My Favorite Online Thing

Battleground Europe is a massively multiplayer online game wherein thousands of players from literally all over the world recreate the battle for France that occurred in 1940 during WWII. Unlike other wargames, this one just gets better and better, and it’s 24/7, it never stops. It’s not cheap – a subscription costs $15.00 per month. That sounds like a lot, but the quality of play is excellent and it’s no more expensive than a magazine subscription or a month of Neflix movies. By the way, it requires a pretty up-to-date computer, but there is a client for both Windows XP and Mac.

Check out this demo video, bearing in mind that every soldier* and every vehicle that you see portrayed, moving or firing in the game is being played live by a real person sitting at their computer, somewhere in the world. It’s simply amazing.

The game is currently at version 1.27, but a new version 1.28 just went into open beta test for all subscribers, and will be released right after the holidays. On the average, the game is updated every two or three months, with new weapons and new gameplaying features. The following video starring one of the developers explains one of the new features appearing in the latest version.

The discussion forums are the best I have seen anywhere on the internet, particularly the Off Topic forum where everything from “airplanes on a conveyor belt” to “what I made for dinner (with photos)” is discussed. One of my favorite posters to the off-topic calls himself Molniya, perhaps after the orbit though молния literally means “lightning” in Russian. Molniya posts in his own uniquely inimitable style, and recently started this “humorous” thread about Chinese junk:

pole lamps..
you know them…probably own a few..
metal pole with 2-3-4 lamps stuck on them..
about 6 feet tall.. very..functional..if not beautiful..

went to tighten the nut that holds the heavy base and the tall
pole together..’twas getting a wee wobbly..

well..chunks of….stuff..fell out.

seems that the heavy base..that i sooo foolishly assumed was
entirely metal…thick aluminum..or perhaps 5 lbs of pig iron..under
that plastic base cover..
was..

plaster?..

the nut that holds the base to the pole is pressing on ..plaster of some sort..
or the worstest gawd awful concrete you ever say..
and it all…crumbled away..

as it must..
plaster does not have the strength to hold up for any length of time
under the stresses and strains imposed by a [nearly] six foot tall pole…
with three lamps..

plaster..i never would have thot of that..
now..i have 5 lbs of crumbled plaster being held onto the base plate
with tape..for the moment..

plaster…wtf..is there no law?..
is there no god to protect innocent americans from the
ravages of the chinese?

..this is deliberate SABOTAGE..there is no excuse for this..
there are millions of these pole lamps all over the usa…all..
crumbling into uselessness…only to be purchased again?

no more
now it’s WAR.

nuke them.
nuke them all.

we can make our own lamps..
real lamps..
with real metal..

we have the iron ore..
[or we can steal it from canukistan..when they are not looking..

So anyway, that’s where I’ll be.

* Exception: There are a few stationary artificial intelligence or AI units around army bases and towns.

~ by dobee on December 20, 2007.