Thoughts on the ofp community

[sanctuary 19]

What hooked me in the BIS forum is mostly the Mission editing forum .

For a long period of time i was only a lurker , learning lot of thing about mission editing by reading people hints or question answers.

In my free time part dedicaced to OFP, i think i spend more time editing and making my own missions than really playing the game

Then when i was more confident in mission editing, i registered finally there and tried to help with what i knew.

The mission editing forum remains even now ,the principal source of interest i have in this forum community : i like when people help each other and respect others (i think that this last point is a lot helped by the forum rules enforcements) and this forum is perfect for that.

As i use internet mostly as an entertainment tool , i dont really like to post in political threads even if i tried sometime , mostly because english is a foreign langage for me , and i have hard time to translate what i exactly think in that langage.

That is why i am not really interested by the offtopic forum major subjects (unless it has a subject that is not political or ideology oriented, but those are few too not be locked after a while), as i prefer to discuss them in my real life with people that understand easily what i want to say.

I admit that i am a fan of the Combat photography thread in the General discussion , people works on them are awesome and creatives.

[Dauragon 0]

. I was invading Poland at the kitchen table when I was still in diapers.

So your still enjoying your fun ?

[JAP 2]

What hooked me in the BIS forum is mostly the Mission editing forum .

For a long period of time i was only a lurker , learning lot of thing about mission editing by reading people hints or question answers.

In my free time part dedicaced to OFP, i think i spend more time editing and making my own missions than really playing the game

Then when i was more confident in mission editing, i registered finally there and tried to help with what i knew.

The mission editing forum remains even now ,the principal source of interest i have in this forum community : i like when people help each other and respect others (i think that this last point is a lot helped by the forum rules enforcements) and this forum is perfect for that.

As i use internet mostly as an entertainment tool , i dont really like to post in political threads even if i tried sometime , mostly because english is a foreign langage for me , and i have hard time to translate what i exactly think in that langage.

That is why i am not really interested by the offtopic forum major subjects (unless it has a subject that is not political or ideology oriented, but those are few too not be locked after a while), as i prefer to discuss them in my real life with people that understand easily what i want to say.

I admit that i am a fan of the Combat photography thread in the General discussion , people works on them are awesome and creatives.

Well put.

Why ... ?

Because i completely feel the same way

[Schoeler 0]

I think the offtopic forum is wonderful. I mean isn't that what the internet is all about? At least the best parts of it anyway. You get to meet a diverse body of people from different cultures and societies and discuss points of view. I've learned a lot arguing civilly and at times in a hostile manner with people who have a completely different perspective than me. Its nice to get an inside look at others thoughts, share life experiences you never had or even imagined. Why does everyone fear a little conflict now and then? The occassional conflict in OT has been informative and helpful in breaking down a lot of barriers or creating new channels of understanding between very different peoples. It also helps us to understand that in many ways we are also all the same. I don't think coming to terms with your felow human beings is harmful or unproductive at all, and I don't see actual grudges being held. I see people who have become respected opponents of one another. People with the strength of character to agree to disagree when they've realized they will probably never see eye to eye on a particular issue. Its good to have a variety of diverse viewpoints on critical issues that surface in the world. None of us will always agree on things, but the OT forum has made some interesting and unlikely allies and enemies on many occassions. Sometimes you see people who are bitter enemies on one particular issue become staunch allies in another. I think most people there, despite how much they argue with one another, respect each other and get along. Most of the time it ends up in good natured teasing.

[Major Gripe 0]

I think that this should be stickied, so everyone can get that warm fuzzy feeling when they come into OT!

[The Frenchman 0]

I think that this should be stickied, so everyone can get that warm fuzzy feeling when they come into OT!  

Yeah! Make this sticky!

[ale2999 0]

I love this community for how mature it is and for the kind of discussions that are done. If I have a question no matter what topic it is about, I ask my forum hommies, who will promptly advise me! I dont post alot (because of time restrictions) but boy do I read all your wonderfull idea! it is crazy how smart some of you guys are

I wuv u all!

[The Frenchman 0]

I wuv u all!

Ah....group hug!

[ebud 18]

I think the main reason why many people, including myself, stay with OFP is the freedom to create virtually anything and get it in-game. I mean I wanted OFP to have a Vietnam setting, so I got with SelectThis and we made it (with some help of a few others). Simple and easy as that. Any war, any setting, any weapon can made and brought into the game. It's such an amazing engine. If you read book on tactics, you can test it out in-game. Want to re-create the eastern front in 1943 you can do it. The possibilities just keep me coming back day after day. It's really the ability to edit the game that has kept me interested. And with 2 on the horizon, I just don't see any reason to leave. It's a bad addiction

[ralphwiggum 6]

If you read book on tactics, you can test it out in-game. Want to re-create the eastern front in 1943 you can do it.

agreed. one time, I made a personal mission where one squad of AIs will attach a convoy head on and my squad will attack from side. worked as i planned.

[Baron Hurlothrumbo IIX 0]

You can't do proper fire manouvre though, which is one thing I hope will be added to OFP2, although it is difficult to implement for AI.

[ebud 18]

True, but combined arms makes up for that for me

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

Lets see how far my career will have advanced when OFP2 comes out. If I work day and night and kiss some company's as.ses I might be able to reserve some 100 rooms in a 5star resort (maybe somewhere on Tahiti) for a rate of 9.99$ per night and we could have a decent discussion by the pool about TBA, WMD and addon-bugs for a whole week!

I work in the hotel-industry. Is there someone working in the for Star-alliance and sponsor the flight tickets?

Just imagine the signs in the lobby of the hotel.

Welcome dear Operation Flashpoint members.

Floor 1: Conference on Addon Modding

Floor 2: Brainstorm on Mission editing

Floor 3: Speech on Hardware compatibility

Floor 4: Offtopic cafteria

(just kiddin, dont take me too serious on that)

[Placebo 29]

I think that this should be stickied, so everyone can get that warm fuzzy feeling when they come into OT!  

Yeah! Make this sticky!      

There are enough stickies in the forum I'm afraid

[The Frenchman 0]

I think that this should be stickied, so everyone can get that warm fuzzy feeling when they come into OT!  

Yeah! Make this sticky!      

There are enough stickies in the forum I'm afraid

Ok, can you delete a few sticky pages so we can have room for this to be sticky? (Iraq Thread )

[Guest DKM-jaguar]

I started playing ofp as soon as it came out. i was pleased so many patches came out, i then looked for patches on the internet and found ofp.info. There I saw addons. The first addon I downloaded was the ADATS by DKM... I guess that's why I thought they are so great

I then went to the DKM forum, applied for a job several hundred times even though at the time i had no skills, (though now i think i have to many   ) and eventually i got to where i am now.. So my view of the community has only ever been through forums and not much MP.

But i will say that the ofp community still treats the addon makers with no gratefullness, and it's actively pushing mod makers away.

That's my view of the ofp community from start to present.

Btw: i noticed people mentioning there being more flames in about the period i joined  

[GoOB 0]

So true Jaguar. I almost never play multiplayer unless I have a few friends, a good server and a nice coop mission on hand. OFP is wonderful in so many aspects and has been blessed with very gifted community members. And thus it has a almost infinite life-span. And I doubt that is going to change come OFP2.

One thing about the OFP community is that you always feel welcome. I have my IRC preform list smacked full of OFP related channels. Just because I want as much of this wonderful community as possible. Although I have not been in the community since OFP was released I have been playing it since it was released. And that is thanks to the mission makers and add-on makers out there. I just want to say I love you to the OFP community

[Guest DKM-jaguar]

Is there a list of ALL ofp irc channels available?

If not, i would like permission to start one. Where though? In Saqud/fan pages or OT?

[Dauragon 0]

I think that this should be stickied, so everyone can get that warm fuzzy feeling when they come into OT!  

Yeah! Make this sticky!      

There are enough stickies in the forum I'm afraid

Ok, can you delete a few sticky pages so we can have room for this to be sticky? (Iraq Thread )

Or like the forum rules thread, nobody ever reads it anyway        j/k

[bn880 5]

Actually, I rather think that the 'war part limitation' of the game is one of its dowsides, I would love more meaningful peaceful missions/campaigns. I played bn880's 'working on Nogova' mission, and would love to see more of that stuff being created, and developed way further. Back in 2001 I started making a civil campaign myself, but it never got finished.

I'm sure that we will see more civil stuff in the future of OFP and OFP2.

I have to say I'm sorry for not expanding on the Working Mission or Peace Mission. I realize this is an entire aspect to OFP not just a mission. I feel bad about it because BIS created so many features which are useful in a Peace Mission mod and some of them I suggested. And come on, there is even a bicycle which is beyond my expectations.

However I have not found it in my ability to expand on TWMN yet for these reasons:

I have not had this enthusiasm about it yet like I had about the first version. So I can not emmerse myself in a virtual world.

Other things to work on in my spare time, not just OFP/CoC stuff but things in general.

The savegame bug, as you know TWMN type missions treat a single mission as an entire very long game, and for that you need to be able to save and load at your pleasure, unfortunately there seems to be a bug with restoring large missions that have run for a while.

So anyway, sorry to the members and even BIS for not expanding on this, but at least I think I worked on something useful at the CoC that people will enjoy fairly soon. And there are more projects.

I will give my thoughts on the community whenever I find the time to actually think about it, but they are very good thoughts.

[Pukko 0]

Just let me get this straight: You are sorry??  

You have spent many hours creating really advanced (or the most advanced?) innovative and fun OFP missions, and are sorry for it...

Ok, let me put it like this: May I touch your avatar, oh great bn880?    

I played it for many hours without any bigger bugs, and came to a halt (not played it since unfortionally) playing it after saving that man in the forrest - so that I could afford a pilot licence however. But it was an fantastic experience over all. Sure it might not have been perfect, but for a first step in a new gaming area it's just fantastic...

And also, I have not followed the OFP releases very closely the last months, and I have actually not tried out your other missions or followed other peoples Civil-OFP stuff (but I have read about an police mod). After i have done some other stuff tonight I'll check out the civvy releases however, and definitely try out your other work.

[bn880 5]

Hehhe,

okay my thoughts of the OFP community:

for me this place has been a lot like a solid computer game, always there when you need to get away from the day-day drivel/insanity. I was certainly much more polite here on the forums for the first year or more than I am now, the change came after I started posting in Offtopic and got a load personal attacks... either way, if it was not for Offtopic I don't think I would still be coming here, I am almost certain. There were weeks/months at a time where I didn't actually play OFP, but still visited the forums for editing and offtopic reasons. The amount of information I have picked up from visiting the offtopic forum is incredible, from members from around the world and just the type of discussions which required research.

The On-topic forums have become a wealth of information for anyone playing/editing OFP, I can tell you I was around before there was much info here and it was extremely difficult to resolve some issues. It has been great, a lot of my suggestions seem to have made it into patches as Suma was listening on pretty often, even if every new feature featured a new bug for us and BIS to deal with. Unfortunately the features are not new anymore but bugs are creeping out...

Used to help a lot of people out in mission editing, and now it looks like so many people have picked up on the topic and there are so many threeads with answers to most problems that helping out is not needed as much, even if it is wanted by some members it is often because of bad search habits.

Then again I have seen some strange occurances here as to who gets banned and how, but nothing I can do about that, it's a BIS forum.

Hope to see many more exciting days on these forums as great works from the members show and then when OFP2 hits the market. We'll see...