WAPCP. Not as cool as WASP, I know, but still.

Thorbjörn a.k.a. Powdersnow - or Powsterboy - came up with the brilliant idea of a Power Challenge crew presentation thred!

Because let’s face it. Not all crew members are as hooked on going on and on and on about themselves as I am. Well, noone, actually, except maybe Powdersnow himself. (and Sipwell, but although he’s our prime time all star philosopher, he’s still not “crew” as such. plus everyone already know who he is)

So for those of you who have been reading the blog and desperately wanted me to shut up, and let the others speak - today is your lucky day! An entire thread filled with PC crew information and personal details…

Enjoy!

p.s. if anyone manages to solve the 2 cats-mystery…please let me know!

It strikes me ever so often: I love my job. I feel genuinly happy coming in to the office, seeing the people, the weird drawings, pictures, messages everywhere (we sort of collect those and tape them to walls and desks), my best friend: the coffee machine, the small talk, the news, the community, the games. It feels like home.

Today’s release made me feel more proud than ever working at Power Challenge. And it’s not so much to do with the graphics or AI, goalkeeper improvements or career mode.

It’s all about the people.

The ones I work with every day, as well as the ones out there: our fabulous community.

I think it’s safe to say this was our best update and most spectacular release so far - and that’s great. But even greater is how unbelievably fantastic I feel when I’m surrounded by the Power Challenge People, all helping out, pulling together. Friends and colleagues, as Patrick would have put it.

Do I sound religious? That’s ok. Who wouldn’t be a believer on a day like this?

/ Linda - more coffee heading her way

A famous dictum says “Standing still is moving backwards”. If a system does not evolve, it will disappear. Think of Soviet Russia. Research has shown that it did not disappear because the magic worked out (the revolution was made not by the people but by the power), it disappeared because there was no magic left. The system got stuck in the late seventies and didn’t evolve anymore (Ironically the Soviet Union was brought down with a fax; the system itself was too late to respond to that “novelty”). The dictum also explains (partially) why Chinese communism seems to survive. Throughout its recent history, the Chinese government has radically rethought its goals and its ambitions. China will have a system of high speed trains in the next years and is already, both secretly and openly, researching tools to block climate change. Most Chinese companies think ahead, only those who manufactured goods for the West – cuddle bears, clothes and other commodities – perished in the recent global crisis (the possibility to adapt is also the reason why the West fears China nowadays: not because it has the largest number of people on this planet but precisely because technological evolution is a clear ambition of the Chinese government).

Of course, a national system is not a game or an internet page… But is the dictum correct for these too?
For sure. The internet has seen in the past many bubble programs which were a huge hit at first – Second Life probably being a case in prime – but burst quite soon afterwards. Mostly the cause was… standing still. Currently we see some “walking dead” online: the aforementioned Second Life is now a deserted place. Hardly anyone – apart from some die hard fans – still owns an avatar or walks around. Second Life looks like all the cities around the Chernobyl nuclear reactor: there is proof of a past society (houses, goods, …) but everything is abandoned. Websites like myspace or twitter are equally doomed. Although the idea in essence is good, it leaves limited margin for “revolution”. Some features can be added, some inherent problems can be fixed but the “been there, done that” is always luring around the corner. People will get bored with the quazillionst twitter message from their absolute hero – you should try it: it is tremendously boring after a while – and they will look for new ways to express themselves. Somewhere in a backroom a tech geek is preparing the next revolution… to die out 5 years later.

Our beloved game does not fall into the “standing still” trap. Every five months or so a major update is launched. Quite amusingly, every update screen never fails to mention: “The most significant game update in our history is almost here.” They kept promise every time. Site radically changed. The gameplay radically changed. The forum radically changed. Features were expanded (from leagues over clans to now the career mode). It is almost as if you aren’t allowed to get bored. Once you get used to something (and you develop patterns of playing and certain stereotypes), it changes. The comparison with real life football is striking. Although there is a certain order in the quality of teams – Real Madrid will never demote – every new league start is a fresh start: new players, new opportunities and new threats. Powersoccer is just the same. Every update is a new start.
In the past couple of hours, I have been exclaiming “ooooooooh” and “aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah” all the time. Couldn’t get any work done. Curiosity forced me to be in Powersoccer. I honestly think I would have given a finger if somebody told me “give me your finger or I will pull the plug”. The website got an extreme make-over, gameplay got a radical update – making some actions less comical – and a new career mode was launched. We are given some months to adjust and then probably another radical change will be our part again.

The system evolves, the system survives and more than one hundred thousand people can continue to live the dream.

When somewhere in the world there is a serious earthquake, a all-damaging flood or a hurricane hitting hard, many countries have what they call a “Rapid Respond Force”, a team of highly skilled and severely trained people which can rush out within a day to come to the assistance. In Belgium that team is called B-FAST, the Belgian First Aid and Support Team. This team rushes out to sites to assist people, to give them first aid and to build up tent camps in order to make the site disease-free.
Why am I telling all this? Firstly because it is worth noticing that the world has become a better place if such teams are used all across the world. Misery and human suffering transcends political, religious or philosophical boundaries: in essence, we are all humans and we should all act as humans. That is in essence also something you learn through powersoccer: even if you are 1000s of kilometres away, you still act, sense and respond as a human being. It is something we, in these dark days, fail to see from time to time. Whether you are a Muslim, a Jew, a Christian or an Atheist, you are part of the (world) community and you should be looked after. Administrators are not “politically” biased: they help out everyone who is in need, from the poorest Bengali kid to the son of the Prime Minister of Great Britain. All on equal basis.
Secondly because crew last week performed an act of “Rapid Respond Force” that has led to admiration and felicitation. The update came with some unforeseen (and unexpected) minor problems. Rather than having to live with them for too long – like in many other online games where some bugs are hardly taken care of or where other problems remain there for as long as the game is online – crew immediately communicated to the community that they would launch 2 updates and immediately asked for feedback on those patches. Within a week, two sets of problems were fixed. They may need some minor tweaking, but the overall problems seems to have been taken care of. Major help was out with the speed of a satellite orbiting around the world.

I was so stunned by the speed I simply had to blog. It was a drift. And perhaps it was also a message to crew: now we for 100 % know they can act quick if the need is high.

It seems I have become part of the establishment. I woke up this morning, too early I might add, and discovered I had a key to the Magical Powerchallenge Development Blog. It found it on my doorstep, in a brown paper wrap with golden print and all the logos this company has. I opened the package and there was, written on parchment with a goose feather pen: “Dear Sipwell. Thou art the Chosen One. With thee Magical Key thy shall open the Gate to extensive blogging on the community development of Powersoccer.” The key was out of pure Gold and was massive and had a ball and a racing car as imprints! The trick however was to find which door to open…
Our good friends over in Sweden – and elsewhere in the world so I’ve heard – may be bursting in traditions, they are and will remain Gamers for the rest of their lives. And in how many games do you actually get a key AND a door where it fits directly? None. You have to look for the door. That is the eternal quest (and in some games even the only goal). In some games you have to slaughter ten dragons first – and a Superdragon at the end who can both spit fire and dance the lambada to make you die of laughter, a cunning tactic – and in other games the door is on a hidden place, one you only find by sitting in front of your screen for weeks in a row, giving up and starting to browse the internet or ask colleague gamers. So I had to look for the door as well…
It seems I found it. I won’t tell you about that endeavour, about the cold and near-starvation I went through. I only can inform that, if you manage to survive that challenge, you really are part of an elite. You really are cunning, intelligent, clear thinking and MacGyverish. As I rejoined all the crew members at the end place, it means we have a spectacular crew creating brilliant games, as they survived this ordeal long before me!! How great is that?
On a sidenote – and as I have went through the same struggles you did, dearest crew: we do want to see some more MacGyver in Powersoccer! I know you can do it, as you have proven it on your long journey towards the Magical Kingdom of Powerchallengia. Wouldn’t it be awfully cool if, when the ball was almost in the goal, the game paused and we got a puzzle: “stop the ball with a) two electrical wires, b) a funnel, c) a 2 volt battery and d) some Swedish pie. You get one minute.” Then another Power Challenge starts… Think about it!

Anyways, for those short in time and unwilling to descend in my somewhat absurd yet quite amusing world, here is the short, dry, accountant-like version: thank you Powerchallenge for the opportunity to blog. I really appreciate what you guys are doing with the games: they have evolved spectacularly over the last 2 years (when I was playing). The Community knows you are a great team and is looking forward to yet another level of fun you always seem to be able to bring to us.

Ok, so I shouldn’t read too much into this, I mean, I’m fundamentally crap at PS, I never fix any bugs, I don’t produce any hot graphics, I’ve never created, started or killed a demon, never once programmed a game server… so basically I’m not essential to this game at all.

Still…some people consider me being their favourite crew… ME!?

look how shocked I am:

I knew you wouldn’t believe me. But look for yourself, the truth is out there. In the forum.

Most of the Power Challenge crew are back at the office today. Some are home sick (coughing, throwing up, crying…) and some are still on holiday.But most of us are here. And even though things feel surprisingly the same, there are actually some changes taking place.

We started this new year off with a moving-around exercise. We altered the teams, the focus, the desks. So now I’m actually sitting where Powdersnow used to sit! Kind of classic. (but he took his gold medal with him… greedy)

Anyway. As I sort of told you at the end of last year, we’re gonna put some more time, people and effort into Power Racing from now on. We’re NOT letting go of Power Soccer. We’re still keeping a team for soccer and there will still be features developed - we’re just moving some of the previous soccer people over to racing. So instead of one fabulous online sports game brought to you by Power Challenge - there will be two! Isn’t that just excellent news?

Well, just wanted to say hi and let you all know we’re back at work. Back in business, so to speak.

See you out there, on that giant freeway called the interweb.

// linda