Hello. I'm new here, so I'm not quite clear on the concept; is this simply a game which is played democratically; with votes essentially on what we think is the best strategy to play, or is more roleplaying expected?

Let me give an example; if I'm elected mayor of a border town, can I choose what I build based on my own selfish needs (e.g. a maceman for immediate defense, and telling my worker to build a fort) or does the whole forum simply choose based on the best strategy for the whole civ (e.g. build improvements for culture to push the border back [is this even feasible?], and building cottages).

If I'm a citizen, do I complain about the starvation and lack of luxuries in my city, or just sit back and vote on questions in the forum?

Excellent question!

The quick answer is, whatever you find fun! :D

Past demogames have seen a lot of roleplay. We have had mayors competing for the citizens votes to put wonders in their cities, to get bragging rights. Ordinary citizens have written stories about their travels among our cities, and "justified" their votes based on their RP experiences. Our games generate a pretty good crop of rebels too.

Civ4 offers a lot of extra role play opportunities over Civ3, like civic choices and religion.

Personaly, I would like to see the roleplay more linked towards the game such as Demogame 1 of Civ3 fame.

Personaly, I would like to see the roleplay more linked towards the game such as Demogame 1 of Civ3 fame.

Then you have to make it happen. You can't just sit there and say "I want more roleplay" and expect it to happen. Many of us weren't here for Civ3 DG1, yet you still expect us to emulate such roleplay?

[QUOTE=jasonnorthrup;5065268]Hello. I'm new here...

Then you have to make it happen. You can't just sit there and say "I want more roleplay" and expect it to happen.
I've became apethetic about the roleplay after Civ3 DG2 when it just became a regulated economic sim. What in the world does an economic sim has to do with a stratagy game?

I tried to make it happen, but yet it never caught on since people would rather much have an roleplay based on economic sim insted of the informal roleplaying where we are just bound by the game itself.

How in the world am I suppost to make it happen, as an old foggy of the Demogame, in a Demogame filled with newer people? :p


Many of us weren't here for Civ3 DG1, yet you still expect us to emulate such roleplay?
Calm down Calm down. Oy If I try to make it happen, it wont catch on and no one would want to emulate this kind of role play.

[QUOTE=DaveShack;5065305]Excellent question!

The quick answer is, whatever you find fun!

I like the idea of the roleplaying aspect, however, others who are more interested in seeing if the experiment results in successful gameplay might find it irritating.

Well I think last game we really leaned towards the decisions that would produce the best results. CIV is a lot different than CIV III, and we weren't really ready to play, especially after paying CIV III DG's where not every little choice counts. I'm sure now that we will have a bit more roleplay influencing the game (and decisions) since we now are all accustomed to CIV and we probablly wont be behind in most of the game (where we were last DG.)

What exactly was the roleplaying like in CivIII DGI?

I'm more inclined towards jasonnorthrup's ideas than to an economic sim, mind you...

What exactly was the roleplaying like in CivIII DGI?

I'm more inclined towards jasonnorthrup's ideas than to an economic sim, mind you...
You can probably get the best impression by actually going through the forums of that DG. Here's a link to the main forum (http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=62), found in the archives.

DG2 was mostly economy based, DG3 and 4 had some attempts at the
RPG (economy based) that failed. Most of the RP there was in the Citizen and Government forums.

C4DG1 had probably the least amount of RP of any DG. Lots of numeric analysis.

Personal opinion - economy based RPG's work only when there's a dedicated manager to track the economy and introduce new storylines. DG1 and 2 had it. The rest have not.

-- Ravensfire

oh my... That is very nice! We should have provinces, methinks

I'm all for roleplaying.

Give me a religious minority, and I'll keep you entertained.

make me a holy man.. or a rich noble.. i love roleplaying.. i even do it while playing hotseat games with my girlfriend :P

Personal opinion - economy based RPG's work only when there's a dedicated manager to track the economy and introduce new storylines. DG1 and 2 had it. The rest have not.I wouldn't mind managing an economic based economy (with the help of atleast 1 other though), but in the DG2 Pre-Game Discussion that was held in the DG1 forums, there was only minimal support for an economy based rpg.

I wouldn't mind managing an economic based economy (with the help of atleast 1 other though), but in the DG2 Pre-Game Discussion that was held in the DG1 forums, there was only minimal support for an economy based rpg.

We have a lot more people now. This probably isn't a good thread to discuss a standalone RPG and properly gauge interest.

If it shall be roleplaying versus strategy, I would choose strategy.

But I think game can be played strategic way AND players organized roleplay

way; and that will be the most fun.

Best regards,

I'd be interested in role-playing aspects, though I personally do not have the time to help set up a system.

I wouldn't mind managing an economic based economy (with the help of atleast 1 other though), but in the DG2 Pre-Game Discussion that was held in the DG1 forums, there was only minimal support for an economy based rpg.

IMO for an economy to be anywhere near realistic, it would have to be so complex that having humans manage it wouldn't be sufficient. I think that if we want a true economy based rpg, it would have to be at least semi-automatic. And making such a thing seems pretty complex to me, programming-wise.

I'd just prefer normal easy role-playing over complex economy-based roleplaying.

If it shall be roleplaying versus strategy, I would choose strategy.

But I think game can be played strategic way AND players organized roleplay

way; and that will be the most fun.

Best regards,

I second that! Personally I want a strategic focus because I want to become better at Civ, but I'm sure there is room for roleplaying and such. :P

Indeed... Obviously, we can't go making suicidal decisions (or indecisions) for the sake of roleplay...

But much roleplay should still be possible... I think the newspaper has great potential in relation to this too..

In Civ III DG1 all the roleplaying was informal (no econ sim).

It did effect stradegy every now and then, but never in ways that greatly impacted the overall stategy.

Examples:

We rushed a Destroyer once to launch a "Rescue mission" to save one of our citizens who had gotten caught in the crossfire after a "interview" with the King Alexander who had gotten exiled to a single city island nation (greece was still at war with the Iroqouis at the time.)

We also had several "National Parks" where we weren't allowed to cut down the Forests there.

Other then that I can't really think of any other roleplaying which directly effected strategy, most everything else was strategy and in game events effecting roleplaying.

Indeed... Obviously, we can't go making suicidal decisions (or indecisions) for the sake of roleplay...

But much roleplay should still be possible... I think the newspaper has great potential in relation to this too..

I think the final decision, the one that goes on the live game, should be strategic AND based upon what citizens have voted... but the roleplay part will bring alot to our DG2 community and like Furius said, the newspaper has a great potential for editorial subjects AND roleplay... we should also roleplay our civics... a despot leader should give a rats' a** about what other people say, but still, since we are playing a mod of the game which involves 50+ peeps, just consider citizens as multiple personalities for the leader :crazyeye:

just adding my two golds per turn...

I can remember way back in Civ3 DG2 or so, some actually wanted roleplay to affect the game (even I wanted that to a minor degree). Now, things like, "Let's not enact the Slavery civic because it's slavery" is letting roleplay get in the way of the game. (One reason we really never pop-rushed or razed our own cities... - Civ3 DG6 was an exception. I seem to recall Falcon02 and Donsig or someone else in a heated debate about that in Civ3 DG1.).


Civ4 kind of takes away the roleplay aspect of building certain wonders in certain cities and other things due to the way the economy/production system works now (i.e., you can't get rich by building roads - roads are less important now, too, and you can't mine every tile now). There is more roleplay in civics, and religion, so a Culture Advisor would actually have something to do now. Cottages/Hamlets/Towns can also add to the roleplay -- suburbs. :)


Some examples of roleplaying back in Civ3 -

Citizen's Groups. These aren't as popular now, but back in the day (Civ3 DG1), they were wildly popular. There were two large Citizen Groups - "The War Church" (Knight-Dragon/XIII's group), and the "Spice Traders Guild", my group. The groups weren't political (i.e., they couldn't have a voting block, and couldn't force people to vote or not vote), but they could roleplay certain aspects of the game, and even put something in a thread like, "The Spice Traders Guild would like to have an additional source of spices", or "The War Church would love to have the city of Tyre, and will assemble 5 Macemen to help take it.".

City Threads - Usually the mayor, or the person who "founded" the city (it was the name of a city that they wanted) would make this thread, and roleplay activities in the thread. Events in the city would revolve around the actual gameplay. In Civ3 DG1, Thebes and Mephis were the staging grounds of the Iroquois War, Asphinxia Banquet (and The Great Steamed Crab Debate), and storing of artillery to fend off the Iroquois invasion. In DG2, several cities were captured by India, and they were the staging grounds for a resistence movement while our forces recovered and took back the city. In DG7, we had a 5-city challenge, and cities vied to become the best in a certain area. For example, my city had the first of several unit types, and several war-related wonders. Another city was a fishing city (there were 2 competing for that title I think).

Freeform Events - There are events that can be held in a city or province that are usually sports related. We had a boat race in a bay in Civ3 DG1, and a(n American) Football tournament in Civ3 DG2. Civ3 DG2 (which lasted 11 months due to it being on a huge map and on Emperor - nearly 24 hour turnchats!) also had an economy roleplay, plus a "Game of Fuedalism" where players owned certain tiles and gained income. One of the interesting Freeform events was after Civ3 DG1 was finished - the "Advisors Civil War". It started with the "Delphi County" thread when disorganizer didn't agree with how his city was being handled by the DP (designated player - in Civ3, it was always the president, then down the chain of command). So, he revolted. Soon after, different advisored took sides, and it was a "Civil War" - not to be confused with the "Medicine War" (remember that, donsig?).

Roleplay Forum Threads - These were strictly for the roleplay forum. There would be threads such as a pub, or a news stand.


Roleplaying tends to be the most creative during the early part of the game when a lot of users are still around, and during times of war, especially when we're the ones being invaded (didn't happen that often).

Ah, the memories....

"Let's not enact the Slavery civic because it's slavery" is letting roleplay get in the way of the game. (One reason we really never pop-rushed or razed our own cities... - Civ3 DG6 was an exception. I seem to recall Falcon02 and Donsig or someone else in a heated debate about that in Civ3 DG1.).

I don't recall that one... we might have though, and I think I was against using Slavery in general at the time... I'll see if I can't find a thread about it later though... always fun to dig back in the DG archives.



In Civ3 DG1, Thebes and Mephis were the staging grounds of the Iroquois War, Asphinxia Banquet (and The Great Steamed Crab Debate), and storing of artillery to fend off the Iroquois invasion. In DG2, several cities were captured by India, and they were the staging grounds for a resistence movement while our forces recovered and took back the city.

The Asphinxia Banquet was great... also had a bit of an Airshow planned... which eventually caused a mini-war between and Strider (I think) and me over who's craft was better...

It was good to have a fellow Marylander on my side for that Crab debate though ;)

I remember the resistance, but I think that was the point my DG2 participation started to wane.


One of the interesting Freeform events was after Civ3 DG1 was finished - the "Advisors Civil War". It started with the "Delphi County" thread when disorganizer didn't agree with how his city was being handled by the DP (designated player - in Civ3, it was always the president, then down the chain of command). So, he revolted. Soon after, different advisored took sides, and it was a "Civil War" - not to be confused with the "Medicine War" (remember that, donsig?).

Related to the Airshow war with me and Strider (Science at the time), Strider took Disorganizer's side and I (as Military) was forced to act to surpress the rebellion.

I think even after Disorganizer stopped his rebellion me and Strider were still going at it...

Ah, the memories....



I don't recall that one... we might have though, and I think I was against using Slavery in general at the time... I'll see if I can't find a thread about it later though... always fun to dig back in the DG archives.




The Asphinxia Banquet was great... also had a bit of an Airshow planned... which eventually caused a mini-war between and Strider (I think) and me over who's craft was better...

It was good to have a fellow Marylander on my side for that Crab debate though ;)

I remember the resistance, but I think that was the point my DG2 participation started to wane.



Related to the Airshow war with me and Strider (Science at the time), Strider took Disorganizer's side and I (as Military) was forced to act to surpress the rebellion.

I think even after Disorganizer stopped his rebellion me and Strider were still going at it...

And who can forget the greatest flag of all time? :D

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/12145/asphinxia_flag.jpg

NOW THATS WHAT I WANT TO PLAY.
I want to play a dg like that. Where I can play a story and be in a government running a civ.
I know its still pre actual game but I think that the thread for roleplay should be started and organized soon so that we can hit the ground running with the whole roleplaying thing.