Curmudgeon Gamer4. I've read about your interest in possibly working on an MMO. What is your next genre of game going to be? Are you going to be making a new kind of game in the future?
[Sid Meier's Answer:] I'm exploring lots of exciting ideas right now. A Civ MMO is a really intriguing idea and we're spending time thinking about how we could make it the fun addictive experience Civ players expect...
Please heavens no. I realize there are people who play Civ against each other, but it seems to me that "chess by mail" is the better metaphor for how Civ should be played than, well, Quake or an RTS game or, for the sake of picking a non-video game activity, basketball.
Perhaps there could be a Firaxis social network (though I hate the catchphrase) that encourages folks to find buddies that'll play Civ by email, but much more than that and you're creating a substantially different game. MMO does not lend itself to "the fun addictive experience Civ players expect".
And I'll not resist adding this tidbit, which anyone who wrote a post titled Civilization -- should be part of the curriculum five and a half years ago is nearly forced to share.
8. What is the most interesting 'story' you have heard from a school that is using Civ to teach students about history?
[SM's Answer:] It is pretty amazing how many teachers around the world are using Civ in the classroom to teach everything from history to communications to economics. We were hearing from so many of them that we decided to create a section on Firaxis.com called the Educator's Exchange which provides a place for teachers to share stories and ideas about using Civ in the classroom...
Quick Update: After reading through Bob's latest silent Sterno on that older post I linked to, above (even though I believe I've now managed to convince him to stop commenting on my posts), let me just clarify that the most intriguing defense for putting Civ into the classroom is that it is the perfect means of introducing the topic of circularity in the development of social mores on the grand political scale. That is, the history of *this* world is reflected in Civ's design, which then seems to "accurately" recreate that which inspired the game. Capiche? Maybe zakk was on to something when he mentioned SMAC? Nah. ;^D
Labels: Civilization, MMO, multiplayer, online
I'm not an impartial commentator on much, and I won't hide the fact that I loathe Phil Harrison's stupid bald head more than waking up in the morning and finding out that I'm out of milk. So when I'm just casually perusing the Internet and I find out that he's declaring that the single player way of life is over, I see red. Here's what he said to Eurogamer in some recent interview:
Alone in the Dark is a beautifully crafted single-player adventure game. I don't think the industry is going to make many more of those. I just don't think consumers want to be playing games that don't have some kind of network connectivity to them, or some kind of community embedded in them, or some kind of extension available through downloadable content.
Before we all start raiding the cutlery draw in an eager dash to perform DIY lobotomies by sticking forks through our ears (it's required to seamlessly integrate with the majority of Xbox Live players) it's probably worth mulling over what exactly Harrison is banging on about. No more beautifully crafted narrative adventures that unfold at a linear pace? I like a bit of Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3 online as much as the next guy, but the idea of never seeing a "beautifully crafted single-player adventure" again absolutely terrifies me. He can't be right, can he?
I hate to say it, but on some level I think he is. With news that even Resident Evil 5 wants to tap into the co-op trend, I definitely get a feel that the days of sitting on your own and enjoying something in a similar way as you would sit and enjoy a book are over. Social gaming is reaching a new epoch, so it's only a natural extension that everything tries to get on board. But, then, I think about it a little more. Harrison is pretty much just doing what he usually does and making a grand sweeping statement that declares something that is far from the truth. I presume he's basically predicting that everything will come with stuff like online scoreboards and uploadable replays. I don't think slapping a few of those in everything heralds the end of the "beautifully crafted single-player adventure".
Lovable beady eyed Harrison is hardly a prophet here. When I predicted that eighty percent of all games in the next two years would use a cover system after playing Gears of War for the first time, I didn't think I was making a clever and astute piece of social commentary: after spending most of my life playing videogames I was fully aware what a horribly derivative and unimaginative world they usually are. The rise in online co-op is probably just another piece that your average - and let's face it, Atari are pretty much the epitome of average - developer has drained from the popularity of Gears of War and Halo 3. At least those expensive focus groups are good for something, I guess.
The latest casualties are:
- Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (PS2)
- Resident Evil Outbreak: Files #1 & #2 (PS2) [as seen on NeoGAF; note: DO NOT visit later pages in that thread, they've been hacked to take over your browser with some nasty stuff; you've been warned]
- Phantasy Star Online Episodes I & II (Xbox)
Which makes me wonder how much thought goes into these shutdowns. In particular, companies talk of cultivating online communities of fans and the economic advantages of having such groups identifying with a game and the company behind the game. Taking these ideas at face value, it must take some serious financial advantage to disrupt those communities.
Which means the communities are tiny. Of course, I knew that. Back when I tried to play Twisted Metal Black: Online in 2003, few people playing online. And when I played Outrun 2006: Coast 2 Coast recently, there wasn't even a single other player to be found online. I suspect the same is essentially true about MGS3 and Resident Evil Outbreak, in that the true number of people who will care is small enough to ignore.
Which leads me to wish that more games were like Daytona USA: CCE for the Sega Saturn and Netlink: player-to-player online modes. I believe that Ruffin and I could still play that game right now (as we once did, long distance across state lines) as it only depends on a Saturn, a game disc, a Netlink, and a phone line. I suppose with cell phones overtaking land lines, it might soon be difficult to do even that much. Ah well, I'm committed to being perpetually in the minority.
Ah well, if someone wants to play Outrun 2006 for the PSP online, drop me an email or comment. I'm still learning to drive this thing, though, so if you've played more than an hour you'll probably be doing far better than I.
Labels: multiplayer, online, psp, sony
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