Apoc Resigns Options

Aaron Kaufman has recently announced that he will no longer be the C&C community manager after today; his replacement will be Per Bonomi from the Battlefield Heroes community. He makes it very clear that this was a personal choice carefully made after reflecting upon where he wants to go with his family and career.

I'll never forget my first act of duty as the C&C Community Manager, I got Zero Hour patched! The community reaction was like peace had been restored to the world! It was from that point on that I felt like my journey as your Community Manager truly began
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As cheesy as it may sound, I'm just a sentimental APOC if you never knew, and it may just come from how emotionally tied I have been to this community, it absolutely breaks my heart to tell you today, I will be stepping down as your C&C Community Manager and leaving EA after what has been one helluva rollercoaster ride. Today is my last official day here at EALA.

Please view the full topic for the entire message sent out to community webmasters, just before lunch today.

I’ll never forget my first act of duty as the C&C Community Manager, I got Zero Hour patched! The community reaction was like peace had been restored to the world! It was from that point on that I felt like my journey as your Community Manager truly began…

My friends, my community, my 2nd family
I’ve been your C&C Community Manager for over 6 years, especially if you consider my days with the BFME franchise. I was brought in to EA as a contract marketing assistant on BFME1 back in February 2004, and soon found myself building the BFME community (I guess that was my destiny!). About 1 year in almost to the day, shortly after BFME1 shipped, the torch of being the official C&C CM was bestowed upon me by the dev team (from one great legendary Delphi), that was February 2005. And today, almost 6 years later, I sit here in front of my computer screen, still your official C&C Community Manager for one last moment, as honored and humbled as ever to have kept this role for so long. It’s become an extreme passion, a “second life”, and a place I know I can always find some of my closest friends. You guys have truly been my 2nd family, and you guys are the reason this C&C franchise has lived on for 15 years strong and will continue, Commander!

As cheesy as it may sound, I’m just a sentimental APOC if you never knew, and it may just come from how emotionally tied I have been to this community, it absolutely breaks my heart to tell you today, I will be stepping down as your C&C Community Manager and leaving EA after what has been one helluva rollercoaster ride. Today is my last official day here at EALA.

You need to know this was *not EA’s decision*, this was 100% my own. I was not laid off, not fired, not tortured by Kane (or Joe Kucan), not part of a reduction in force, and certainly not forced out or given motivational reasons to leave. In fact, my bosses and team all provided me reasons to stay with heartfelt content, while also understanding at this stage in my career and life, doing what is best for me and my family is ultimately the right path to choose.


I sincerely hope my decision does not impact negatively on you, or the C&C franchise. I have a replacement whom I’d like to introduce, Per “Goodman” Bonomi, he also manages the BF Heroes, Lord of Ultima and BattleForge communities with the help of his excellent Play4Free Community Team. He’ll be in touch and on the boards very soon. He is an extremely passionate C&C fan, and someone I know can keep the ship afloat in my absence, and especially at a time when the dev team is revamping the franchise. At this stage, what’s important to me is for you to have someone you can still connect with. Things are going to be slow for awhile, but I know we’ll be leveraging the community as much as possible until our dev team is ready to pull the curtains off the future, and well beyond.

I want nothing more than the best for this franchise, and I don’t want my absence to invoke anything negative in the community. It was a personal choice, a leap of faith, and one that was extremely difficult when considering all the factors, most notably, my community family.

I’ll be staying in the gaming industry in LA. You can find me on Facebook and in a few other places soon once I rise again!

I’m always long winded at saying goodbyes, just who I am. Thank you C&C Community for being true friends and giving me the passion and energy to be your C&C Community Manager for such an eternity! I hope this is not goodbye, but just an update on life, as one close friend would always give to another.

Every day is community day,
Aaron “APOC” Kaufman

Don't blame him, but just another part of the C&C community dying.

That's a real shame. I dunno much about this Bonomi guy, but my experience in BF:H beta from the staff was not too good.

I'm sad to see apoc go - and i'm not too sure how I feel about the guy replacing him being on the "Play4Free" team - makes me worry that we're 1 step closer to facebook C&C.

Well he did just get married and I suppose thhat has to come first. I like that he is sticking around the gaming industry, seems he knows what to do. It's probasbly all the travelling he has to give up, he was going all over the place for promotional events and such, wouldn't be as easy with a new family.

We've just been lucky to have him as our Community Manager for so long and he'll be missed as that. I do hope we see him around again in something else we all love.

You guys are lucky Chronojam has a wife who would beat him over the head if he tried to quit APB

Sad about Apoc, though. It is gonna be weird having a new guy

I never really knew the man, but he did do a lot to keep the C&C community together. I wish him luck in his future career.

I still remember that time when Apoc played APB RenAlert in I think Leipzig in the 2006 Games Convention. It's really sad to see him go. =(

Yeah he played Reborn and RenAlert, he also played some APB for his community corner on C&C TV!

I remember when Apoc played a few games of APB with us on the server. Good times were had on Shallow Grave as many swift = Light Tank rushes were conceived.

I'm going to miss having Apoc as community manager because he was one of the few people who acknowledged that the community was worth the extra effort.

Good luck for the future if you ever read this man

I remember when Apoc played a few games of APB with us on the server. Good times were had on Shallow Grave as many swift = Light Tank rushes were conceived.

I'm going to miss having Apoc as community manager because he was one of the few people who acknowledged that the community was worth the extra effort.

Good luck for the future if you ever read this man

I remember when he first started playing APB, he would occasionally ask how certain parts of the game worked. Well this is yet another chapter in the C&C of the ages.

Well i wish him good luck as well.

You guys are lucky Chronojam has a wife who would beat him over the head if he tried to quit APB

Sad about Apoc, though. It is gonna be weird having a new guy

Lol yeah. If Chronojam quit then we would have TruYuri as our main producer.

But yeah, Apoc is a big part of the C&C community, much the same as Lion was. It's sad to see the big boys go.

Apoc has always been a key player in the C&C community, as a part of most major events and keeping everyone up to date. I'm not sure if anyone is in a position to replace him, and in any case this is quite sad.

Hopefully Apoc will at least stay somewhat in touch with the C&C community. Good luck to him wherever he goes.