Creation Day

Let's talk about Creation Day for DGIV. As it's scheduled now, the game creation for DG4 will take place on January 3rd, 2004. We have two weeks until the first day of Winter, then the Holidays start and the game is 14 days after that.

We should decide the things that will make the Creation Day process run smoothly now, so we don't have to take up Holiday time. Some of the things I'm talking about are;

Exactly what day and time will the DGIV game be created?

Will the chat for the creation only last about 15 minutes? Just long enough to choose the polled options, press the button, and save the 4000bc screen?

Will the Presidential candidates for Term1 of DGIV have to submit their choice of Creation Day time and date as part of their election campaign, or will the Citizens decide these?

Who gets to name the Capital City? The President or the Citizens?

I'm sure we have other questions that need to be answered here, so let's discuss this.

It would be much better if we could get the game created before the first term started.

Exactly what day and time will the DGIV game be created?
I agree with Donsig. Let's say Sunday December 29th.

Will the chat for the creation only last about 15 minutes? Just long enough to choose the polled options, press the button, and save the 4000bc screen?
Does it have to be in a chat ? If so it indeed will be a short chat, but there's nothing wrong with that.

Will the Presidential candidates for Term1 of DGIV have to submit their choice of Creation Day time and date as part of their election campaign, or will the Citizens decide these?
That shouldn't be part of their election campaign. But as the President will kick off the game, he/she will need to suggest dates / times when that is going to happen. Of course in a discussion.

Who gets to name the Capital City? The President or the Citizens?
That's the prerogative of the President.

Exactly what day and time will the DGIV game be created?
January 3rd 2004

Will the chat for the creation only last about 15 minutes? Just long enough to choose the polled options, press the button, and save the 4000bc screen?
Like you said. Just long enough to choose the polled options, press the button and save the 4000BC save.

Will the Presidential candidates for Term1 of DGIV have to submit their choice of Creation Day time and date as part of their election campaign, or will the Citizens decide these?
The citizens should decide.

Who gets to name the Capital City? The President or the Citizens?
Let the citizens decide

Exactly what day and time will the DGIV game be created?
January Third, 2004.

Will the chat for the creation only last about 15 minutes? Just long enough to choose the polled options, press the button, and save the 4000bc screen?
Yep. It'll be another one of those chats where we generate the map, post a picture of what our start is, save, post it, and do the infamous phrase, "Take it to the forums"

Will the Presidential candidates for Term1 of DGIV have to submit their choice of Creation Day time and date as part of their election campaign, or will the Citizens decide these?
Citizens choice. Not just one person should decide this

Who gets to name the Capital City? The President or the Citizens?
President's choice. Always has been, and it should stay that way. Why diregard Fox Nest, Barvaria and NoShoRet for some citizen chosen name?

Exactly what day and time will the DGIV game be created?
January 3, 2004.

Will the chat for the creation only last about 15 minutes? Just long enough to choose the polled options, press the button, and save the 4000bc screen?
It should be a traditonal thing that the created save should be only viewed and saved on the 4000bc screen

Will the Presidential candidates for Term1 of DGIV have to submit their choice of Creation Day time and date as part of their election campaign, or will the Citizens decide these?
Citizens choice.

Who gets to name the Capital City? The President or the Citizens?
I beleve we should go with the standard CoC procedure. The President always gets to name the city first.

Rik/Boots,

Keep in mind that from December 29th to 31st, we won't even know who our President is. So I would say we aim for January 3rd, if that will indeed be the first chat.


Will the chat for the creation only last about 15 minutes? Just long enough to choose the polled options, press the button, and save the 4000bc screen?

15 minutes only

Will the Presidential candidates for Term1 of DGIV have to submit their choice of Creation Day time and date as part of their election campaign, or will the Citizens decide these?

I would like to see the citizens decide this, although it would be unfortunate if the President could not meet that time frame.

Who gets to name the Capital City? The President or the Citizens?

I would prefer that we stick with custom and have the President name the first city.

Exactly what day and time will the DGIV game be created?

I would very much hope prior to the 1st term starting – we can then see the starting position and discuss it in the forum.

The timeline for DG4 that has been left behind in the DG3 forum had:
DG-IV Game Settings/Options Defined, Civ Chosen: 15-Dec-03
Maybe I read too much into this, but I assumed that the game would then be created. Why can’t the game be created at this point, prior to nominations etc for the various positions? How individuals approach the game situation can then be part of the debates for the election process. After all once the game settings have been selected, who the President is will not affect the game creation at all,, only what we do from then on. Create the game, discuss the starting position while electing officials so that in the first turn chat we get to play the game and found our first city!

Why not move this timeline into the DG4 forum? Or is it now completely irrelevant.

Will the chat for the creation only last about 15 minutes? Just long enough to choose the polled options, press the button, and save the 4000bc screen?

Why have a chat for this? Create it, post the screenshot/save and discuss in the forums. I usually like reading the chat logs (lurker here, maybe I’ll attend at some point this time) but I don’t see that a chat just for selecting some already decided options, pressing the button and posting a picture/save will actually add anything to it. People can then get together and chat about it as well if they wish. We should certainly not go beyond the creation point and actually move/do anything though.

Will the Presidential candidates for Term1 of DGIV have to submit their choice of Creation Day time and date as part of their election campaign, or will the Citizens decide these?

See earlier comments about when.

Who gets to name the Capital City? The President or the Citizens?

Doesn’t the President usually do it?

I too would like to see the game created as soon as the starting conditions are known, and then the candidates for term 1 offices will have the opportunity to discuss their take on the starting position in the debates.

I believe the Creation Day chat should be held on 01/03/04. It should only last long enough for the President to start up the Civ3 game, select the options that won in the citizen polls, and witness the Settler and accompanying troop(s). At this point, the President should save the game and post the save along with all the screenshots taken (both options screens, the 4000bc screen, and anything else that might shed light on the situation.

We should NOT create the game prior to the elections. First of all it would cause a major riot if us old-timers had to sit around while politicians proclaimed what their plans were based on the 4000bc screenshot. Have you ever discussed with anyone what you plan to do in a game based on the 4000bc screenshot? It takes about 10 minutes. I say NO to pre-Term game creation.

Creation Day is a tradition that I have witnessed 3 times. It's magnificent. It is an event in which we will create a world for us to interact in for many months. Even if it only last 15 minutes, it's well worth the effort.

As far as the last two questions everyone else is posting, I believe the citizens should choose the best time and day for a worldwide gathering. A celebration of creation! And that even though the official naming of the Capital city will not take place on Creation Day, the President should have the honor of naming the place that our proud Settler will establish.

I'm sure there are a lot more questions that can be brought up, so if you have any, be sure and post them. I believe I've addressed all the questions asked so far. Thank you people, please give me more input.

EDIT:changed the /03 to an /04

i think we probably also should have election stuff settled before we actually begin the game. so to avoid some chaos. but doing that during new years may be hectic, and many might not vote. we may have to do the voted between chrismas and new years eve.

OK, People. Some of the Poll and Discussion results for Options we will select for Creation Day are listed below ~

According to this poll, Barbarians will be RANDOM.

According to this poll, our Land mass will be CONTINENTS.

According to this poll, our Software Version will be VANILLA CIV3.

According to this discussion, our World Size will be LARGE.

According to this discussion, our number of opponents will be TWELVE.

According to this discussion, our Difficulty Level will be MONARCH.

According to this discussion, Water Coverage will be set at 60%.

We are currently polling the masses to determine if our choice of Civ Tribe will be the French or the Egyptians. If you haven't voted, please do so now.

Also, Sarevok has pointed out that we have not chosen our opponents. Tradition calls for us to make all our opponents random, but I'm going to open a discussion thread just to make it official. There will be other threads for the Options we haven't discussed also.

P.S. If I missed anything, I'll post it later.

According to this poll, our Temperature will be Temperate.

According to this poll, the Age of Our Planet will be 5 Billion Years Old.

According to this poll, our Climate will be Normal.

And finally, according to this poll, we will be playing as THE FRENCH!

I am going to run for president for term 1 of DG4. My grandfather is having his 85th birthday January 3rd. If I get elected I, as your president, am unable to kick of the game.

I therefore ask to postpone the decision of the kick-off date till we know who is our first president.

Would it be possible to either allow the president to determine when creation day will be or to bump creation day up a day to January 2nd?

Actually, Rik Meleet, an optimum time for Creation Day is between 2000GMT and 2359GMT. That's what? 2100GMT - 0059GMT to you? Will Grandfather be up that late?

It seems to me that the President has the authority to schedule the official turn chats for his/her term of office, or has this changed?

If so, then Rik, if you are in fact elected, I would suppose you could schedule the creation chat as you best saw fit.

Well, let's poll it and find out. We have a mixed bag of suggestions here. I will post the poll.

uhm this may sound a bit stupid bu who creates the game??

and if the president why him/her/it could we not nominate a citizen before elections to find out who will create it? i think this will be much better way of doing, however it could add more hassle which i am not intending it to do.

@BCLG100 - Part of the glory of being the first President is creating the Game. That's why everyone wants to be the first President. Creation Day is the one strand of realism in the Game that tethers it to any other Civ3 game.