Battlefield 1942

Battlefield 1942 is a three-dimensional, first-person shooter (FPS) computer game developed by Digital Illusions CE and published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows (2002) and the Apple Macintosh (2004). The game can be played in single-player mode against the computer or in multiplayer mode against players on the Internet, although the latter is the more popular option. As the title suggests, the game is set during World War II. Battlefield 1942 is popular not only with players, but also with the large-scale community of modders (modifiers) who write new content, levels, and simulations for the game. In this way, the game follows the tradition of games such as Half-Life and its sequel, Counter-Strike (which, in itself, is a mod), as a game that allows the source code to be freely used, adapted, and sometimes even improved by its own users. The game won various rewards on its release in 2002 but is in fact a uniformly average example of the FPS genre.

In Battlefield 1942, players take the role of one of five different types of solider, each with different attributes. In this respect, the game contains a clear carryover from roleplaying games (RPGs), in which character classes often dictate a vital part of each avatar's ability and relative strengths. Like many RPGs, this means that the emphasis of the game is shifted toward cooperative play, with each character class providing its own benefits in a group situation. Online group play involves large groups of players in opposing teams who try to either kill their way to victory or secure/successfully defend key points on each map by gaining or losing “tickets.” The game ends when either one side has lost all of their tickets or certain objectives are fulfilled. This type of PvP (Player versus Player) scenario deliberately means that players have various gameplay options, although usually, strategic group play is the more successful route.

In the online incarnation of the game, these missions are repeatedly carried out by players on opposing teams. Battlefield 1942 was one of the first games to seriously consider its online persona as a multiplayer PvP event within the game design. For this reason, the cooperative elements were heightened in the game; an aspect which, ironically, caused a great deal of difficulty during the early months of the game for players used to solo play in online FPS games (even in what might have appeared at first to be group situations). Early bugs in the game [Page 70]such as unstable spawning points, coupled with some obvious exploits and the high level of PvP grief play meant that, initially, this aspect of the game was even harder to achieve. However, these elements were gradually tweaked or removed.

Battlefield 1942 demands that players form swift trust groups who need to work collectively and cohesively together in order to succeed; however, the transitory nature of these groups, as well as their unpredictability, means that the social processes needed within the game are as important to success as good gameplay. It is this latter aspect that has become a core part of PvP gaming over recent years, and as the understanding of it grows, designers often seek to introduce conflict through different goals and objectives in order to make the game both more complex and more rewarding when a win is achieved. Overall, it is also this human aspect—the fact that players are fighting against and with other people—that has led to the ongoing success of PvP online gaming.

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