So I’ll start with the first one 20secondstopoop.com/ . I went on their forum and a very nice one it is too, registered of course, and left a post asking if they still played SOF and I got an e-mail fairly qiuckly but unfortunately their clan leader said that although their roots were in SOF they had switched over completely to  COD. Thats one down and LOTS to go

Most of the players who frequent the site are dedicated SOFers and like old school gaming. People like 50 Bellies, Slug, Doogie and lots more names long associated with the game. Again this is a version1 server so make sure you have V1 before you go on.

I would like to know a bit more about them so if somebody or even Suse or Princess would like to give me a bit more info I will update this post.The server ip is 193.138.205.140:20100

I you need advice on how to get version 1 on your PC you will find instructions here http://www.sofplayers.co.uk/sof2-v1.shtml

*Respawn*…

Somehow I know this is it…

This is going to be the run that will get the enemy defeated and their flag on our base. I know it… I can feel it. Adrenaline coursing through my veins… my heart racing likes a madman. All I can think about is the flag, the enemy’s flag. I envision myself running towards it, dodging bullets from all directions, jumping over exploding grenades and finally getting hold of the cold steel of the flagpole, gripping it with all the strength I have, shaking like a leaf from all the fear even the bravest of heroes would not be able to avoid.

But the vision blurs and the feel of my M4 and the sound of the tactical officer shouting orders in my ears against the sound of bombs going off and bullets impacting all around, slowly but surely draws me back to reality.

As the haze is lifted and the war-cries fill my ears I look to my left and see the frightened but determined face of a young soldier.

I know it’s Mole. I recognise him by the way he moves, by the way he smiles. I smile back but neither of us really knows why… We’ve been brothers in arms for what seems to be an eternity now. I see the tension in his eyes as I know it must be in mine as well.
We look at each other and we know that at this moment our lives are in each other’s hands.

I don’t remember who started running first but the next thing I remember is the sound of the snow under my feet and the branches of the trees brushing my face as we run past them.
I remember thinking this part of the battlefield looking so peacefully that it doesn’t make sense that Mole should be shouting and pointing so violently.

Then I spot the enemy soldier lifting his gun and aiming for my friend. In a reflex my training comes back to me and without thinking I lift my M4.
A little surprised by how slowly the world seems to move I see the curved trajectory of the M203… The grenade landing exactly on the head, as if it had a will of its own to land there, of what used to be an enemy only moments ago. A rain of blood and brains colour the snow-covered ground.
But I have no attention for that anymore as a ripping pain shoots through my body and in a split-second I know I’m hit.

Not understanding why I’m not panicking I fire another grenade, but the impact of more bullets on my arm make the grenade go wide and it misses its target completely. Then I see at least 2 or 3 enemy soldiers with a grin on their faces coming over the hill.

Realizing I will never make it to the flag I shout to Mole to run… RUUUUUNNNNN…
From the right corner of my eye I can see someone lifting an arm. One could be tempted to think he was only waving but I know the movement only too well…

All I can think of now is that the hand grenade mustn’t hurt my friend, my trusted Mole.
With the last bit of life I have left in me I jump…

Strange how a tiny metal ball can hurt so much when you land on it with your ribs, but in half a moment the pain is gone.

Relieved to finally be without pain I hear the shouts of my friend…
Laughing… I can’t stop laughing…
It’s silly I know but the sound of Moles voice makes me smile because I know he survived…
Thank Goodness… I didn’t die in vain…

Then the sound slowly drifts away as I get ready to start anew. Memory fades… and I find myself standing once again in our base with my fingers clutching the weapon at my side…

Isn’t it a great game?

-=Garbage Owl=- / FlatLiner

I could go on about how he has ill he has been and how well he has coped but he does it so much better himself. http://www.rogersblog.co.uk/

So instead of a whole load of pretencious shite I just want to wish him GOOD LUCK and Karen his wife too.

Created and developed by Raven Software back in 2000 Soldier Of Fortune quickly became the game to play. It spawned a community the like of which was  never seen before. Then, when in 2002 they released Soldier Of Fortune II one of the legends of on-line gaming was born. Even today with all the influx of new and more sophisticated games it still boasts one of the biggest and most faithful communities in the games world.

I, personally think this phenomenon is due to the fact that the main character is based on a real person. Not only did he give his name to the character, he became part of the development team. With his experience of weapons and behind enemy lines operations he helped make the Soldier Of Fortune that is John Mullins, come to life on PCs all over the world. But that is just a little bit of what John F Mullins is all about so I asked him if he would answer a few questions so that the people in the SOF community could find out who the Real John F Mullins is.

He very graciously agreed and you can read his answers below.

Firstly John let me thank you doing this I know you must do a lot of interviews. If you don’t mind some of my questions will be outside the SOF sphere.

Q.  “Ok lets start of with a simple one. How did you get involved with Raven and SOF in particular? “

A. ” I’d done some off-the-books work for the producer/creator of the Soldier of Fortune TV show, and he became acquainted with my background.  When the game was being developed Raven wanted to be as realistic as possible, hence they asked for recommendations for a technical adviser, and he suggested me. 
I came to development of the first game somewhat late. Some of the game details were pretty well set in stone by then, but I made a number of suggestions that were incorporated.  A short time later Raven contacted me and said they wanted a name and a face for the Soldier, and would I mind?  On something of a lark, I said yes.  I had no idea that it would grow to the extent it did. “

Q.  ” When you did you first tour in Veitnam in 1963 did you ever think that you would go from being one who spent his life trying  not to be seen to a character in a game visible by all? “

A.  ” I couldn’t even have imagined it at the time.  In those days, while anonymity wasn’t as important as it became later, we still avoided the spotlight.
  There are very few pictures of me or of any of my mates from those days, and even fewer as time went on. 
Now it’s to the stage where special operators have their faces obscured in photos, if they are to remain on active duty. 
The concern, of course, is that the adversaries will use any information they can get against you, and that includes going after your family. “

Q.  ” The weapons in SOF, how realistic are they? “

A. ” Reasonably, given that a shot from an M-4 is not going to take your head off at the shoulders. 
SoF II weapons are a bit more realistic in form, function and effects, mainly because I was able to get into the development process from the beginning.
  The one objection I still had and have is the targeting mechanism. I thought the shooter should be looking through the weapons sights.  Much more realistic. 
I actually had trouble playing the game because I kept trying to do that, rather than looking for the little crosshairs. “

Q.”  The missions in the game seem very plausible are they based on some level on missions you yourself  have undertaken? “

A.  ” Some of them are, but some of the ones that are, are still classified, so I can’t go into more detail than that. “

Q. “ In the time you have been involved with the military in varying capacities has ‘The Art Of War’  if I may call it that, changed greatly or does it still come down to the men on the ground? “

A. ” In some areas, it has changed.  We are far more reliant on technical gizmos.  Some of those gizmos I would have given anything to have back in the old days, primarily those dealing with communications, and the targeting of air support. 
Commo was always a problem, never enough radios.  Some of those we had, the joke went, you could only talk to someone on the other end if he was standing back to back with you. .
 Bombing tended to be a bit indiscriminate.  The VC and NVA learned early to “hug the belt”, get so close that supporting fires were as likely to kill you as them.
Now we have smaller bombs, they can be directed with near pin-point accuracy.  However, and this is a big however, the mission of the soldier is to close with the enemy, achieve dominance by fire and maneuver, render him harmless, and then set up to foil any counterattack.  And that really hasn’t changed for the last few centuries. “

Q ” In 1990 you founded a company called Longbow with a very new concept in weaponry could you tell me a bit about that? “

A.  “When Special Operations went full scale into the counterterrorism business back in the late ’70′s, it became apparent that a lot of our operations would be in urban terrain – the worst possible place for infantry operations.  Tactics had to be developed to account for that, and the last urban fighting we’d done (other than in the aftermath of the Tet Offensive in ’68) was in WW II.
  We had to develop tactics and training from the ground up.
 An early problem was with the effects of live fire in urban terrain (and you have to train live-fire – otherwise it’s little more than an arcade game).  Bullets would either overpenetrate walls or would ricochet off of them, both situations fraught with danger for your fellow operators. 
We tried all sorts of “shoot houses”, sand-filled tires, railroad ties, out in Saudi Arabia when I was working there we built an entire city out of two by fours and target cloth, but all lacked realism, and all had dangers of their own.
I decided that, if we couldn’t build a training site that dealt adequately with the dangers of standard ammunition, maybe we ought to change the ammunition. 
My idea was a bullet that would still give you all the effects of standard ammo (accuracy, weapons function, recoil), but would not ricochet, splash back, or overpenetrate.  A very long time later and having spent more R&D money than I’d ever thought possible, I had a product. ”

Q. ” You have made a few detours along the way in your life, one of them being writing four novels, why? “

A.  ” I’m too old and ugly to chase women, my body doesn’t like hangovers, so when you’re sitting in a hotel room in some place like Tashkent, Uzbekistan or Bobodiolassou or Burkina Faso, you need something to occupy your time.
 Seriously, I’ve always written, even while I was a kid.
 Journals, short stories, diaries, etc.  It was just later in life that someone took my writing seriously. “

 Q  ” In 1997 you did a teleplay ‘Soldier of Fortune’ did you get a lot of enjoyment from that? “

A.  ” It was, shall we say, interesting.
Dealing with the Hollywood experience is different than anything I’d ever done.  Let’s just say that I found it easier to train primitive tribesmen to be proficient soldiers than I did trying to deal with producers, directors, et.al.  (And I trusted them a lot more) “

Q. ” How have you dealt with normal day to day life after your professional experiences? “
  The guy who asked this was refering to PTSD which effects a lot of veterans.

A. “ So far, I’ve kept my hand in enough to not have to worry about normal day to day life for extended periods of time.  When and if I ever do, I’m sure I’ll have a different answer.
As for PTSD, I used to scoff at it.  With old age comes at least a little bit of wisdom, and now I realize that some of the things I’ve done over the years were not exactly normal behavior.
 Did my experiences contribute to that?  Probably. “

Q. ” Are you still in the ‘ Consulting Business’ ? 
Bearing in mind the old “If I tell you I’ll have to shoot you” thing, only tell me what you can.

A. ” Yes I am (see previous answer)”

Q. ”  Throughout all your many campaigns which would you say was the weapon you relied on the most? “

A.  ” The old standard M-16,and later its many variants (CAR-15, M-4).  You’ll read a lot about the problems many in the infantry had with the M-16 in the early days – a scandal in itself.
 The bullet was designed using ball powder, which fouls far less than “stick” powder.  However, the bean counters at Picatinny Arsenal had lots and lots of stick powder still on hand from loading operations on the obsolescent 7.62mm, and wanted to use it up.
It fouled the weapons unmercifully.
Given my experiences with bureaucracy, I’m sure the ones who did this probably got an incentive award. “

” Now we have a different problem.
Some genius decided that the 5.56mm round we used in Vietnam didn’t have the necessary operating parameters for operations on the plaines of Europe. 
After all, the Soviets were going to come pouring  through the Fulda Gap any day, weren’t they.
So the round was redesigned to be more accurate out to 350 meters (never mind that your front sight post obscures a man-sized target at that range, making an aimed shot almost impossible), and have more penetration
at that range (be able to penetrate a standard steel helmet).
That required a longer, heavier bullet, and one that held together enough to penetrate that helmet.  They ended up with a steel or tungsten cored bullet that met their parameters, but had a small problem.
The old lead-cored bullet tended to fold over at the tip when it hit its target, causing the bullet to tumble and create a much larger wound channel. 
The new one just zipped right through – a 5.56mm hole in the front and a 5.56mm hole in the back.
As the troops in the Blackhawk Down operation in Somalia reported, “You had to shoot these guys three or four times before they knew they’d been shot.”

“As to backup weapons, I fell under the spell of the Browning Hi-Power. It felt right, it was more accurate than the old arms room .45s we were issued, and the magazine held 13 rounds rather than seven.  After a couple of times of having to shoot someone more than once (the 9mm round tended to overpenetrate) I went back to the .45, albeit in a highly accurized form.  There’s no magic bullet that will do exactly what you want it to do, each and every time, but the .45 comes closer than any other. “

Q. “ I read somewhere that you served in Belfast, as I live there was it a difficult tour? “

A.  ” It wasn’t bad for me in this case, as I was only there on a fact-finding tour and was in and out rather quickly.  Wouldn’t have been a place I would have enjoyed operating, however? “

Q. “ Another friend (ex army) wanted to know what did you find the most difficult terrain to operate in as he has been in the jungle and he found the humidity was a big factor “
 
A.  ” All types of terrain have their own difficulties. Certainly the jungle has its problems.  It’s hard to move through unless you’re on a trail, and that’s a recipe for ambush.  It’s generally very hot, although in the Central Highlands of Vietnam and Laos it could get quite chilly at night), humidity is certainly a factor, enemy encounters are almost always at very close range, navigation can be a problem.
 The desert, on the other hand, has far better observation, but that works against you as well as for you.  Damned hard to do a sneak-and-peek.  Heat and cold are also factors. 
In Afghanistan the troops are having to hump heavy loads over mountains in the nose-bleed range.” 

But the worst is urban. 
The defender always has a huge advantage. You can’t bring massive combat power to the fight because the terrain is so restrictive.  It becomes a slug-out between very small groups of people.  Incessant training and practice are all that give you a slight edge. “

Q. “ If I asked you VERY nicely would you support a campaign to get Raven and Activision to make another in the SOF series bearing in mind that SOF Payback does’nt really count. This question and it’s answer won’t be published if you wolud prefer it not to be?

A.  ” Sure I would, and you can publish this as much as you want.
I enjoyed working on the games, meeting the guys who do such magic on computers, and talking to fans. I find that the people who play this game have good questions, are thoughtful, and for the most part, respect what the soldiers of the various countries have to go through. “

 ” Well John thank you very much for your time, I really appreciate it as I know the players do as well.
It’s not often that we get the chance to find out about the real people who risk their lives on a daily basis in order to make terrorism a thing of the past. “

Cheers
Ivan

Therefor I would like to say a big  ” THANK YOU M8 “ for taking it on.   
SLUG, a very special “ THANK YOU ” to you for giving your time over the last number of years and I know that there are many many people who owe you gratitude and respect for giving them a little corner where they can meet their mates and enjoy killing them .

THREE CHEERS FOR SLUG

AND FOUR CHAIRS FOR 50

Firstly thanks for taking time to do this, I know SOF is an old game but it still has a massive following and people like to know about all aspects of it.
Some of the questions may seem a bit ordinary, this is because not all of my readers, in fact most of them, are not Tech Heads, just Joe Bloggs’ with an interest in the game’s background. I count myself as one of them.

 A bit about me.
I am a fifty seven year old granda and have been playing SOF for approx six years and if truth be told apart from a few of my sons games occasionally, SOF is the only game I play with regularity. Apart from my age, I think I am fairly typical of the common or garden variety player.
Ok on with the interrogation .

“ Hi I’m Jon Zuk and I was the project lead on Soldier of Fortune II. I’ve been with Raven since 1996 and have worked on a number of titles here as Designer, Lead Designer, and Project Lead.”

Q. ” When did Raven begin it’s assault on the games world and who started it.?”

A. ” Raven was founded by brothers Brian and Steve Raffel in 1990. Brian was a school teacher and Steve was working at a silk screen printer and they both had a great love of role playing and computer games. You can actually read about the start in Brian’s own words here: http://www.ravensoftware.com/birth+of+raven.aspx ”

Q. “You have been famous for lots of great games but what was your first.? “

A.  ” Raven’s first game was Black Crypt for the Amiga, back in 1992. My first game was Take No Prisoners, released in 1997 and just before we were acquired by Activision. It was a top down action game with a large hub-based post-apocalyptic setting and I was a brand new level designer fresh out of college.”

Q. ” When / where did you get the idea for SOF and how long did it take to develop?”

A. “Soldier of Fortune took about 2 years to make and Soldier II took about the same. “

Q.  ”We know the games main character is John Mullins, is he a real person? “

A. ” Indeed he is. John Mullins is not only a real person but an amazing and interesting one to talk to as well!  Mr. Mullins was in the military and did serve as a “consultant” to other military groups around the world.”

Q.  ” How much did he contribute as a ‘consultant’ to the game? “. ” I had more involvement with John on Soldier II personally. We met a few times to discuss story, how soldiers would act and react, and weaponry. When we got into development, I would frequently mail John asking questions about weapons, locales, and soldiers.
One story I can still recall is that I had asked John about the OICW, an experimental weapon that was going to be the future of infantry warfare. We were interested in having it in the game but couldn’t really find any information about it. I mailed him some questions and a couple of days later I get a call from a military contractor working on the actual weapon! He discussed the weapon with me and pretty much told me anything I wanted to know that wasn’t classified.”

A

Q.  ” As developers do you find it difficult to come up with new ideas? “ ” Coming up with ideas isn’t usually an issue. We have so many creative people at Raven that a small kernel of an idea from one person can mushroom very quickly into a full blown game feature. It’s a much bigger deal to take an idea and prove it out to be fun.”

A.

Q.  ” When you get an idea what happens then? “ ” Depends on what it’s for. If it’s an entire game, the concept goes into testing. If it tests well we might make a prototype to prove the fun factor. But a lot of factors have to line up because we usually have multiple projects going and other projects lined up. If the idea is for a game feature, say a multiplayer game type, we’ll talk amongst ourselves, come up with a viable design, and try to get it up and running as quickly as possible.”

A.

Q. ”  Who makes the coffee and snacks? “

A.  ” Angling for that position? “
  ” Coffee is made by whoever drank the last cup from what I hear, but I’m a soda guy myself; never could get used to the taste of coffee. For snacks, we have the good ole vending machine to keep us happy.”

 Q. ” Why was Payback not developed by Raven? “.  ” Activision still had the SOF license and wanted to get another title out of it before the license lapsed, but Raven wasn’t in a position to develop it.
At the time, I believe we were working on Wolfenstein, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and Quake 4. Games typically have a 2 year development cycle so we just weren’t in a position to get a Soldier game done in time. “

A

Q.  ” Please will you bring out another in the series as Payback was such a disappointment to many devotees?
If you do bring another one out think about the mappers and skinners and and of course server admins, a bit more online freedom would be a great asset to them.”

 A. “ If the community is really interested in another game, the best thing they can do is contact Activision about it. We discuss doing a lot of different games but we can only do so many.
If an SOF game were to rise to the top of the must-do list, it would certainly be considered. “

Q.   ” What is your relationship with Activision? “

A. ” Activision acquired Raven in 1997 and we are a development house for them. We have our own management structure and project leadership internally while Activision provides the rest, PR, marketing, QA, and the like. We work pretty collaboratively and it overall it has been a good relationship.

Q. ” Back in Dec ’06 a lot of CD’s were sold with the same CD key, what was that all about? “ ” I’m not aware of why that happened. I would assume it was a simple production error but that is something that we as the developer have no control or stake in.

A.

Q.  ” Does PunkBuster play a part in the development of your games? “~ ” If you mean, do they give us suggestions and such, then no.
We included PunkBuster because they provided a good service and there was no reason for us to duplicate that effort. “

A.

 Q.  ” Do you get time to play any games and what is your favourite game? “

A. ” I’m an avid gamer and play pretty much everything. I have all of the game console and handhelds, play games on my iPod Touch, and play non-electronic games as well.
I can’t say I have a favorite game because over the years that has changed. Games that I have particular fondness of though are X-Com, Heroes of Might & Magic, Advance Wars, the first Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Dark Forces, and the original Fallout. “

Q. “ Did you think back in the D & D days you would be where you are now?”A. ” That’s probably a better question for Brian or Steve. I’ll skip that one. “

Q. ” Would you please tell me a bit about your use of the Quake eng as it features in so many games?” ” Raven has always had a good relationship with id and we had generally been one of the first groups outside of id to see their newest technology. We ended up using the Quake 3 engine on 4 titles because it was very flexible and easy to use and we had written a lot of custom features for the engine that we were able to leverage over multiple projects.”

A.

I hope there are not too many questions but there are sooooo many more I want to ask but these will do ‘for now’ LOL. 

Thank you Jon for taking time from your, I’m sure, busy schedule to answer these questions and I know people will be interested in your answers as it was the SOFers who gave me them to ask.