How Sid Meier failed to deliver on multiplayer (and our solution)

[civvver]

It's not rocket science, the reason civ doesn't work as a multiplayer game is it takes too long to complete a game. It doesn't have anything to do with being slow or dull, it just takes too long and no one wants to save and pick up later. It can take well over 12 hours to complete a single player game. Multiplayer video games in general should not have matches run more than an hour, with some exceptions for mmo rpgs and dungeon runs, but even those developers are starting to break those down into bite size pieces. Simply put when playing with online friends or strangers, if I can't finish the game in 1-2 hours it's unlikely I'll be able to save and get them all online again to finish later.

 

[Sonereal]

That must be why no one plays Paradox MP.

 

[civvver]

Those who play paradox are a different breed of gamer entirely.

 

[Sonereal]

So, a game that does take twelve hours minimum to complete in multiplayer is possible? Because there is a lot of overlap these days between Civilization players and Paradox players.

 

[coanda]

I think one of the distinguishing features of Paradox games in MP is that it isn't a huge deal if there's a real skill disparity between players. If you're playing Civ4 MP (for example), and 2-3 of the players are great and 2-3 are bad, it's a really wonky game. That has all sorts of impacts on how the game flow adjusts when players join or leave.

Paradox games, by contrast... it's just such a big world, with so many players involved, that most of the time one human more or less isn't crucial. That's not to say that humans have no impact; just that most games don't fall to pieces just because one person leaves.

 

[Sonereal]

Paradox games, by contrast... it's just such a big world, with so many players involved, that most of the time one human more or less isn't crucial. That's not to say that humans have no impact; just that most games don't fall to pieces just because one person leaves.

Somebody should tell that the board members here I MP'd with.

 

[civvver]

So, a game that does take twelve hours minimum to complete in multiplayer is possible? Because there is a lot of overlap these days between Civilization players and Paradox players.

From the extremely limited exposure I've had to paradox their games are much more complicated and drawn out. Civ is like the old board game othello- a minute to learn, a life time to master. I see civ as a more casual game than EU and others. I see paradox players as more hardcore, whether that perception is correct or incorrect, and more willing to play a drawn out mp game. I would never play civ in multiplayer but I also don't like EU. I think civ multiplayer suffers form game length. It's fine if you disagree.

 

[Luckymoose]

Those who play paradox are a different breed of gamer entirely.

I play both in multiplayer and both are awesome in multiplayer.