MP - now or later?

[Skanky Burns]

I want my Civ 3 ASAP!!! If they have to sacrafice MP initially to get it out in time, so be it. The fact that i dont play MP has nothing to do with this

But seriously, i dont see any real reason to delay the SP version if they cant release MP with it. I would like them to eventually release it though, as it would be fun to at least try an MP game.

[red_jon]

I WANT HOTSEAT! :doitnow:

[jdd2007]

Later! - I want SP now and I'm happy to wait for MP later.

[Roman]

Originally posted by red_jon
I WANT HOTSEAT! :doitnow:

I concur!

[Akron]

Originally posted by SITS


Actually I know of games between people that have already been arranged to play CIV3 MP when it comes out. I think you underestimated the amount of people that play MP. Have a look at the SMAC or CIV2 MP forums to see how many people play and the strength of the community.

Yeah, but they make up only a small percentage of the community as a whole (including all the casual gamers and newbies). If they can get it in 0-3 months from now, that would be great.

Anyway, I hope that hotseat is in at some point.

[SITS]

Originally posted by Akron


Yeah, but they make up only a small percentage of the community as a whole (including all the casual gamers and newbies). If they can get it in 0-3 months from now, that would be great.

Anyway, I hope that hotseat is in at some point.

The thing about MP is that most major games now know that they have to have MP for it survive. MP players keep the game on the shelfs far longer than a game that offers simply SP. In the long run I suspect 1 MP is worth 10 SP as the MP tends to play the game for more than a couple of months. The SP tends to be the more casual player that can't beat the AI on the hardest level whereas the MP is seeking a harder challenge by playing against people. Also note that Civ2 was released without MP but the way that the industry moved meant they had to release a MP version.

It would be silly of Firaxis to release it without MP. It is the one thing that reviewers will pick-up upon and criticise the game for. At the very least Civ3 needs to have the same MP capacity as SMAC/X to ensure it doesn't get criticised.

[isaac brock]

Originally posted by SITS


The thing about MP is that most major games now know that they have to have MP for it survive. MP players keep the game on the shelfs far longer than a game that offers simply SP. In the long run I suspect 1 MP is worth 10 SP as the MP tends to play the game for more than a couple of months. The SP tends to be the more casual player that can't beat the AI on the hardest level whereas the MP is seeking a harder challenge by playing against people. Also note that Civ2 was released without MP but the way that the industry moved meant they had to release a MP version.

It would be silly of Firaxis to release it without MP. It is the one thing that reviewers will pick-up upon and criticise the game for. At the very least Civ3 needs to have the same MP capacity as SMAC/X to ensure it doesn't get criticised.

Most major games aren't turn-based strategy, and I think that is a fundamental difference. And 1 MP is not worth 10 SP. Even if the SP people only ever played the game three times, they still bought the game. The money from a MPer isn't any better just because they may play it more often.

And MPers are very over-represented on Apolyton, it is certainly not any indicator of the mainstream Civ-playing market.

[SITS]

Originally posted by isaac brock


Most major games aren't turn-based strategy, and I think that is a fundamental difference. And 1 MP is not worth 10 SP. Even if the SP people only ever played the game three times, they still bought the game. The money from a MPer isn't any better just because they may play it more often.

And MPers are very over-represented on Apolyton, it is certainly not any indicator of the mainstream Civ-playing market.

Not sure I see the difference to be honest. TBS lends itself to MP, certainly PBeM.

1MP=10SP. It is true that a SP pays for the game the same as a MP, but the SP won't be urging their friends to buy it so they can play against them. With people being on the internet more and more then the friendships people have tend to be between people of different countries. So I buy Civ3 and love it - I would like to play against my brother in America, someone I know in Spain etc I need MP to do that and for them to buy the game. They buy the game on my say-so and Firaxis has another sale because of MP. Also MP's, as they tend to play longer are more than likely to buy any expansion packs. Again the value of MP to the software company is greater than SP.

[SITS]

Originally posted by isaac brock

And MPers are very over-represented on Apolyton, it is certainly not any indicator of the mainstream Civ-playing market.

Oh, as to MP being more represented on 'Poly than SP's then that proves my point. MP's have a stronger sense of community, they play the game for longer, write mods for it etc. They are simply better customers which should catered for.

[isaac brock]

MPers can write all the mods they want: It doesn't make them better customers! If MPers had to pay for each game they played, then they would be better customers. But they don't so they aren't so too bad.

[SITS]

Originally posted by isaac brock
MPers can write all the mods they want: It doesn't make them better customers! If MPers had to pay for each game they played, then they would be better customers. But they don't so they aren't so too bad.

I've always wondered why Americans wanted to nuke Canada...

You are missing my point. MP increase sales by word of mouth. Mods increase sales too. I wonder how many people bought Half-Life on the strength of Counterstrike? Better customers are ones that like your product, tell other people about it, increase the value of the product by adding things to it and who look out for the next product your company makes. If this wasn't Civ (3) then I wonder if there would be all this talk about it by so many people on different forums.

As to MP paying for each game, I do wonder if this is the great new version of MP that Firaxis hint at. If there will be a central server that people will have to pay to use which might not be ready in time for the game.