.Seraph belongs to APOC’s Army which is well known in the C&C Community. This „Army“ is a kind of Caretaker against cheater, dcler and other problems. APOCs Army has already banned several cheater and DCler. Their work is really important also the cooperative work has to be saved.
We are proud to present you an detailed interview with Seraph, who told us a bit of the workflow of APOCs Army Enjoy it
Have fun!
You’re doing volunteer work for EA’s so called Apoc’s Army. What is your task there?
My field of work is quite diverse and has changed in the course of the last years. At the beginning, I monitored the Cheater/DCer thread at the official forum. Right now, I’m responsible for the TW/KW fairplay section of the UF by looking to the threads there and writing weekly reports for Apoc. On top of that, I supervise our internal Cheater/DCer database, suggest serial bans and monitor the ingame chat lobbies. Finally, I’m a mod at the official forum.
What does your job offer you so you don’t just quit?
There are several reasons. The most important would be the international team I’m working with. During the last years, cooperation has evolved into friendship, we met at the 2009 GamesCom, and we stay in toucu outside our „job“. The second reason would be the insight that without our work the online situation for many players would be very frustrating. I have played TW/KW since the day it was released, about 3000 games, and know the problem of DCers, lobby abuse and hacks from firsthand experience. Finally, Tiberian Dawn was one of my first games back in 1995, and I have played every installment of the saga since, thus being part of the community. You feel connected to them and don’t want to let them down. If you can help, you just keep doing that,
How does catching and reporting DCers work?
Every member of AA has his or her specific task. Some monitor gr.or, some the official forum, and I., since I’m German, watch the UF. I check their fairplay section daily and read the threads. Based on the statements there, the course of action varies. If it’s a simple DC erport, I check that players database entry, other reports about him, look at his DC rate and match history, and if he has been banned before. Then, I decide if a report has enough hard evidence so that it warrants being forwarded to LA. If it’s lobby abuse, I save the screenshots and incorporate them into my weekly report. If it’s a hack, I watch the replay to see if the accusations are true, and ask, if that is the case, for a serial ban. While every case is unique on it’s on and the actions may change, this is what has developed over time and has proved most effective.
Do you rely on the community’s help? How can we help you?
Without the community’s help, we couldn’t do our jobs at all. We can only follow up on violations if they are reported. I can only ask people: report those violations.
How long have you been a member of AA and how did you join?
I joined AA in the fall of 2007 when it didn’t have ist name yet and basically consisted oft he former mod and now Assistant Community manager 2poc aka nukewave. He had made a thread at the official forum asking people to help him combat DCs. In the course of time, more volunteers joined, we have improved our techniques and effectiveness, and now we’re a good team.
Will AA be used for C&C4? What C&C parts are you paying attention to in the future?
After the release of TT, we’ll keep on monitoring TW, KW and RA3 like we are now. Even though the number of active palyers has unfortunately dropped considerably, there’s still a very active community that deserves our support. Regarding C&C4, our work will made much easier through some key technical changes since DCs will be able to be associated with the palyers who caused them and counted as a loss. With that, the biggest motivation for DCers will simply vanish, and DCing won’t be a problem anymore. For hacks and lobby abuse, we’ll have to rely on the community to keep reporting them, and they will be acted on.
How important is cooperation with the community for you, and what do you attach great importance to?
As I already said, we couldn’t do our work without the community. Apart from that, the contac to the mods and admins at the UF is very important, and we have developed a good cooperation there,
To what extent does your work for AA influence your daily routine?
Since I can manage my time quite freely do to my real job, that’s not much of a problem. Also, by dividing the work into small units, you can spread it across the week so you can do some stuff each day. Thus, it’s usually not more than an hour a day.
What tips can you give us to protect ourselves from Cheaters or DCers?
There’s no real protection, but you can heed some warning signs. Look at your opponents stats. There might be some players who can manage a 67/0 streak, but usually, those are DCers. The same holds true for palyers with great stats who kick your main but will play your smurf. Do not play maps with official names whose logo isn’t shown in the game lobby or that need to be transferred to you. Over time, you’ll develop a sense for such things.
What do you think will happen with C&C in the future? What is your opinion about C&C4?
C&C is very much alive, and Apoc has a lot of aces up his sleeves in terms of what the future will bring. C&C4, I haven’t palyed that much so far, on the one hand because of a lack of time, on the other because the game mechanics in the first builds of the beta didn’t really appeal to me. I still believe it will find its fans.
Is there anything else you’d like to say?
I understand that every player who reports a violation would like to see swift and tough action being taken. Sometimes, things like that take time, and not everyone who is reported will be banned. Also, behind the scenes, this whole process isn’t as easy as it seems. I’d appreciate a little bit more patience from the community. We take every report seriously.
Thank you for the interview, please tell the community something about yourself, what hobbies do you have, what do you do in your free time.
Besides my work for AA, I play other games, of course (due to a great weekend deal by Steam, I’m playing UFO: Enemy unkown again), I go running, I play soccer, meet friends, the usual stuff.
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.
