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Firaxis, and Why Civ III is not what we *want* it to be...

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  • Firaxis, and Why Civ III is not what we *want* it to be...

    I've seen a lot of people have a go at Firaxis for thier destruction of Civilisation III, and other reasons. People feel cheated by them , and feel like they, the loyal consumer doesnt matter anymore. whilst this is quite true , people do not realise Firaxis are no different to any company, like Eidos for example.

    Profit will ALWAYS come before the interests/satisfaction of the Loyal consumers in any company that exists, hence every good game taken over by a big company will go down the same route as Civ III .

    Nearly every good game is born by a gamer (or gamers) themselves (In this case old Sid), but as a game become more and more popular, it's potential profitability becomes higher, and a big company will buy the rights to develop the game, and then it's numbers on P&L accounts, rather than smiling faces that takes precidence.

    Civilisation II, and Championship Manager 97/98, and Elite Frontier II, are 3 of my all time favorite games, these games were born from the dreams of thier creaters. But once they captured the imagination of a large audience, the dream was exploited to make greater profit until the dream is dead and all is left is game which sells copies by living on the game's past glory and the 'casual gamers' desires.

    I dont feel Civ III is nearly as good as it could be, I'm annoyed sure, but I understand WHY it's happening, and how powerless we are to stop this. Libitarian Moaning on this boards is guaranteed to have zero effect on the polocies of Firaxis.


    We would all like to See the games we have really took to just get better and better, and are upset when they dont, but how many of us really have contributed towards it's creation?? we have all put our money into buying the game, but we will all agree we have our money's worth too. The problem is, a demand to pay for a product, on it's own simply isnt enough to get what we truly want out of a game. If we really want a good game, what we feel Civ III should be, the 'hardcore' fans should attempt to develop such a game for themselves - This is the best chance of getting what we really want from a game. I myself am no expert coder, my knowledge of programming is quite limited, but if i dont put in anything, I cant expect anything more out of the game apart from the £35 which I invest to buy it, which i feel I have got a good return for.

    A lot of people want a lot more, but how much more are they actually willing to put in??
    Up The Millers

  • #2
    Who's we?

    I've been playing since Civ I and I enjoy Civ III as is, but to each his own...

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    • #3
      'We' is the vast majority of people on here, who seem to be highely critical of Civ III. All i can see on here, are posts about Civ III's shortcomings, and moans at Firaxis. I cant see many posts saying 'This game is absolutly amazing, they seem to have got Civ III near perfect' , I happen to agree with most views, but dont see a way that Firaxis will change.

      A lot of people are annoyed, but who can we blame for a product that isnt whey want???

      The shareholders and owners are bound to want a return on thier investments, I would had I invested Millions of Pounds.

      The Managers are bound to want to make the company as profitable as possible, so they keep thier Jobs.

      The Programmers just do what they are told to do.

      So while I am nowhere near 100% happy with Civ III, I dont see how my view will change any of the above.
      Up The Millers

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      • #4
        You must not know the term "passive resistance." By not buying the game, by letting them know that you won't get the game since they are putting their needs before yours is one way to go. You don't have to accept it if you choose not to. I personally find this game fun, because after Call to Power, I was thankful to get back to *true* Civilization.
        "I predict your ignore will rival Ben's" - Ecofarm
        ^ The Poly equivalent of:
        "I hope you can see this 'cause I'm [flipping you off] as hard as I can" - Ignignokt the Mooninite

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        • #5
          The problem is that each gamer has their own idea of what they want to see in civ3. It would be mpossible for Firaxis to make a civ3 that pleased all the civ fans here at 'Poly. To even come close they would have to devise a super-editor that allowed each player to change the game to their liking and that would be extremelly difficult to pull off. They made a civ3 that pleases some players but upset others. That is inevitable. If they had done the opposite, they would have pleased those gripping now, but at the expense of those content now.

          Furthermore, Firaxis does not have infinite ressources and time to make civ3. They had a limited amount of time which they had to spend in a way that they felt would produce the most successful game. Limited time and ressources automatically means that they had to make some sacrifices.

          They will undoubtly work on some more patches to tweek the game closer to what the majority of gamers are asking for.
          'There is a greater darkness than the one we fight. It is the darkness of the soul that has lost its way. The war we fight is not against powers and principalities, it is against chaos and despair. Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope, the death of dreams. Against this peril we can never surrender. The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.'"
          G'Kar - from Babylon 5 episode "Z'ha'dum"

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          • #6
            Moaning on this board creates bad press, at least for the people who like to visit boards before buying games. This, in turn, hurts the Firaxis bottom line.

            If Firaxis ignores the complaints and allows negative feelings to snowball, that is bad business. Pure and simple.
            I've been on these boards for a long time and I still don't know what to think when it comes to you -- FrantzX, December 21, 2001

            "Yin": Your friendly, neighborhood negative cosmic force.

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            • #7
              Also, everyone has to have something to complain about. At least they're complaining about it where they're supposed to.
              "I predict your ignore will rival Ben's" - Ecofarm
              ^ The Poly equivalent of:
              "I hope you can see this 'cause I'm [flipping you off] as hard as I can" - Ignignokt the Mooninite

              Comment


              • #8
                Anger met by silence will grow -- and spread.

                A lot of people are angry at Firaxis, and when they don't hear anything back from them -- in any way -- they get even angrier. If the company dropped by and said:

                "We're working on the next patch, we are trying to improve the editor and create multi-player support, but please understand we can't promise anything."

                That would do a whole lot to improve people's feelings... I think. As yin26 said, all this negativity is likely to hurt sales of Civilization III, so one would think a response is in Firaxis own best interest.

                Btw, I heard that the company has devoted two people (and two salaries) to administrate the beta-test group. I see that as they do support Civilization III, and will likely continue working for some time (i.e. they will release a juicy add-on in let's say six months).
                MonsterMan's Mod: http://www.angelfire.com/amiga/civ3/

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                • #9
                  If one were to base their purchase on the attitudes of a forum, then one would never buy a game!

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                  • #10
                    EU2. Space Empires 4. Just to name two. I'd add MOO3, but since it hasn't been released, it's not a valid comparison, though the indicators are all quite good.
                    I've been on these boards for a long time and I still don't know what to think when it comes to you -- FrantzX, December 21, 2001

                    "Yin": Your friendly, neighborhood negative cosmic force.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      All depends where you look. Actually, my little quip needs to be qualified in knowing which fora are bent on squelching negatives posts and the ones that are not. Regarding EU, the fanboys and the constructive critics have gravitated towards Paradox' forum, but by no means is it universally loved, as you imply. IMHO, EU sucks as a game, regardless of the amount of positiveness in the forum and the amount of PR by Paradox. Good posts and good PR doth not a good game make.

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                      • #12
                        First, criticisms are generally A) gladly accepted and recognized by the developers themselves on those boards and thus B) die in a wave of good feeling that at least people aren't being ignored.

                        Second, your claim was that looking a board would always lead you to NOT buy the game. Sorry, that's just not true. EU2 and SE4's boards would let you know that at the least you'd be buying a game from developers who value fan input. If you don't care about that, so be it. You'd also find a LOT of fans who are very very happy. If that STILL doesn't mean anything to you, why check the boards.

                        Third, Civ3 is a crap game with crap PR ... and the boards here attest to that fact. Crappy PR, that is, doth often indicateth pooreth abilitieth toeth supporteth youreth gameth.
                        I've been on these boards for a long time and I still don't know what to think when it comes to you -- FrantzX, December 21, 2001

                        "Yin": Your friendly, neighborhood negative cosmic force.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          At least they're complaining about it where they're supposed to.
                          Actually, no.

                          If you believe you've been ripped off because the game does not live up to the manufacturer's claims, you should be complaining to the consumer affairs body in your place of residence.

                          If you don't believe you've been outright ripped off, but are still dissatisfied, you should be complaining to Firaxis, as the makers of the game, or Infogrames, as the publisher.

                          Blowing off steam in an unrelated public forum isn't exactly the right place if you want your complaints to be heard by the companies in question.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            The company in question summarily ignores e-mails and fails to make updates on its own homepage.
                            I've been on these boards for a long time and I still don't know what to think when it comes to you -- FrantzX, December 21, 2001

                            "Yin": Your friendly, neighborhood negative cosmic force.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              When talking about the greatest game in PC history, it's easy to have expectations that won't be met. We're all here on this forum because we have some interest in some version of Civilization, a game which is, in my opinion, unrivaled. It's hard to make the greatest game better, and I'm sure even the most adamant of Civ 3 fanatics can rattle off an enormous list of failed expectations. I'm just thankful that someone is out there trying to improve Civilization and that its legend is being kept alive. Even if some feel that certain areas have been trampled upon, I'm certain that Civ 3 and any sequels which may follow will always triumph when put to battle with any other PC game.
                              " . . . I fought, and strove, and perished, countless times . . . as if through a glass and darkly, the age old strife I see, where I've fought in many guises, many names, but always me."
                              -Gen. George S. Patton Jr.

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