August 2, 201114 yr If you follow the Battlefield community closely, Chris 'D0n7bl1nk' Vega's name may already be familiar to you. He's a Battlefield commentator and an occasional montage maker on YouTube as well as manager of Pixel Enemy Revive. To get to know him a little better, we asked Chris a few questions in a series that we call Community Profiles. Take a look! 1. Tell us a bit about yourself! My name's Chris "d0n7bl1nk" (pronounced "don't blink") Vega. I'm a Battlefield commentator (and occasional montage maker) on YouTube. I also manage Pixel Enemy Revive, a Battlefield-exclusive community channel. Outside of YouTube I remain a student, soon to be studying Web Design and New Media at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. 2. What brought you into the Battlefield Community? Was there one significant moment that made you step from being a casual gamer to what you do now? I was originally introduced to the Battlefield series by a middle school friend. Back then, the current entry was the original 1942, which I grew to love. After a bit of a hiatus from the series (mainly due to not being able to afford upgrading my PC for many years), I got back into Battlefield during Battlefield: Bad Company 2's PC beta. Bad Company 2 was the first online multiplayer first-person shooter which I both was relatively good at and enjoyed playing. As such, it seemed a natural progression to go from an everyday player to someone who made gaming videos and commentaries centered around the game. 3. In your opinion, what is your biggest obstacle in the Battlefield community? My biggest obstacle in the Battlefield community is probably exposure. Especially on YouTube, Battlefield and its related content are completely dwarfed by other games in terms of viewer and subscriber count. 4. If there was one thing you’d like to see in the Battlefield Community what would it be? I would like to see even more interaction between EA, DICE, and the community. DICE is already much better than most other developers about listening to players' concerns and addressing them, but I believe there's still room for improvement. I understand that there is only so much money and manpower to be spent on post-launch support, but certain major complaints the community had with Battlefield: Bad Company 2 at launch were simply never addressed. 5. What are your expectations for Battlefield 3? Are you excited to watch the community grow even stronger? Based on all the information and media released so far, as well as what little time I had with it at E3, I have very high expectations for Battlefield 3. I am especially pleased with the apparent focus on the PC as lead platform, although I know many console players are not very happy about the lower player count on their platforms (a limit which I fully understand is out of DICE's hands; there's only so much you can do with such aging hardware). While I fully expect Battlefield 3's release will result in a tremendous increase in the size of the community, what I fear more than anything is that said population increase will not be met with a commensurate increase in the quality of the community's individual members. Already with Battlefield: Bad Company 2, many in the community have lamented the increase in the number of selfish players who appear completely disinterested in playing the game for any reason other than racking up kills for themselves, regardless of whether or not they help their team win in the process. In my opinion, this phenomenon has resulted in Bad Company 2 becoming much less enjoyable for those of its players still interested in playing the game's objectives. Hopefully this trend will not continue with Battlefield 3. I asked my Twitter followers what they were hoping to see in Battlefield 3. These were some of their responses: - Improved hit-detection and netcode. - Theater mode/battle recorder. - Counter-measures to be used against griefers/hackers ("vote to kick," reporting system). - Server browser and/or improved matchmaking on console. - More unlockables spread out across all levels. - Clan support and better party functions. - Better integrated voice chat on PC and the ability to voice chat with your entire team on console. - Mod tools. - Many and varied game modes (vehicles-only and infantry-only being two specific suggestions). - Some sort of training mode. 6. For a gaming community to be a community, what is the most important factor in your opinion? I think the most important component of a game's community would have to be developer interaction and accessibility. No matter how active or outspoken a player community is, if the developers aren't involved and willing to listen to community feedback, community members will feel less like participants in the game's ongoing development and more like anonymous consumers forced to accept whatever's given to them. Thank you Chris for answering our questions and for being an amazing member of the Battlefield community! We are definitely listening to everyone's feedback and will try to make Battlefield 3 the best experience possible for everyone. We look forward to hearing your thoughts, seeing you more on YouTube and on the Battlefield! Good luck in school! Subscribe to Chris on YouTube Follow Chris on Twitter Source: View the full article
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