Hostilities between the ArmA 2 community and the OFP:DR community

The reason why I'm writing this thread is because I've recently seen an increase in trolling, flamefights and misunderstandings between both communities which are completely unnecessary.

To outsiders and people who're not familiar with one of the games and their history, the whole fight between the communities may seem weird, or even geekie. For those people, a small explanation:

In 2001, Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis was released. OFP:CWC was developed(made) by BIS (Bohemia Interactive Studios) and published(Taking care that everyone can buy the game somewhere) by Codemasters. OFP:CWC featured a completely new way of playing shooters. Most shooters before OFP:CWC where Run & Gun games, However, in OFP:CWC, realism was the key.

OFP:CWC became a very successful game which earned multiple rewards, like the GOTY(Game of the Year) reward. Because the game was getting sold at an enormous high rate, the game was supported from 2001-2005, which was quite a long time in that period.

But, Both companies wanted more; In 2005, during the development of Operation Flashpoint: Elite, both companies struggled with eachother, resulting in the split-up.

Codemasters achieved the rights to use the "Operation Flashpoint" name, and BIS achieved the rights to make a successor for Operation Flashpoint (Pretty weird, isn't?)

And, that's when both companies started to develop their own game; Operation Flashpoint 2, later called Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising was developed and published by Codemasters. ArmA, the successor of OFP:CWC and OFP:E, was developed by Bohemia Interactive Studios and published by Atari and 505 Games.

The Highlighted part:

Codemasters achieved the rights to use the "Operation Flashpoint" name, and BIS achieved the rights to make a successor for Operation Flashpoint

Is the biggest reason for the fights between both communities. And that's the long story of the whole split up. An OFP: DR community member once said:

"Girl meets boy, girl has boys baby, boy & girl fall out, Girls makes own baby with test tube, boy finds other girl."

And that is a very long story as short as possible, but still true.

Besides both forums, IRC is also used as an important tool to cause troll fights. A typical example from a week ago;

Someone from one of the communities went to the forum from the other communities, annoying and trying to get people angry with saying things like "Your game sucks" and then proudly went back to his community's IRC chat to show how many people he annoyed on the "opponents" forum by sending links, claiming them being dumb fanboys.

This is just one of the dozens of example both communities have seen. Besides they're just immature, they also represent someone's weakness. It's easy to anger people on the internet, but what do you achieve with it? Personal satisfaction? Respect from the community you're "working" for?

Now, we all know the weaknesses and arguments used against the "Opponents" game, So I don't feel the need to post them all over again, because it'll only make this thread another big spamfight, which both communities have seen too much.

The goal of this thread is to cease the immaturity from both sides. Although It'll be difficult, there are a couple of key parts that'll make this easier:

*Both games can be considered as "Mature" games, attracting an older crowd with more experience in gaming.

*Both communities are somehow looking for the same kind of game.

*Both communities have experienced people that had a huge experience in mod development, key fan site leading and talking to other people over the internet (Believe me or not, that's also a skill that only a few people have)

Personally, I think we shouldn't judge a game by its name, Quality and gameplay should be the primary goal from the developers. OFP2 has just as much chance to become a success/failure as ArmA 2, Both games have the ability to achieve the same level of fun and addiction as the old Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis.

I've spoken with people from both sides, considered as people playing key roles within their community, and they agree with this. We should try to stop the troll fights together, and try (in somehow) to reunite as one big crowd looking for the same kind of game.

I won't deny I've also made non-friendly messages sometimes, and in some way, I guess all of us did, However, we shouldn't live in the past, but make now and the future a better place for all of us.

To make this message effective as possible, I've decided to put it on both forums from both communities, they can be found here:

To the OFP: DR community: http://community.codemasters.com/forum/showthread.php?p=5393594#post5393594

To the ArmA 2 community: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?p=1363243#post1363243

Please, don't turn this thread into another flamefight, we've got more then enough of them already. I'd rather like to see positive messages about this issue which is bothering both communities. Together we can cease the immaturity from both sides.

Note 1: I'll fix any errors in the text ASAP to prevent misunderstandings and increase the readability

Note 2: Admins, please feel free to move this thread to another location if founded necessary.

Note 3: Please read the thread carefully before responding to it

Immature people will do immature things, I think it's pretty obvious that such actions aren't something we condone, don't see any reason why a thread is needed to state something that's so obvious ;)

ArmA2 fans, please leave the fans of DR alone, thanks.