column 131: BACK TO THE FUTURE: IS APOLYTON CRUMBLING?

[Alexander's Horse]

I dunno - maybe if Dan put a few more holes in the lid of the jar and Mark put some leaves and twigs in with Apolyton it might live longer.


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Founder of the People's Republic of Topics (PROT)
Convenor, Threadjacking Appreciation Society (TAS)
Proprietor, Apolyton Tea Shop http://apolyton.net/forums/Forum19/H...tml?date=00:06

[Gatekeeper]

Everyone:

Apolyton dying? Hardly. Just like with everything else in life, there is and ebb and flow which cannot be denied. Perhaps Apolyton is in a slow cycle right now — due in part to slow loading at times — but it's just part of the great cycle.

I've also seen "ghost" forums scattered about the Web, frequented by nothing more than an occasional curious poster or, more often than not, the same trolls and hackers which destroyed the original vibrancy of said forums. Apolyton, overall, isn't at that stage yet, and I attribute that the care given to Apolyton, both by the admins/mods and users.

CYBERAmazon

(Make me happy, Fireaxis, and release CivIII for the Macintosh, too!)

[War4ever]

I personally love this site and although i havent' been here for a couple of months, it was due to circumstance.
I think Cavebear hit the nail on the head when he said that the perception may have changed because some of the old timers, actually he said past masters of the game are not around and their handles are being missed. Admittedly, i see tons of fresh faces, well monikers, and i ask myself, do these guys know me? becasue as of yet i sure don't know them. Yet maybe i am surrounded by some fresh new hunters and i will have the luxury of playing someone who is talented.... time will tell. I see some greats are still here so it can't be all that bad.... is Carolus being pessimistic.... i doubt it... just observing a changing of the guard perhaps. As for civ3, of course it won't live up to expectations, ours are beyound our reach for this series. I am willing to bet it will be pretty damm good though, and if not, thers always civ2

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Ah its good to be back.... i smell the fear of opponents being stalked and i tremble as they turn to face me. i hope i remember how to play!

[Glostakarov]

Certainly not dead, just not much to talk about lately. A lot of the possible arguments about the current games have been beaten into the ground, and since most of us are very wary of CTP2, most of us are looking forward to Civ3, which we don't have much info on yet. Not having much info means we don't have much to talk about on topic.

That will all change, of course. I plan to check in regularly as CTP2 gets closer to release, and more when it is actually out. I don't plan to pick it up until I've hopped onto the forums here and found out if they've made a game out of it or not. The talk may all be about how much the game sucks or needs tweaking and moding, but I'm sure the forum will be flying.

That's another thing. A new game means fresh opportunities for modification, and that's always fun to talk about.

[Shadowstrike]

Make a MoM forum! This is actually a serious idea. I've always wondered why MoM wasn't covered on Apolyton.

[Lord Silvi]

Shadowstrike: What is MoM?

[DanQ]

Want to "expand" on your post, Alexander's Horse?

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Dan; Apolyton CS

[Slingshot]

How many times should a fellow debate a topic, then bring newbies up to speed?

How many times have you seen a debate on Inifite City Sleaze that ended up in an eloquent list of bright suggestions?

Apolyton's bane is repetition. We are an endless loop of creativity that is limited by the end result - a product that is developed by somebody else, under their own terms and through their own timetable.

Sure, people can go about making a version of FreeCiv, but that isn't the same.

The most dissapointing thing is limited interaction with those who actually do the coding. Quality programmers like Mr. Ogre are few and far between.

I think it's time to expand the Apolyton universe. Let's put some new elements to it that keep people interested.

Those who submit game mods are a good example of pushing the envelope.

My own contribution has been fan fiction.

MarkG and DanQ are very creative in this way, but I bet they could use some help. Maybe if we suggested cool links to them. These links would be to interesting web sites that talked about other games or personal stuff. Then Apolyton would also be a portal.

What are some other things we can do?

[finbar]

<center><table width=80%><tr><td><font color=000080 face="Verdana" size=2><font size="1">quote:
<img src="/images/blue1.gif" width=100% height=1>
</font><font size=1>Originally posted by DanQ on 09-04-2000 11:42 PM</font>
Want to "expand" on your post, Alexander's Horse?

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Dan; Apolyton CS
<img src="/images/blue1.gif" width=100% height=1></font></td></tr></table></center>

Permit me, in Horse's absence, to attempt an explanation. As much as any of Horse's posts are explicable.

When you're a kid and you keep a living thing - a beetle, whatever - in a jar, you put some sort of food supply in the jar and punch some airholes in the lid. Or the living thing - whatever it is - expires.

A bit of Horse whimsy.

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finbar
Mono Rules!
#33984591

[DarkCloud]

Perhaps Apolyton should widen its horizons to include games such as Colonization, Railroad Tycoon,
Pirates GOLD!, and Railroad Tycoon II. Games with relation to Sid Meier or created by Sid Meier.
Also for those of you who did not know Railroad Tycoon III is in development by PopTop and
Pirates II is being discussed by those very same people, so a thread for them on a prominent
website may be all that they need to get the extra push to create those games.

Or maybe Apolyton should take a hint from Sidgames and expand into the realm of Pharaoh, Sim City,
The Sims, and Afterlife threads to inject some new life on the boards.

Are there any other ideas on this from any of you?

Backup Quote Lines:
-------------------------------
--Remember: A smile is but a frown turned upside down... (Smiling Faces Tell Lies, And That's the Truth!)
--Attack can come from above, behind, around. Or within... (ALIEN)
--A little known fact: There once was a Republic of Biafra in Africa... Which dissolved in 1970...
--A little known fish: There once was a fish called a bichir in Africa... And there still is...

QUOTE LINES FOR RENT

[Murgatroyd]

The 1 thread/8 hour limit in the OT isn't helping...

Murgatroyd
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Repeal the 1 Thread/8 Hour Limit!

[DanQ]

Or maybe Apolyton should take a hint from Sidgames and expand into the realm of Pharaoh, Sim City,
The Sims, and Afterlife threads to inject some new life on the boards

All of these, save Afterlife, are already covered by other GameStats affiliates, DarkCloud.

As per your other suggestions, we are taking them into consideration. However, we feel as though we better serve you, our visitors, by working to build the sections on the games that we cover to be as thorough as possible as opposed to having many titles covered only in general.

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Dan; Apolyton CS

[Provost Harrison]

I agree with Dan. it is certainly better if we stick to Apolytons plan to cover the civ genre, or anything closely related. But I don't think the current 'slackness' can be avoided; there have been no major releases for a while which are relevent, a limiting factor this site can do nothing about. But the OT is still going strong so I don't think there is a great problem...

[Father Beast]

Hmmnnn... 25 replies to this column in just a few days. I don't think this place is dead.
I have tried to go other places that cover other games, and there are some that do passably, but Apolyton is not only the best civ site, it's the best game site, IMO. The Wheel of time site, for example, has forums that are fairly dead, MOO2 sites mostly have mp arrangements. No other site serves it's gamers of any game as well as Apolyton does for civ.
The slowdown from frenzy in the forums is just a result of the lack of a civ release lately. We're still playing civ. We're still coming here to discuss it.
Apolyton doesn't need to be revitalized. it doesn't need a revamp, although periodic updates are appreciated.
People are often calling for Apolyton to include MOO forums, or MOM sections, or sim stuff because people want the quality of Apolyton applied to those other games, which they don't get elsewhere.

In short, Apolyton doesn't need reviving, it just needs to continue to be here.

I'm still addicted.

[UltraSonix]

Ahhhhhhh! Last time I had a short break from Apolyton, there was that post on RTS Civ3! This time I've had a break, and it's this!

I guess I could partly responsible for this - I posted <A HREF="http://apolyton.net/forums/Forum6/HTML/001626.html">here</A>:
<center><table width=80%><tr><td><font color=000080 face="Verdana" size=2><font size="1">quote:
<img src="/images/blue1.gif" width=100% height=1>
</font>
I have the feeling this will be prophetic - some day I'll do a search and find this post and marvel at my ability to predict the future...

Civ3 is dead. Turned Based Strategy is dead. Civ, you have given all of us great memories... Rest In Peace.

<img src="/images/blue1.gif" width=100% height=1></font></td></tr></table></center>
What I meant was:
<center><table width=80%><tr><td><font color=000080 face="Verdana" size=2><font size="1">quote:
<img src="/images/blue1.gif" width=100% height=1>
</font>
I didn't want to say it , but the feeling has just gotten stronger the longer I've been here (we're all coming up with ideas and all we've got is half the development team quitting), but nevertheless, I will endeavour to offer any suggestions as they come.

<img src="/images/blue1.gif" width=100% height=1></font></td></tr></table></center>
Come on guys, don't quit! Civ3's at E3 2001 - it's not dead yet (despite my saying so)!

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No, in Australia we don't live with kangaroos and koalas in our backyards...
<font size=1 face=Arial color=444444>[This message has been edited by UltraSonix (edited September 08, 2000).]</font>