In CoD We Trust

The second part of the the two-part interview with Tally (from Rise of the Resistance and Tally’s World) and {PST} Joker (from the eXtreme+ mod) is up on the BASH webcast site. The episode is called: In CoD We Trust.

We called the episode by this title because we have to trust that Infinity Ward will finally listen to the community that will buy their new game Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. They did not hear us very well after CoD or CoD2 and they built themselves a terrible reputation because of this.

Up to now, IW hasn't had to worry too much about this bad rep. Sure the "cognoscenti" in the CoD world have all been atwitter about this apparent snub (no cognoscenti worth his Italian loafers likes to have his views ignored), but this hasn't stopped the game-buying-public from flocking to the CoD series.

Having said that, the Call of Duty community has never been as strong as those that formed around lesser FPS games like CounterStrike. Is this due to the lack of involvement with the community by IW and Activision. In my opinion - of course! It's in IW's interest to build this large community for their financial security going forward.

Well IW seems to have gotten religion (as they say in the south). With their pending release of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, they have invited the leading lights in the CoD gaming world to an all-expenses paid trip to their studios, they've hired community scripters and modders, and they've got Rob Bowling (fourzerotwo) doing community relations.

Will this new glasnost-like approach from IW mean that the CoD community will grow? Or is this fuss all show from IW...a publicity stunt, perhaps, to sell their new game?

To discuss these issues, I bring on Tally and Joker, both leading lights (heck, they're not just leading lights: they're high-beams) to discuss the lack of communication.

Why hasn't IW made it a priority to listen to its customers?

Tally:

"...it's always been a mystery that IW makes these great games but they've been crap at community relations in the past...Grant Collier took us out to dinner and he was very candid with us. Grant told us that the reason for the lack of community response was that ... here was this very small company, Infinity Ward, in the days of CoD I, that grew into this massive organization...and they couldn't cope with the rate of growth. "

Is the new interest in the community a publicity stunt? Will they listen?

Joker:

"...they sat us down and said, here's what we've done, what do you think? And don't tell us we're not listening."

Will things change going forward?

Tally:

"...they've turned things around and this is a dawn of a new age in the relationship."

We also ask Tally and Joker to talk about the truce between the eXtreme+ guys and ww2x! What will the truce mean to the modding community at CoD?

Joker:

"...the war between eXtreme+ and ww2x was never a war that concerned me and frankly I didn't care...in the background I was always talking to Marc (ww2x). But I did start to see it affecting so many other people - people that were leaving our forums that were peed off. So I saw the community affected as a whole. Talking to Rudedog and getting a peace...this is a healing event for the community."