NOTE: This is The Column, a regular feature on Apolyton where anyone can write about anything to do with Civilization or the gaming industry as a whole. If you feel like writing, please visit the article submission page.

PREVIOUS ARTICLES

#122 TPOD & ROACSG: THE RISE & FALL In his article's second installment, TheLimey picks apart the pieces of Civilization: Call To Power. #117 HISTORICAL APPLICATION OF ALPHA CENTAURI Keith Medlin showcases Alpha Centauri for its historical applications. #118 FREEDOM AND OBLIGATION: CTP2 What does freedom and obligation have to do with a game? MarkG wonders... #119 MODERATION IS A VIRTUE Ken Breggot is worried that trying to make Civ too complex will make gameplay too cumbersome. #120 TPOD & ROACSG: THE RESURRECTION In his article's first installment, TheLimey looks at what should become of Civilization III. COLUMN ARCHIVE

PART III - THE PHYSICS OF SUGGESTION

History is obviously a very important factor for ‘civ’ players, not only in the games they play, but *of* the games they play. Sid has a well-deserved reputation for quality delivery. Activision has a reputation arising from their last release, which is less than perfect. Of course, Activision as a whole is fully capable of releasing wonderful products, which are universally applauded; Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater comes to mind, for one. Vampire also looks to be a truly inspiring idea also.

Knowledge of Firaxis’ and Activision’s future plans for new Civ titles happened closely after the release of SMAC and C:CtP. Fans started to form suggestions very quickly after this was widely known. Civ3 by its nature was the target for the most suggestion. By its nature as the long awaited ‘true sequel’ to Civ2, it has received an avalanche of user suggestion from Apolyton, in ‘The List’. Since so many people have been participating in this suggestion process, its interesting to ponder how it will effect the final product that is produced.

There are many people who’d like to see a product very close to the original Civ2 structure, with extensions rather than a rebuild. Others would like to see far more drastic changes take place. Firaxis has a difficult decision here. Maintain and expand an old classic, maybe a sure bet, or do something new? Regardless of how the new game is structured, some people are going to be disappointed that the game doesn’t fulfill their vision, or isn’t groundbreaking enough or strays from Civ2, etc.

Another interesting feature of the suggestion process for Civ3 is its volume. There is always some sense of information overload when it comes to that level of information, even if it has been organized. Of course the designers have their own ideas, so this adds to the complexity. Will the designers see the volume of ideas and feel obliged to implement a more complex game model than they would have originally? Will they not want to leave out those great ideas X, Y & Z and make a more complex game model? If there is a complex game model, will it have a steep learning curve and loose something from the instant playability?

The effort of describing an idea for a feature within a computer program is, or rather can be, disproportional in its complexity to implement in code. Will this affect the system requirements, the speed, the stability, etc. of the game? Will the loss of Brian Reynolds et al., effect the qualitative outcome of how good the game becomes? There are many uncertainties about Civ3. While I’m sure it will be a very competent product, I’m not sure it will absolutely be everything that people wish for. Its tentative schedule of 2002 also seems very far away, and I’m reluctant to care about something 2 years away.

CtP2 is somewhat closer, and I’ve recently taken an interest into its suggestion process. It was interesting to come back to quite the amount of news regarding the sequel that I’d been looking forward to. There were several screenshots released. They showed a game that was different from its predecessor in a number of key ways; the interface does look quite different, there are borders, interesting diplomacy options.

The volume of suggestion for CtP2 has been less than for Civ3, although as far as I can see it has been more focused in nature. Those people doing the majority of suggestion for the game like the concept that CtP was going for, and want to build great scenarios and mods using it. Consequently a large proportion of the suggestions have and are still being aimed at the customization features of CtP, and I imagine that CtP2 will be very flexible, if not ‘mod friendly’. When I initially came back into the suggestion area for CtP2, I was struck by the ‘wish list’ process itself.

I can see the company and their designers' motivations in asking for feedback, but surely this has limits? When you allow input, you also allow for those participants to become demanding to some degree. If I was thinking cynically, Why should Activision or Firaxis care about our suggestions, if they can still make significant profits from the product regardless? An obvious answer is that the game will be better constructed, do better in review, and have higher sales figures. However, these companies have professional game designers, that have worked on other successful projects before, so they already know how to formulate game ideas, separately from this suggestion process.

It seems then that if this is the case, then there is some significant level of respect being given to those participating in the suggestion process here at Apolyton. Certainly there are some intelligent, experienced and well-respected Civ’ers participating here in the discussion. Its extremely gratifying to see Activision staff members respond at any level, and indeed MrOgre and St Swithin from Activision have been forthcoming. We’ve learned quite a lot about the direction of the project, and have gotten feedback about a number of suggestions that we’ve made. A number of suggestions have been taken on board by their team quite recently, although there are still some areas that we’d like to make sure that improvements have been or will be made in.

I would like to see this positive user feedback model go even further; firstly an online chat (soon!) and secondly a much-improved beta test. I remember that there was some level of agreement that Activision ‘forced’ the release of CtP to market earlier than it should have been. A better beta test, with more extensive response to its outcome could have resulted in an entirely different gold release.

It’s nice to think that we can actively shape the future of Civ, and not be at the mercy of the game developer’s ideas. Just as we learn from our historical experiences in a civ game, they can do much the same, in developing and releasing that game.

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About the author: A DBA, and a would-be post-WW2 scenario creator.

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The opinions expressed on this page do not necessarily reflect those of Apolyton CS or GameStats. They are just the personal opinions of the writer.