So which is more addictive, Civ4 or WoW?

[Hellfire]

I apologize in advance if this should be in an OT forum, but it's definitely about Civ4.

Civ4 players like to say how thoroughly addictive Civ4 is. We proudly claim that we spend days on the same game uttering "j... juuu... just one more turn" at 4 in the morning.

I once equated playing Civ4 to a heavy crack-heroine cocktail with an LSD chaser.

Well, MMORPGs have challenged this doubious distinction as of late. Civ4 is not something like WoW, where you have easily accessible statistics of who's playing online at any given moment, because Civ4 is a completely different kind of game, as we know.

But exactly which game is more addictive? WoW or Civ4? With MMORPGs, do you think Civ4 is an "old drug," no match for constant gameplay of WoW? Or do you think Civ4 maintains an iron grip on a persons mind that WoW cannot compete with?

Just an odd ball conversation that I hope will get interesting responses.

 

[binhthuy71]

Did Beta testing years back for one of the first MMORPG's. I was working for a large ISP and we were thinking about doing an affinity deal with the gaming company. Anyway, by the time the Beta went gold I was so sick of the thing that I lost interest in the genre completely.
Also did Beta testing for one of the Civ xp's. I didn't lose my liking for Civ but I play it a lot less than I used to.

 

[Darwin420]

I think Civ4 is more addictive, but WoW is still quite a life-sucker. My wife and I fight over the computer because of both games.

 

[JavierLQ]

It depends. For the long term, Civ 4 for me has been more addictive, however, WoW does have a short term appeal.

What I mean is, in WoW, the game progresses very nicely with many different quests through many different zones through levels 1-60. However, starting at around level 58 and definatley up to 60, everything becomes very repetitive.

In raids each person will learn what they need to do, and when, and it is because of this that it becomes very repepitive and robotic. Sure, you can PvP, but even this has very little change in strategy.

However, Civ 4 has very many different factors. Even after winning at a certain map, the next map will be completely different (sure you may win, btu they way you do it, and the strategy that you use will/can be different).

I stoped playing WoW after 1 year, and it has worn me out of MMO's (not to mention the fact that some of the newer ones are very much like WoW and so it is almost like still playing WoW but just with different textures). Yet, I am still playing Civ 4 (got it a few months after release). Granted, I do not play Civ 4 as much as I did WoW, mainly because right now I also am really into IL-2 Sturmovik (WW2 combat flight simulator...try it out if you are intersted in that kind of thing, its great) and Civ 4.

Hope this helps.

 

[diablodelmar]

I hate MMORPGs people who play them seem to have no lives.

 

[binhthuy71]

Now that I think of it, the recent South Park episode about WoW should give everyone second thoughts. Kudos to Blizzard, though, for co-operating.

 

[Jenarie]

I've never tried WoW but I've played Everquest for 7 years now. I don't know that Civ and WoW/EQ are really comparable they are so different. An MMORPG is very social whereas I think (guess) the majority of people play Civ single player.

I have enjoyed Civ more since becoming more active on the board here and joining the GOTM games though so I can't say that Civ isn't somewhat social as well. And I know some people play online although every time I go into that chat room when meeting the EQ friend I occasionally play Civ with with I cringe at the "discussions" going on.

I get "one more turn" syndrome when I play Civ. I usually KNOW what time it is and just keep playing anyway. When playing Everquest, it is different in that sometimes 3+ hours went by but seemed like one. I rarely play longer once I realize it is time to stop but I have many times played past bedtime just by being too into the game to notice the time passing.

 

[Arlborn]

Tibia is most!

 

[TriviAl]

I used to play Civ 3 a lot, then picked up WoW - stopped that around October last year... now back onto Civ 4. Yay for addictive games.

Different types of addiction I think. Both are big timesinks.

For me, one big difference is when you play:

The bit of WoW I really enjoyed was the 20/40 man raids. This meant joining up with a guild - we raided 3 nights a week and you 'had' to attend the bulk of these. When I say have to, you'll miss out on the stuff and eventually lose your place in the raid. Worse still, the raid might manage to kill some awkward git you've been working for a few weeks on - which really sucks to miss.

Wheras Civ might take up nearly as much time, it's spread out exactly as I choose. Frankly, it's better for the social life, albeit missing the ingame chat and friends that make WoW so good...

 

[King Flevance]

I personally don't see the attraction to WoW. I tried it out with a 2 week demo and stopped playing at about day 5. Alot of people like it though, I just don't understand it personally. I played Anarchy Online for about 5 years or so then I have sampled alot of other MMOs out there. Oddly the two I like the most are the cheapest as well - Guild Wars and Silkroad Online.

The bit of WoW I really enjoyed was the 20/40 man raids. This meant joining up with a guild - we raided 3 nights a week and you 'had' to attend the bulk of these. When I say have to, you'll miss out on the stuff and eventually lose your place in the raid. Worse still, the raid might manage to kill some awkward git you've been working for a few weeks on - which really sucks to miss.

That is the most annoying feature to MMOs IMO. When a game becomes a chore, I don't like logging in. That's why I play the above mentioned 2 games. My friends and I haven't logged in to them for about 2 months now but when we finally do log in we won't really have missed anything or 'fallen behind' for not playing. MMOs are getting really time dependant on the player so much that they are almost like 2nd jobs - as you can pretty much get a job in the game in a guild.

Civ is a good laid back game... or can be. Depends on who you play it with multiplayer really. Some people on the pick-up groups on gamespy can be really irritating.
I recently found Rise of Nations for 10 bucks and me and a friend are playing it pretty heavy right now. Once he gets Civ 4 we will probably be playing it too. Civ 4 is very enjoyable if you can find someone to play multiplayer with that likes the same style games you like.

Wheras Civ might take up nearly as much time, it's spread out exactly as I choose. Frankly, it's better for the social life, albeit missing the ingame chat and friends that make WoW so good...

They are definatley 2 different kinds of addictions. WoW is mostly socially addictive. Civ is more 'customizably' addictive. It really depends on how you play it. Either single player or multiplayer. But for me multiplayer has 2 or 3 'levels' of style. I personally can't stand the popular "Quick/Blazing" games. I like to play with no turn timer. This makes games draw out but at that time it becomes more social and more laid back. Quick/Blazing to me is like trying to turn civ into a rts.
Me and my friends even turn them down to slower game progression speeds in the options when we play them. Like recently with RoN we make all techs very expensive and slow. Also playing on slow game speed with free pause enabled. It sounds really slow but to us it feels normal and gives the game an epic approach making you have to battle in the old ages.

I would say MMOs are more demanding of your time whereas multiplayer games like civ and other strategy titles are more addicting to your time. But that is just my personal flavor.

 

[kristopherb]

well i dont have the game but i like daiblo2 i sometims go pn it but not often

 

[acidsatyr]

WoW ALL THE WAY!!

ELEMENTAL MAGE FTW!!!!!!



WoW takes more skill, more concentration, more reflexes, and imo is harder than civ. Talking about PvP ofcourse. Everyone can learn Civ4 tricks. People are different.

Now need to lvl up 70

btw. I have life thank you very much.

 

[Teliniar]

I played WoW for a year and a half, it was fun but once I got to 60 the social guild raiding bullfeathers got old fast.

 

[acidsatyr]

Exaclty. Thats where endless hours of PvP fun comes in.

 

[CivMonger]

as a veteran of both, having played civ 1-4, call to power 1 and 2, and alpha centauri (call to power(s)) sucked IMO, as well as diablo, D2, WoW, all three warcrafts, and starcraft i'd split it up like this.

While both games have you sit and plunk away for hours on end there's a definitive difference. In World of Warcraft you have to be there, because 39 other people count on you being there to go kill some big monster or something. In civilization you want to be there, to play that one last turn, to see whats goign to happen, to plan your production once you reach artillery, or to see how the new civics are going to spool up your war economy. Wow is flashier and all that, and more exciting at times, but Civ4 is definately more interesting and entertaining overall I'd say.

 

[mutax2003]

Online Civ 4 gaming is lot more addictive than offline play. And time consuming too, for example, if you play one cont each FFA, you can be spending pretty much the whole day at one game. I took great joy in finetuning my empire, to be the first to liberalism and builld 30 cavalries, and then I invade the 2nd place guy and take over his civ. It is always more thrilling to beat thinking (scheming) human players rather than the same old boring A.I.s. Sometimes the game was started in the morning, then before I knew it, it was time for supper. For this and other myriad of factors, I don't play online games anymore.

 

[Weird_bug]

Isn't this cough cough slightly biased?

 

[Mr. Civtastic]

To me, MMOs>Civ 4 in terms of addiction. Both games will keep me up till 4 am, both will have me playing far longer then I should, both will have me brainstorming during the day when I should be doing something productive.

But I can put down Civ 4 for a day or two, sometimes a week or two, even once for a couple months. But MMOs, when I played them, had me gaming for 20-30 hours a week at my worst. Lets say for your average MMO it takes maybe 200-300 hours to level a character to the highest possible level (for a lot of people it will take far longer then that)...then there is PvP, side quests, collecting, power-leveling friends, and of course you are going to make new characters...you just are, Ive never known someone to make one single character and not try another one. Meanwhile, I know there is no way Ive played civ 4 for more then 300 hours.

Ive been playing civ games for almost 10 years, but I know for a fact Ive never played any of them 1/3 as long as Ive played a MMO.

 

[Clovis]

I have not extensively played either game, but I have played CivII and Age of Empires, which are at least similar. This is just my personal opinion, but Civ is much better, mostly because it is turn-based rather than real-time.

 

[TrailblazingScot]

Having played both it is definitely Civ4 in my experience.

Hours in WOW = probably around 36

Civ4 hours = online mainly we're talking probably around 750 if not more. LOL.