Solver: In Korea, there are some official gaming tournaments. You come, play games, and get money for your results. Have you participated in any?
Yin 26: I follow all this here with great interest. In fact, there are even entire T.V. channels here dedicated to doing play-by-play commentaries of StarCraft games! Yes, a man a woman sit there as two guys play, you watch the action, and they say stuff like: "Wow! He's really sprung a trap this time!" "Indeed. How can anybody survive such an attack?!"

And did you know there is a group of young guys here (about 30 at last count) who make nearly $30,000 a year to wear corporate logos and compete in tournaments? That's a salary comparable to a respected office worker here! And anybody who comes to Seoul will notice the seemingly endless shops with a big "PC" on the sign. There are 4 such places on the ½ mile road to my house alone! Those are 'PC bahngs,' or PC rooms with 20 - 50 computers all hooked up to DSL. For about $1.50 / hour you can play all kinds of games there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Some places even have small lounges with food and drink and makeshift places to catch some sleep so you don't have to go home. It's not uncommon for student groups, for example, to square off in teams to blow off steam trying to defeat each other. It can be kind of funny to see a losing member walk across the room and smack somebody who did a particularly good job defeating him. Those places are also used for 'cyber-dating,' since it's still relatively difficult for young people to meet each other without being setup by friends or family. It's part of the culture. In fact, the future of competitive gaming (and dating?) is growing right before my eyes here in Seoul.

As for joining those tournaments, I might as well take up a lane at the Olympics in the 100 meter dash. It would be thrilling just to have tried, of course, but my ego is only so strong! I gave a brief thought to trying out for one of the Age of Kings tournaments but realized I'm simply not that talented.

Solver: Some sites claim that the release date for Civ 3 is October 2001, while Firaxis haven't officially announced a release date. When do you want the game released, October this year, or pushed back to spring 2002?
Yin 26: I look at a game like Black and White and say: "Hmmm. Some games under certain leadership will just NEVER be finished." This is because they lack the fundamental vision and planning to make all the pieces come together, and a longer development cycle just means more lost money.

In the case of Civ 3, however, I honestly believe they are a highly competent group. Some of the best around. And if you suddenly lifted a deadline off them and gave them another 6 months, imagine the extra polishing and testing and tweaking they could do! Sure, nothing will ever be perfect. I understand that. But to be honest, I'd rather have a few extra months of Civ in the oven than having to work extra, extra hard to get some patches. I say this primarily because we still know so little about the game.

In the end, Jeff Morris' comment that this is their 4th run with the Jackal engine does seem to indicate that they've worked out most bugs. What worries me most are gameplay and balance issues, and that's not so much a programming challenge as a playing challenge, one that requires lots and lots of games under the belt. So, yes, a delayed release would help give more time to balance and tweak, hopefully by brining in most or all of the top Civ players (and even more numerous average players) and saying: "Hey, try to break this game. Do anything you can to bring the AI to its knees."

MarkG: Do you think will you reverse your "i will ignore patch schedules" statement when civ3 is out?
Yin 26: LOL! Markos nailed me on that one, didn't he? [When Yin answered the questions, he didn't know who asked what - Solver] I had just come back from a vacation and had a moment of pure insight to life when I posted that. Well, that insight is lost now, and I will no doubt hang on patch schedules and even try to influence them somehow.

Stefu: On light of all the information about the game Firaxis has divulged, do you feel that goals of Essential Civ3 List have been achieved? Has this got anything to do with your pessimism about Civ3?
Yin 26: Great question. Of course my working on those Lists made me lose some objectivity for a while. But each time I felt like that, I kept reminding myself that we really wanted just one idea (or a few, anyway) to influence the game. It looks like we've done that beyond most expectations, so the Lists were a huge success in my opinion.

I hope it's clear that I'm not pessimistic. I only wish we had been clued in more along the way.

Solver: What game support politics do you expect from Firaxis? Do you trust they will release patches for the game, or just let it stand, as Activision did with Call to Power 2?
Yin 26: I firmly believe the patch support for Civ 3 will be OUTSTANDING! Particularly if we stay organized as a community, I think Firaxis will patch Civ 3 more than was done even for SMAC, which went beyond the call of duty by industry standards. I will say one thing about Jeff Morris and the Firaxis people: They might be awful quiet, but the results tend to be exceptional. Of course, they miss the mark sometimes, but on average, they do great work. Why else would I use up so much of my time trying to give them feedback?

Stefu: What things from the Civ3 List would you like Firaxis to implement on Civ3?
Yin 26: Tough question. I can only say that I realized for a time I was looking for a game that essentially ISN'T Civ. By that I mean I was looking for something radically different. I have taken a step back now and realize that something radical will have to be released under a different name and perhaps by a different company. Looked at this way, some of the changes we've heard about so far seem quite outstanding, if they are balanced correctly and if the AI can handle them.

MarkG: The civ3 fans demand an apology for putting the idea of simgolf in Sid's head. What do you have to say?
Yin 26: Point me to the firing line and give me a blindfold! Of course, we all know that was just a funny coincidence, don't we? Don't we!?

Solver: Do you plan to purchase SimGolf someday, or not?
Yin 26: Sorry, but no. I simply have NO interest in the game, even if they release a Simmer's Edition or something complete with footage of Sid hitting a hole in one. It does look highly polished and attractive, however, and might well outsell Civ 3. In fact, I hope it is a huge success so Firaxis can go nuts on Civ 4.

Solver: How do you feel the concept of culture in Civ 3 will impact the game, either positively or negatively?
Yin 26: As Korn has so nicely argued, this is really an issue of gameplay and balance. Will there be any reason NOT to do the culture thing? If not, it's no longer a strategy but a chore or just meaningless. In other words, does the addition of culture force me to make some hard decisions, and will the result be satisfying at any rate? If going for culture points cripples my military, for example, it's not really a viable strategy, unless all nations of world simply fall in awe of my libraries. My biggest worry is the game could play like Sim Civ just building and building culture points. Of course, a player could simply NOT play that way, but then one would have to wonder why have it in the game to start with? I have a feeling that in most cases a military strategy will give the player more control and a greater sense of satisfaction. But adding the cultural angle could prove fun in its own way.

Solver: Tell us a little bit about yourself, please!
Yin 26: I'm 30, married, and have a 2.5 year old daughter. I was born in Caldwell, Idaho, USA but grew up in Orange County, 1 hour south of Los Angeles. I graduated high school with a 4.3 GPA despite playing computer games and sports non-stop. My family was the first of anybody I knew to buy the Commodore Vic 20 (before that we had the Pong console), and I've kept upgrading my gaming platform ever since.

I was ready to go to the Air Force Academy and had gotten my Congressional nomination and everything. I was ready to fly fighter planes. But the VERY last thing they do after nearly two years of making you jump through hoops is they check your medical history. Well, I had had a sinus surgery a few years before and that automatically disqualified me. The secretary at the Congressman's office (William Dannemyer) said: "Ahh, you should have told us about that at the beginning. That would have saved you a lot of trouble." Gee, they should have told ME! Anyway, my friend got in and actually ended up dropping bombs in Desert Storm. Wow. That would have been different...

So at the last second I applied to UCLA and got in on GPA alone. I finished grad (Magna Cum Laude) and undergrad (Magna Cum Laude) there, leaving with an MA in English Lit. in 1996. By 1997 I had decided to take a risk and leave to US to pursue a life in Asia, which is an area of the world that has always fascinated me. Two months before I left for Korea, I met my Korean-American wife, and that end of things, as they say, is history. We now live on the second floor of her parents' house in Seoul, which is quite a treat since most people have to live in a high-rise apartment. We have a yard and a view of the mountains. It's very nice. My Korean mother-in-law makes the best food you ever tasted, and my father-in-law is near genius, having gotten his Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics in the States and then coming back here to serve as president of 3 different universities. Don't worry. I pay ALL the house bills and make sure my in-laws get lots of perks for putting up with me. Also, the fact that I learned Korean has helped...

In a way, I followed his footsteps by joining a leading university as the first foreign administrator in the school's history (perhaps in Korea's university history). I am currently the Chief Exchange Coordinator and also the Assistant to the President. I write his English speeches and accompany him on numerous overseas trips throughout the year. It's an awfully hard job at times, but quite interesting. On the weekends, I teach SAT to kids from the foreign high schools. My last group improved their SAT 2 Writing scores an average of 150 points after meeting with me just 4 times! So the phone is ringing off the hook these days, but I'm sick of spending my weekends that way.

Beyond that, anytime I'm not working, teaching or spending time with my family, I'm testing out computer games and posting at Apolyton. The 3 games I have on my desk now are: Tropico, Black and White, and Undying (a fantastic game, by the way).

Yin 26: Finally, I'd like to ask myself a question: Yin, are you Sid?
Yin 26: If I were Sid, you never would have heard a word about Sim Golf, which would probably have been a big mistake since that game looks to make a TON of money. How do I know? Look at the screenshots, baby. Screenshots tell everything. LOL!

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