SimCity 5

[PieceOfMind]

@CivCube, thanks for posting the link. Hadn't seen that RPS article yet.

@cybrxkhan, Hey, I guess you can expect that if subways are to make it into the game it'd be perfect material for an expansion.

@Maniacal, That might have a reason. They would rather people use email or text chat support, probably as it's more cost efficient. It's a bit weird, yes, but I think it's being blown a bit out of proportion. Still dodgy though.

Anyway, we're a couple days away now from when EA will give a free game to those who already had SimCity. At first, the cynic in me said, "Heh, watch this become a buy one get one free coupon". However, looking at the press release a bit more closely, I don't think they could quite get out of it that way. Instead, I'm expecting the free game to be one that isn't a very good seller, and have low market value due to previous discounts. Whatever happens, there will be plenty of people disappointed/angered and you can bet you will hear from them.

Some people have already pointed out that it was rather convenient of EA to say the details of the free game would be announced exactly 2 weeks after the game was launched, which from what I've heard means people in the US will be outside of the 14-day window for refunds. This makes it sound like EA are playing on the customer's hope that the free game will be decent. Pretty silly gamble to take if you ask me. If you wanted a refund at any point, now is the time to get out, not after.

 

[Maniacal]

More cost effective? They are paying for their customer support centers around the planet (particularly in India) regardless of the amount of calls.

 

[PieceOfMind]

I'm assuming it's cheaper for a support employee to copy-paste some canned responses to several customers simultaneously than to have them on the phone for half an hour stonewalling them. Plus, a telephone support employee needs needs to have a certain level of English speaking proficiency which I'd assume increases the pay grade a bit.

 

[Maniacal]

But they already have the phone support and web support companies contracted out and the employees are getting paid for their time regardless... unless support work is paid by piece but that seems silly.

 

[cybrxkhan]

@cybrxkhan, Hey, I guess you can expect that if subways are to make it into the game it'd be perfect material for an expansion.

I can't wait for the inevitable Subway DLC, only $10!!!


I wonder if they'll try doing the Sims 3 thing with a gazilion expansions. The only problem is it won't really work out because, well, at least Sims 3 is still single-player so there wouldn't be an issue of different players online having different DLCs, not to mention cities in SimCity are so small now I don't think all the new stuff in 1305810358035 expansions will be able to fit in, let alone 1.

 

[PieceOfMind]

Having lots of different DLCs is not an issue if every player is forced to be online when they play (oh, which happens to be true ). Every player downloads the content, through forced updates, but it's only unlocked for those who've purchased. The issue is players won't be able to join existing cities that contain DLC if they haven't purchased it. If I'm not mistaken, I think this is already how the game functions with those British, French, German whatever tile sets. Another effective DLC advertisement I guess.

 

[grandad1982]

http://pastie.org/6505519

Saw this linked from the BBC news website. Seems the community (hackers) haven't taken long to start to get round EAs stupid design choices and show them up as the idiots they are at the same time.

Its a sad sad world. EA need to get a grip of themselves.

 

[J-man]

A modder named UKAzzer has found a way to edit someone else's cities by modding the game. He can now potentially destroy a city. There still could be some server side security prevent this because turned off syncing with server so cities aren't actually destroyed.


Link to video.

 

[grandad1982]

^^ yeah my link above you is from the same guy. He mentions the editing other peoples cities in his post.

 

[J-man]

Ah and now that same guy found out that all that hard work the servers do for us in the cloud (as EA?Maxis keeps telling us) isn't that much work at all:

“All the server sends to your client, is some very basic data about each city – how much power they have available, how much spare fire trucks, you know – that sort of stuff. It’s minor, and it’s sent as raw numbers. Your client then just goes ‘oh there’s XXX power spare from city Z.’ It’s that simple.”

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/201...r-tells-us-offline-regional-play-easily-done/

 

[KaiserElectric]

A Youtuber named Buckley had some choice words to say about the SimCity launch. I can't post it due to his colorful vocabulary, so here's the link to the video. Definitely worth a listen.

 

[salty mud]

A Youtuber named Buckley had some choice words to say about the SimCity launch. I can't post it due to his colorful vocabulary, so here's the link to the video. Definitely worth a listen.

He sounds like an absolute prat.

 

[KaiserElectric]

He probably is, but that doesn't exactly mean his point is invalid.

 

[Maniacal]

Seems the community (hackers)

For once someone actually used the word hacker for its original meaning, and not for someone creating viruses or cracking passwords. Although we usually call them modders.

 

[PieceOfMind]

For once someone actually used the word hacker for its original meaning, and not for someone creating viruses or cracking passwords. Although we usually call them modders.

Or someone who installs cheats.

EDIT...
Civitas (that Simcity alternative on Kickstarter) has had its kickstarter cancelled since it has gotten private funding.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects...n-develop-and-manage-the-city-of-your-d/posts

 

[Lord_Iggy]

As in they had funding earlier, or they found a private funder and pulled out of their kickstarter?

 

[cybrxkhan]

What if the private funder... was EA???

DUN DUN DUN.

 

[PieceOfMind]

As in they had funding earlier, or they found a private funder and pulled out of their kickstarter?

From what they've said, they only recently had the option to go with a private funder and had to weigh the pros and cons of abandoning the kickstarter.

It's hard to even check that it wasn't a scam in the first place, as there isn't much verifiable information, even with the latest announcements.

Some of the commenters have brought up some pretty good points about how suspicious a lot of the screenshots look.

Hopefully it's legit and goes well. I won't go out of my way to follow it closely though.

 

[Nintz]

What does everyone make of this?

I saw it a few days ago, but it is at 72,000 signatures right now. Significantly higher. I still don't think anything is going to happen anytime soon, but...

 

[PieceOfMind]

I think it's impressive, but I suspect a lot of the people on the petition have already purchased the game. In my mind at least, that significantly decreases its impact. If 70,000 people had said they haven't bought the game for the reasons stated in the petition, it might carry more weight.

EA know people want it (removing always-online DRM). They didn't need a petition for that. It wouldn't fit with their strategic objectives though, so it's not going to change anything.

What it's useful for is quantifying the number of people in this audience who want change. Whatever factor you multiply by, to account for the people who wouldn't bother putting their name to it, it's a lot of people expressing interest in a City Builder. It's my hope that some of the recent spikes in sales of other city builder games along with the number of people signing that petition is a signal to other developers/publishers/investors to get into this genre.