Why I Play World of Warships
As a newcomer, I was asked to participate in the game testing.
Of course, it took me some time to figure it all out.
But there were people who learned it faster.
And one of them, from the other team, sank me all the time.
I knew it was always him, even when he switched ships,
because I became very familiar with his playstyle.
One day, I decided to learn the names of all the other newcomers
who play together with me,
and I ran into an ex-colleague of mine at reception.
That's when I found out that it was him.
The one who sank me with his torpedoes all the time.
For old times’ sake, he decided to help me
and taught me some tricks and useful tactical approaches.
So, the game brought us together.
Frankly speaking, he still plays better than me,
but his mentoring helped me a lot,
and, probably, the most important outcome of our cooperative gaming
was that after a year and a half he proposed.
And now we're husband and wife.
I’ve been immersed in video gaming since my childhood.
In the 1990s, my entire family played the famous Battle City on a NES game console.
You know those warm family evenings,
but instead of sitting in front of a fireplace and reading,
you grab gamepads and play.
Several years ago, my father and I came across World of Warships and we loved it.
Then, I had to move to another city
and couldn't spend as much time with my parents,
but nevertheless, me and my father still share our results in the game.
It's a very emotional moment,
when you have scored three and a half thousand experience
and you send the screenshot to him and say, "Look dad, I totally owned it!"
I was offered a position at Wargaming, at Lesta Studio,
to work on content for World of Warships and I accepted it.
But my girlfriend stayed in Minsk.
Sometimes, when you don't see a person much and you don't speak very often,
you might somehow manage to have a quarrel.
And you want to start a conversation and it's really difficult
and then one of you can't stand it anymore and says,
"Well, let's play at least." "Ok, let's play."
You enter a battle, turn on your microphone, and then,
there's this awkward silence for 40 seconds while the battle loads.
And you sit there silent.
But then the game starts, "Where do we go? Which area do we capture?"
"Let's go there, they asked for reconnaissance, can you do it?
Oh wait, let's go there together." "Stay close to me, leave them behind."
"They'll have to deal with it themselves."
And it's very cool, when after a couple of battles, you're feeling good,
you smile, you laugh, and you're not angry anymore—
especially if a battle goes your way.
So the game became our common interest that helped us a lot.
I have a nephew, he lives in Moscow.
We didn't speak to each other often.
We only had a few shared interests
and they would sustain a conversation for 10 minutes maximum.
Then, he learned that I work on World of Warships.
He installed it and we added each other to our friends lists.
We played a couple of battles together and now I notice
that he's very often in the game and invites me to play in a division.
So, the game became a catalyst,
which enabled us to communicate with each other more.
It's a very pleasant feeling to realize that the project I work on
unifies generations and allows us to stay connected.
Once, I was sitting on a bench listening to music
when a man approached me and started telling me something.
I took my headphones off and the first thing I heard was,
"Do you play Warships too?"
I barely had time to answer
before he began talking about his favorite maps, ships, and so on.
After he colorfully described how he plays on his beloved Des Moines,
we got into a conversation and I told him that I'm part of the development team.
He became round-eyed with enthusiasm,
he was so overwhelmed that he mixed up his words.
In the end, we exchanged contacts and added each other to friends.
It was at that moment when I realized that I'm a part
of a huge player community and we all love our amazing game about warships.
I got into the game at an early stage of the closed beta testing
and I simultaneously developed modpacks: at first, it was the MTD modpack,
then the Alatriste and z1ooo modpack,
and then the Proships modpack.
Once I had a bit of trouble. I had a power outage at my place,
which caused my computer to short-circuit and, basically, fry.
When players learned about it, they got together and said,
"We need to help Medved."
And they gathered enough money for me to buy a new computer in one day!
I was shocked. And the money kept flowing in,
but I asked them, "Stop, guys! That's enough!"
I'll never forget it. The guys that play this game are amazing.
These are our stories and now it's time for you to share yours.
Record videos telling us how you started playing,
with whom you play, and how you play. In any format you like.
It can be a selfie video, family video, professionally edited sequence,
or off-screen voice with some gameplay footage.
You can find detailed information in the description for this video.
Use the hashtag and specify your game server.
The best ones will be included in a special compilation
dedicated to the anniversary of the project.