New DLC, December 1?

[ImperialGuard]

automated and human tracking of prospect and user communities. Vigorously. Some even do it themselves AND hire specialised agencies for it. Some you can even hire for fun experiments to pose as players to either monitor for human trend signs, or if so desired to influence discussions, information and perception.

While I also have no specifics to provide, I know that this is a growing trend from a marketing and adoption perspective.

I've read a few industry type articles on why, how this is being done.

The future is the web, so it's only a matter of time before this was going to happen

 

[Jarwy]

Cerberus Network has price of 1200 bioware/microsoft points. Buying "free" dlc ftw, ofcourse the real purpose of the so called "free" dlc is to discourage people buying used copies of the game. Not very impressive dlc eather and Zaeed & Normandy were available pretty much from release = read: cut content from the game turned under registration. Was pretty much same with Dragon Age too, atleast don't think that this time there were any npcs asking your credit card info though.

And to stay on topic, yah those map packs are rather pathetic.

I for one, got the Cerberus Network with the game. Maybe it was because I pre-ordered, don't remember, doesn't matter.

I'm sure everyone except reps in disguise will agree that map packs suck monkey balls. If it was free DLC, I still wouldn't see any reason to download it. Anyway, I actually liked 4 out of 5 "free" DLC's that came with Cerb Network.

 

[ImperialGuard]

I'm around! I just don't read CFC very much. As I've said in the past, the 2K Forums is already almost too active to follow, and so there just aren't enough hours in the day for me to come here as well.!

2K Greg, in all seriousness, I think you do have one of the toughest job @ 2K. Whether it's on your own Forums or over here, 90% of all posts just degenerate into 2k / Firiaxis / Civ V / Shafer bashing...

I wouldn't want to be tasked with having to liason with a crowd of whiners, and read posts about people bashing the company that hired you. Really I wouldn't want to do it at all....

===============

BUT, seeing as how you DID post the above comment, what exactly does a Community Manager do? (I remember they posted for your job a while back, I can't remember what the responsibilities were) ...

It can't be just posting in the forums, because I checked your posting history over @ 2k Games, and you've only posted ~21 posts in the last 7 days.....are you involved with patch? doing QA?

Are you responsible for "community managing all 2K games?" but even then, I don't think the posting history was qualified to only search for Civ Forumns (maybe it was).

I guess you have to read the posts, in order to decide if you need to respond...but you must have an app that is more efficient at displaying/notifying/filtering posts as they are happening, rather than having to go into each thread/post.

I don't blame you for not posting (hell, no way I'd post responses to a bunch of whining people bashing my company....just curious what takes up all the hours in your day?

=======

BTW ... I loved this post you made over @ 2k Games: (I don't know why but I am killing myself laughing at this one )

Thread: Why 2K will go bankrupt within 2-3 years
Your Post:Comments like "2k games stick it up yer bum you greedy, odious, appalling excuse for a games company" are not conducive to a civil conversation. You are welcome and encouraged to express your dissatisfaction on these forums but you will need to figure out a way to do it without resulting to namecalling.

the fine print
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1) for the record: I am one of those whiners who is not happy with the game, but this post was in now way meant as sarcasm or a personal attack on you 2k Greg

2) to all the people @ civfanatics who demand that people "back up their facts" .... I did not do a statistical analysis of all the posts to arrive at the "90% of all posts just degenerate into 2k / Firiaxis / Civ V / Shafer bashing..." I mixed observation with possibly a little touch of hyperbole

 

[Vordeo]

Huh. Our local store was selling download codes for the map packs at just a bit over 1USD/map. That's a pretty steep price.

Still though, I guess you could make the argument that they're overcharging so as not to piss off the people who initially got the maps as Wal-mart/whatever exclusives.

 

[Tatran]

Did you make that? Did you purposely/generously put Civ V as illustrated ?

The original picture had 6 figures. The sixth figure was a mirror image of the first one.
I've created the avatar months before civ5 was released, because my feeling about this game wasn't positive.

 

[Zyxpsilon]

I'm around! I just don't read CFC very much....

Maybe i'll somehow get lucky, so ---

I just sent a quick request to GameSpy staff (here) to figure out if their server was off earlier today when i was trying to upload an update for this MOD.
Would you be aware if such a flaw happens often or if 2K has any influence or control over them to fix it when true?
Stability matters - to me.

PS; oh also while i might have some of your attention - Could you reply to this last post in the following thread too... busy or not, eventually, please!

EDIT: Fixed by Thalassicus & Perkus.... 1024 characters maximum for modinfo description text.

 

[Zyxpsilon]

Hm, the civ series is not renown for its accuracy when it comes to maps. Im sure modders can make better ones for free

I've got to give you this link if only to prove a point with XWorlds-6 !
Next, D/L version 1.04 of cEvo.
Have yourself some real fun.

Yup, Modders work for free.

 

[ninjasinc]

So, uh, this isn't the free DLC those who preordered from direct2drive get, is it?

 

[Pojman]

anyone here that thinks that "2kgreg" is going to respond to your posts, in detail, is severely diluted..

 

[Maniacal]

anyone here that thinks that "2kgreg" is going to respond to your posts, in detail, is severely diluted..

Well the human body is over 50% water, but I don't see what that has to do with this conversation.

 

[rujikin]

Well the human body is over 50% water, but I don't see what that has to do with this conversation.

around 60% water, you didn't dilute it enough

 

[stormerne]

around 60% water, you didn't dilute it enough

That was before waterboarding.

 

[ImperialGuard]

anyone here that thinks that "2kgreg" is going to respond to your posts, in detail, is severely diluted..

thanks for undliuting me

 

[cccv]

So, uh, this isn't the free DLC those who preordered from direct2drive get, is it?

IIRC, that bonus was described as "two civilizations and a map," so it shouldn't be.

 

[DonMarty]

You can indeed recreate them, but that just might violate some intellectual property laws.

A, nyway for me civ is about random maps and exploitation rather then playing maps that I know in advance. These maps do not speak to new the least bit.

Earth was made by god.
He should have the intellectual property over any replication of it.

How can they stop us of replicating it ?

 

[PaperBeetle]

The situation with the copyright on the DLC maps is pretty straightforward, as it is the same for the copying of any commercially produced artistic work. You may not do it. You may not copy the maps, but change only a single tile. But you may make your own map of the same subject. The test of whether your map is copied from the Firaxis map, or is your own work which happens to look similar, comes in court, if 2K Games suspect that their copyright has been infringed.

 

[DonMarty]

What is the difference between moding civ5 and moding a civ5 map ?

 

[DonMarty]

If that is the case, then isn't Firaxis shooting itself in the foot here? They emphasize mods to the extent they formally host them, yet their DLC is something that I could get up on ModHub in an hour for free using the tools they provided for me and even promoted in reviews.

I'm no business executive, but this seems like a really bad business platform. You are trying to directly compete with modders at their own game while at the same time promoting those modders to do the best they can.

I had hoped that Firaxis would handle DLC better then Empire Total War (which really turned me off to the whole DLC), but now it appears they are going in a worse direction.

Totaly agree !

I'm using Rich Marinaccio perfect world mapscript. Its better than any Firaxis mapscript (or maybe im just lucky).

I will make an america map from scratch if we cant mod their map.


On se fait flater dans le sens du poil et enculer en meme temps!

 

[katipunero]

The situation with the copyright on the DLC maps is pretty straightforward, as it is the same for the copying of any commercially produced artistic work. You may not do it. You may not copy the maps, but change only a single tile. But you may make your own map of the same subject. The test of whether your map is copied from the Firaxis map, or is your own work which happens to look similar, comes in court, if 2K Games suspect that their copyright has been infringed.

The issue of copyright over DLC maps is not as straightforward as you'd like to put it. DLC per se afaik is currently the norm in software game distribution. Developers and publishers earn a ton of money out of DLCs simply because there are enough players out there who would gladly pay for them. However, not all DLCs pass the test for the grant of copyright protection. "Commercially produced artistic work" is not in all instances an accurate characterization of DLCs esp. Civ maps. Most of it not all are probably just in the nature of derivative works.

If my understanding is correct, that the map pack that's being sold for $10 is nothing more than just a historically correct replica of existing geographical locations, then not only are the maps merely derivative works they are also unoriginal and generally lack a modicum of creativity.

Really, the way the cradle of civilizations map pack are marketed means what you are paying for is the privilege and bragging rights exclusive to those who preordered the game, not because these maps provide an enhanced or vastly different experience compared to those maps randomly generated by the computer.

FFH and Shafer's space mod in civ4 are, on the other hand, new, original and transformative creations of the base game. If the developers ship them out as DLC, they can perhaps assert copyright protection over their distribution and use.

Anyway, these are just layman opinions of copyright. They are not intended to supplant anyone's judgment regarding the use or purchase of the DLC maps. I do not wish to encourage people to excise DLCs and distribute them for free. What I want though is that the modding community out-mod and out-generate the publishers with great and original content in order to wipe out the ridiculous market for these behemoth menace they call DLCs.