Now, if YOU were the Firaxis PR person...

[yin26]

EDITED IN AFTER A QUESTION FROM MARKOS:

MarkG:

so the problem is in the IMPRESSIONS that people get from how things are made public....

I think that is indeed a huge part of the problem here, Markos. The announcements should be prompt, easily found on the main site, and offer a good explanation. Look at each item:

** No support for low resolution? Public Announcement: "We know that this decision will leave a few of our fans needing to upgrade or to get used to a new resolution, but otherwise we are faced with designing two totally different interfaces because of size limitations in 800X600, and we feel that our artists' time should be spent these last few weeks polishing the overall look of the game."

** No demo? Public Announcement: "We know our fans must be quite confused by this decision, especially since we did so well with our pre-release SMAC demo. While we know some people will watch and wait to buy Civ3 (and being cautious in the PC game market makes sense), we made the decision that a demo for Civ3 simply cannot capture the overall feel of the larger game. Rather than leave people with an impression that Civ3 is something it isn't, we hope that our core fan base and everybody who makes the decision to buy the full game will be more than satisfied and spread the good word."

** No public beta? Public Announcement: "We understand the public's interest in a public beta and had come awfully close to doing one. However, since this is our 4th game on the JACKAL engine, we are confident that the code we are using is very stable. What is left to do is game balance, and we are confident that our in-house team will be able to efficiently and effectively help us with that. Also keep in mind that the Firaxis staff has been playing the game since its proto-type. Jeff Briggs plays 6 hours / day and has been for the past year. While we can't hope to replicate the 'real-world' of Civ 3 experience and styles, we feel the in-house beta will allow us to do more testing faster."

** No MP? Public Announcement: "We have been saying for weeks now that we wanted to do something truly unique for MP. We are still committed to that goal. However, this has meant that we will need to spend far more time on MPs development than would normally have been required. Truthfully, the task has involved far more coding than we initially planned for. So rather than delay SP or release a buggy MP, we will release for free a few months from now what we hope will be the best MP experience the TBS genre has ever had. Our apologies to the MP fans out there. Believe it or not, we'll make it worth your wait."

Now, had each of those messages been made loud and clear on the official site instead of our hearing only parts of things through e-mails to a single fan, I guarantee you very few people would have much room to complain.

Oh, they WOULD complain, but they'd have not much to work with.

INITIAL POST:

Would you let info like "No Demo" be leaked from you to some random fan writing an e-mail? And while we wait for confirmation, ask yourself the same about MP. Does that kind of information belong in an e-mail casually handed out to somebody who just happens to ask:

"Hey, how about a demo or MP?"

So Kelly Gilmore is either:

1) Being inexplicatedly forced to (or feels compelled to) relay bad news in the most innane fashion, thereby hurting the company image; or
2) Letting casually slip information that absolutely must NOT have been released in such a manner, thereby hurting the company image. It belongs on the official website with a decent explanation/apology to fans.

If it's #1, I would have told Sid: "Hey, if this is the decision, put it on the web with a nice-sounding explanation. I'll write up a draft for you."

If it's #2, I'd be amazed that Activision's plan to ruin Firaxis from the inside has actually gone this far!

If you were Firaxis' PR Wizard, how would you have advised notifying the public about these and other issues?

[Fidel]

Yin, was my coffee too strong or do I sense your optimism 're:MP'?

[yin26]

Hi Shane.

There won't be a demo for Civ III.

Thanks for checking.

Kelley

Kelley Gilmore
Communications Manager
Firaxis Games
410-891-3001 x131
kgilmore@firaxis.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Shane Christopher [mailto:gondhi_dm@hotmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2001 10:55 PM
To: askthecivteam@firaxis.com; kgilmore@firaxis.com
Subject: Civ3 Demo and Scenario editors.


Hi Kelley and ATCT,

The SMAC demo was released 2 months before SMAC released, and it is now 2 months before civ3 releases according to Amazon and infrogames. Will there be a demo within the next week or two and if so will it include the scenario/map editors so we can start making our own scenarios for when the game releases?
Thanks any information is greatly appreciated.

Shane.
_____

"Thanks for checking."

Jesus. Pathetic is too kind a word.

[SlowwHand]

I find it unlikely they would screw up this badly, but if it is true they'll not get my money.

SP is for ...others.

[yin26]

LaRusso: If the MP rumor turns out to be true, I'll have even less to be optimistic about than when I exiled myself a few weeks ago.

[tniem]

This is what I probably would have said:

"Dear Fans,

We mave to regretably announce today that the Multiplayer component of Civ III will not be ready for launch. We have been working hard on a number of ideas for both SP and MP and have found that MP is just not ready. Much of this has to do with trying to make a mainly SP game available to those that want to play a quick game against their friends. We have had trouble doing so and so we need more time on the MP aspect.

At the same time we decided to launch the game in October still because SP is looking faboulous. It really will be the greatest Civ experience of all time. We didn't want you the fans to have to wait to play a mainly SP game simply because our MP isn't yet fully worked out.

At Firaxis of course we could have just included the half baked version of MP that we have now. And try throughout the winter and spring patch it to an acceptable level. But we in all things strive for perfection. So we will be releasing MP at a later date for either a small fee/free patch off our website.

We again apologize for this inconvenice and we hope that you enjoy this civ experience as much as we have enjoyed making it."


Something to that effect should have been said. But alas it wasn't and I am still pretty angry.

[yin26]

Tniem: Assuming the rumor is true, your one post has more PR sense in it than anything I've seen from Firaxis these past 5 years. Seriously.

Instead (again assuming this is verified), we have this, through highly improper channels:

Civ III is set to release in October, but the multiplayer component won't release until some time next spring (May-ish), which will be too late for your class this year. I could send it to you for possible use next year once it's released.

She forgot to say: "Thanks for checking." Hey, Dan Magaha should be sending her some e-mails for web updates!

[Jeje2]

Firaxis do us a favour and hire Yin for anything so he'l be forced to shut up
(Wonder why they haven't tried it already?)

Seriously, it's once more startng to look quite bad with Civ3.
"Do I want to pay ~65USD for a crappy game with a nice video in it?" is something people at FIRAXIS should ask themselves seriously. I have to at least think about it if all these rumors are true.

[SlowwHand]

I don't have to think about it at all.

Screw SP.

[The diplomat]

I like tniem's "fake letter". The truth is that SP will be completely done and finished by October, and it will be really good too. Firaxis could release a half baked MP just to please the fans that demand that all games come shipped with MP. But that would not be fair. Firaxis wants to give TBS fans a really good MP which is something that TBS fans have never really gotten. They could hold onto the SP which would be already done, just so that they release both at the same time. But that is stupid for 2 reasons: first SP is already done, and second, if they wait eventhough SP is done, they will lose money and more importantly, the publisher Infogrammes will lose money.

Infogrammes is doing the sensible thing. They want Firaxis to release civ3 SP on time so that we can at least enjoy and learn the game, and they can make their expected profit. And when MP is ready, it will be released and we will have a trully amazing MP experience which will be a first really for the TBS genre. Also, remember folks, that Infogrammes is also publishing MOO3. They are publishing 2 games that are both highly anticipated TBS games. They can't release both near the same time or they would lose money because people would have to choose between civ3 and MOO3 instead of buying both. They have to release civ3 several months prior to MOO3!

What is the problem? Firaxis is trying to give us the best of both worlds, a great SP experience and a great MP experience. If it means waiting a bit for MP, so be it. It will give us more time to become familiar with the game.

[yin26]

first SP is already done

Is this why we hear major changes to the game on a continued basis? And even if things were better nailed down, a few extra months for AI tweaking and bug squashing could only help.

if they wait eventhough SP is done, they will lose money

Many, many of the top-selling games were NOT released for Christmas. In fact, the Christmas window is often a crutch to get more sales than the game deserves. Mom and dad are in a rush to buy something to put under the tree...ah, Civ? Looks educational! If Infogrames is pushing the Christmas angle and is willing to cut out a demo, MP and more time to test, then I can only say two things:

1) They have played the game and know it is weak so see Christmas as their only chance to meet profit expectations; or
2) They are ready to rape the Civ name at any cost.

The "best of both worlds" argument is nice but not supported by what we have been seeing in the least.

[Rasputin]

damn too many threads all on the same subject...

If that is the only reason they are withholding the MP version then fine, as long as the patch is free!!!!! No Small Fee at all !!! But I doubt that very much !!!!

My other concern is whether the MP patch will simply introduce many "Bugs" or "loopholes" as per Civ 2 MPGE ....

Firaxis answer please!!!!!!

[Pembleton]

Firaxis doesn't have to worry about PR. It's going to sell loads based on at least the following factors:

1) Getting press in Time and NY Times. Even Starcraft and Diablo never got this.
2) Sid Meier's reputation. Why else do they keep putting his name on games?
3) Civ2 is considered the best game of all time by most reviewing sites or magazines. If not they put it in their top 5.
4) Civ2 was a bestseller as well as the original Civ. The projected audience is not just the serious gamers like us, but the "casual" gamers and people who don't even know what HTML means. I have a couple friends who have only played a handful of computer games, such as Myst. Their favorites are Civilization.

Look at CTP. The first one was a bestseller for a while because of its name. Civilization: Call To Power. It didn't matter that the game really sucked, it still continued to sell well even after people started returning it. When the Civ name was dropped after the lawsuit and it was just Call To Power 2, no-one bought it. Activision realized this and stopped supporting it after 1 patch.

And guess what the "masses" who play Civ play? SP.

[The diplomat]

Yin: You ignored my MOO3 argument. The fact remains that if they delay civ3 a couple months so as to release the game with MP, then the game would be released too close to MOO3, and that would be very bad for sales. Civ3 and MOO3 share a very similar market, so if the games are released too close to each other, sales will be less because it will be split between the 2. They have to release civ3 and MOO3 several months apart so that the games don't "steal" sales frome each other.

You argument about christman sales is very flimsy too! it has nothing to do with christmas rush. If they delay the game, they would still have to pour money into firaxis to cover costs without any return until MP is released! Delaying the game would reduce profits not because of the christmas rush, but because delays costs money.

You are wrong about the game not being finished. civ3 is officially in beta which proves that all main features anf graphics are final, Firaxis said so! The only changes are small tweaks to the civs attributes as part of final play balancing!
SP does indeed look ready for an october release!

[lockstep]

Originally posted by The diplomat
Infogrammes is doing the sensible thing. They want Firaxis to release civ3 SP on time so that we can at least enjoy and learn the game, and they can make their expected profit.

... I´d even say: in that order.

Also, remember folks, that Infogrammes is also publishing MOO3.

Please don´t remind me of that fact. At least, I want to believe in a highly polished MoO3.