MP or no MP?

[drake]

Hey I don't mind waiting 2 or 3 months. Doesnt bother me. But I'm not going to buy two games. I will not buy civ3 "vanilla" and then get an add on. F*ck that.

They need the equivalent of a civ2 gold version with civ3. As long as I get that, I will be happy.....

They're still a bunch of backwards c0cks for not including it, but its a waste of time whining about it, so I think I am going to stop......................I think

[SITS]

The lack of MP is a disgrace, especially as Firaxis hasn't been very forthcoming on it.

[Th0mas]

Originally posted by SITS
The lack of MP is a disgrace, especially as Firaxis hasn't been very forthcoming on it.

hang on...Sid made it quite plain in one of the early interviews that he felt civilisation was primarily a single player experience..

[Ozymandous]

Originally posted by Th0mas


hang on...Sid made it quite plain in one of the early interviews that he felt civilisation was primarily a single player experience..

And your point is?

MP was included as one of the selling features of the game, at least until the last two months when FIraxis (quietly) stopped advertising that as a selling point.

So Civ3 is playled by more people as a SP game, so what?? Still doesn't change the fact that they advertised the game as having MP and then kept silent on the issue (deluding those who placed pre-orders and then haven't chencked on the game again) for the last two months.

IF they knew MP wasn't going to make the first release, ands they obviously did buy the email that initially started the whole "is MP in?" debate, they SHOULD have published it so their customers wouldn't be pre-ordering the game under false pretenses.

My question to all those who think this game is the next coming of *insert your local diety here*, do you like being lied to and having information deliberately withheld? More companies are releasing games with major features missing to be sold as an expansion. Do you really like rewarding companies for releasing shoddy, half-finished products?

According to Soren, when Brian left they had to redesign the game, well tough, that's what they are paid for. I would hazzard a guess that if they had taken all the people who worked on SimGolf and that stupid dinosaur game and had them work on Civ3 the game would be FINISHED regardless of who had left the company.

Like the airline bailout, why should we reward companies for piss poor management decisions and failure to manage their resources correctly?

[Th0mas]

The point is that Fraxis had asperations to make CIV III MP enabled - however they, obviously, were unable to deliver this functionality within the timescales and scope of their business plan.

This does not make them criminals.

In any development programme there has to come a point where you stop! The best way to kill a project is by scope creep. A decision must have been made not to release the MP functionality as it would have put the project at risk of non-delivery.

You might have grounds to be unhappy that your expectations have not been very well managed, but I would be very cautious about putting the full blame on Fraxis. As someone who understands the inherent conflict between marketing-development-creativity-business focus within this type of environment I would suggest that the decision not to include MP was not a simple "lets (screw) our customers for more money".

So Fraxis made a decision to focus on the highest priority which was to deliver an excellent SP CIV III. I strongly suspect that they talk about CIV III MP in terms of a 'phase II' - and yes you might have to pay for it ( developers are a very expensive resource)

My take is that I would rather pay for my game that may not have everything I want but delivers on 95% of it - than risk losing the on going evolution of the civilisation series altogether because you have a beef with the way it was marketed

[drake]

The point is that Fraxis had asperations to make CIV III MP enabled - however they, obviously, were unable to deliver this functionality within the timescales and scope of their business plan.

Yeah, they were too busy making useless animated units and other fluff ......

[Th0mas]

Originally posted by drake


Yeah, they were too busy making useless animated units and other fluff ......

yes I suppose it is a matter of taste

Though if they werent animated, there would be a lot of people moaning about that...

...although they would probably be different people...except Yin26

[drake]

yes I suppose it is a matter of taste

Though if they werent animated, there would be a lot of people moaning about that...

You mean firaxis can't make everyone happy???



They know this, and expect criticism because of this fact. No game release is flawless. Can't make everyone happy.

It just happens to be us MP people that got the shaft, so naturally we're un-happy.......I don't think anyone should expect us not to be un-happy.....its like you said thomas, if someone left out the hokey animated graphics, someone else would be b1tching.

[Th0mas]

Originally posted by drake


You mean firaxis can't make everyone happy???



They know this, and expect criticism because of this fact. No game release is flawless. Can't make everyone happy.

It just happens to be us MP people that got the shaft, so naturally we're un-happy.......I don't think anyone should expect us not to be un-happy.....its like you said thomas, if someone left out the hokey animated graphics, someone else would be b1tching.

I agree .. however I believe that in a CIV game you need the SP working before you get MP - the only part of SP that is not in MP is the AI (and only in those games with just human players)

...so to me it seems that if something needs to be dropped it is the MP functionality. (assuming MP will be coming along later)

I can understand why you would be dissapointed - it is when some of the MPphillic crowd start waving firebrands and threatening to storm the castle that I get

[drake]

Storm what castle?

All (most of us) have done is express anger and discouragement and vow not to buy the game. What you mean Thomas?

I won't buy the game, but I'm not going to mail a package bomb to Firaxis

(Can't speak for anyone else though)

[Th0mas]

Burn the Witch...burn the witch...



I suppose generally people are braver on-line - and maybe express their feelings slightly more vigorously than they might in person.

In my minds eye some of the Fraxis 'bashing' posts are translated into a vision of a screeming lynch mob, the spanish inquesition (indigestion?) or some medievel witch hunt... with about the same amount of objectivity.

[drake]

Heh, yeah it is a little crazy isn't it?

Some people may be "braver" here than they are in real life, and many will probably puss out and buy the game anyway. But not me! I hold grudges!

If only firaxis had actually taken any of our advice, we'd have a hell of a game that ALL of us could enjoy!