In the earliest of days we had a mere four radios and a very few channels to tune them to. Almost all of them were country specific at the very start. If you wanted to plan and co-ordinate, though, you invariably had to use a numbered channel. At one point, there were some 70 out of the 99 possible numbered channels designated by various players for various different purposes.

It was only when a UI redo provided us with more radios on the chat bar and a better tuning system that the real solution became practical and we added three new channels: "Help", "Side" and "Ops". However, the production team weren't entirely convinced we needed the "Ops" channel so it wasn't enabled in the client until just recently.

1. "Help"

This channel is tuned by default for all players as Radio 6 (F6) until they detune it or tune something else on the same radio. It is intended for getting technical or gameplay assistance from other players such as figuring out how to play the game, use the UI, improve performance or fix common configuration issues.

2. "Side"

The Side channel's designated purpose is - and always was - as a general purpose non-combat channel, effectively the "Off Topic" of chat. The main purpose of "Side" is to absorb chat that doesn't belong anywhere else.

3. "Ops"

"Ops" is intended for high-level combat operational communications, particularly the cross-branch/cross-brigade/cross-town sort of comms that brings HCs, regular OICs, well-known leaders and the rest of us together and keeps us informed to some degree on the bigger picture, instead of having to tune all those damn numbered channels. It is not intended for discussions or drawn out conversations, it is the wrong place to ask "How do I sap a tank?" or seek commiseration on your latest death.

During the period between the additions of the "Side" and later the "Ops" channel, some players tried to turn the "Side" channel into an "Ops" channel, and were unpleasantly surprised when they - instead of the folks chatting away - received a formal wag of the finger.

The difference between these channels and their old numbered counterparts is that these are officially formally CRS designated. I realize that in the past people called various numbered channels "official", but they did not have any formal CRS-assigned recognition that you could truly call official.

Since these new channels have formal designations, the "Ops" and "Help" are also being monitored by our GMs and staff who will be discouraging repeatedly/deliberately abuse or misuse.