What leaderboards need these days is nationalism.
At least, that is the case the makers of the upcoming mobile turn-based battle game Military Masters are making. Players will be able to group themselves into digital platoons beneath the flag of their home country and compete against the rest of the world for the honor of having their home soil named Best in the World. I recently spoke with David Phan, product manager with Military Masters publisher DeNA, to gauge how to distill and gamify patriotism and whether that is a good thing.
Military Masters is a game poised for patriotic flair. While not as vitriolic in its enthusiasm as – say – Bro Force is for classic film Americana, the game’s arsenal of military vehicles like tanks and helicopters (each with multiple stages of combat and status effect skills) feels like something Patton could be proud of. The betting nature of choosing to spend your limited pool of action points granted each round on either re-rolling dice to randomize your team’s defense and initiative statistics or launch a major area attack also does a fair job hinting at the high-risk gambling nature of military force. Adding flags just feels like a natural extension to this kind of gamified, down-to-basics warfare.
In general, leaderboards group players together for multiplayer matches usually by skill level, internet connectivity, or left up to personal preference. These groups then compete against other groups of players in ranked and unranked matches for bragging rights and greater group and individual scores. What Military Masters aims to do is “…to stir the flames of patriotism” by assembling player forces by geological location, complete with digital flags.
The Masters team then run monthly competitions and themed events between the nationalized player teams. The tournament-style ascension to a “war finale” between the highest-ranked countries culls the losing teams to third virtual-world status. Winning teams will each get a “…unique vehicle that is only available in this world war finale event,” supposedly one of the highest tier unlockables in Military Masters, and ones players cannot unlock or purchase.
In true World War fashion, the regions with the most active mobile gaming populations are the ones selected for flag-adorned combat. About 1/10th of the world is actually fighting 100% of these so-called “World War” matches, with smaller countries or regions without large-scale mobile markets left out of the conflict. At least in that sense Military Masters has secured a hint of historical accuracy. But if your country is not on the initial rollout for a flag and a platoon, fear not.
“…we know we may have missed some regions who enjoy the game and want to unite under their country’s banner,” wrote David Phan in email. “In this case, DeNA has excellent customer service options in-game and online where players can speak up and let us know that they want their country represented in-game. We’ll be listening!”
But is nationalism the best addition to the already competitive arena of online gaming? To those behind Military Masters, the move is more akin to a soccer match than a UN military action negotiation. “We hope to inspire the passion that people have for their national sports teams…” David Phan wrote. “…by allowing players to group themselves under their country’s banner and pit themselves against other banners from around the world.”
But to those that get a little jingoistic, the Military Masters team will be watching.
“DeNA and the Military Masters team are extremely sensitive to respecting our playerbase when it comes to their online behavior,” wrote David Phan. “We will be closely monitoring all the game’s various channels from in-game to social media, doing our best to squash any rudeness or bullying in our community. That said, we don’t mind seeing some friendly elbowing and banter between platoons and regions around the world.”
If we as a planet are lucky, we will limit World War III to just these mobile server matches. Military Masters is pitting countries against each other in a virtual sports match of tanks and dice rolls, complete with that most important of ingredients: tiny flags. We will just have to wait and see whether patriotism drives up play time. If not, these guys made just have to add mutually assured destruction in the next update.