Board game or computer game?

[nyyfootball]

Is Civ VI a board game or a computer game? It seems to me that Civ VI is trying its hardest to be like Settlers of Catan and not enough like Civilization. Is this an identity crisis or just a sign of the times? Is Civilization less about intellectual stimulation now and more about action and competition? Since when did Civ become an MMO and stop being a simulation game?

What am I missing? What is the appeal of Civ VI?

 

[redwings1340]

I think it can depend on the way you play it, but in my mind, that's a positive. I love board games, and seeing a board game that can calculate a million variables at once is incredibly fun for me. So, for me I just enjoy the fact that its kind of like a board game.

 

[Returning Lurker]

Well, the Civilization series IS based on a boardgame of the same name, then when it got more popular than the boardgame they made 2 separate boardgames (One by Eagle Games and a much better one by Fantasy Flight a few years later) based on the video game in some sort of crazy gaming Ouroboros so... kinda-ish? The closest Civ 6 has to any of those 3 boardgames in terms of actual mechanics however is that in the FF board game your buildings and wonders were built in the surrounding city outskirts rather than the city center and could be blockaded/destroyed without attacking the city itself. Also the art style is sort of the middle ground between the FF game and Civ 4 but since the board game was ALREADY the artistic middleground between Civ 5 and Revolution that just creates a whole different Ouroboros. So again, tangentially yes but not in any sort of actually meaningful way.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Considering Ed Beach was a boardgames designer in his previous career, it's not at all surprising that boardgame elements are in his computer games.

 

[Biz_]

civ6 is like one of those silly board games where everyone builds their stuff by themselves without any interaction with other players

civ4 was more of a computer game (multiplayer, not solitaire)

 

[nyyfootball]

The board game, which is coincidentally also entitled "Civilization" has literally nothing to do with the beloved computer game. Sid Meier didn't even know about said board game until after he released his masterpiece computer game.

Civ VI feels like it was designed by a Settler fanatic who sometimes liked to watch horsehockey History Channel documentaries about antiquity and then got all the details wrong.

Both Civ V and Civ Revolutions are proletarian nonsense and deserve no serious respect beyond their tangental entertainment value.

Civilization used to be used as an education tool, now it is just another MMO clone that's obsessed with multiplayer.

 

[nyyfootball]

Considering Ed Beach was a boardgames designer in his previous career, it's not at all surprising that boardgame elements are in his computer games.

It seems that Ed Beach is still a board game designer. Civ VI seems to have quite the following among board game fandom.

 

[AriochIV]

I don't remember Civilization ever being a simulation.

 

[EpicWestern]

Other than 'using resources to build things' there isn't much similar at all between Civ and Settlers.

Also Civ6 isn't really built to be a multiplayer game at all. Games are simply way too long unless you want to play some bastardized version.

 

[Ashbery76]

I don't remember Civilization ever being a simulation.

Indeed.It is a game and nothing like a simulation.

 

[nyyfootball]

I don't remember Civilization ever being a simulation.

The Civ V manual explicitly states that Civilization is a simulation game. Civilization has always been a simulation game.

Since when has Civilization been a board game?

 

[TehJumpingJawa]

I know what you mean.
I think I'd express it differently though.

On the one hand you have a sandbox comprised of highly interdependent systems, where not all interactions have been explicitly planned by the designer.
On the other, a distinctly finite world governed by a rigid set of rules, where every system has been tuned to keep the player on-track.

Obviously it's not one or other; there's a spectrum between these two types of games.
The changes to Civ's tech & government systems over the past 2 iterations of the franchise (making them more linear) are IMO the biggest contributor to this reigning in of the sandbox.

On the flip-side, we've got Paradox Interactive's games; EU4, CK2, Victoria 2, etc that are all much further towards the sandbox end of the spectrum.

Different strokes for different folks, though my personal preference is for a freer more sandbox-like game.

 

[Stilgar08]

Where are you playing it? At a Computer? There you go...

Furthermore I'm not interested in these categories - GOOD Game or BAD Game is what counts!

(and it's a good one...)

 

[nyyfootball]

I know what you mean.
I think I'd express it differently though.

On the one hand you have a sandbox comprised of highly interdependent systems, where not all interactions have been explicitly planned by the designer.
On the other, a distinctly finite world governed by a rigid set of rules, where every system has been tuned to keep the player on-track.

Obviously it's not one or other; there's a spectrum between these two types of games.
The changes to Civ's tech & government systems over the past 2 iterations of the franchise (making them more linear) are IMO the biggest contributor to this reigning in of the sandbox.

On the flip-side, we've got Paradox Interactive's games; EU4, CK2, Victoria 2, etc that are all much further towards the sandbox end of the spectrum.

Different strokes for different folks, though my personal preference is for a freer more sandbox-like game.

Keep in mind that I a compulsive player of both Civilization IV (which is the paramount of the Civilization series to date) and Dwarf Fortress (which is attempting to simulate reality), so my view is informed a certain way.

I would love if Civilization went back to its more sandboxy emergent roots and stopped trying to be all about competitiveness and action. I loved the stories that came out of the old games, now it's exactly the same every time I play, except that it is possible to win history now. Remember "Losing is Fun!".

 

[nyyfootball]

Chess doesn't stop being a board game just because your looking at a screen while playing it. There is a fundamental difference between computer games and board games.

Where are you playing it? At a Computer? There you go...

Furthermore I'm not interested in these categories - GOOD Game or BAD Game is what counts!

(and it's a good one...)

 

[AlpsStranger]

The Civ V manual explicitly states that Civilization is a simulation game. Civilization has always been a simulation game.

Since when has Civilization been a board game?

Okay and? It's clearly not. I don't care if Sid Meier's tries to say it is, it just isn't. Flight sims are sims, Europa Universalis is a sim. Cities Skylines is a sim. Civ is not, never has been, and I'm 999/1000 it never will be.

 

[AlpsStranger]

Yep, and Civ6 is a computerized board game. We mostly like it that way.

The exit is over here, because we're not changing.

<-----

 

[nyyfootball]

Yep, and Civ6 is a computerized board game. We mostly like it that way.

The exit is over here, because we're not changing.

<-----

Who's "we"? Is negative criticism not allowed anymore?

I am living proof that the fact that Civ VI has turned Civilization into a board game is not a universally accepted fact. I preferred the emergent gameplay of the Civ games of Civ IV and before. I'm not a big fan of competitiveness of the new game.

 

[Stilgar08]

Chess doesn't stop being a board game just because your looking at a screen while playing it. There is a fundamental difference between computer games and board games.

It's good to quote myself:

Furthermore I'm not interested in these categories - GOOD Game or BAD Game is what counts!
(and it's a good one...)

If you are interested, go ahead - I'm outta here, enjoying the game...

 

[Chinese American]

Actually it's more RPG/spreadsheet than strategy. It's all about getting bigger numbers and reaching that next level. Your cities and units don't matter. They're just tools. 1UPT makes strategy and tactics simple. Religion is about spamming converters. Tourism is a complicated formula nobody understands. You complete quests for city-states.

You'll feel disappointed to treat is as a strategy game. Once you accept it as RPG/number-cruncher in disguise, your mindset about the new direction of the franchise finally makes sense.