June 2013
Community News & Information Vol. 112
Written, edited and published by:Snoid
Regular contributor:Bean
Staff writer:Position Open
- Community Statistics -
Total Posts: 292,872
Total Members: 4,613
Newest Member: Ahaillady
Most Online: 152
Spammers Stopped: 19,928
Bunker Gaming Community – What’s in a Name?
Since 2004, Bunker Gaming Community has brought people together from all four corners of the globe, from all walks of life, and from all ages. But what’s in a name?
Simply put, a bunker is a type of fortification built at least partially underground. They mainly defended occupants against air attack, but also from naval or ground based enemy forces. The term was first used in 1939 describing fortified German artillery emplacements on the Western Front, and the word itself is German in origin.
Bunkers come in two general forms.
The first type of bunker is the kind built entirely underground. Its sole purpose was to put distance and protection between two things: First, the attackers (usually aerial). Second, the people and resources that are to be protected. Examples of this type: The Cabinet War Rooms in London, from which Churchill smoked his cigars and directed the war effort (pictured below); the Fuhrerbunker in Berlin, where Hitler and his cronies did the same, minus the cigars. This type of bunker was not intended to house weaponry to fire back at the enemy directly; depth and protection were their mainstay.
The Allied bombing campaign of Germany meant that the Germans had to develop many of these types of bunkers to protect their civilian population. Sometimes they also moved factories underground to maintain production levels. Built of reinforced concrete, they provided shelter for hundreds, thousands, and sometimes tens of thousands of civilians.
The second type of bunker is that which is built partially above ground, and intended to be used to fire back at the enemy, while also protecting the occupants and their ammunition. Hundreds of these existed during World War II. They were built anywhere the enemy was expected to concentrate attacking forces. Below is a photograph of a generic example.
Examples of this type are are parts of the Maginot Line in eastern France (defending France against the Germans), the Atlantic Wall in northern France (defending occupied France against the Allies), and the Siegfried Line in western Germany (defending the German Reich against the Allies).
Below is a cross-section diagram showing how part of the Maginot Line worked.
The Germans constructed some really interesting bunkers in their attempted defence against Allied air superiority and its concentrated bombing campaign. They built massive flak towers with gun control radars and underground munitions storage. The largest one of these was in Hamburg and called the “Holy Ghost Bunker.” It was similar to the one in Berlin, pictured below.
“That’s all fine and dandy, Bean,” you might be saying to yourself right about now. “But why, man, did the ancient founders of Bunker choose that name?” Well, gentle readers, the answer to that question is shrouded in the mists of time.
But here’s what we know. The military nature of an actual bunker, and their frequent appearance in Wolfenstein maps, proves an obvious reason. As recently discussed in our forums, one of the founders of Bunker (a fellow going by the name of Tabasco, a.k.a. H20, a.k.a. Cybermarine) simply liked the name.
Tabasco and others were part of another clan: HSX (Hell Spawn Xtreme). It was Tabasco’s wish for a long time to create a community called Bunker. When he met up with Sudd3nd3ath and Belzebub, they created Bunker together and launched it into the world of Wolfenstein.
In addition, apparently there was an old gaming clan called Bunker, which had recently gone defunct. It made sense to use a name already connected with online gaming, capitalizing on its momentum. For example, if Apple went bankrupt tomorrow, many companies would rush forward to claim the name!
Diplomatically speaking, Tabasco soon found himself at odds with the rest of Bunker’s leadership, and he moved on. Bunker Gaming Community, contrary to popular belief, has nothing to do with the phrase “bunker mentality,” which is defined as “a paranoid sense of being constantly attacked by others.” Or does it?
Q: Tell us a little about yourself. Where do live, how old are, etc.?
A: I was born in Cornwall (South west coast of England) due to my Dad having a civil engineering job there. But at 1.5 years old he got an even better job in Edinburgh. My Mum&Dad and two sisters are Scottish - therefore I consider myself Scottish too (but that I am 1.5 years English!)
For the last 6 years I been living in a rented one bedroom east of Edinburgh. I'm 49 years old.
Q: What kind of work do you do?
A: I've been unemployed, mainly, for the last 10 years. I couldn't keep going at work due to short term memory problems and not managing to do the full time job - which I had kept for the previous 6 years. So I'm now receiving Incapacity benefit. From 1996 to the start of 2003 I worked in a guest house (a Georgian terraced building in Edinburgh)
It was a supported work experience to start with for the first 1.5 years - then I was offered a full time job (supported) as one of the people helping to fully run the guest house.
Q: Do you travel and if yes, where have you been?
A: In my twenties I had an old car, so a friend and I drove around Scotland for two weeks. It was a big adventure, as the car wasn't very powerful (hilly roads up north!), it was over heating a bit, the rear drive shaft rubber coupling broke - I had one spare with me;-0 and fitted it myself at a small highland village garage late on a Friday afternoon - the guy lent me some tools, and I gave him a five pounds note as thanks. And also during the tour, and especially on the way back to Edinburgh, the steering joints were seizing - very stiff steering - so it was bit hyper getting the wee car us back safely!
In the background is Eilean Donan Castle
This is a "Highland Cow" we passed along the way.
That's a lot different than the cows in Wisconsin!!!
That's me at "Smoo Cave" Durness, which is on the northernmost coast of mainland Scotland.
Me windsurfing at Gairloch.
Q: Do you have any hobbies or other interests, other than Wolfenstein?
A: Since a young child I've been interested in Motorsport - and of course the great Jackie Stewart and Jim Clark (amongst others) being very successful Scottish racing drivers was great too see!
I also liked "karting" when I was younger and in better shape. Here's me and a friend.
Another hobby I had was putting computers together - to upgrade my one and to sell. Other interests are with cycling - but now I just cycle to food shop, appointments, and see relatives. I can't afford to travel now.
Q: Are you married or have a partner?
A: I'm not married but I've had girl friends. Here's a picture of a very special friend, from Venezuela, I had from 2002 to 2004.
I also have an interest in keeping my computer running. I work on it myself and here are some of the latest upgrades.
Q: So how did you become interested in Wolfenstein and when did you learn about the Bunker Community?
A: Harry, the caretaker at the guest house where I worked, who is from the New York area, was studying computer programming. In 2002 near the end of my employment at the guest house, he mentioned to me - whilst I was doing the quiet late shift - that I should buy the great Wolfenstein dvd game, as it had a great online multiplayer link in it, and why don't I play it on the quiet late shifts on the work pc. I said to him I can't afford dvds and might not be allowed to do that on the work pc. So, it was then that he said he was helping in the development of a free version of this game called Wolfenstein Enemy Territory! So when I was 37, my girlfriend and I got the first pc at our home - a pentium 2. It was great to do this gaming free download and take up many hours of my unemployment (due to health reason), whilst my girlfriend was out to her work. I searched for a server and discovered Bunker.
Q: Why did you choose the name "Defender?"
A: I chose the name Defender, because, with my skills not good, and with a slow pentium two pc and slow broadband - I didn't stand much chance out there attacking and trying to learn the objectives at the same time. I chose being defender as the best way for me to get more enjoyment, and to help out the team back at base!
And here's something I think is interesting. I think the voice over - for objectives and encouragement on some maps is my old friend from the guest house, Harry!!! I'm sure of it. Some of you may have noticed me stating typing "yes Harry" when I heard him give out a few orders for objectives, lol!
I'll continue playing most evenings (some afternoons) UK time on Bunker4fun (and maybe parties at 2) as much as I can. Maybe now and again pop onto the great Bunker 1.
- OP ED -
Although I am still looking for someone to write monthly updates on the status of the gaming world, I received a one time contribution from Saevio on the new Wolfenstein game. I believe it is written well, and is a good point of view from a player perspective. So I am including the "Op Ed" (Opinion Editorial) in this TBT issue. Despite some ongoing controversy, which I will not write about here, I want to thank Saevio for his efforts and time writing this article.
Wolfenstein: The New Order - A critical look
Saevio
Bunker's facebook page reached out to me via JeyAem to show me an article about the new Wolfenstein. I just kind of shrugged, but then I saw that it gave a lot of people "hope". I'd like to critically analyze Bethesda softwork's prior behavior concerning video games and then conclude with an analysis on what I believe this new Wolfenstein will be.
I will, for this matter and case, very quickly bring you to what I believe is why you still play ET: Fast-paced, objective based combat with a respawn system. Very smooth engine that doesn't feel sloppy and allow for movement that feels very good and fluent.
I will not go far too in-depth about competitive gaming here. ETQW, Wolfenstein and Brink's competitive communities failed, and not because of prize money (which was really good), but just the fact that it took way too long for a promod to develop, especially with the limited possibilities given to mod developers. I will henceforth only look and analyze gameplay.
it's about movement and shooting - Developer's Diary #2, BRINK
Let me start off by saying that there is absolutely no gameplay to be seen in the trailer. None of the assumptions or statements I make is set to be correct, it is only conjecture based on experiences of the past and logical thinking.
This game is going to be released for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 and further next-gen consoles. What does this tell us? The developers will have to either port the console version to the PC, or the PC version to the consoles, depending on where their focus is. Where is Bethesda's focus? They are mostly known for the "The Elder Scrolls" series (Skyrim being the latest title) and the "Fallout" series, both First-Person-RPGs with subtle shooter elements (more present in Fallout than in Skyrim). They also released BRINK, Rage and Dishonored.
It is rather obvious that Skyrim and Fallout were designed for consoles, starting in an inventory system that didn't really put the efficiency of a mouse to use and could equally well be operated with only your keyboard. On PC, there were mods made for both Oblivion and Skyrim so the inventory wouldn't be horrid to use.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, original shopkeeper interface
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, "QD-Inventory-mod"
Apart from gameplay mechanics that weren't properly laid out for PC, Bethesda's spokesman Pete Hines had the following things to say towards Joystiq about PC gaming in 2011, while developing Skyrim:
'From a technical standpoint, the PC is a headache,'
'It just is - a million different possibilities of hardware, drivers, etc...As you saw with Rage, all it takes is some bad video card drivers and years of hard work comes off as 'buggy', when in fact it's a really solid, stable game.'
http://www.bit-tech....-is-a-headache/
Keeping these things in mind, I wouldn't say it's too farfetched to say that the focus of Bethesda lies within console gaming, not PC gaming, and the game will be catered around a console. Aside from gameplay implications (people die in a few bullets because tracking is not fun on a gamepad, if you've ever tried, you'll know), it also means that Bethesda is catering to the market that flows more money - console gaming. Bethesda has proved in the past that they don't really care for what the small, dedicated community wants - they want the big market, which is only logical for a company within an economy. ET2 will simply give less money than CoD10^2. Our fast-paced, aim-based Quake style shooters haven't died out because no developer had the idea to make one, it died out because it's no longer a profitable market.
Even if the developers did try to make amends between a fast-paced, ET style game and a slow-paced, can't-shoot-while-sprinting ironsight shooter, they proved in the past that it just isn't profitable. Here's a quote from the Brink Q & A, when Brink was in development. A Splash Damage representative called Richard Ham joined Crossfire and answered some questions.
"Q: Just to make it clear, I don't expect you to create ET2. I just want to have a fast-paced and smooth game experience. Free running as alternative to trickjumping? Damn, I'm fine with that as long as you implement it in the right way!
A: It seems perfectly reasonable to me to say that another one of those user-controlled 'hardcore match' settings could easily be 'disallow ironsights', along with user control over spread modifiers. it's options like that which make me (perhaps foolishly) believe we can make a game that crosses over between pub and pro play... :-)"
(note: Richard Ham doesn't mean "pro play" as in professional gaming, he means "pro play" as a high skillcap game, such as ET)
There was no such option in the final game. According to Richard Ham, most of the "ET-like" things had to go through to Bethesda and they had to approve of it. Bethesda wasn't fond of Brink being ET2, I assume they won't be fond of Wolfenstein: The New Order being ET2 either.
In conclusion, I would say that it is not far-fetched to say Wolfenstein: The New Order will not be anything like ET. I think you shouldn't get your hopes up for an ET2. However, that said, Bethesda always polished their games up (even if it had to be done post-release with patches, like BRINK), and their games are all entertaining to play. I believe you won't be disappointed in this game as long as you keep an open mind and don't compare it to ET, since that will most likely, just like ET:QW / Wolfenstein / Brink, bear disappointment.
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