Hello CIRE, thank you for your time. Today we want to introduce you detailed to the community. Please tell us something about you!
Hello everybody. I am Eric aka “CIRE” (I know – very creative) and I work here at Victory Games as the Global Community Manager. I am 23 years in age, but started playing my first C&C game as a 10 year old small kid. Many thanks to my sister who luckily introduced me to the C&C franchise. I really loved the story with the cinematics in addition to the cool game-play. After spending a year in Ohio and the release of Generals, I couldn’t resist anymore, and became a dedicated part of this great community. Outside of being a CM, I have a normal life like most other young men my age.
You are now Global Community Manager of EA, respectively Command and Conquer.
A very difficult task, if you behold the person afore: APOC. Which feelings cause this and how does your new task feel?
There is one thing in which I’ve already beaten APOC – I am taller! But seriously, I know what footsteps he left behind and I have to try my best to fill them. It is a great feeling and a huge honor to be APOC’s successor. It also feels good to work with this great team to form the future of C&C. Everybody saw how disappointed the community was with C&C4, and that makes me even more anxious to see the reaction of the C&C community once we reveal the new project we’re working on.
Before you were promoted to Global Community Manger, you were CM for the German fans and the German Command and Conquer Community. You had a direct line to the German pages and a good deal more. How does your new task differ from your old one and do you already miss your old position?
Being a local Community Manager is quite different. One big thing I like about my new job is the fact that I am involved in many more decisions. That gives me the opportunity to achieve far more than was possible as local CM. But a blade has still two sides – There is much more to do and the decisions are even harder because they can have a really great impact in either a positive and negative way. So you have to think twice before doing a call.
As some already know, a Global Community Manager works directly at EA in the USA. This is quite a change for you, isn’t it?
I spent my 11th grade in Ohio, so I already have an impression of the way of living in the USA. To work exactly in the same place as most of the developers is really great, because you can talk to everybody face to face and decisions can be made much quicker. And the nice weather of LA compared to Germany is a great bonus as well. I am coming LA!
Alongside your activities as German Community Manager you were the administrator of the webpage www.CnC-Inside.de (URL sold to EA, new owner is UnitedForum.de!). What can you tell us about your time there?
I started at CnC-Inside in January 2007, right before the launch of Tiberium Wars. I had some really great times there and went through the whole community mood rollercoaster. Joining the CCI team gave me the opportunity to work closely with the EA Community Team, which paved the way for becoming a local CM.
What did attract you the most at your current task? What motivation did you have?
There are some thoughts I had. One big reason for me was to see the development of a game from the developer’s point of view. I’ve already seen it from the view of a community member and as a local CM, so the next logical step was to go into the studio. Everybody working in the industry is a bit crazy in their own way and that’s good, because you have to be different to be creative and deliver great games. The other big reason for doing this job is the opportunity to affect something in the development. I am not the lead designer, but I can bring new ideas to the table and talk to everybody on the team to try to improve the future C&C’s as much as possible.
What exactly do you associate with the brand Command and Conquer?
Most people would answer Tiberium, Kane and all that. That are great parts of C&C, but for me C&C stands for a great superior RTS experience which tries to deliver a peak quality in sound, game-play and atmosphere. I actually don’t like it that much when people nail the whole C&C franchise down to some really specific aspects. Moreover it should be a quality RTS product which entertains people and has a soul.
What will be your main goal, which you take in hand yourself, to help the community in the future?
The main goal is to do my job as best as possible. Many people would now expect that I would try to get patches out for every old cnc, get everybody the source code etc. But this isn’t a realistic goal. I think it is much more important to be a constructive voice of the community here in the studio. Also I want to try to bring myself as much as possible into all the background processes as a C&C and RTS fan, to bring C&C back to the crown of RTS gaming. This needs a team with as much input as possible, and that’s where the CM comes in again.
What can you tell us about Victory Games, the new EA studio and about the new Command and Conquer?
The new studio is great. We have these three offices around the world and everyone is specialized on a specific aspect of the game. That sets the base for delivering a AAA C&C game. Also it is great to know that there are still people on the team who’ve worked on C&C for a long time. Many people known by the community left in the past, but we still have some people here on the team who’ve worked on every single C&C since Red Alert 1!
Which Command and Conquer is your favorite and why so?
I like games with a soul and great atmosphere. So many C&C games could be my favorite, but two stick out in my mind. I really liked Generals because of the game-play experience; it just felt right, and the mods out there are awesome. I also liked the Scrin coming into the story of C&C3, because a modern RTS game needs at least three different factions who are played differently. That’s why I compare the Scrin a bit to the GLA, because both factions are extremely different compared to the other two competitors of every universe. Also the atmosphere of C&C3 was good for me, and I played C&C3 with friends almost as much as Generals.
What do you think about the future of Command and Conquer?
To look into the future is always hard. But I think that C&C can be at a similar point as it was in the 90’s.
What are your private goals and which hobbies do you have in your free time?
I like to keep my private goals private. But I am a normal young man, so I have similar hobbies as most of you.
Do you want to say some concluding words for the community?
As APOC did in his last interview, I also want to kindly ask for patience. This is a great community, probably “THE COMMUNTIY” out there, but you guys have to give us time. We have a new team in place to develop and form the future of C&C. We have to get to a point where we get over mistakes we have made in the past. If you just get beaten from the outside, you start losing the power to go beyond your limits to create something big – but constructive feedback is always welcome and useful. I am really looking forward to see this community reaching a new level in the future, supported by a AAA C&C game.
Note: The interview was done when CnCSaga.de and CnCHQ.de/HQBoard.net were separate pages, each with their own forums. The interview was conducted by CnCSaga.de at the time.
