Project: Flashpoint

[dmakatra 1]

Ever watch those reality shows on the telly? Y'know, the ones that suck and have practically no value of entertainment what-so-ever? Well, I sort of went ahead and started my own. Only this time on the internet.

Meet the CS-kiddie. Caucasian male ranging from fourteen to sixteen who seems to have problems understanding the even simplest of grammar rules. His main interests include "pwning ppl", calling other players a "fag0t" and cheat in just about every possible way there is. Well, that's the stereotype anyway. What happens if we took a few CS-kiddies, say, ten of them, gave them Flashpoint and put them in training similiar to those used by OFP co-op squads? Well, that's what Project: Flashpoint is about. We're going to find out if these mainstream players have the patience, the maturity and the M16-skillz00r to make it as well-trained Flashpointers.

Project: Flashpoint isn't just a stupid experiment. It's about fighting prejudice (or proving ir right, depending on the result) and I personally also see it as an experiment on what has happened to the computer gaming market today. Fewer and fewer games like Flashpoint are being made today, more and more mainstream is being pumped out of an industry which has forgotten everything that 'creativity' stands for. If I can make these CS-players actually enjoy Flashpoint - if they can find the thrill in a two hour patrol just like us - we've proven that these mainstream games isn't what the market wants. It's just that the public doesn't know better, they think that 5 minutes of doing the same stuff over and over again, round after round is the only thing available.

Of course, I could be completely wrong as well. Maybe the people want the EA-crap after all. As I said, that depends on the results.

I'm going to put these 10 lads through intense training the next few weeks. I'm going to teach them how to communicate and unteach them how to write "omg u fukkin n00b cheatz00r" in the game chat. I'm going to teach them formations and unteach them to run about like mad chickens, especially with a knife pulled out instead of a rifle. I'm going to teach them patience and unteach them that even though they die, 2 minutes of waiting is NOT enough to start writing "omg, camper, die plz". I'm going to teach them how to depend on your teammates and unteach them to call each other n00b everytime they make something wrong.

Or I will fail miserabley.

http://project-flashpoint.blogspot.com/

[xawery 0]

Where did you get these CS kiddies you speak of? And what will the training look like? I mean, is it going to take place online, or are these fellows actually in your physical vicinity? What are the criteria for 'passing' and 'failing'? Will we be able to observe the progress of the project (FRAPS captures, etc.)?

Sorry for all the questions, but this reminds me of Bratcamp and Beauty & the Geek:p

[dmakatra 1]

Sorry for all the questions, but this reminds me of Bratcamp and Beauty & the Geek

It's a serious experiment, but it does have that stamp on it does it?

Where did you get these CS kiddies you speak of?

I snatched them off a big CS-community in Sweden, Fragbite. I looked for volunteers and got a huge amount of applies, so I decided to take a good mixture of people that are CS-fanatics to those that just play it for fun.

I mean, is it going to take place online, or are these fellows actually in your physical vicinity?

Online.

What are the criteria for 'passing' and 'failing'?

I discharge people if they are just impossible to deal with, that'd probably be counted as they've "failed". At the end of the project I will have an "exam" which will be a versus game against another real co-op squad. If they play well (they don't have to win) they will "pass".

Will we be able to observe the progress of the project (FRAPS captures, etc.)?

I will take screenies and write reports after each training session. I will also record the voice comms, although that will be in Swedish.

And what will the training look like?

It will be a mixture of the tactics I've learnt through my active squad-days (mainly the 23rd/The Rifles, although my membership was brief I learnt a lot) and tactics I've developed myself that I have seen work on LANs, etc. I'm not an expert tactician but I do know a lot more than the people I teach.

[Marco.A.Aguilar1 0]

I know what you mean, but I usually place the CS kiddies in the 13 year old range. I hate it when they yap on the mic. I remember this one server I played on had an admin that was 12 years old who was on 24/7. This kid had a power trip.

[GoOB 0]

I had the misfortune of being forced to participate in a PCW together with a few friends back in 2002, ever since then I have a hard time to accuse CS of being braindead dog shite.

There was teamwork, tactics and relying on your teammates to cover your back and react to the situation at hand, I still hated it, but I realized that it isn't possible to label CS a game that requires little or no brain activity to be able to play it. Oh, and isn't a public CS server just as mature and patient as an OFP one? I for one despise playing OFP in public servers almost as much as I despise playing CS.

EDIT: Fun idea though, this is what I wanted to with my friends

[NeMeSiS 11]

Sounds like a nice idea, i would recommend WGL5 though, standard OFP can quite easily be won without thinking and a bit of practise

[dmakatra 1]

I had the misfortune of being forced to participate in a PCW together with a few friends back in 2002, ever since then I have a hard time to accuse CS of being braindead dog shite.

There was teamwork, tactics and relying on your teammates to cover your back and react to the situation at hand, I still hated it, but I realized that it isn't possible to label CS a game that requires little or no brain activity to be able to play it. Oh, and isn't a public CS server just as mature and patient as an OFP one? I for one despise playing OFP in public servers almost as much as I despise playing CS.

EDIT: Fun idea though, this is what I wanted to with my friends

That's the idea with the whole project really. To prove the prejudice of CS-players wrong.

[dmakatra 1]

Sounds like a nice idea, i would recommend WGL5 though, standard OFP can quite easily be won without thinking and a bit of practise

I am not used to WGL5 I'm afraid, so no can do, although it's a good idea. We will be playing with the excellent Swedish Forces Pack, though, since all of us are Swedes.

[xawery 0]

Will you be playing it because you are Swedes, or is it excellent because you are Swedes? I smell bias here

Hehe, don't mind the Beauty & The Geek stamp, I rather enjoyed that show (mostly due to inherent geekiness on my part). Also, bear in mind that B&TG was being touted as a 'social experiment' ad nauseum, so the comparison is easily made

[dmakatra 1]

Will you be playing it because you are Swedes, or is it excellent because you are Swedes? I smell bias here

It's an excellent mod in all it's own, not just because I'm a Swede. If you haven't tried it yet I suggest you do because it's got loads of little features that takes weeks to discover.

[Garcia 0]

I had the misfortune of being forced to participate in a PCW together with a few friends back in 2002, ever since then I have a hard time to accuse CS of being braindead dog shite.

There was teamwork, tactics and relying on your teammates to cover your back and react to the situation at hand, I still hated it, but I realized that it isn't possible to label CS a game that requires little or no brain activity to be able to play it. Oh, and isn't a public CS server just as mature and patient as an OFP one? I for one despise playing OFP in public servers almost as much as I despise playing CS.

EDIT: Fun idea though, this is what I wanted to with my friends

Actually, I used to play on the same footballteam with a guy that is now one of the best CS players And when you see people playing on that level, CS isn't just run and shoot, it is indeed a lot of teamwork and tactics...

[Guest Ti0n3r]

I've had my share of CS/CSS, and I don't think I'm worse of a OFP player than anyone else. I bet you'll succseed

* bookmarked

[Espectro (DayZ) 0]

I stopped playing Counterstrike back in beta 3 (1999 I think it was)... After that it just went boring

[j w 0]

Good luck

[-ZG-BUZZARD 0]

I played CS from beta 5 to CS 1.5, right up to Steam (I like Steam even less than my router which doesn't even allow it to work ). Whilst I mostly played on public servers, more often than not the more "mature" team won through coordination, cooperation and communication. Of course I've seen my fair share of childish behaviour in CS but my experience told me that the best teams out there are those that work on an almost military way. Hence, I believe that good CS teams would also make good OFP teams. I wonder though, will your test be played out as a CQB scenario? Could be that CS players are more used to that, and if that's the case and the "real" OFP team gets its ass kicked... well, let's say I'm interested in the results!

[USSRsniper 0]

and how they will learn, maybe we need OPFOR team from OFP hardcore players like us.   And see how CS-kiddies will be "pwning ppl w/ their l33t skillz"

CSS is not that crappy game, maybe public servers are that are filled with CS-kiddies, even 6-year olds play CSS and already use "l33t language" So CS-kiddies dont only range between 13-16

[j w 0]

Or do like the most TVshows with the same concept are (som ZTVs FCZ ), train them, and when you think they are ready, make them go a CTI or something against RN or another good CTI-clan/squad/team/whatever they like to call themselves.

Regards

JW

[dmakatra 1]

J W: That's already planned. As a final exam I want them to face a co-op clan. I also want them to have a few joint-ops before that. So any co-op clans out there willing to have a go at this?

[Garcia 0]

I don't think a CTI would be that good at testing them, at least not as the "final exam". You could rather have some test combats with others in a vs CTI, and make the final exam a more tactical mission. IMO CTI is not a excellent cooperative and tactical mission.

[Daniel 0]

Very interesting idea Dma, tried asking any of the higher ranking 23rd lads? It might even be more of a test to get them to work with another co op squad. Might be a better display of training.

Good luck.  

EDIT: I agree about the CTI, a more realistic scenario based mission would be better.

[Garcia 0]

You should try having training with people already playing OFP sometime See how they work together...

[ran 0]

I could try to get you some simple basic infantry acts and reflex schematics and sketches from some french manuals.

Don't forget that OFP's scope is relatively large, so you'll have to give them basics in topography and land navigation along with some "common tactical sense" on a much wide scale than what they could have met in OFP.

[dmakatra 1]

OK, lots of misunderstandings here.

The final exam WILL be a tactical mission. You know, the sort of game mode that doesn't have any real name (I personally call them intelligent TDMs) where one co-op clan faces another. I personally hate CTI because of the arcade-like gameplay so that is out of the question.

I will be looking for joint-ops and perhaps even joint-training in the future, once I've taught them some standard tactics, so I will be looking for co-op squads in the future that want to participate.

EDIT: ran: Yeh, I know. I wouldn't take this project on me if I didn't think I could teach them this stuff.

[xawery 0]

I know you won't be using WGL for your training, but might I suggest some attack & defend missions by the Zeus folks? These player vs. player missions are simple in concept and incredibly deep in game play. One team is tasked with defending an objective (e.g. a city) while the other (obiously) has to capture it. Both teams need a lot of cooperation, coordination and anticipation in order to succeed. You can read my rather gushing AAR's of these missions in the Zeus thread in the Multiplayer forum:)

To put it shortly: a player vs player, objective based mission is IMO the best test for tactical & teamwork abilities.

[dmakatra 1]

Aye. I'm already planning this, only with Swedish Forces Pack.