Friend system

[zoog 18]

What about having either an in-game or external BIS developed software to friend with other players and to see who is playing on which server and join them. Every profile you create in Arma is a "soldier account" in this system. This is especially aimed at the idea that PvP might also get some extra focus in Arma 3. This way it's easy to join your battle mates in PvP matches. Make it a central clan/squad system where clans/communities can present themselves and clan/squad/community members can join their group with automatically adding tags etc. (instead of the squad url etc). Think along the lines of the BF3 webbrowser friend system.

I know you can use Xfire etc. but I'm talking about an integrated system where you can easily add people who you play with in a server and stuff like that. No need to exchange xfire user names in side chat, no need for people to install 3rd party program etc. An easy way to keep track and find your (new) Arma buddies. Because to be fair, in this area Arma is still living in the stone age :p

Thoughts?

[jagheterjan 10]

Thoughts?

Yep - why not post in the thread created to host all community wishes? http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?125819-ArmA-3-Community-wishes-amp-ideas-NO-DISCUSSION

[danny96 79]

I agree with both of you. I like idea but It shall be really in community wishes thread.

[zoog 18]

Oh sorry, if that is the case I hope a moderator can fix my mistake :) Although it's not really Arma 3 game related, but more something separate from the game. Might fit the -Modding&tools section in the community wishes topic.

[metalcraze 290]

You need software to make friends and to know which server are they on? This is sad.

[kremator 1064]

Actually, thinking about this more, it is a really good idea for casual gamers. Yes of course we can use Skype / XFire etc etc, but having some ingame notification system would be awesome.

Look at how Tribes Ascend does it .... really good implementation.

[rory_pamphilon 16]

This is definately a good idea. Arma 3 will be popular, there will be more servers, finding your friends will be even harder! Especially if day Z has its way (hundreds of potential servers)

BIS we need a BIS solution to find our friends in arma 3.

[zoog 18]

You need software to make friends and to know which server are they on? This is sad.

*sigh* no I personally don't need it (for Arma coop). But it would be nice if BIS will use some of the basic friend stuff that has been in most games for the past decade. And if they want Arma to be more accessible for PvP players a system like this could help a lot. Why has everything to be so black and white...

And yeah, the few weeks that I played BF3 I made use of the friend system, it's rather hard to keep track of 30 different friends all from different communities, real life, other clans and with different languages, who are all using their own voice servers etc. If you want to play for 20 minutes it's rather easy with a friend system to see who is playing what, on what server etc. and quickly join them. But god forbid if we make things easy for people or if we move things forward.

Edited May 17, 2012 by zoog

[[evo] dan 79]

Not just useful for PvP players (you always seem to think about just them) but useful for ALL the players.

[-=Grunt=- 10]

I agree with this. Some kind of buddy system would be good... While were talking about joining servers, why not a favorite server system too. :P

[james2464 176]

Yeah that would be nice, nice idea.

[wipman 1]

Hi, ain't like the idea of a "Friends System", to me that's more a silly closed club thing than an usefull thing, it also haves a huge potential of create isolated "elite groups" of people that treat lone players or other so called friends groups as low life beings; this is something that we've seen before and that also happened with klans outside the game and in the game too and is a bad thing IMO. Could be well done... but the 90% of the times is useless or harmful, for single players, the game itself or other so called "friends groups" that don't share the same gameplay way but servers in general. I think that it'll be a loose of time by/for BIS when they have alot to work and to improve on the AI and the animations and the engine base. Let's C ya

[Mr. Charles 22]

/snip/

What? What does a simple Friendslist/"join other players easier" got to do with lone players? Steam has this functionality since HL2 and that system is damn useful.

[zoog 18]

Huh?

I'm proposing a system where you can easily track down the people you know from previous gaming experiences or in real life and to join the servers they're playing on. Don't really see how this creates isolated "elite groups" or any hostility against players who don't have their friends list full of people??? It's just a way to keep track of the people you regularly play with, to see what they are doing and also to easily add people you played with in a random public server for future reference. If anything, it would help solo players to connect easier with previous battle buddies in pub servers. Besides, Arma in general is a pretty closed system with lots of clans/communities doing their own thing with their own set of mods and private servers, I don't really see why a build in friends system would be the cause of something like that.

[Janez 507]

I never had the need to use xfire or similar for reasons OP mentions but I can see how knowing on what server your friend is currently playing would be nice for some. However, I have to say I dont really like

Every profile you create in Arma is a "soldier account"

Arma is pretty much the only series left that uses old school profile management and that is a good thing.

Furthermore I see nearly every game haveing some kind of buddy system and most of them are really bad. Even origin and battlelog buddy thing is terrible. On battlelog for example you cannot appear offline which is the very basic feature. So I have to assume that it takes some resources to make a good buddy system and therefore I rather have better optics on that tank or better anims on that rifle...

You catch my drift?

[max power 21]

I see no reason not to have a thread to discuss the merits of a friend system. It has the potential for much more constructive conversation than "plz add m9. it's my favrt."

[aussnipe73 3]

I have seen this implemented quite well in Halo 2 with games for windows live. I know that isn't really an option for BIS but it's another good example of how a friends system can work in game and what features are really useful. I think arma multiplayer would really benefit from a friends list feature.

[jblackrupert 14]

Battlefield 2142 has it.

You can message back and forth online or off

and click a button to join the server they are currently on.

[Nicholas 5]

I would hope that they would also introduce a "Block" system as well. That way, if you find a person that is rather annoying, you can block them. If you are ever in the same server they are, it will automatically mute them.

A friend and block system would work well with ArmA since anyone can change their name to anything at anytime they wish. If a user changes their name, you can still join them in a server. It would track users based on their ID of course.

[rye1 21]

Awesome idea, the new kids would love it and be able to play together with ease without the flaffing about, 'What server are you on?', 'What mods?', 'I can't find it', 'It's full'. I'd love to see something similar to this, not exactly as mentioned. It's making the game more accessible for casual gamers and minimizing the lull time for regular gamers - the benefits outweigh the critque in this thread, the cost and time on the other hand...

The passworded servers, drawn-out recruitment processes already isolate the so called 'elite' groups (had to giggle). It's a friends list, steam-like, idea - not 'closing' the community but opening it to better indirect communication (love to see a messaging system too!) and accessibility while in-game and without using external applications (like teamspeak, skype) just to find out what should be general information. Steam actually have done a really good job of implementing their ideas - the events pages, clan or group pages, invite and play, it's perfect for a gaming session or attracting one with a few friends or randoms.

I believe the interface system and idea's like this would benefit Arma in numerous ways for playability and it simply needs work. I think you've inspired some good thought processes in this thread though, hopefully someone will take notice or at least make some micro-changes and make A3 that bit better.

AA3 has the 'soldier account' interface, and you can use their website to check yours or other peoples stats, clans and whatever information was made public. That was pretty swell but I wish it was all internal so you didn't have to go outside the game for that information. Other than that it did the job, even showing your training status, accuracy score, all the good stuff.

I agree with Nicholas too, a block system would be great and simply mandatory with some of the clowns you meet. And great for tracking players, User ID's, knowing when people are online, what servers or mods, where you can fit in or get a game going, etc. It has more pros than cons for the gamers.

p.s. plz add m9. it's my favrt.

[Firby 1]

It would make finding friends and co-op matches a lot easier! A great idea :bounce2:.

[djfluffwug 10]

This would solve the many times my friends have had trouble finding the server I am in. I would love to see something like this.

It would also be a good way to see if any of my friends are playing ArmA so I can ask to buddy up with them in a server :)

[dale0404 5]

I like this idea, a lot! :)

[-HSO-_XanthiotisGR 10]

Ιt would be very usefull if it will be released.And a point system like bf3..but i know that is very difficult to make it.

[dale0404 5]

Xanthiotis[GR];2154532']And a point system like bf3..but i know that is very difficult to make it.

No, just NO!