Were You *truly* Ripped Off?

[Nemo]

It has been seen in many threads that some people actually pre-ordered the game with the understanding than MP was included, and would NOT have ordered it otherwise. How many people did this actually happen to?
I pre-ordered it, but I don't play MP so it didn't phase me...but I WANTED to play MP...but I refuse to pay 2 times for the same game...especially when I am already shelilng out $15 more dollars for this game then any other game i have ever bought! (I bought the LE)

[Wittlich]

Well Nemo, you only list 2 choices, and my "choice" falls into neither of them.

I will state the following. Yes, it's history and therefore obvious:

CIV Released ---- Later CIVNET Released (for an added cost)

CIV2 Releasd-----Later CIV2MGE Released (for an added cost)

SMAC Released----MP Included

and now:

CIV3 Released----Later CIV3MGE (for lack of a better term) - and rest assured, for an added cost

I am I surprised that CIV3 has gone the way of CIV and CIV2? No.

But after the history of SMAC, I figured CIV3 would have some sort of multiplay - ie, if only over LAN but now I realize that I was wrong.

Will I cancel my order of 2 copies of CIV3? No. I will buy them and then again buy the MP editions of Civ3. Am I happy about this? No....but life does go on...

IMO, a Civilization game involving other human players is by far better than any game with just AIs!

But to answer your question, when I first submitted my preorder, MP was listed as an option to CIV3. Yes, I have been sucked in to pay double for one game....but then again, by the Civilization track record, this is nothing new.

I must add that a Civilization game is the only game that I am willing to pay double for. Am I a fool, a civ fanatic, or what?!

[Skanky Burns]

I dont really play MP, so that aspect didnt affect me.

What i dont like is Firaxis' treatment of the whole MP issue. Rather than 'bite the bullet' early early and let their fans know that MP wasnt going to be in at the release, they just ignored the issue until mere weeks before Civ 3's release. They waited until it became a big issue with almost everyone talking about MP and then they let the information out.

This sort of policy is stupid on two counts. Firstly, they have been 'tricking' the MP segment of the Civ fans into buying a product that they otherwise wouldnt have bought. Never a good idea.
Secondly, they have waited until Civ 3 is almost released to let the bad news out. If done earlier, many people would have complained about the lack of MP at release, but they would understand that its not an evil Firaxis plot to screw them, that Firaxis lack the resources/money to have MP done by release time or whatever. Initially, the entire MP community would boycott Civ 3 (as is currently happening), but by the time the release came, some months later, most of the MP community would have 'cooled down' and realised that they would still like the single-player game. Not everyone, mind you, but guaranteed to be more than will currently occur. Better still, this vocal MP community wouldnt be with Firaxis during the release of Civ 3.

Whether this policy comes from Firaxis or Infogames, it definately needs to be reviewed. Bad customer relations always = less customers.

[Ozymandous]

*grumble grumble*

SB you repeated what I said.

Oh, I didn't pre-order and won't buy until at least two-three weeks after the game is released. Hopefully people will have settled into the game by then and true reviews will be made instead of the initial "this is great", "fantastic game" phase will have passed onto more objective thoughts about the good and bad aspects.

[Skanky Burns]

SB you repeated what I said.

Sorry, i dont understand you... Where did you say that??
Unless you're also Wittlich or Nemo

[Jason Beaudoin]

I voted no... I was not ripped off, but that was just me. I'm sure that there are some people here that feel differently.

[ColdWizard]

no Civ3 for me

i was going to pre-order the game, but luckily happened to hear about the rumors of no MP first, so i decided to wait and see what panned out.

[cyril25376]

I have preordered civ3, after it was clear that there is no MP. I am a little bit diappointed, but I can hardly wait playing civ3.

[Ralf]

I pre-ordered the LE-version despite the fact that I was clearly aware of that MP wasnt going to be included. This have been hinted pretty strongly 5 weeks ago already. Click and read Holy S***! NO Multiplayer Until Spring!

Beats me why this suddenly is a surprise. As for being "ripped off" - I dont get it? Your money isnt drawn from your credit-card until the dealer actually have a physical copy to send away. Just cancel that order, if thats the way you feel about it.

[Inverse Icarus]

yes i was ripped off.

[Mars]

I don't feel ripped off, not in the least

[TechWins]

For a close depiction of my feelings read Wittlich's post.

Although, I could understand how many people feel ripped off. Especially if you only bought the game for MP. I'm sorry for all of you who did this.

[jdd2007]

option number 4-i preordered it and do NOT feel ripped off..

[d_dudy]

how can you guys make time for mp anyway?

i tried it on ctp's servers and it kinda sucked

[ruckus9]

I don't see how anyone's getting ripped off. I preordered this but if I didn't like it I can cancel. I usually don't preorder but I have faith in this game. I don't think most people will preorder like I did and by then they'll know there's no MP, so there's no deception there in my eyes. It's a little overboard to me to say that a company ripped you off because they made a change before the game was even made. And if the change is that important to you, why not just cancel?