Hotseat will not be available in Civ VII — A plea to FXS_Sar and Game Devs (POLL)

[Alexander the Alright]

Moderator Action: Please note that two threads regarding Hotseat have been merged, with the Poll from one included. The OP thread for the poll, by Vlandys, has been copied to a spoiler below for reference. Cheers - lymond

Spoiler POLL OP by Vlandys :

! Please use one vote unless also playing hot seat in single player.

I used hot seat in about 20% of my games still, but apparently Civ VII will not allow for it. What are your thoughts on this? I always thought it was an extremely entertaining staple of the series, but I reckon it's not used frequently.

"Can Sid Meier's Civilization VII be played offline?

Yes, Sid Meier's Civilization VII features offline play for all single-player activities. Some features such as online multiplayer will not be available when playing offline. Sid Meier's Civilization VII does not offer hotseat multiplayer, but supports LAN multiplayer on PC and local wireless multiplayer on Nintendo Switch"

Source: https://civilization.2k.com/civ-vii/faq/

For people playing hot seat sometimes in SP, I've added the option and allowed for two votes.

I'm reaching out as a really long-time Civ fan (I'd even go as far as to say fanatic) to plead with whoever will hear me about the direction of multiplayer in Civ VII – specifically, the removal of Hot Seat.

A bit about my credentials

• I started playing Civ II when I was 6 or 7, finding it installed on the local library computers. At the time it was a little dense for me (I was six) but I was able to share those early moments with my older brother.
• Not too much later, my brother received Civ III as a birthday gift, and we played the hell out of that thing with each other and friends from school via long but exciting Hot Seat games.
• I found Civ IV again at the library and was able to rent it. I'd bring the fold-out Civ guide on the bus to school to plan out my empire, daydreaming about sacrificing workers as Montezuma. It didn't run very well on our computer, and I got to know the leaders as floating eyeballs and mouths without skin, as that was the best 3D rendering our system could do. But I fell in love with Baba Yetu all the same, and would sit at the loading screen feeling like the emperor of my small childhood world.
• The hexagons of Civilization V blew my ever-civ-loving mind. My brother and I continued to play Hot Seat, but more importantly, I met a nice girl (Amanda) to conquer nations with. We later married (a new era, if you will) and, to this day, enjoy a yearly Civilization game via Hot Seat.
• In 2022, I met the absolute icon that is Christopher Tin at a gaming convention in Indiana. I asked him a question, and his first response was, "Wow, you really know your Civ!" (So I have references, is all I'm saying).
• Civ VI has been a blast and Amanda and I started a Hot Seat game just the other day in preparation and salivation of the upcoming game.
• Yesterday, we poured a glass of wine and watched the reveal of many exciting things: Gwendolyn Christie, intriguing changes to gameplay, detailed tile design, and interesting tidbits that we can't wait to explore... together.

Fast-forward to today, and my little heart broke when I read the FAQ that there would be no Hot Seat. There would be no way to enjoy a game with my wife. There would be no way to relive those moments of giddy elation as we promised each other just one more turn at 3 AM.

It's a long-winded way to say—from a passionate lifelong fan—please reconsider. Study the past to define the future. Many people in your target market are like me. We grew up playing Hot Seat with friends and loved ones and are being gutted by the removal of a simple feature. Amanda and I do not have two computers and cannot utilize two copies of the game.

Build something we can believe in. (See what I did there?).

I thank you so much for your time and consideration. I am very excited for CIV VII and hope I can experience it in the way I always have.

Best,
Alex

 

[RiskIX]

Yeah I'm in the same boat. My wife and kids love to play hotseat on the PC for games IV, V, Beyond Earth, and VI. Real disappointing that I will not be able to play with them anymore. I had preordered the Founder's Edition for the Shawnee (my wife is partially Shawnee heritage) but canceled it earlier today. Hopefully they add it at launch or add it in.

 

[pokiehl]

I'm sorry to hear this. Hotseat is how I was first introduced to Civ. It's a wonderful option for families or friends playing in the same room. Hate to see it go.

 

[Zaarin]

Fast-forward to today, and my little heart broke when I read the FAQ that there would be no Hot Seat.

If I recall correctly from a lifetime ago, hot seat was not in Civ6 on release, either, and was added later. I hope they add it back to Civ7, as well.

 

[Amrunril]

Even if it's not a common way of playing multiplayer anymore, hotseat can also be a compelling mode of solo play. If one wants to see how a game plays out from multiple perspectives, or without some of the AI's predictable tendencies, hotseat is an interesting, albeit slow, way of doing so.

 

[EQandcivfanatic]

This gravely disappointed me when I heard about it, and is a dealbreaker for the game, and please note, I began playing these games in a different century. With so many competitors out there now for 4x Civlikes, there's little incentive to continue with this series, if hotseat is not available. Especially because, based on the gameplay trailers, they seem to be playing catch-up with ideas that were done better and still failed to work with other games.

 

[Alexander the Alright]

If I recall correctly from a lifetime ago, hot seat was not in Civ6 on release, either, and was added later. I hope they add it back to Civ7, as well.

I'm trying to find evidence of that but I can't seem to view a complete history of patches/updates in Steam or the website. If that's the case it could add a small glimmer of hope for a later patch, but I'd think the FAQ would communicate a future with Hot Seat if one was planned.

 

[Zaarin]

I'm trying to find evidence of that but I can't seem to view a complete history of patches/updates in Steam or the website. If that's the case it could add a small glimmer of hope for a later patch, but I'd think the FAQ would communicate a future with Hot Seat if one was planned.

I don't think they planned to add it to Civ6, either, but it was added by popular request. Again, I'm only going by memory here so I don't have a link for evidence.

 

[Alexander the Alright]

Even if it's not a common way of playing multiplayer anymore, hotseat can also be a compelling mode of solo play. If one wants to see how a game plays out from multiple perspectives, or without some of the AI's predictable tendencies, hotseat is an interesting, albeit slow, way of doing so.

Wild for that, but who am I to judge if someone wants to play 4D chess against themselves!

 

[pokiehl]

I'm pretty sure Hot Seat was actually in from day 1 for Civ 6 in the PC release. I used it a lot in the early days of the game.

Hot Seat WAS patched in for the Switch version, but that's a different situation.

 

[Zaarin]

I'm pretty sure Hot Seat was actually in from day 1 for Civ 6 in the PC release. I used it a lot in the early days of the game.

Hot Seat WAS patched in for the Switch version, but that's a different situation.

I wonder if I'm thinking of a different game, then.

 

[Alexander the Alright]

Yeah I'm in the same boat. My wife and kids love to play hotseat on the PC for games IV, V, Beyond Earth, and VI. Real disappointing that I will not be able to play with them anymore. I had preordered the Founder's Edition for the Shawnee (my wife is partially Shawnee heritage) but canceled it earlier today. Hopefully they add it at launch or add it in.

I was so close to preordering and I never preorder things. It seemed like an obvious choice and my wife was gunning for it almost harder than me. It's really the only game we play together... I'm not sure how to proceed now.

 

[TheMarshmallowBear]

I wonder if I'm thinking of a different game, then.

Civ 5, Civ 5 had no Hotseat at launch, it was eventually patched in, and honestly, not well, there were multiple issues to this day (bad optimizations, bad UI code that gave away some information where it shouldn't, watered down diplomatic options between players, and to this day a bug where the first player blocks other players from making agreements).

Civ 6 actually made the hotseat fun, with close enough abilities between players, and the ability to at the very least see other players leaders (in 5, you can never see a leader depcition of human players).

I'm actually very upset about this, playing hotseat with myself, roleplaying each nation is still one of my favorite ways to play the game, I don't want a half-baked version of this in 7.

It makes no sense to me that this feature is left out. Humankind doing this was also one of the reasons why I never kept playing the game. There's not a single feature/mechanic I can think of that blocks the use of Hotseat, it shoudl be fundementally the easier of MPs modes to implement.

It's actually probably leaning me away from purchasing the game (among other worries).

Today is sad day for me.

 

[Zaarin]

Civ 5, Civ 5 had no Hotseat at launch, it was eventually patched in, and honestly, not well, there were multiple issues to this day (bad optimizations, bad UI code that gave away some information where it shouldn't, watered down diplomatic options between players, and to this day a bug where the first player blocks other players from making agreements).

That must be it, and I'm impressed at myself for remembering it.

 

[SySnootles]

I'm also just so disappointed they're not including hotseat. Civ is the only game my wife and I play together, and we've logged about 2000 hours of hotseat. I just have no interest in playing the game any other way anymore, as it's just a lot more fun to play it together. I was just about to pre-order VII when I read this, and now I'm going from pre-order to total skip. I really hope they add it and submitted feedback on their site, but I guess until they do, we'll just be sticking with Civ VI.

 

[reddishrecue]

Im not as disappointed for the removal of hot seat. Since I've seen it available in civ 4, I never or rarely used it.

 

[TreVor_ish]

Lack of Hot Seat in a turn base game is something on par with collectors edition of a video game without a video game (physical media weeps)

 

[Vandlys]

! Please use one vote unless also playing hot seat in single player.

I used hot seat in about 20% of my games still, but apparently Civ VII will not allow for it. What are your thoughts on this? I always thought it was an extremely entertaining staple of the series, but I reckon it's not used frequently.

"Can Sid Meier's Civilization VII be played offline?

Yes, Sid Meier's Civilization VII features offline play for all single-player activities. Some features such as online multiplayer will not be available when playing offline. Sid Meier's Civilization VII does not offer hotseat multiplayer, but supports LAN multiplayer on PC and local wireless multiplayer on Nintendo Switch"

Source: https://civilization.2k.com/civ-vii/faq/

For people playing hot seat sometimes in SP, I've added the option and allowed for two votes.

 

[Nikolai II]

Less than 10%. And not since Civ2 or 3 I believe.

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

What does that last option mean?