BF3 Blog Community Profile: YouTube Producer Chris 'D0n7bl1nk' Vega

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. Thanks to Erik "Stadler" Zuuring from Battlefiedo for putting this series together. 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. Ialso manage Pixel Enemy Revive, a Battlefield-exclusive community channel. Outside of YouTube I remain a student, soon to be studying Web Design and NewMedia at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.

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2. What brought you into the Battlefield Community? Wasthere one significant moment that made you step from being a casual gamer towhat you do now? 

I was originally introduced to the Battlefield series by a middle schoolfriend. Back then, the current entry was the original 1942, which I grew tolove.

After a bit of a hiatus from the series (mainly due to not being able to affordupgrading my PC for many years), I got back into Battlefield duringBattlefield: Bad Company 2's PC beta. Bad Company 2 was the first onlinemultiplayer first-person shooter which I both was relatively good at andenjoyed playing. As such, it seemed a natural progression to go from aneveryday player to someone who made gaming videos and commentaries centeredaround the game.

3. In your opinion, what is your biggestobstacle in the Battlefield community?

My biggest obstacle in the Battlefield community is probably exposure.Especially on YouTube, Battlefield and its related content are completelydwarfed by other games in terms of viewer and subscriber count.

4. If there was one thing you’d like to see in theBattlefield Community what would it be? 

I would like to see even more interaction between EA, DICE, and thecommunity. DICE is already much better than most other developers aboutlistening to players' concerns and addressing them, but I believe there's stillroom for improvement. I understand that there is only so much money andmanpower to be spent on post-launch support, but certain major complaints thecommunity had with Battlefield: Bad Company 2 at launch were simply neveraddressed.

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5. What are your expectations for Battlefield 3? Are youexcited to watch the community grow even stronger?

Based on all the information and media released so far, as well as whatlittle time I had with it at E3, I have very high expectations for Battlefield3. 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 playercount on their platforms (a limit which I fully understand is out of DICE'shands; there's only so much you can do with such aging hardware).

While I fully expect Battlefield 3's release will result in a tremendousincrease in the size of the community, what I fear more than anything is thatsaid population increase will not be met with a commensurate increase in thequality of the community's individual members. Already with Battlefield: BadCompany 2, many in the community have lamented the increase in the number ofselfish players who appear completely disinterested in playing the game for anyreason other than racking up kills for themselves, regardless of whether or notthey help their team win in the process. In my opinion, this phenomenon hasresulted in Bad Company 2 becoming much less enjoyable for those of its playersstill interested in playing the game's objectives. Hopefully this trend willnot 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 tokick," 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 yourentire team on console.- Mod tools.- Many and varied game modes (vehicles-only and infantry-only being twospecific suggestions).- Some sort of training mode.

6. For a gaming community to be a community, what is themost important factor in your opinion?

I think the most important component of a game's community would have to bedeveloper interaction and accessibility. No matter how active or outspoken aplayer community is, if the developers aren't involved and willing to listen tocommunity feedback, community members will feel less like participants in thegame's ongoing development and more like anonymous consumers forced to acceptwhatever'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!

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