It was fun, but not anymore. Goodbye.

[LKendter]

@Matrix

The big question - what is the future of GOTM?

 

[Matrix]

I'll present a successor shortly.

In the mean time, I simply go on.

 

[Lucky]

Originally posted by Matrix
That's an interesting thing you say, Lucky. If people try to play the game as good as possible it's inevitable that they'll check every border and, as you say, "take it mathematically apart". But that's something you can't blame people for. I mean, respectible players like SirPleb and Cartouche Bee are/were the rulers in these matters and continuously they find new ways of exploiting the game. But that's simply a quality we lack.

Of course, but that was not exactly what I meant. I think I can count myself as one who plays the game checking every border and using every trick.
But my point was that most of the discussion in this forum was not about the challenge and the game itself, it was about exploits, pros and cons and things like that.
Since the discussion of the GOTM here is what made it really enjoyable and made you play the game over and over again, this development lowered the fun while posting, replying and discussing here. It seemed that the main point was not the friendly challenge itself, but trying to find exploits, cheaters and creating even more rules.
And this is what I don´t understand as being fun, maybe others agree as well. As said, it seems that too many people took the GOTM far too seriously, that includes especially the cheaters, who see the need to win a friendly competition by all means, but it also includes those who came up with a new exploit, a new rule and new rants every month.

During the summer and even before that, it became almost impossible to play the GOTM to the best of your abilities within a reasonable amount of time. The GOTM was created as a competition of skill, strategic abilities and understanding the game mechanics. Maybe it is a problem with Civ3, but it turned into a competition of who had the most time to find the best possible solution to a situation.

Since I´m one of the few to play (or have played) both GOTMs, even all 3 (the Civ1 GOTM), and can therefore compare them, I must say that the Civ3 GOTM is the most fierce of all challenges. Of course you could always learn new things in all GOTMs, but maybe Civ3 isn´t yet finished enough to level out the playing field for all. For Civ2 you could learn more or less all tricks, strategies and tips from reading the posts in the appropriate section. And sharing your ideas with other playes as well as asking questions in the GOTM forum.
In this GOTM on the other hand, many people liked to keep their knowledge to themselves. And more importantly, learning and teaching in the forum was often overruled by new rules, banning of exploits and other things. There is of course more than enough information available, but many interesting posts just went away unnoticed, because of the aforementioned type of discussion that drew most of the attention. I have only very rarely seen threads and posts where a newer and/or not top class player asked a few question and top players answered and gave advice. As one of the top players, I have to include myself in that, I haven´t spent nearly enough time in this forum, though.

Unlike other competitions, especially the Civ2 GOTM, this here never felt like having a community of fanatics playing a game they love. More like a gathering of individuals.

But as a conclusion let me say again, I am not blaming anyone (except the cheaters). It was a development into the wrong direction by all players.
So as Matrix said, the most important thing to keep in mind and maybe the solution to get him back is:
Remember that this is a FRIENDLY competition, with an honor system and a FEW rules, where everyone can start the game from a LEVEL playing field, play to the best of his abilities and thus get rewarded for his achievement at the end of the month.

 

[Zachriel]

Originally posted by Lucky
But my point was that most of the discussion in this forum was not about the challenge and the game itself, it was about exploits, pros and cons and things like that.

That is why many of us never play for points, or even play to achieve an arbitrary Victory condition. Building a vibrant Civilization in a dangerous world has always been the goal -- and as a challenge, to be able to build that Civilization as an honorable and multi-ethnic society. As said the Queen of Thebes, "Let the Persians have their Persian culture."

Thanks for the memories, Matrix.

Zachriel
http://www.zachriel.com/gotm.asp

 

[DaveMcW]

People aren't allowed to start threads on their games unless they put up a website. So the only thing left after the spoiler thread are exploit discussions.

I only found the GOTM this month but I really enjoyed it. Thanks Matrix!

 

[cgannon64]

Bye Matrix! (Oh, and I find your new avatar hilarious! )

CG

 

[God]

Good luck Matrix in whatever you plan to do. Stay with CFC!

-Side note- GOTM 13 spoiler thread. 160 posts, 4000 views.
New History Quiz thread (in World History forums) - 250 posts, ~2500 views.

Talk about cheating.

 

[Karasu]

I am not a GOTM veteran, and I only managed to play it two or three times.

However, I must say that this is the one thing that drew me to Civfanatics where I discovered a new world.

I also found that Matrix' way of administering the forum was very balanced and very friendly.

For all this, I would like to add my 'thank you' to all the ones I have read in this thread.

 

[Merle Corey]

And thanks for all the fish!!!

Seriously, I appreciate the hard work and effort that you put into the gotm. It really was fun to play them.

Thanks again,

John J

 

[denyd]

Matrix,

Having had your job before in another life, I send a big thanks for all the time and effort you put into this endeavour.

I wish you well in any new undertaking you choose.

Deny (denyd)

 

[SirPleb]

Matrix, I add my thanks to the others in this thread. Thanks especially for the gentle guidance you gave in my early days online here. You gave the encouragement I needed to get involved and to write, and helped me to find a style which I found greatly enjoyable in the spoilers thread (my favorite part of GOTM.) Thank you!