Below you will find a quick comparison between two sites, one for Master of Orion 3 and one for Civ 3. It is interesting to compare the two because they occupy roughly the same genre and are both in their 3rd appearances in their series. Although they are quite different games, and I by no means intend to say that a website in and of itself is a reliable indicator of the final product, it is quite fascinating to me to see the way that two companies took two such different approaches to the use of the Net. That is, one company is using the Net to actively inform and engage its audience (i.e. prospective customers) while the other is taking a bare-bones approach leaving potential customers rather clueless and isolated by comparison.
I wonder which is the better approach? When or can hype actually HURT your product? Does the time involved in site development / customer relations pay off in the end? Conversely, does the bare-bones approach potentially alienate gamers or represent much saved time, money and freedom from having to keep / break promises? As a quick overview, here are the main topics in each site to help you answer these questions in terms of MOO 3 / CIV 3:
MASTER OF ORION 3 WEBSITE (http://moo3.quicksilver.com/)
Game Overview
Official Comments
Press Releases
Cool Stuff
Designer's Diary
Beta Testers
We're deluged with e-mail from people requesting to be added to list of Beta Testers. Here's the official word on Beta Testers:
We have no Beta Tester list at this time. Please don't ask us to be a Beta Tester right now. We're probably looking at the Summer or Autumn of '01 for that, so just cool your jets, people. What you should do is watch this space. When there's an announcement, you'll read about it right here. Right now, we're not even sure if there's going to be an open beta test or not. Stay tuned...
About and Contact
CIV 3 WEBSITE(http://www.firaxis.com/civ3/)
The Legacy
Game Updates
Gallery
Downloads
Community
FAQ Contents
I. Introduction
II. Website
III. General
The MOO3 site is absolutely overflowing with information and a chance to interact while the Civ 3 site is more or less simply fulfilling (or, in some cases, forgetting) its purpose as a tool for informing / interacting with the public on only the most basic level. Which site approach is or will be more successful in your opinion? Do web-sites even matter to you, Joe Gamer?
I wonder which is the better approach? When or can hype actually HURT your product? Does the time involved in site development / customer relations pay off in the end? Conversely, does the bare-bones approach potentially alienate gamers or represent much saved time, money and freedom from having to keep / break promises? As a quick overview, here are the main topics in each site to help you answer these questions in terms of MOO 3 / CIV 3:
MASTER OF ORION 3 WEBSITE (http://moo3.quicksilver.com/)
Game Overview
- Background Fiction
- An Overview
- First Impressions of the Design Document as told by the newst team members
- FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
Official Comments
- Space Battles
- Macromanagement
- Multi-player
- Surface Combat
- Races, 05.24.01 Race Clarification Announcement, and official Race List
- Space Travel
- Technology
- Religion
- Leaders
- Galaxy Map
- Wild Stuff
- Real Time Strategy AI
- From the Art Director/Art Team
- From the Game Designers and Programers
- From QSI Management or Infogrames Entertainment
- QSI Posts on the Discussion Boards:
- Part One: Game Designers and Progammers
- Part Two: Art Director/Art Team and Management
- Part Three: Volunteer Developers
Press Releases
- May 11, 2000: MicroProse's MASTER OF ORION III Takes Galactic Empire Building a Step Higher
- May 11, 2000: MicroProse's MASTER OF ORION III Rebuilds the Galactic Empire Building Genre
- Voted 6th Best at E3
Cool Stuff
- Post-E3 Game Previews: Trust us, it has been worth the wait. All the goodies that have been under wraps until E3 are now being posted in this section. Keep checking back because we are releasing everything on a weekly basis until we've shown all that we can show. (There are some things we still want to surprise you with when the game is released!)
- Master of Orion III Novel Writing Contest! See who the winners are and read some of the winning entries.
- Concept Sketches: These are artists' pen-and-ink concept sketches for some of the races and their ships. Brand new sketches added February 22nd, 2001! Check 'em out.
- Star Lords: How would you like a free game? Better still, how would you like to see the precursor to the original Master of Orion? Here it is in all its ancient glory.
- COMING SOON... MOO3 Ground Combat Simulator: Here's a "play toy" showing simulated one-turn ground campaigns in MOO3.
- A team from the Wargamer, PiesTactics.com, and 10-David.com selected MOO3 as the best within the Turn Based Strategy category from all titles viewed at E3 this year. Read their review.
- GameSpy has announced its E3 Awards and MOO3 received one of the Runners-Up for Strategy Games.
- GameSpy said some very nice things about the MOO3 demo they saw at the 2001 E3 expo. Thanks, GameSpy!
- MOO3 has earned 2001 E3 BEST IN SHOW for Strategy Games! See what Gamersclick.com had to say about all the hard work we've put in thus far.
- There's a British computer gaming magazine that we really enjoy, PC Strategy Games. If you haven't seen an issue yet, you might want to check it out. (Our designer, Alan Emrich, writes a regular column for them too.)
- Here's a preview from ign.pc dubbed "Master of Orion III: The best space empire game gets another remake with some impressive changes."
- The MOO3 FAQ is now being hosted on the Orion Sector web site.
- This web site has stuff on MOO and MOO2, too, The Orion Senate.
- A nice retrospective of MOO2 can be found at IGNPC.
- Would you like to have that in Russian? Here's a web site that reports (in Russian) on MOO3 and other similar strategy games.
- Here's a brand new MOO3 Fan Site.
Designer's Diary
- February, 2001
- May, 2000
- June, 2000
- July, 2000
- August, 2000
- September, 2000
- October, 2000
- November, 2000
- December, 2000
Beta Testers
We're deluged with e-mail from people requesting to be added to list of Beta Testers. Here's the official word on Beta Testers:
We have no Beta Tester list at this time. Please don't ask us to be a Beta Tester right now. We're probably looking at the Summer or Autumn of '01 for that, so just cool your jets, people. What you should do is watch this space. When there's an announcement, you'll read about it right here. Right now, we're not even sure if there's going to be an open beta test or not. Stay tuned...
About and Contact
- About the Master of Orion III Team
- Contact Information: Thank you for your interest in Master of Orion III! This web site is maintained by Alan Emrich. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions about Master of Orion III, please send a message to aemrich@quicksilver.com. For technical problems regarding the web site, please send a detailed message regarding the issue to harvesters@quicksilver.com. Should you have press inquiries, please fill out the form below. Be sure to include your contact information to ensure that a Quicksilver representative can get back to you as soon as possible.
CIV 3 WEBSITE(http://www.firaxis.com/civ3/)
The Legacy
- (...a few blurbs about past glories... --Yin)
Game Updates
- 5/11 Game Update: Resources in Civilization III
- 3/1 Game Update: Diplomacy in Civ III
- 1/8 Game Update: War and Battles in Civ III
Gallery
- (...3 screen shots and about 12 "development art" shots of a unit or leader... --Yin)
Downloads
- "Check back soon for desktop themes, screensavers, wallpapers, and other cool goodies for the Civ addict!"
Community
- "In this section, you'll find links to Civilization III-related sites, polls, and "Ask the Civ Team", where you can send in your questions and we'll answer a few of them each month." (...NOTE: The "we'll answer a few of them" thing never really worked out. --Yin)
FAQ Contents
I. Introduction
II. Website
III. General
- What is the status of Civilization III?
- What can we expect from Civilization III?
- What is the connection between Sid Meier's Civilization III, Civilization, Alpha Centauri and Call to Power?
- Who's publishing the game?
- When is Civ III scheduled for release?
- What will Sid Meier's role be in the making of Civilization III?
- What will the system requirements be for the game?
- Are there any plans for Civilization III to be made for the Mac, Linux or other gaming platforms?
- Will there be multiplayer support for Civ III?
The MOO3 site is absolutely overflowing with information and a chance to interact while the Civ 3 site is more or less simply fulfilling (or, in some cases, forgetting) its purpose as a tool for informing / interacting with the public on only the most basic level. Which site approach is or will be more successful in your opinion? Do web-sites even matter to you, Joe Gamer?
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