Interview with zh1nt0 - DICE Battlefield community manager

zh1nt0

Ostvaren je kontakt sa DICE community managerom, koji je rado odgovorio na pitanja koja smo mu postavili.

1. ABOUT zh1nt0

- Please describe yourself as a person, and give us few words about you at DICE.

A: Well, I was born and raised in Stockholm, Sweden but I like to see myself as more of an International person. Not really feeling at home with being branded as a nationality since I've visited a lot of countries, familiarized myself with different cultures and languages.

I am a 23 year old relaxed guy. I have a university degree in Education and worked a while in the PR/Marketing areas of corporations. When I'm not twittering, forum-posting or even gaming, I spend time with my girlfriend and our friends. We usually go out together and enjoy eachothers company.

My job at DICE is about running different projects, giving first-hand info to the developers from the Community and also arrange Community events for the players. My plan is to make the Community feel like they are a part of something really big. That is what I wished when I was playing and I had some really awesome years in the gaming world. It's just right that I give back the same pleasure to every single person in the Community.

- What is the real meaning of the nickname "zh1nt0"?

A: Haha! You guys would probably like a whole biography and a really fantastic story about the nickname zh1nt0 but it's really not that glorious :). It's a new gamertag that I had to make on all three platforms, twitter, forums because it's the tag that was available.

"Shinto" is actually derived from Japanese mythology. Since I am a huge fan of Japanese culture it was an easy choice.

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- Have you ever been in Serbia, or any other former Yugoslavian republic? (Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia, Macedonia) and if you did not,

have you heard of the music festival called "EXIT" which takes place every summer in Serbian city "Novi Sad"? ( lots of world's greatest bands were there)

A: I have actually never been to Serbia but I would really like to go! (*Hint, invite?*). I have a lot of friends from Serbia and Croatia so I've been invited over there but I never actually took the time to travel there. Haven't heard about that Festival before but that is absolutely something I will check out. I really love festivals :). I've attended various concerts in Sweden but never abroad.

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- I have saw your twitter avatar with the guitar. Did you ever had a band, or you were just jammin' for yourself?

A: No, I have actually never played in a band before. I would like to though. Maybe we could start a "Battlefield-band"? :)

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- For the final, about yourself... What is your biggest dream?

A: Wow, I have so many dreams. I guess I should stick with Battlefield and DICE-dreams :). My dream is to be the best at what I do and build up a Community based around a great game like Battlefield. When I visit different teamspeak adresses and servers I'm absolutely amazed and stunned by the level of dedication from the Community towards the game. If I don't like a game I just throw it away or sell it at some shop so I am truly being inspired all the time by the Community.

One thing is for sure though. The dream about packing this Community with events, updates and info as much as I can. Right now, it's the slow period in Sweden but coming this autumn we will see many interesting "Community-things".

While we're on the dream issue regarding Battlefield I would like to see more female players in Battlefield. Female clans, female forum-posters, twitter-followers.

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2. BFBC2

- Is there any possibility that DICE will bring us back Capture The Flag mode in BFBC2? And, why did you guys abandoned this mode in all battlefield games after BF 1942?

A: In order to evolve a game or a product, you need to be prepared to try out new things in the way you design and program a multiplayer-game. CTF mode was indeed a very popular game-mode played by many people around the world. I don't know at the moment if the CTF mode will come back to any future games but I find it would be kind of a nostalgia trip to steal someones flag. So, my guess is as good as anyones.

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- In the future, will there be some mode or expansion which will "open up" new leveling after lvl 50 which is current the max? I think that you should implement such thing which will keep the gamers occupied.

A: I haven't heard anything official about it yet

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- By the previous experience I had in some of the multiplayer games, there was common problem with the large friend list in some games which have caused ingame LAG.

Is this the main reason why is friend list limited to 20 players? and when do you expect your guys will expand it so that we can add more players in the list?

A: Its not the cause of any lag but it was implemented to reduce load on the EA Servers at launch. There is no current schedule to increase the friend list limit. If you want to play with your friends I suggest using Xfire which is a great tool :).

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- Have you guys ever thought that clans should be able to register their clan tag? So the clan leader can manage clan list and give permissions to certain nicknames to wear clan tag? In the situation we have now, anyone can put any clan tag.

A: This is an interesting idea to discuss. I'll be sure to write it down :)

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- Are we going to have some major happening like BFBC2 tournament sponsored or organised by DICE? I think that gamers would love to see that.

A: That is actually one of my biggest plans. It is a complicated procedure to set up a global tournament. The sponsoring and speaking about it in theory is actually very easy in comparison to actually manage to pull it off. Seeing it as a puzzle, making all the right parts fit perfectly is what can take some time. I am however really interested in this idea and well. We'll see what the future holds :)

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- Can you tell us, what is the main priority for bug fixing in BFBC2 now?

A: We have received loads of input on the bug-fix list in the forums with people pointing out many interesting things for us. We have decided not to prioritize the bugs from top to bottom but to bundle the forum list and see what is doable since everything has a high priority from start. Keep giving us feedback and supporting the Community with your suggestions on what to fix. There is a great forum post here:

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- Is there any chance we will have game recorder? it is very frustrating to record a video with FRAPS without High-End PC.

A: We would really like to give the Community to record their in-game crazy stunts. There is really no reason for us holding back a feature like Battlerecorder. As it has been said to me several times, Battlerecorder is not ready for the Frostbite Engine yet. With the fact that it's not ready does not mean that we aren't looking into the possibility of adding it. So, we are reviewing and trying out different ways to implement this feature into the game so everyone can see your kickass stunts.

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3. zh1nt0 as a BFBC2 player.

- Since I have played few hours with you online, I have noticed that your veteran status is 0. Why is that?

Do you guys have some "secret from the public" nicknames with which you are playing casual?

A: Well first off, my username needed to be created just for "DICE" when I started working here. My other account has Veteran Status but I will not reveal which account it is :). Even zh1nt0 needs some time off from people chasing him like crazy after his dogtags.

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- After your last game session few days ago, if you can take a look at the game as a third person bystander.. What would you like to change?

Since I receive a lot of info about what needs fixing, constantly thinking about them makes me a bit biased towards what should be changed. I have experienced many of the things we get feedback for but I am yet to discover a few other things that need changing.

If I take a step down from the role now and try to visualize what I would really like to change is to reduce the splash-damage for CG. Remove Res-invulnerability and also decreasing the power of the AT-guns.

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- Which weapon or "way to kill" annoys you the most when you get killed by that?

A: Haha! I have a whole list of them. Sniper Rifles, Carl Gustav and Grenade Launchers. Pretty much anything from an unproportionate distance. Mortar Strikes really annoy me the most though.

The fact that I am getting killed many times, which my stats also reveal, annoys me a lot :). Being an old and present Q3 player, running and gunning is my tactic which does not really work out that well in Battlefield :)

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- What is your favourite weapon / kit / class in BFBC2?

A: Assault! At the moment I'm totally hooked on the STG 77 Aug. The awesome amount of power that comes out of that rifle blows me away. I do however play with medic to be able to revive and get me some medic points. Makes leveling a bit easier :).

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And, for the end..

- Are you going to surprise us once, if you can gather DICE players (Baza, Demize, etc..) with the newsflash on the forum/twitter with the words "Come on all, DICE is online at our server waiting for opponents" ?

Or, can I arrange a friendly match versus DICE as I can gather the best players from all Serbian Clans?

I think that could be fun.

That sounds like a lot of fun! If we play on servers we will announce it via twitter/forums and other communication channels of course. So keep following twitter, forums and the blog for a surprise update :) The possibility of playing against certain regions only is not really a large priority since we don't want to leave anyone out :). So wherever you are in the world, join us for a game on the servers!

Untill next set of questions, THANK YOU zh1nt0!!!