I have been a lurker and participator on projects that have lasted a long time so I think I have some useful insight and advice for those who consider leaving, forking, or going on temporary hiatus / project sabbaticals, so please hear me out.
1. We are all here to find (and create) the best possible Civilization game we can.
We come here to Civfanatics together, to discover, explore, and create the Best of CIV we can, so we can get a chance to play that ultimate game experience.
Caveman2Cosmos is the best representation (so far) of exploring all of those ideas to carry us to the next level. It started with CIV, CIV IV, and proceeded to ROM -Rise of Mankind, AND -A New Dawn, and now on to our hopeful and promising Caveman2Cosmos with the purpose of become the next level CIVILIZATION experience. I believe the C2C is our best developed foundation, and most strategic launching point for us to collectively reach the Next Level of Civilization that we all truly want and secretly desire. And I believe that as long as we share that goal, that we should continue to seek it and explore together, we are a lot more likely to find that dream, that goal together, than we will wandering alone.
It is extremely rare to find a project and a purpose we can all agree on, even in part, as we all feel strongly about what we love. Everyone, and I mean Everyone will continue to have a different view of what Civilization should be. It is a challenge to stay together for more than a moment, and to challenge ourselves to see things through. But it is worth it, because we ultimately want to find an even better experience.
2. We are here together - I argue that we are explorers of similar territory, and that we are united by our desire to explore something better, and therefore we will find more of what we want to find together, than we will by being frustrated by our differences and giving up. It is our challenge (and the challenge of humanity) to find a way to collaborate to find the best of all of us, and to do that we must embrace our diversity, and overcome our differences so that we can travel further together. In our way C2C and Civilization represent the challenges of the civilizations we play in C2C and CIV, can we build a team and civilization to explore time? and can we do that together to guarantee that it is the best CIV experience? It is a challenge to keep CIV (and C2C) improving, but worth doing so. And it is challenge of finding a way to explore together, in a way we can do so freely, yet together, so we can share in the experience the best of our individual and collaborative efforts, without wearing us out, or down. In essence we need each other to keep going, so we can help reach what we couldn't alone, by ourselves.
And if we let the opportunity pass us, we are left with the limited efforts that companies and the few motivated individuals leave us with. Do you really want to be left trapped with your own uncompleted ideas and dreams? Or do you want to find a way, to come together to see our collective best shine as brightly as possible?
3. I for one think that Caveman2Cosmos, represents that blue moon, a rare moment in time and collaboration, and continuation of AND, ROM, and CIV that we all desire. And that is why I think we should all continue to work together to try to improve it. All ideas are (mostly) worth exploring (to different degrees), and all of them should be put to the litmus test of being challenged, not to water them down or eliminate them, but to improve them. We want to keep moving, and we want everyone to keep participating in a way they feel comfortable, and we all want to keep C2C on course so we can reach the next level. (and that is Multi-Maps / Galactic Era in the next year). And I believe we all want to overcome the things we don't like, instead of giving up, on something that can be even greater!
Caveman2Cosmos is on a (more or less) balanced path between the purest, streamlined and improved Civilization game experience, and the unbound and limitless exploration of what Civilization can become if we dare to consider it. Sometimes C2C goes 'off the rails' or falls short, but it is in all of our hands to keep it moving in the right direction together - towards our ideal version of the best playable CIV game. I completely believe that C2C can be both a CIV+ easy to play, fast and fun improved CIV experience, and a exploration of the best of what our unlimited ideas have to offer, including ideas beyond CIV. It is the ultimate challenge to reach our goal together, and see our collaborative dream to become real, as well as to continue to enjoy pursuing improving it.
4. C2C is (hopefully) aimed at becoming the near ultimate collaboration of great and good - ideas, people, and modding which brings CIV to an unrestrained evolution to the next level of what the game CIVILIZATION can become, with combining all of our best efforts. (But also not letting them get in our way.)
Like Civilization became more than just a strategy game, that allows you to explore building a civilization, I see that Caveman2Cosmos can be both a great improved CIV experience that let's you explore ideas well past what strategy, history, 4x gaming, and simulated history already has to offer. Let's not let exploration divide us, but to unite us behind improving the sandbox of C2C so that we aren't limited, but freer to explore. I see C2C as giving us the opportunity for us to create the next CIV, to create our own version of CIV 6 / what CIV 5 could have been with our involvement, and for us to all have a say in making our civilization gaming experience even better. We should never let something stop us from trying.
I for one, want us to have the freedom to explore all of our ideas, while not limiting our gaming experience and driving people away. I want everyone to want to stay and contribute to explore our collaborative dream of making a better Civ, and I want a chance to be able to play that ultimate Civ/C2C game with you guys! If all you can offer is your voice, your advice, your opinion, and your best effort, we want to know what you see and don't see, so we can figure all this out together. We need everyone's voice, eyes, and care to see clearly. If we can't or don't have time to mod, then we should take a moment to advise, or add to the discussion, so we can help it keep moving. And we should always be willing to consider and listen. Please, Let's all get over and differences and work together to overcome our challenges. (If we don't stand strong together for something we believe in, then we are left to fall for anything.. that remains.)
I respect all of you for caring.
Past all the challenges, obstacles, and differences, we can see our dreams shining through. We see what C2C could be at it's greatest. What C2C and Civilization could become.
I invite everyone to focus on our common ground and our shared dream, so that that we are united by our possibilities, not divided by our frustrations. So we can keep moving together.
I am positive that if we keep caring, we can overcome any of our challenges, and we can all add our best voice to the evolving symphony that is C2C, the best Civ we can share. We just have to be patient and care enough to see it through.
I can't wait to see what we can dream up and create next!
Please consider seeing C2C (and the promise of AND) through our challenges to the next level!
I can see how great that our game can be!! Can you??
Let's honor our greatest shared opportunity - Caveman2Cosmos - the promise of CivNext!
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