Welcome to FPS Spotlight!
FPS Spotlight is a series that features the online communities of First Person Shooter games, ranging from hardcore clans to casual players in server groups.
Introducing the Vanu Sovereignty faction from Planetside One! This purple empire uses technological superiority to defeat its enemies, and their weaponry revolves around less traditional lasers and plasma instead of the bullets and guns of the other two factions. Its vehicles are capable of hovering and traversing across water with ease. If you are looking to play with gadgets and would enjoy a science fiction feel to your fighting, this is the empire for you. In their own words;
Technology is Might
The first outfit that we are looking at from this faction are the Ghosts of The Revolution. GOTR has been around since the early stages of Planetside One’s beta and has grown steadily since then, enjoying a large membership base. They are not exclusive to Planetside however, GOTR also play other games such as Star Wars: The Old Republic, and Minecraft.
They have a steady set of rules for each game called ‘The Pillars’, which members are expected to adhere to, and they are incredibly open and friendly to new recruits. In the current leader’s own words.
‘GOTR is an organization of friends and comrades that work together to become a machine that is greater than the sum of its parts in order to ensure complete battlefield domination and the maximum amount of enjoyment possible.
I had the privilege of interviewing the current leader of GOTR, Robocpf1, to gain some insight into how the outfit fits together.
Can you tell me a little about yourself?
I’ve been playing video games since I found the family Atari in a box somewhere and helped my cousin put it back together. My parents bought me a Playstation when I was a young boy and I’ve been hooked ever since. I started playing online games with the Warcraft series (not WoW, the original RTS games, like Starcraft). I began FPS games with 007 Nightfire, a gift from a friend. From then on, I’ve been hooked on PC gaming. I joined Ghosts of the Revolution in October of 2006. I was given lead of the outfit in August of 2008. I enjoy long walks on the beaches (seriously, they’re actually pretty enjoyable) and long drives through the plains of Cyssor in my Thresher. Happiness for me (on the internet) is a group of at least ten GOTR members in squad and on target, ripping up our foes and having a blast.
How did Ghosts of the Revolution start out?
GOTR began a bit before or during Beta of the original Planetside 1. To be completely honest, I wasn’t there. I became Outfit Leader in August of 2008 after having been a member since late 2006. We started out small but grew exponentially; after only a couple of years we had maxed out the “outfit points” which are like an outfit’s score in Planetside. Each point corresponds to 1000 experience points. The cap is 10 million, and we got there first.
With a game as large as Planetside 1, tactics play a huge part of the virtual battlefield. Could you give us an insight into some of the tactics used by your outfit?
Our biggest strength, the one that separates us from other outfits, is our divisional system. We don’t group all 100 people into one channel and tell them to ‘Go’, we separate them based on playstyle. Tank drivers and gunners, fighter pilots, infiltrators, saboteurs, engineers, snipers, you name it. We let everyone be at their most effective while also allowing them to have the most fun. When people enjoy what they’re doing, they become better at it. Meshing our divisions together (Air / armor, infantry, and special ops) makes GOTR into a full-scale invasion force, which is our goal at any given time. We don’t want to have to call in reinforcements. We are our own reinforcements.
Secondarily, since I’ve become Outfit Leader I try to focus on the unconventional and unpredictable. Sadly, in a game as old as Planetside, that can be difficult. Everything’s been figured out, the players have had ten years. But we try to change it up as much as we can anyway.
Espionage is also a large feature of the tactical game play. Have you ever encountered difficulty with spies from other empire’s?
In Planetside this doesn’t happen as often as you would think. Once in a while we have had members of other outfits join us to see where we’re going next, then tell their buddies on the other empires so they can be ready. Other than that, no real “espionage”, no. Infiltrators can usually provide all the intel an outfit needs – there is a cloaked aircraft available for use in Planetside called the Phantasm. Have a few infiltrators mount one of those and go wherever we need in order to see what the enemy is doing. You don’t have to log on to another character, they facilitate the Spy role quite nicely.
Empire loyalty plays a huge part in the Planetside community. What attracted you to your faction?
Originally, I played NC – I liked the color scheme, the shotguns, the look, everything. I eventually switched VS to play with a good friend of mine, the guy that actually introduced me to Planetside. When he stopped playing, I would still log on to VS once in a while to play around with all the lasers, and one day in sanctuary I saw a column of Magriders (our hovertank) circling one of the buildings. I had to be a part of that. They were recruiting in the Broadcast channel, I signed up right then and there and have been with GOTR ever since.
Could you describe GOTR in a single sentence?
Probably not accurately, no, but I’ll try. GOTR is an organization of friends and comrades that work together to become a machine that is greater than the sum of its parts in order to ensure complete battlefield domination and the maximum amount of enjoyment possible.
Organization in Planetside is difficult to master. It’s a huge responsibility to manage hundreds of players at a time in a FPS environment. Do you have any tips for anybody interested in starting their own outfit?
I see a lot of starting outfit leaders on the forums at Planetside Universe or other places. Some of them know exactly what they think their outfit is going to be doing without ever playing the game. Some of them have no idea but want to figure it out as they go. That’s fine, there isn’t any one philosophy that’s superior, their ideas will work given time and effort – but the most crucial thing is, DELEGATE. Do not try and do everything yourself. Find good people, good leaders that you trust and that you can count on, get them in, and let them help you. When I first became the OL of GOTR I tried to do everything myself – all of the recruitment, all of the policy, all of the administrating, all of the dispute mediation, AND tried to run one of the three divisions and all that it entailed. I crashed pretty quickly. It took a few of my officers one night saying “TRUST US. We can handle this if you LET US HELP YOU”. And that’s what I’m saying right now – you cannot do everything yourself and expect to be successful or have any fun, at least in a large outfit.
What would you say to anybody interested in joining GotR?
No matter what I say, it boils down to “hop on Mumble with us and join our operations”. There isn’t any tagline I can add or video I can show you that fully encompasses what this outfit is and what it’s about. Just hop on voice and get to know everyone. I will say that if you’re interested in having fun, in organization and being a massive force without overly militarizing things, GotR may be for you. We do not troll, we do not spam, we do not grief – our members are some of the purest gamers on the internet – they want to play, to win, and to have fun. We aren’t elitists, and we aren’t a zerg – we are an army. And that is what we strive for.
GOTR has created quite a few videos in the Planetside community. Could you tell us a little bit about the ‘Rick James Maxperiance’ event?
Rick James Night is a GOTR tradition that dates back to February of 2004. It all started when Dave Chapelle began airing the skits about Rick James and Charlie Murphy. When Rick James passed away, we remembered the skits and decided to honor the guy with an event that consists of as many MAX crashes as possible in one night. It’s insane, you can find the videos on YouTube, and it’s a lot of fun.
Has GOTR created any other community projects or events that you would like to talk about?
We’ve teamed up with other outfits and organizations in the past to deliver nights of hilarity and excitement to the game as a whole. The great Lodestar Derby of 2008 (or 2009? It all runs together) was an entire-empire event done by the Vanu Sovereignty. We started out in Sanctuary with over fifty Lodestars (the game’s population was much diminished at this time) and accumulated more throughout the evening. We would fly our massive squadron of Lodestars in (big toasters with engines) and drop them on enemy formations and vehicles by bailing out at the right time. It rained Lodestars that night. After the enemy got wise to that, we switched to the Liberator bomber and pulled between 30-50 of those. It was hours of constant bombs raining down on the enemies, it was amazing.
How do you feel about the approach of Planetside 2?
I’m very excited to be here with GOTR to break into this new game. I wasn’t around during the first few years of Planetside 1 – the proclaimed “golden years” of the game. I’ve always wanted to be in a video game and in a group from the very beginning to build the relationships with the players, the community, and to get a few “firsts” under my belt. I imagine most other players are the same way. I’m loving what the devs are doing with the game and I look forward to assisting them in beta with all of the outfit.
Playing Ghost
I had the chance to play with GOTR and experience the community for myself. Commentary on the mumble server ranged from aggression and tense moments during fire-fights, to apologies and calm during the lapse n combat. We talked about Planetside Two, video games in general, Planetside itself and tactics, before engaging in a max fight with the Terran Republic. Then the real fun began, as the Ghosts moved out to take Gjaller from TR.
Operations with the Ghosts were incredibly small and compact, with massive focus on small effective teams of operatives that would aim for a single objective together with incredible teamwork. The chat itself was very open and inviting, everyone is able to give an opinion on the current situation however this may slow things down but it works for the Ghosts, who constantly discuss options and tactical information. This open approach to the game leads to more potential for adapting on the fly, but also leaves an opening for confusion amongst the sometimes hectic talk on mumble.
One of these small operations was a generator hold movement. The four of us dropped in via galaxy and attacked a base, smashing the defenses and rushing into the gen room where we promptly blew it up and managed to hold it for a good 10-15 minutes before the TR were able to push us out. During this mission we stole chain-guns and med kits from the fallen TR soldiers, laughing at how they were providing us with the resources to continue reinforcing our hold on the base. It was good fun and even when we finally died, a resounding sad chorus of ‘awwww’ echoed in the mumble before we regrouped and headed for the next target.
Discussions on the MAX unit erupted into a full scale comparison between the three empires, and I was interested to find out that nearly everyone had played or tried out the other sides max units at one time or another. We talked about the various type of MAX unit, Anti Air and Anti Infantry, and the specialization of each type for the empire. The chatter quickly quieted down as we defended a base we were capturing, with squads assigned to defensive positions around staircases and doorways while holding the command center, moving very swiftly and fluidly to react to enemy offensives.
Community
I also spent a few moments on on the forums, asking the members of GOTR about the outfit and community. The response was amazing, with over 20 replies and several videos and screenshots, there were so many wonderful stories that I wanted to share! So here are just a few of them.
What has been your most memorable experience in the outfit so far?
That’s tough, I’ve had so many awesome experiences with GotR. Hopping on the continent during raid night and turning the tide of battle is certainly an amazing feeling. But I’d say my favorite part is the Sunday Fun Raid. There’s always a theme and it’s always a blast. For example, one such event is called, “Over the Rainbow”. We all load in mobile artillery units called “Flails.” A few people run defense while everyone else fires glorious colorful beams of doom upon our enemies.
-Bravix
Empire loyalty is a huge part of Planetside. What attracted you to the Vanu Sovereignty?
When I first started playing back in 2003, I was already well on my way to being the type of nerd and gamer obsessed with science fiction as opposed to any other genre. I played games like Halo as much for the story as for the action. The VS just jumped at me from the get go in Planetside as the faction to be in for me. Advanced technology, energy weapons, alien look and feel, and the underdog element helped too. There’s just something there that attracted me to them without a second thought to the other two factions.
-XenoPenguin
What would you say to anybody interested in joining the outfit?
DO IT! As a new member, I found myself captured instantly by our efforts daily. We have raid nights and fun nights, but every day I log on, there is ALWAYS a squad open and ready to kick some NC and TR asses, no matter what time of day it might be. Community? Pfffft! It’s a glorified family of hilarious, organized individuals that are willing to communicate in any way they can, and promote any ideas you can bring to the table. I wish I was a poster boy, cause I would twirl a hilarious, illegible street sign on the most dangerous intersections of the world…just to amp the amount of active players looking for a dedicated, team oriented outfit! (I can just see Robo looking for the sign shop now)
-FenixPhyre88
What brought you to GotR?
I had been part of a large spec ops outfit that was full of a lot of the VS’s top killers. One day I decided I wanted a change and was on Cyssor flying around in my Mosquito. I spotted a Galaxy hovering over a large body of water and decided to provide air cover. I didn’t know it at the time but it was full of Ghosts. I escorted them all the way to their drop and then followed the Gal on its outbound flight where it found a secluded spot and waited. I asked him what he was doing and he told me he was waiting for the next drop. This process repeated several times and I decided that this group knew what teamwork was so I joined up with them and have been with them ever since roughly 2005.
-AuroraX
How do you feel about the approach of Planetside 2?
I can’t wait. I know that a lot is going to change and I’m sure there are going to be some frustrations but overall I think it’s going to be a great new challenge. It’s going to be great to have a huge influx of players to fight against and along side. I really think that the larger well organized PS outfits are going to go into the start of PS2 with a big advantage. But I also think that other clans and groups from other FPS games will catch up real fast. The persistent world and dynamic is so different from the small 16 vs 16 or 32 vs 32 maps that it’s going to catch a lot of people by surprise. By like every other time in history, people will adapt and overcome.
-Nugent
Summary
You can get in contact the Ghosts on their website. I had a fantastic time playing with GOTR, the Ghosts took me from continent to continent and we even entered the caves at one point. I met some incredible people in the community. It was difficult for me to write this article, because there was so much I wanted to say, so many people who deserved a mention and a feature. GOTR, to me, feel like a big group of close friends that play games together.
They are open, fun and inviting, and very easy to talk to and get involved with and have a laugh while playing. Even when the going got tough, and the chatter died down slightly as we got serious holding a base in a operation led by the leader himself, GOTR had a very light and playful feel to them as they danced through the base in organized squad formation dealing death to the attacking TR trying to retake it, laughing all the while.
Will I go back and run with the Ghosts in the future? Absolutely. Although I remain blue at heart, after just one day with the Ghosts, I feel as though I could walk back through the door tomorrow and be welcomed with open arms, a pat on the back and a cheeky smile while being asked what took me so long to come back in. If you play with the VS and are looking for a friendly home, GOTR may be just the one you are looking for.
