a week, every week with Hook and Omega @ 900pm EST down in the SWTOR channel. Come take part in fiery discussions about the Force, smuggling and what makes a great MMO!
Coming in May... Section 8: Prejudice, the sequel to the first Section 8 game releases May 4th! 10
Electronic Book Review Communities of Play: The Social Construction of Identity in Persistent Online Game Worlds Celia Pearce | Artemesia
(Continued from page 5) Online Gaming Communities... In a global point of view, the Internet is the living organism that hosts many online systems. Boundaries of geography, economy, culture, degrees of education and family traditions have disappeared. Gamers are co-authors that take part in the experience. Communities are playing fields for social interaction. When gamers send messages to other gamers, they are free to exchange email addresses and meet beyond the game community. Communities have become an extension, a new medium of human touch. When communities form, a semantic world of sharing knowledge, solving problems, working as a team, playing, building, quarreling, cooperating, planning and forming relationships develop. Games are formal because they have a set of rules. A game is a system because it has a collection of parts that interact with each other in complex ways. In "EverQuest", the Game Masters hold the most power. Online games run on a '24x7' calendar. Generally, online the role-playing games are maintained by paid subscriptions, whereas, online fighting games are free. Communities exist in time by free and paid subscriptions. Gamers occupy real estate within the online game. Communities live in both space and time. Thus, it is a lifelike system.
The key conclusions outlined here are a start at unpacking the relationship between game design, emergent group dynamics, and individual identity formation. Probably the most significant finding is the formation of individual avatar identity through emergent social processes. Furthermore, when motivated and supported by group cohesion, these identities can be portable and malleable over time, and lead to a high level of productivity (Pearce 2005; Poremba 2003). When motivated by the group, players find in themselves new talents, abilities and skills, which are further enhanced through a process of group feedback. Furthermore, based on the type of games players gravitate towards, we can, to a certain extent, anticipate overall patterns of emergence based on players' play styles, predilections, and resident skills. Click Here to read the article
Popular game boxes vary from Sony PlayStation, PlayStation 2; Nintendo's GameCube projected to ship Nov 5, '01 in the US; and Microsoft's Xbox projected to ship Nov 8, '01 in the US. "Although game boxes offer higher resolution graphics in comparison to PC gaming, they are a closed hardware platform and less amenable to multiplayer social games. Multiplayer gamers cannot insert their own character skins into shooter games in a game box or with a multiplayer game, such as "EverQuest". "EverQuest" can easily receive updates on the game over time that get rewritten over the original game software," says Schleiner. Many gamers develop friendships with other gamers in different countries using the chat session in "EverQuest". In some ways, there are as many different types of gamers as there are games. General definitions include: * Generally, casual gamers are people who enjoy simple decision making games and typically play less technical 3D graphic games. * Generally, traditional gamers are people who enjoy a more complex game. * Multiplayers (simultaneous players) are defined as those who play with other gamers in the same game. What makes an online game exciting, interesting, social or more fun than another game? Motivation evolves from sensory gratification, role-playing, personality, taste, adrenaline, sociology, immersive and engaging environments, and the element of fun. Games in general motivate ideas. Topics include life, survival, strategy, roleplaying, and building relationships. In all circumstances, the player learns by playing. "Building colossal virtual worlds are very important. In a virtual world, everything has a purpose. I love games, " said Minsky during his lecture, "Programs, Emotions and Common Sense".
(Continued on page 12) 11
(Continued from page 11) Online Gaming Communities... In Star Trek CCG, gamers can buy and sell, trade and collect digital cards, watch or judge games, and attend tournaments. One disadvantage, prior to downloading the plug-in, a high risk is indicated. The risk is associated with the possibility of gamers accessing your computer if you proceed with download. This warning appears with this statement: "JavaScript or a java applet from DigitalDeck, Inc. is requesting additional privileges." This plug-in is required to run the application. Because game communities are social in nature, knowledge and understanding are more apparent in virtual worlds. "Wouldn't it be nice to connect two thoughts," said Minsky. Who first revolutionized interactive web authoring in the twentieth century? In June 1995, Macromedia first announced the development of "Shockwave", a plug-in based playback engine for Director content. This project was produced in partnership with Netscape. In November 1995, developers were given access to the first beta version of the Windows Shockwave plug-in. In December 1995, the public was given access to the beta version of the Windows Shockwave plug-in. In January 1996, developers were given access to the first beta version of the Macintosh Shockwave plug-in. In March 1996, the first version of the Shockwave plug-in for both Macintosh and Windows was released to the public as a final product. This Shockwave release was soon followed by the release of Director 5.0 in June of 1996. Director 5.0 published content for web-playback using the Shockwave plug-in. This version utilized the use of a compression utility called "AfterShock", a utility that is no longer used in the current version. During the summer of 1995 through 1996, other interactive authoring tools were available, such as Hypercard and Mtropolis, but none of them offered a web based player option during the time Macromedia released the first version of Shockwave. There were other browser-based competitors, namely Java which was announced by Sun in June of 1995 and VRML. The three competitors involved Shockwave, Java and VRML. In addition, RealNetworks produced their first browser plug-in at the same time. This was the dawning of the plug-in era.
Support TAW and your division by purchasing our fine and highly fashionable goods. These products are completely non -profit, and every sale gives 3$ / 3â‚Ź in donation to TAW. If you buy a division specific item, then the donation goes to that division.
The TAWSHOP team: Dogstar - dogstar@theartofwarfare.net (Project Manager) DeadXOn - deadxon@theartofwarfare.net (Project Assistant) Jedi - jedi@therartofwarfare.net (orders/accounting)
12
Book Review Corner
Why Battlefield 3 will go a long way to deciding the future of PC gaming.
Play between worlds: exploring online game culture T.L. Taylor MIT Press, 2006 - Games - 197 pages In Play Between Worlds, T. L. Taylor examines multiplayer gaming life as it is lived on the borders, in the gaps—as players slip in and out of complex social networks that cross online and offline space. Taylor questions the common assumption that playing computer games is an isolating and alienating activity indulged in by solitary teenage boys. Massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs), in which thousands of players participate in a virtual game world in real time, are in fact actively designed for sociability. Games like the popular Everquest, she argues, are fundamentally social spaces.
If you were to ask me what my favourite FPS game of all time was, I wouldn’t hesitate to answer ―Battlefield 2.‖ It’s the game that first got me into TAW, and I’ve massed a huge, and rather depressing, 1770 hours playing it over the past 6 years. Others may answer ―Quake Wars‖, ―Delta Force: X‖, or ―ArmA‖. One thing’s for sure – they all pushed the boundaries of PC gaming and took it to an entirely new level. Sadly, many of those games are now forgotten, if ever really recognised. That’s why Battlefield 3 is the game that could bring a breath of fresh air to a platform that has become awash with console ports in recent years. We have a major developer that is going out of their way to enhance the game for PC gamers. Not only will we see destructive environments taken to an all new level with Frostbite 2, and the ability to drag fallen comrades to safety, but also the return of 64 player maps, jets, and prone. Oh, and dedicated servers! Every indication so far is that it could finally be the game to remove the recycled Call of Duty franchise from its throne. If the trailers so far are anything to go by then we’re in for a treat. I for one am also very excited to see the revival of the once great Battlefield Division in TAW, and I know I’m not the only one. But while the prospect is great there is a flipside. Success in terms of both profit and reception could lead other major developers to do the same as EA DICE, and we could see many other major developers focusing more on the PC. But failure could shy them away for good, and once great titles will continue to be converted into console games. One thing’s for sure – this is one game that all PC FPS gamers should be keeping a close eye on. See you on the Battlefield. Lieutenant General Cutthroat Central Command | Support Lieutenant Commander
13
(Continued from page 7) TAW University break a Major policy...the a good friend does the same thing...It will be hard to be consistent but as a leader you are expected to do just that..Be Consistent. Creating an atmosphere of consistency will allow your team members to know what they can expect from you.
Corps III Spotlight In World of Warcraft the 4th Battalion Alliance has taken the lion's share of server first boss kills on Winterhoof and now the 3 rd Battalion Horde is making its debut on Black Dragonflight as a pvp centered experience. 3rd Battalion is focusing on Rated Battlegrounds, these new Battlegrounds were introduced in Cataclysm, the third expansion in the World of Warcraft series, and offer new challenges to players in a familiar setting. These battlegrounds require coordination and communication to ensure victory against another team intent on winning. With end of season rewards and titles being offered for the highest rated teams competition in these battlegrounds is fierce. Arathi Basin is such a battleground within the Rated Battleground system, in Arathi Basin you need to take your force, consisting of ten players, and control a minimal of three of the five contested areas until you reach the necessary points for victory, all the while keeping the opposition from gaining control of those areas. With the distance between the control points reinforcements will take some time to get to the point that is under siege so being able to hold out until reinforcements arrive or being able to crush the attackers is paramount. Victory is well earned in these Rated Battlegrounds and we look forward to them taking some of the best titles available from it.
(Continued from page 9) Brink and Section 8... One of the most unique aspects of the S8 franchise is that multiple objectives are occurring at the same time on different parts of the map. This forces a team to use good resource management in deploying portions of their force all around the map at key points. The game is also famous for its customization. By default the game allows you to choose between different preset classes of soldiers, but these can be interchanged and completely personalized with different weapons and suit modules. S8: Prejudice promises to continue on the grand tradition that the first one set as being one of the most tactical FPS games ever released. If you are interested in joining TAW’s S8 group then apply on the website or if you are a member then email your Division Commander and request a transfer to Vanguard. S8: Prejudice released on May 4th and is available online at direct2drive, Steam and other digital vendors.
Dependability: In Leadership that means you can be relied upon to perform your duties properly. It means that you can be trusted to complete a job. It is the willing and voluntary support of the policies and orders of the chain of command. We all know someone in our lives that would be great at what they do...if they were on time or did what the said they were going to do. You can have all the right traits of a leader but if your not dependable then what's the use...As a leader you must be dependable to everyone in your CoC. Enthusiasm: In Leadership enthusiasm is defined as a sincere interest and exuberance in the performance of your duties. If you are enthusiastic, you are optimistic, cheerful, and willing to accept the challenges. What's worst then being around a boss that's just going through the motions. As a leader show some enthusiasm for your job. It will be contagious to your team! GEN_SoonerOKC TAW University Commander Shaping Minds for Servant Leadership...
14