Open letter: To the Playerbase

Open Letter: TO THE PLAYERBASE

S! Soldaten.

In recent weeks, the focus has shifted onto our low pop times and inevitably, some players have grown disgruntled with the Officers who operate during this time zone, or indeed sometimes the lack thereof.

As is always the case, some players are more frustrated by this than others, and there has been one or two 'heated' discussions regarding the situation. Some comments, oft repeated whenever there is a problem, are to be frank, insulting and more damaging to the games well being than most of you know. And it is on this subject I write to you all.

I do not represent the Axis Command when I write this, and my letter to you, is at it's heart, purely based on my own personal opinions and ideas.

Key to the most recent spate of debate, is the following points: [1] Axis Officers in the low-pop time zones are inadequate to the task or don't do their job properly, [2] There is not enough officers in these time zones, and finally, [3] insults, accusations and general disparaging and disdainful remarks aimed -broadly- at the GHC.

What a lot of players may not realise or in some cases, even wish to consider, is that we HC Officers are not an elitist group who play only for themselves. The very essence of our job is contrary to that. As an Officer advances higher through the chain of command, that Officer must devote more of his/her time to administrative duties, filling reports, officer evaluations, training of junior officers etc - and all of this is in addition to leading you the playerbase successfully in the field.

In short, we're here purely FOR the players - despite what some may wish to believe. But, at it's core, we too are players ourselves. And it is folly to believe that we would willingly permit actions that would ruin the game in any way intentionally. We're human and we do make mistakes.

But back to my point. TS3 is my time zone. I am the resident IKW[OCS] trainer for this time zone also. And of late, I have made a concious effort to provide more intel and communication to the Axis players. But, like many other officers - seeing comments on the forums that impune our intelligence, and often our integrity - turns a lot of Officers off.

TO be honest with you all, I did not log one single sortie during the 'mini-campaign' that went through so quickly. In fact, I did not log into the game at all. Because I felt the playerbase did not deserve my time.

Tragically, while I only took this stance for 3-4 days, some officers - indeed officers of a MUCH greater calibre than I could hope to be - have taken this stance permanently. They have resigned, they have even unsubscribed from the game simply because they, like me, have volunteered their time, changed their routines in real life in some cases etc, to willingly GIVE of ourselves to you the players. Even worse, is that most of these Officers were TS3 - our low pop.

Further for your consideration, I wish to point out that low-pop for us is also the Allied high-pop, and our Officers in this time zone, must defend hard often with VERY limited numbers, and throughout all of this, we must referee the chat channels to keep them from becoming a ceaseless spamfest of derision from disgruntled players. It is a glaringly obvious fact that we require more Officers during this time zone.

What might not be glaringly obvious to many of the more vocal advocates for GHC being drawn and quartered, is that their comments cause two negative reactions: [1] They cause the morale of the existing HC officers to plummet. Not many of us enjoy being called names and insulted or accused of being corrupt or unethical in our roles, and, [2] It lowers the enthusiasm of prospective recruits to the HC - after all - would you volunteer to do a job where you KNEW you were going to get yelled at, abused and insulted.

In closing, I would ask that players apply some more thought to their postings on the forum, MYSELF INCLUDED, and try to refrain from posting imflammatory or rude comments regarding either fellow players OR the HC communities. We are human as I said before, and we WILL make mistakes and we WILL ruin things from time to time just when you're getting into the swing of something. But the solution can't, and will never be, abuse, intolerance, ignorance or spite.

Teamwork, understanding, enthusiasm and a bit of tact might not be THE solution - but it's certainly a lot more productive.

As always, I am available in game during TS3 most nights for a few hours and, as always, any player on the Axis side may PM me in game and request intel or assistance from the HC.

Regards,
Praevus8