Call of Duty players all have one big thing in common: Call of Duty. Sounds obvious, I know, but I think that’s enough. Now, some of you reading this are fantastic Call of Duty players. Some of you stink on ice. Let me slide over on this big block of frozen water to make room for you folks in the latter camp. Come sit next to me and we can talk about why we always seem to be on the wrong end of a noob tube.

That said, the gap between the masters and the students is not that wide. We’re all playing for the same reason – Call of Duty games are fun, that’s all. I’ll always take an opportunity to learn and improve, but even when I get my ass handed to me online, as long as I enjoy the company of the people I’m playing with, I’m more likely to leave a session laughing, regardless of KDR.

This is where Call of Duty Elite comes in. Not many games have 30 million people playing them, so the idea behind Elite was to give all those players a common ground – a service that would help them connect, compete, and improve. We’re all playing together as it is; let’s play together better.

This summer, some of you may have had a chance to check out the Elite beta, which gave PlayStation 3 players an early taste of the service. The beta only incorporated data from Black Ops, but Elite’s launch date of November 8 – same as Modern Warfare 3 – is no coincidence. The beta was truly just the beginning. Well, before the beginning, if you think about it.

Check your stats. Tweak your loadouts. Analyze heat maps from all the matches you’ve played in the last month and learn what you did right and wrong. See your stats using each weapon in the game and get detailed advice on how to use it better. Track your performance and compare it instantly to that of your friends on custom leaderboards. Create a clan and Join social groups of players with similar interests. I found groups for guitars, juggling, and Ghostbusters; if you don’t see what you’re looking for, you can create your own. (You are hereby invited to join the OneOfSwords group – that one’s mine.)

All that stuff is free. No charge. Thank you for being a Call of Duty player, says Activision. Enjoy this extra stuff.

What’s more, in MW3, Elite is fully integrated into the game. Wanna change your loadout during the day for your big match that night? Just visit the website, change your settings, and it will automatically push to the game, waiting for your next login. Don’t want to use the web? Use your iOS or Android device. Just want to do it all on your console? No problem – there’s a PlayStation 3 downloadable program that you can download and use from directly within MW3. That Elite PS3 application is free. The mobile app is free. The website is free, too.

If you are a dedicated player and you want more from Elite, you can sign up for a premium membership (using the funds in your PlayStation Wallet, of course) to access a ton of extra features – most notably, you’ll get ALL of the MW2 DLC content as soon as it is released on PS3, ready and waiting for you the day it comes out. You’ll also have access to exclusive Elite TV programming to high-stakes competitions for real-world prizes (like iPads, Jeeps, and trips to Paris) to more video storage space to all the MW3 DLC that will be released, ready and waiting for you on the day it’s released. There’s a big chart that goes into all the relevant details here. And if you like what you see, anybody who activates a premium membership before November 13 will receive Founder status, which comes with its own benefits. Plus, you get to say “I was there from the beginning.”

Regardless of how you wind up using Call of Duty Elite, just remember why it’s there: to serve and unite the community of CoD players. Maybe you’re wonderful sniper, maybe you’re terrible flag runner, or maybe you’re simply a work in progress as a player. Call of Duty Elite is here to make your triumphs into celebrations, your losses into educational tools, your performance into prizes, and your opponents into your friends. After all, we all have one big thing in common.