You click to view a new column for the first time, and wonder, "Who the hell is this guy and what does he have to say?" You’re right, I owe you that much, and thanks for asking the question. I have been a game journalist for the last 15 years, with part of that time overlapping a 15–year career as a naval officer. I am a graduate of Annapolis, I attended the Naval War College and am a veteran of Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm. You could say that I have been a war gamer, both personally and professionally, for more than 30 years!
Pure war games were the impetus that first introduced me to computing. No longer did you need to set up those large maps in inconvenient places and guard them from children, pets and every other intruder who could waste however many nights you and your friends spent fighting a war. Additionally, computer gaming helped to eliminate the painstaking recording of the position of every unit on paper at the end of each gaming session, which was necessary in order to avoid the inevitable carnage by passers by. In order to set up the maps, this took another hour or more of precious game time before each of the sessions. The final detail was the scheduling and coordination of game times with your comrades.
There is a purpose to my waxing nostalgic about the paper roots of modern war–gaming, which is to examine how this hobby and our expectations have evolved. Debrief will be a monthly column dedicated to war games, strategy games and simulations. Our focus will be to further the expectations of the audience and challenge game developers to keep up with us. Yes, we will report news of upcoming titles, pass judgment on existing ones, interview the creative minds involved in specific projects, which will help us to understand why certain design decisions are made. We will do all of this and take matters a step further.
Collectively, we can inquire why specific functions weren’t included in our favorite releases with the hope that future versions will incorporate these changes. And, perhaps more importantly, we can initiate the design of the game of our dreams while thinking outside the constraints of the current market and technology, and encourage developers to look ahead to the future.
A daunting task perhaps, but how often is the audience actively involved in creating the products they will use and enjoy? How often should we be involved? As a journalist in this industry, I have had the pleasure of seeing my expertise incorporated into titles by companies such as SSI, Microprose and others. I now eagerly share this new forum with you, the reader, to accomplish the same end. Please send your comments to eddille@aol.com and include Debrief: (your topic) in the subject line. I get hundreds of e–mails each day and doing so will help me avoid inadvertently deleting your well thought out missiles. I will then excerpt the observations and suggestions that I feel are most applicable for each month’s column. Please don’t take it personally if I don’t respond or publish everything that is submitted — that simply wouldn’t be possible or appropriate.
With the stage appropriately set, let’s turn our attentions to Playnet.com and wwiionline.com, an upcoming massively multi–player game covering large segments of World War II from all perspectives. I first proposed this idea of a massively multiplayer WW II game involving individual player control of tanks, aircraft, infantry and more at the Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3) in Atlanta in 1996. Therefore, this game is the perfect choice to inaugurate Debrief, given the aforementioned focus. WWIIOnline.com is currently under development by some of the former developers from Interactive Magic.
The game environment is global, and combat results affect both territorial control supply lines and logistical chains. Yes, economic warfare is possible. You can captain ships, pilot aircraft, command tanks, even get down in the trenches as Army Infantry or Marines. Pulling off combined arms attacks isn’t a given — it requires your coordination between the branches of the service, which brings an entirely new real world component to game play.
You begin by selecting either Axis or Allies, then an individual country for that side. As a member of that nationality, you can further enlist in the army, navy, air force or marines. Playing in multiple branches of the service, or even multiple nationalities is also allowed. As you gain experience, you rise in rank and gain additional control over new game features. Become a hot tank commander, for example, and you have the opportunity to be promoted and move into mission planning with increasingly large formations of troops. Distinguish yourself as a ship’s captain and gain command of larger capital ships, battle groups and begin planning fleet deployments and operations. As a pilot, become an Ace and move up to command squadrons, wings, even the entire air corps! Don’t want the added responsibility? Keep your field command and reject the promotion opportunity. Someone else will readily fill the shoes you left untouched.
Missions are where the rubber meets the road. Successfully complete missions for a particular service, and you gain rank within that service. As your rank increases, you’ll post missions for that service. The better the design of a mission, the better the chance of players "signing on" and making the mission happen. The more important the mission’s target, the higher the reward for completing the mission’s goals. The better the missions are laid out, and the more interaction set up with all branches involved, the higher the possible success rate for a campaign. You may find yourself grabbing your first mission on WWII OnlineTM as a marine storming a beach.
"I say, rather good show! Another military chap — and in this case, this Ed Dille fellow enjoys playing games! Bloody marvelous!"
