Arma 3 hails people of every flavor from all over the world. To get to know them a little better, we're hosting a series of mini-interviews with some of our amazing community members. These aim to give you a personal insight into their backgrounds, why they got into Arma, and how they typically experience the game. In this issue, we interview community member and screenshot artist Hazer_AL.
BIO
Name: AL
Nickname: Hazer_AL
Age: 27
Location: Riau, Indonesia
Occupation: Office Administrator
BASELINE
Can you provide us with one random fact about yourself?
I studied the German language in my college days.
So what is the origin of the name Hazer_AL?
Contrary to what some people believe, the name Hazer that I use has nothing to do with the term ‘hazing.’ I chose the name Hazer because I just like the sound of it. At first the nickname was just HZ, but then I thought, “hmm… it needs character and personality,” so in the end it became Hazer. The AL is just my name. This name has stuck with me for more than a decade now. I do also use HZ, or AX at the end of the name in other games, so see if you can come find me!
What's the first Arma game you played?
The original Operation Flashpoint back in 2009. I played it on my father’s office PC with only integrated CPU graphics and no GPU, and then Arma: Armed Assault for a short time after we got a new PC. Sadly I never had the luxury of playing Arma 2 during its peak years.
What is your current Arma 3 playtime?
Currently 6,900+ hours. No, for real it is the number, and that is probably closer to 7000 now as the game is still playing in the background as I write this.
What is your favorite game of all time?
It is hard to pick one game from my list of favorite games I have played.
The Arma series has its own category above favorite, so in that case I will pick The Witcher 3 as my favorite game for its story and immersive adventure. I cannot wait for its last DLC to come out, before The Witcher IV. (Feeling a bit of déjà vu here with Arma 3, while I am waiting for Arma 4).
There are also some JRPG like the Trails series and Valkyria Chronicles following behind.
Outside of video games, what other hobbies do you enjoy?
Cooking pasta and listening to some Croatian music. I have a quite peculiar choice of music, as I don’t understand their lyrics - but I do have a friend from Croatia recommending some music and it fits with me.
Another hobby is probably farming the family garden we have here.
Can you show us your PC setup?
I don't have a PC setup unfortunately. I play on a laptop now, and it's a Lenovo LOQ 15. The old PC I used to play old Arma games on was broken back in 2016.
Don’t worry about that second monitor, the stand broke about a year ago, but it still works without it!
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
How and when did you get into Arma?
As I stated above, I started as far back as Operation Flashpoint, but Arma 3 has its own special stories.
Back in I believe 2018 or 2019 during my college days, a friend of mine bought me Arma 3 to play together with him and some other college friends. I then got into contact and joined an Arma 3 unit called Task Force Saturn and played with them often. Every weekend was a new fun story and bombastic operation, but sadly the group disbanded in 2024 due to everyone moving on with life with responsibilities like work, family, and study. This made it impossible to gain numbers during play sessions.
Nowadays I am still in contact with fellow members from that unit and we play Arma 3 and Arma Reforger sessions when we have free time.
How do you play or engage with Arma 3 nowadays?
Back during my more active days, most of my time was spent playing the gamemode Warlords on the official server and its Redux version, and on weekends co-op sessions with my unit.
Now I’m mostly focused on doing artwork with Arma 3. Some mod groups sometimes ask for help on making showcase images for their mods. Currently I am working with a friend on a Korean Conflict 2035 mod and I am just creating the showcase artworks for it.
When making artwork, I sometimes take some inspiration from other games, and implement it in Arma with my artstyle that I like to call “Subdued Reality.” I’m not too sure how to explain it, but basically I take a piece of reality, and in my mind firmly turn it into the artpiece I want. It’s like molding a vase but instead of clay it’s reality itself.
In 2025 I tried to get into Arma 3 modding scene by making a terrain set in Argana from Arma 3 Creator DLC: Western Sahara called Lexandria. This terrain was to be set in an administrative district next to the capital city of Argana, but due to a lack of PC storage space and the price of SSD consistently increasing, I decided to put a hold on that project. Real life work has also been eating most of my time as well. I will probably move this project to Enfusion once I can afford new storage.
Why did you gravitate towards creating screenshots and artwork using Arma 3?
Maybe because of its ease to use, and the good visual fidelity it has, and the tools for it already existing in-game and with additional mods for visual and artwork supporters (shoutout to POLPOX).
I myself never had a photography background before, and I remember the first artwork I made got into an Arma 3 COMRAD way back when, which motivated me to keep making artwork and learn how to consistently improve my skills. Some big Arma personalities also noticed some of my artworks which also fueled me to keep making artworks for people to like.
What is your favorite piece of Arma 3 user-created content (mod, addon, scenario, game mode, tool) and why?
Some mods I find really useful and good looking, and there are plenty I have loaded in my Artwork Modlist, but if I must choose a few, I pick these mods:
JCA line of mods (for the quality and consistency of their models)
Aegis (for expanding the Futura 2035 setting)
CUP (really useful when making Cold war or other era-specific themed artworks)
Also, shoutout to Project TNI which I was part of their team during its development, and I heard the team is now moving to Reforger.
Can you share your #1 pro tip for any Arma 3 player?
For gameplay: ID your target! Just because it’s moving doesn’t mean it's an enemy.
For artwork: Try playing with FOV sliders, and you’ll see the world in different ways.
With the current popularity of Arma Reforger and modding tools for Enfusion Engine, what are you looking forward to with the franchise as we move along the road to Arma 4?
I will probably still be playing Arma 3 until Arma 4 arrives, and learning the art of artwork making via Enfusion. I really love the tutorial by =OV=.
I wish for Arma to stay true to its roots, and get more Improvements to the game without removing what makes the series special and fun.
…and maybe 256 Players in Arma 4?
In regards to the Enfusion Engine, lately I’ve been tinkering with Terrain with Workbench. I do have some screenshots to share of the project; bear in mind that they are part of a WIP project so the end results may change:
BONUS: What is your favorite real-world photograph and why?
I don’t really have any particular real-world photograph that has a special place in me, except maybe this one picture of Hamburg. It's been my login background since college. I’m not sure who took the photo as I just grabbed it from the internet to use as a background, but it gives the feeling of cozyness every time I look at it.
CLOSING
To finish the interview, do you have anything you'd like to share with the Arma community?
The artwork scene in the Arma community continues to show its potential, with many fabulous artworks appearing from time to time. Some may even have better skill than me when it comes to artworks, or scene building, and I still have much more to learn with Arma 3 and in the future with Arma 4.
Here’s the picture that started it all. It may look a lot more basic than my current artwork, but it was the initial stepping stone: