Maybe the demogame level should be bumped up to emperor. Once you get very good tactictians in the game, the game is over. (Even DG1 was over at the start of term 2). Atleast DG1 and moreso in DG2 had internal competition, especially between governors and mayors to have the best province and city. Stats were kept every week on which province had the best production, highest culture, most demogame citizens, etc. Events were held. It was a thrill for governors to attend the turnchat and see their province gain more cities.
In DG1, governors held events like the Asphinxian Ball, boat races in the bay. In DG2, there was sporting events towards the end of the game. In DG4, it was filled with either, "Let's bicker about 1 word in this ruleset [follwed by cryptic code numbering instead of quoting the actual rule]", or "Let's take this civ out this turnchat".
The point being, the demogame was much more than saying, "Move here", "make this rule there". It can be more exciting if people are willing to make it exciting. DG2 was a long, but fun game. DG1 was a short, but fun game.
Just something to note for a MPDG - there will be far less players per team. When I tried to get the Game of Republic started, it was a struggle to get atleast 5 players per team to even
fill the posistions. A MPDG becomes more of a team-based game than a true demogame. There will be far less provinces, too, since players in MP don't care about huge civs with 50 cities. Most players I've played against (especially in the C3C beta) had a core of 10-15 cities, and the game was over quite quickly. Of course, I played against some of the best in the MP community. Most games lasted, as most, into the early middle ages, but there have been epic games. Another problem with MP is the limit of 8 players (teams). Take a look at our group of players here - about 20, give or take. That's a little over 2 players per team. Stretch that to 5 for players who perfer MP.
Think about it - It's also possible that a team might not meet another team for 50 turns. It happened to me (I expanded peacefully, had a nice chokepoint, too, and all the while, the other 2 players were pre-occupied with my teammate). I eventually won that game without ever spotting a single unit from the other team. (they were quite upset, too.
). Having borders with other civs is also rare, since if you do, there's usually a war. Now, it could be possible to have a co-op game where you have 2 teams vs. 6 AI on emperor (or deity if you had 3 teams).
BTW, a historical note. The origanal idea of a single player demogame turnchat was to play 1 turn per day.