Now there are 3 Community Reps for 2K

[Grey2ham]

I am not sure, if you are the correct person to ask 2K Elizabeth, but can I play with a Family member over the same Internet Connection but with different Steam Accounts (we would both buy the Civ5) in the same Game? Don't know much about steam. Maybe some other could answer this question?

Im no expert, but:
Both myself and my brother have played steam games on seperate computers with seperate steam accounts within the same household for years with no trouble. Provided the computers will have seperate IPs it shouldn't be a problem. Someone more technically gifted could probably answer this better though.
You couldn't, however, use the same account on two PCs simultaneously. That would be breaking the terms of the licence and steam forces a log off from the previously logged on PC. Remember to disable steam's auto-start or auto-log on if you install it on your girlfriend's/wife's/husband's/boyfriend's/partner's/friends's/dog's laptop when your computer isn't working or you can be booted out.

 

[ukcivfan]

Just to add my small peice. If Civ came out tomorrow and cost £100 I would buy it in a second, providing I didn't have to have something like steam. I know that sounds silly but I worry deeply about things like the state and companies assertaining to much data. I imagine that most Civ members are political by nature and that is why the main issue comes up!

However I know that I will still buy it with steam, and I understand the reason why you are doing it, but I would still rather pay a premium of £50 to aviod it, as thats how much I value not having what I consider spyware on my computer!

 

[2K Elizabeth]

Right, right now Babylon can only be bought in deluxe. But are there plans for the future to release it as DLC either when the game is out or sometime after? That seems to be the hardest question to get anyone to answer. If you won't tell us now I hope you'll tell us before the game is out. I am prepared to wait months if I have to in order to see if I'll be able to buy Babylon at a reasonable price rather than for 10 dollars along with a behind the scenes thing that I won't even watch once and a soundtrack that I can make myself with the game files anyway. I'd love to have faith in you, but it really feels like 2K is trying to "trick" me into paying the 10 dollars for Babylon before I find out that it's available cheaper later. But trust me, I can wait. If you are going to withhold that info, all you're accomplishing is getting me to wait longer to buy the game when the price comes down, after I'm finally convinced that it's deluxe or nothing if I want the complete game.

First, sorry, I skipped over your post by accident.

I don't have any information for any other future content releases of any kind right now. I'll tell you when I do get any of that information, but as of right now, Babylon is only being offered in the Digital Deluxe Edition. If that ever changes or if there are any other content plans, I'll make sure Greg posts a thread about it here as soon as we learn about it.

 

[Grey2ham]

yyyyyyyep, look at all of the hardcore skipping over my question she did >.>

ok, if you won't answer that, can you at least make something like an assurance of some kind that the company is going to give us the necessary info to make an informed purchasing decision by the time the game comes out rather than withholding information in hopes that we make bad decisions to spend more than we needed to in order to get what we wanted? Again, I will wait months or longer so I can make an informed decision. I just hope it's not going to come to that =/

Personally I'd take this view on it:
They are going to release Babylon at a later date. Would you pay $10 to have it now, or wait 6 months before general release and pay $10 then, or $5 to have it in 9 months.
IMO your paying $10 to have early access to DLC that won't be available for an unspecified amount of time. I also doubt you'll get an answer as to how long that amount of time will be.

Look at Empire:TW for an example of the way I expect DLC to be handled.

Much like buying a new game/movie/cd. More expensive when it is first released compared to 6 months later.

 

[12agnar0k]

I am not sure, if you are the correct person to ask 2K Elizabeth, but can I play with a Family member over the same Internet Connection but with different Steam Accounts (we would both buy the Civ5) in the same Game? Don't know much about steam. Maybe some other could answer this question?

I can answer this for you, but in future please use the Steam thread ^>^.

Yes.

Steam accounts are limited to one user per account, that is a rule, though technically if you and your family had only 1 computer you could share the one account without Steam finding out.
At the very least only one person can use the same account in online mode at the same time.

However if you have another Steam account with another copy of Civ5 on it then your family member will be able to use Steam online at the same time as you. You can play together yup.

 

[cccv]

ok, thanks, Elizabeth. I'll just sit back and see what happens in the next few months, then.

EDIT:

Personally I'd take this view on it:
They are going to release Babylon at a later date. Would you pay $10 to have it now, or wait 6 months before general release and pay $10 then, or $5 to have it in 9 months.
IMO your paying $10 to have early access to DLC that won't be available for an unspecified amount of time. I also doubt you'll get an answer as to how long that amount of time will be.

Look at Empire:TW for an example of the way I expect DLC to be handled.

Much like buying a new game/movie/cd. More expensive when it is first released compared to 6 months later.

Not only will I wait 9 months to pay $5 for Babylon, but I'll wait 9 months to buy Civ V at all if that's what I have to do to be sure the option is available. I waited probably pretty close to that long before buying Watchmen until I was able to get a version with the director's cut and Tales of the Black Freighter woven in. I didn't know for sure such a thing would even be released, but I waited until it was before buying rather than buy the same movie twice.

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

steam has freed the client in other games. And 2k has changed the DRM scheme for a game (pre-release). So why not? Clearly there has been enough fan uproar to give it consideration. If the delay was not due to re-negotiating the steam fix, then I gotta say, 2k is whacked! They shoulda kept their mouth shut from the begining. They did more harm by promising answers that never come. For me, my pre-order money for Civ5 has already gone to Elemental. It may be that today, I learn there is no need to set aside future monies for Civ5. I am just one of many long time customers who won't play along with 2k/steams data collection scheme. How do you grow a fan base, by cutting out a chunk of it's fanatic core?

Huge Uproar? All I see is the same 20-odd people making the same ill-informed statements about Steam day-in, day-out. The way you lot talk, anyone would think that Steam was some Soul-eating engine of doom that requires the regular sacrifice of new-born children in order to allow you to play a single game. Yet you still expect us to take you seriously! When you guys can come up with a *good* reason for not playing Civ5, then I for one would *love* to hear it!

Aussie.

 

[White Elk]

Well, these aren't our official forums. So while I read this every day, I don't get a lot of time to post. I've been posting less and less, actually, as my duties have changed and become more in depth off the forums over the past couple years - hence why Greg and David are here. If you look past these forums to all of 2K Games in general, I'm sure you'll see a better picture of what I do for our games and our company.

And you don't have to trust me, if you don't want to. The game is going to speak for itself. I'm here to help you out, answer your questions, and give you guys information. I do that most on our official pages, but since this is a rich fan community, we come here and talk to you directly because we think that's what you deserve. It might be unconvential, but overall, I think it's worth it.

IMHO, developing games through interaction with the user base, may become convention. And its not new. Nor is 2k doing this. 2k uses fan forums like this to get the word out on their products. Fine. But call it what it is. You might mine the forums for data, and drop some teasers here and there; but you are not interacting in dialogue with the fans.

Yes I've seen you at various points across the net posting useful teaser info. Is a good thing that is appreciated by info craving fans. It is something of value for both 2k and its customers. But its not dialogue. Your talk of interaction and assigning liasons, seems just a hallow facade to face advertising. I understand that your duties are broad and posting here takes time from the rest. Hence the point of hiring a CivFanatic tasked soley to the Civ5 community. So perhaps you do understand the value of increased interaction with gamers? But where is this interaction? Has most of Gregs time been tasked to the creation of flash bang marketing packages to be hosted at 2k sites. And is he gathering information for 2k, but being given nothing to return to us? What purpose does he bring that the various game review sites, and 2ks own marketing sites don't already cover?

You speak of being here to help us out and answer our questions, but where are our steam answers!! You entered our discussions and attempted to turn the tone by promising answers "soon". Time passed. You told us Greg had been hired to specifically help the Civ community out. He spoke of timely answers and asked us to patiently re-submit our questions. Time passed. More time passed. Still no answers to our questions. And no response to our concerns. The game is 71 days to release. When does it reach gold? You've given us the thought that fan interaction might have impact on the game. But all you do is enter a few discussions to paint rosey pictures. You've offered nothing of substance or worth. All that has been accomplished is delay. Fine. You dictate the game. You decide what we want. It works for most models. But I think Stardocks got it right. They develop their games with actual interaction with the fans. No guessing. No data mining and demographics. They ask, we give, they build, we buy.

 

[2K Elizabeth]

IMHO, developing games through interaction with the user base, may become convention. And its not new. Nor is 2k doing this. 2k uses fan forums like this to get the word out on their products. Fine. But call it what it is. You might mine the forums for data, and drop some teasers here and there; but you are not interacting in dialogue with the fans.

Yes I've seen you at various points across the net posting useful teaser info. Is a good thing that is appreciated by info craving fans. It is something of value for both 2k and its customers. But its not dialogue. Your talk of interaction and assigning liasons, seems just a hallow facade to face advertising. I understand that your duties are broad and posting here takes time from the rest. Hence the point of hiring a CivFanatic tasked soley to the Civ5 community. So perhaps you do understand the value of increased interaction with gamers? But where is this interaction? Has most of Gregs time been tasked to the creation of flash bang marketing packages to be hosted at 2k sites. And is he gathering information for 2k, but being given nothing to return to us? What purpose does he bring that the various game review sites, and 2ks own marketing sites don't already cover?

You speak of being here to help us out and answer our questions, but where are our steam answers!! You entered our discussions and attempted to turn the tone by promising answers "soon". Time passed. You told us Greg had been hired to specifically help the Civ community out. He spoke of timely answers and asked us to patiently re-submit our questions. Time passed. More time passed. Still no answers to our questions. And no response to our concerns. The game is 71 days to release. When does it reach gold? You've given us the thought that fan interaction might have impact on the game. But all you do is enter a few discussions to paint rosey pictures. You've offered nothing of substance or worth. All that has been accomplished is delay. Fine. You dictate the game. You decide what we want. It works for most models. But I think Stardocks got it right. They develop their games with actual interaction with the fans. No guessing. No data mining and demographics. They ask, we give, they build, we buy.

I disagree with you about some of the work I've done in the past, but if you don't follow some of the other games I've worked on, you might have only seen more of the flashy stuff that's been out there. Often the requests for questions, the discussions about patches, the decisions on what goes in limited editions flies under the radar. Also, again, I don't particularly want to defend my work. I have a mission, and work to accomplish it. If I'm failing for you, I'll try harder - that's pretty much the way it works.

And Greg's not just a CivFanatic - indeed, I didn't even find him here! And while a Community Manager's job is to interface with you guys primarily, he also does quite a bit behind the scenes to make sure the devs know what's going on, advocating for what you are saying and asking for, and providing you with info. While it may appear on a website you consider marketing, that's our outlet to you and the best hub to make sure all the people who want to know about something can find it. Posting here is good - but how many Civ fans across the world are going to read this post (compared to if I put it on our official forums or more importantly, on the official site?) We want to be one-on-one, but at the same time, we want to try and reach everyone who is looking for info.

The model of dialogue and feedback is, indeed happening, and I hope that you become more a part of it as time goes on if you feel left out.

And, finally, the game isn't gold yet. We'll tell you when it is, but not yet!

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

I've got a post average of almost 2/day since I joined, so that must make me a much, *much* bigger CivFan than White Elk. Indeed, I'm guessing that White Elk's posts probably come from him coming onto the website every 4 to 5 years to tell us how the next installment of Civ will be "the death of the franchise". Hmmm, think I'll do a forum search to test my theory !

Aussie.

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

Well, no prizes for guessing White Elk's agenda for being on this Forum-just read this post he made a few years back:

Spoiler :

Frustrated with Firaxis
I have defended you during the intial release of CivIV to all those civers who couldnt play your game due to graphic card troubles. Now after all this time I am back to say you really do SUCK! I feel cheated by you big time. I could speak pages of your lack of attention to detail etc. But this is the Warlords forum so....

Your expansion Warlords is a joke! The AI is far dumber than it was prior to Warlords. You used Blakes incomplete AI FIX which was a backwards step bigtime. I can Possibly forgive Some of your lack of attention to detail, but your stupidity in including an incomplete user mod into an expansion which you sold me is unforgivable. That expansion was Weak and Broken! You have lost me finally. I dont even need to risk buying Railroads or any other Firaxis title. I stuck with you through all the bs of Civ3 and promises not kept. Even after my experiance with Civ3 and your broken promises I preordered Civ4. And I even looked past the lastest promises unkept in Civ4. But now finally after much experiance with Civ4 I am finally done with you! SO MUCH OF THE GAME IS BROKEN. TOOOO MUCH!!! Finally I have had my fill with Firaxis. I overlooked soooooo much. But today I must say my piece. I feel you sold me a piece of junk that was not worthy of my sacrifice to buy your game. I read about Railroads Tycoon and its problems and that combined with my experiance with Civ is enough to dissuade me from purchasing ANY Firaxian titles for myself or family. I am done with you! For years now I have nearly SOLEY played Civ. I was an addict of this game and vocal proponent of Firaxis. I was a most loyal fan. I wanted to purchase Railroads for a few family members but I dont want to gift them aggravation with a game incomplete. You cheated us. Its been a pain in the arse. I dont want to spread this trouble by gifting it to others.

After two Civ games and multiple expansions I say Firaxis is untrustworthy of our money. Not only will I not waste further money for my own gaming needs (and for years now Civ has been over 90% of my gaming time), but I will not risk gifitng family and friends games like Pirates and Railroad Tycoon because of how poorly you have produced Civ$. Nor will I have anything but ill to say to others regarding my Firaxian experiance. I used to nearly worship you and have nearly played Civilization exclusively. You broke that relationship with shoddy product. Once bitten twice shy. Youve gone further than that and I still stuck with you. But now I am past the delusion. You just suck. I'll not risk more on you!

Seriously, for a guy who so clearly despises 2K, Firaxis & the Civilization Franchise in general, I really do wonder why he even bothers retaining membership at this site.

 

[bite]

Moderator Action: This is a general warning to all posters, this thread is getting out of hand, if you can not keep it civil, I will close the thread

 

[Niptium]

I disagree with you about some of the work I've done in the past, but if you don't follow some of the other games I've worked on, you might have only seen more of the flashy stuff that's been out there. Often the requests for questions, the discussions about patches, the decisions on what goes in limited editions flies under the radar. Also, again, I don't particularly want to defend my work. I have a mission, and work to accomplish it. If I'm failing for you, I'll try harder - that's pretty much the way it works.

And Greg's not just a CivFanatic - indeed, I didn't even find him here! And while a Community Manager's job is to interface with you guys primarily, he also does quite a bit behind the scenes to make sure the devs know what's going on, advocating for what you are saying and asking for, and providing you with info. While it may appear on a website you consider marketing, that's our outlet to you and the best hub to make sure all the people who want to know about something can find it. Posting here is good - but how many Civ fans across the world are going to read this post (compared to if I put it on our official forums or more importantly, on the official site?) We want to be one-on-one, but at the same time, we want to try and reach everyone who is looking for info.

The model of dialogue and feedback is, indeed happening, and I hope that you become more a part of it as time goes on if you feel left out.

And, finally, the game isn't gold yet. We'll tell you when it is, but not yet!

Thank you very much Elizabeth. You have showed Civ fans more respect than these supposed «fans» have shown you. Bravo for your professionalism (I would curse them for sure for less).

You guys need to get a life and show respect to someone who owes you nothing. Staying polite and civil is the basic necessity of a conversation.

 

[3 EMS]

bjbrains:
Because obviously post quantity is more important than starting a *website*. Stop trying to spin everything to support your "2K is lying to us" position before you accuse them of spinning.

Depending on the posts. Subject(s), message(s) related to the subject(s), poster, audience,purpose for posting, a number of posts can indeed be more important than this:

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>
</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
</BODY>
</HTML>

For instance I needed 50 posts to parpicipate in certain threads on another Forum. In that case a quantity of 50 posts was more important than a worthless website. Or even a very well done site with an important purpose that I had no interest in.

 

[kopyion]

Originally Posted by Grey2ham
Personally I'd take this view on it:
They are going to release Babylon at a later date. Would you pay $10 to have it now, or wait 6 months before general release and pay $10 then, or $5 to have it in 9 months.

This is entirely sensible, but it makes the issue with Babylon being about the cost. For me the issue is partly about the fragmentation of game content but more accutely about holding game content hostage in order to sell features that the publisher seems to feel would not otherwise sell a deluxe edition.

While I want the full game content (and actually quite like the look of the deluxe features) I simply can't bring myself to succumb to what feels like arm-twisting. It's a bit of a dilemma, but at the moment waiting 9 months for a "complete" version seems like the way to go. And I'm quite conscious this is irrational, but the Babylon DLC has made this an emotive rather than rational issue, for me. How has 2K managed to make it almost impossible for me to buy the game I've wanted most in the last 5 years?

Amid the flurry of editions going out there, I don't suppose 2K would consider a "Gamer's Edition" on Steam? Price it midway between the standard and deluxe editions so that we have the option of getting the full game content without feeling we'd been blackmailed, while preserving Steam's DLC exclusive? At that point I think I'd suddenly decide that I was free to buy and that the deluxe edition extras are well worth another US$5.

 

[PieceOfMind]

Okay, fair enough. First, you get my standard disclaimer: This stuff isn't finalized yet. This is what is in my latest build, and could change, but this is closing in on final. And I'm not going to give you details on what each of these things are, but you can speculate, and will have more info soon.

There are three different land types (and random.) There are six different map sizes from teeny to gigantic, plus random. There are eight different difficulties and four different game speeds.

We are constantly updating the graphics and they are not finalized completely yet - with a good graphics card the rivers blend well with the landscape. (Although referring to the Newcastle shot, what do you think of that river? I can get more info on that if you would like.)

I'm not going to tell you what the tents are because there will be more details on tile improvements in the future, but suffice it to say it's an improvement that you can build around your city (like farms, for example.)

That is some real information you're giving.

Thanks.

Bah! How to trust a marketer that will polish a cow patty to call it a frisbee.

Greg joined as OverloadUT back in Nov 2005. He made 345 posts in that time. An average of 80 some posts a year (.20 a day). Your statement "Greg has been quite active as a Civ fan long before..." is misleading to serve your purpose. I see your name listed as having visited Overloads profile, so you were aware of the numbers. You as the Senior Manager of Interactive Marketing for 2K Games have been registered since Nov 2007. Having made just 140 posts in your capacity as top liason. (.14 a day)

Just saying, how do you expect people to trust your message when you weave a marketing spin on even the minor things?

I will just say that "activity" is not well measured by post count. For starters, some people practically spam posts, mainly one liners (even some people in the civ5 forum, but I won't name names). Secondly, reading the forums is more than half of the activity.

Well, no prizes for guessing White Elk's agenda for being on this Forum-just read this post he made a few years back:

Spoiler :

Frustrated with Firaxis
I have defended you during the intial release of CivIV to all those civers who couldnt play your game due to graphic card troubles. Now after all this time I am back to say you really do SUCK! I feel cheated by you big time. I could speak pages of your lack of attention to detail etc. But this is the Warlords forum so....

Your expansion Warlords is a joke! The AI is far dumber than it was prior to Warlords. You used Blakes incomplete AI FIX which was a backwards step bigtime. I can Possibly forgive Some of your lack of attention to detail, but your stupidity in including an incomplete user mod into an expansion which you sold me is unforgivable. That expansion was Weak and Broken! You have lost me finally. I dont even need to risk buying Railroads or any other Firaxis title. I stuck with you through all the bs of Civ3 and promises not kept. Even after my experiance with Civ3 and your broken promises I preordered Civ4. And I even looked past the lastest promises unkept in Civ4. But now finally after much experiance with Civ4 I am finally done with you! SO MUCH OF THE GAME IS BROKEN. TOOOO MUCH!!! Finally I have had my fill with Firaxis. I overlooked soooooo much. But today I must say my piece. I feel you sold me a piece of junk that was not worthy of my sacrifice to buy your game. I read about Railroads Tycoon and its problems and that combined with my experiance with Civ is enough to dissuade me from purchasing ANY Firaxian titles for myself or family. I am done with you! For years now I have nearly SOLEY played Civ. I was an addict of this game and vocal proponent of Firaxis. I was a most loyal fan. I wanted to purchase Railroads for a few family members but I dont want to gift them aggravation with a game incomplete. You cheated us. Its been a pain in the arse. I dont want to spread this trouble by gifting it to others.

After two Civ games and multiple expansions I say Firaxis is untrustworthy of our money. Not only will I not waste further money for my own gaming needs (and for years now Civ has been over 90% of my gaming time), but I will not risk gifitng family and friends games like Pirates and Railroad Tycoon because of how poorly you have produced Civ$. Nor will I have anything but ill to say to others regarding my Firaxian experiance. I used to nearly worship you and have nearly played Civilization exclusively. You broke that relationship with shoddy product. Once bitten twice shy. Youve gone further than that and I still stuck with you. But now I am past the delusion. You just suck. I'll not risk more on you!

Seriously, for a guy who so clearly despises 2K, Firaxis & the Civilization Franchise in general, I really do wonder why he even bothers retaining membership at this site.

Please, provide a link to the original source. Also, isn't it making things a bit personal to go digging up dirt on someone? If you disagree with White Elk's posts, reply to the ones that are current. Most of his posts are actually well reasoned even if a little extreme for most tastes. It's unnecessary and a little uncomfortable to see you searching for posts from the past in an attempt to discredit another poster.

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

That is some real information you're giving.

Thanks.



I will just say that "activity" is not well measured by post count. For starters, some people practically spam posts, mainly one liners (even some people in the civ5 forum, but I won't name names). Secondly, reading the forums is more than half of the activity.



Please, provide a link to the original source. Also, isn't it making things a bit personal to go digging up dirt on someone? If you disagree with White Elk's posts, reply to the ones that are current. Most of his posts are actually well reasoned even if a little extreme for most tastes. It's unnecessary and a little uncomfortable to see you searching for posts from the past in an attempt to discredit another poster.

Its not completely unreasonable PoM. He told us back when Warlords came out that he'd given up on Firaxis, & that he hated them. Now Civ5 is out & he tells us that he hates 2K (apparently he now *respects* Firaxis-which is a massive turn around). I think its fair, then, to question his motives? Is he only returning to troll these forums? Most of his "concerns" seem to be based on misrepresentations of how Steam work, rather than reasonable. He is also being border-line abusive to 2K Elizabeth & 2K Greg-questioning their Right to be on these forums simply based on post count. A link shall be forthcoming though.

 

[PieceOfMind]

The opinion of a person can change a lot over the course of years. Heck, my experience and opinions from the days of Warlords is probably a lot different to what it is now.

If you believe a post to be trolling, please report it to moderators and action will be taken if necessary.

Also, I would like to remind that one of the conditions of being "civil" which is what moderators keep asking us to do, is focusing on the arguments and posts of civfanatics members rather than the members themselves. This means it would be a good idea to avoid getting into discussions about the motives of any individual poster. It shouldn't matter what their motives are - if their posts are wrong then you can point out why they are wrong.
Just as it is now not permitted in the civ5 forum to call any members tinfoil hatters, sunshine squad or corporate shills for the same reasons (speculating on the nature or motives of individual posters).

 

[KMRblue1027]

Im no expert, but:
Both myself and my brother have played steam games on seperate computers with seperate steam accounts within the same household for years with no trouble. Provided the computers will have seperate IPs it shouldn't be a problem. Someone more technically gifted could probably answer this better though.
You couldn't, however, use the same account on two PCs simultaneously. That would be breaking the terms of the licence and steam forces a log off from the previously logged on PC. Remember to disable steam's auto-start or auto-log on if you install it on your girlfriend's/wife's/husband's/boyfriend's/partner's/friends's/dog's laptop when your computer isn't working or you can be booted out.

This is technically untrue. Yes you can't play on the internet with two people on the same account but you can play in different games because an account can be logged in in as many places as it needs to be. Also you can perfectly play LAN games even if you have the same account. I used to play counter strike with my brother years ago on LAN. I have never had a steam account ever.

 

[Ultimate_Waffle]

Will the leaders speak out any lines other than the usual greetings we've seen so far?