Planetside 2: In the Limelight...Garlock .

BLUF (bottom line up front): Garlock is a Planetside 2 player, who plays with the 666th Devil Dogs, a 1,600+ player New Conglomerate outfit on the Connery server that specializes in combined armed on a large-scale and continent capping. He is one of the outfit’s most experienced Force Commanders, a position that directs the overall strategic effort of a large Devil Dog attack force.

The Planetside 2 (PS2) community has had more than its fair share of panels and interviews with the elite outfits, the famous players, and prominent organizations. There hasn’t been much of a spotlight on the majority of the player-base; the casual player. The casual player’s perspective is in many ways so much different than a hardcore player. While a casual player can be competitive, you’ll usually find the difference in the overall philosophy and outlook on the game. Thousands and thousands of these players play everyday, just enjoying the game. PS2 is a game where you can actually wield the might of a massive player force (we’re talking in the hundreds). Garlock is one of those individuals who does it on a regular basis and makes it seem easy. This experienced Force Commander conducts large scale offenses and pummels anything that stands in his way. Here is my interview with him…

Where did you get the name Garlock?

I was 11 years old, had no imagination, and I had to come up with a pseudonym. I looked around the room and there was a yellow binder with the name “Garlock” on it, so I copied that as my name and kept it ever since.

Where are you from?

Vancouver, Canada.

What type of gamer are you?

A casual gamer, maybe slightly above. Honestly though, I give 0 fucks about pointless issues. FPS, MMO, RPG. I can only really concentrate on one or two games at a time, but I play almost all the genres. It has to be fun. Just the right amount of challenging, but can’t be too impossible like Dark Souls or Ninja Gaiden Sigma.

When did you get interested in gaming?

My first game was a text-based golf game. My second game was Pong (1972). When I got a Commodore ’64, a computer, that got me hooked. One of my neighbors had a huge repository of games that I could play all I wanted. It was an escape of fun. My first FPS was Maze Wars (1974) for the Macintosh, and Castle Wolfenstein (1992).

How did you get involved with The 666th Devil Dogs [666]?

I started playing PS2, lone wolfing during beta, not knowing what I was doing. I searched for PS2 outfits, saw the “Devil Dogs PAX bombing video“, thought it was awesome, so I joined up.

What is your exact role in [666]?

I am part of the generals council. As a senior administrator, I am a problem-solver, making sure that the outfit continues to be fun to play in and doesn’t foster a negative atmosphere.

What is it like being one of the leading members in a large outfit?

It’s awesome, because we are a difference-maker. There are a lot of good people and good friendships, this outfit is a melting pot of personalities that keeps players playing. I also almost never have to go through the “Oh, I wish I had XX number of people to do this”, phase. Having a large outfit enables this. We don’t have to continually coordinate with other outfits to fight with air, infantry, or armor.

What do you dislike about Planetside 2?

It is very time consuming, and takes a lot of energy. There are times when I have to deal with drama-storms.

How do you keep [666] relevant to Planetside 2 and the community?

I always encourage active science, which is testing out the game and just randomly trying things out. We are also constantly reinventing ourselves, ever evolving, doing open player platoons, creating cool YouTube videos, weird videos, and cultivating new ideas from new members and officers that in turn foster more improvement.

Do you feel any extra responsibility to your faction when [666] plays?

Because of our size and capability, yes. However, we are here to have fun. We’re not here to be the try-hards or be the spokesman for the faction. We’re here to play the game, enjoy ourselves, and take territory from the Vanu Sovereignty and Terran Republic.

Why play [666], why not a smaller, more hardcore outfit, or another large outfit?

Because I get to have a say in how this outfit is run, and I get to play with friends.

What other games do you play?

I also play World of Warcraft, Borderlands 2, and WildStar.

What do you concentrate on when you are in command of a multi-platoon force?

I focus on continent capping. My objective is to make the continent blue (New Conglomerate). There is no real advantage in finding and focusing on the large fights because those numbers don’t just disappear even if you win.

How do you approach commanding a multi-platoon force?

I have to first understand how each force works, their strengths and weaknesses, in order to employ each platoon’s strength against my opponent’s weakness. When I enter the continent, I do not look for a fight. Because we have so many troops, the fight will have to come to us or else we take the continent. Either that, or by the time we get to where the fight has been happening all this time, we have pretty much got what we came for. However, no matter what the situation, the focus needs to be on fun. It’s a game.

What type of leadership style do you feel works best with a large force?

Always, always, always, being respectful and understanding that you are dealing with personalities that are different from and may conflict with your own. As a leader, you need to know that you don’t know everything, with that knowledge you can gather people around you who can fill those knowledge gaps. That’s how you wield an effective fighting force.

I prefer the hands off approach to leadership. Let your leadership work, if leadership is breaking down, then you get involved. Trusting your leadership goes a long way, you cannot physically micromanage everything with a force of this size.

How is commanding a large force different than a smaller, more specialized force?

A large force makes you more effective on the map, in a shorter amount of time. Quantity in and of itself is a tactic. Additionally, utilizing training and practice makes a large force even more effective, and extremely difficult to stop.

 

Thanks for reading!  That’s the end of my interview.  If you enjoyed this article, please also look at my interview with prominent YouTube commentator, Wrel.

//Lanzer