heihojin
Prince
Note: See this post for the updates I made following the v1.52 patch.
I have had it up to HERE with Firaxis's shoddy treatment of PBEM!!!
Civilization has always had the potential to be the ultimate PBEM game, given its epic length and deeply analytical strategic nature. And it continues to be a great PBEM game in spite of Firaxis's support of it!
I refuse to allow my favorite game franchise to fall short of its potential simply because the developers and quality assurance testers don't play PBEM. It's obvious that they don't, because Firaxis has repeatedly dropped the ball on issues that specifically pertain to the PBEM community. I think that it's time that we PBEM players expressed solidarity, and compiled a centralized list of issues that we want to see resolved.
A little background on me: I have been administrating PBEM games since the release of Civ3
TW. I administrate 16 PBEM games as of this posting, and I just launched my 19th PBEM game (my second Civ 4 game). I start a new game at the rate of approximately one every other month, and I easily fill each eight-player game within hours of posting the ad here on CFC. While most of my players are repeat players, I attract multiple new players with each new game that I start.
I play PBEM almost exclusively, preferring it to both single-player and online multiplayer Civ play. I know I am not alone; many of my players are similar in this respect. The PBEM community may be small, but we are dedicated and enthusiastic players of the game. We love Civilization, and we want to play!
So I propose creating a centralized list of issues specifically pertaining to PBEM play. I will attempt to update this list as new issues are revealed or old issues resolved, but I don't know for how long I will be able to edit this original post - hence I may update the list by posting a reply to this thread.
With enough effort from the PBEM community, we should be able to get this post stickied. Regardless, feel free to bump the post by adding your two cents!
So here is my initial list of Civ 4 PBEM issues that need to be addressed:
1. Firaxis has historically been unconcerned with PBEM continuity.
Make no mistake - we want bugs fixed! However, Firaxis has heretofore failed to display a proactive approach in maintaining game continuity. Ever since PTW, many PBEM players have had to maintain multiple versions of the game just to continue games in which they've already invested months or years. Two of my current games are still run on v1.20 of C3C because the v1.22 patch won't load them. The v1.09 patch of Civ 4 won't load password-protected games of v1.00, and my first Civ 4 PBEM game (Game 18) may have to be restarted as a result.
We would appreciate some consolation from the developers. It is not fun to abandon games for technical reasons, especially after months of time have been invested in them. It is not fun to maintain multiple versions of the game for the sake of maintaining game continuity. It is not fun to have to search for ways of hacking the game just so that we can keep playing.
2. Civilization IV has a distinct lack of PBEM administrative tools.
Maybe I'm oblivious, but I have yet to determine how it is that I as an administrator am supposed to kick a player from a Civ 4 PBEM game. Civ 3 at least had an admin password with which I could override any player-entered password; Civ 4 has nothing! I had to seriously consider whether I wanted to start any Civ 4 PBEM games without admin tools, but I decided to gamble on them being implemented before I had to kick another player.
3. Player names appear to change arbitrarily in Civ 4 PBEM games.
Read this thread for a description of the problem, as well as my Game 18 home thread.
If you have an issue you would like to see added, or just want to rant, feel free to reply. Please keep this post bumped - it's about time we PBEM players started getting some attention!
heihojin
I have had it up to HERE with Firaxis's shoddy treatment of PBEM!!!
Civilization has always had the potential to be the ultimate PBEM game, given its epic length and deeply analytical strategic nature. And it continues to be a great PBEM game in spite of Firaxis's support of it!
I refuse to allow my favorite game franchise to fall short of its potential simply because the developers and quality assurance testers don't play PBEM. It's obvious that they don't, because Firaxis has repeatedly dropped the ball on issues that specifically pertain to the PBEM community. I think that it's time that we PBEM players expressed solidarity, and compiled a centralized list of issues that we want to see resolved.
A little background on me: I have been administrating PBEM games since the release of Civ3
TW. I administrate 16 PBEM games as of this posting, and I just launched my 19th PBEM game (my second Civ 4 game). I start a new game at the rate of approximately one every other month, and I easily fill each eight-player game within hours of posting the ad here on CFC. While most of my players are repeat players, I attract multiple new players with each new game that I start.I play PBEM almost exclusively, preferring it to both single-player and online multiplayer Civ play. I know I am not alone; many of my players are similar in this respect. The PBEM community may be small, but we are dedicated and enthusiastic players of the game. We love Civilization, and we want to play!
So I propose creating a centralized list of issues specifically pertaining to PBEM play. I will attempt to update this list as new issues are revealed or old issues resolved, but I don't know for how long I will be able to edit this original post - hence I may update the list by posting a reply to this thread.
With enough effort from the PBEM community, we should be able to get this post stickied. Regardless, feel free to bump the post by adding your two cents!
So here is my initial list of Civ 4 PBEM issues that need to be addressed:
1. Firaxis has historically been unconcerned with PBEM continuity.
Make no mistake - we want bugs fixed! However, Firaxis has heretofore failed to display a proactive approach in maintaining game continuity. Ever since PTW, many PBEM players have had to maintain multiple versions of the game just to continue games in which they've already invested months or years. Two of my current games are still run on v1.20 of C3C because the v1.22 patch won't load them. The v1.09 patch of Civ 4 won't load password-protected games of v1.00, and my first Civ 4 PBEM game (Game 18) may have to be restarted as a result.
We would appreciate some consolation from the developers. It is not fun to abandon games for technical reasons, especially after months of time have been invested in them. It is not fun to maintain multiple versions of the game for the sake of maintaining game continuity. It is not fun to have to search for ways of hacking the game just so that we can keep playing.
2. Civilization IV has a distinct lack of PBEM administrative tools.
Maybe I'm oblivious, but I have yet to determine how it is that I as an administrator am supposed to kick a player from a Civ 4 PBEM game. Civ 3 at least had an admin password with which I could override any player-entered password; Civ 4 has nothing! I had to seriously consider whether I wanted to start any Civ 4 PBEM games without admin tools, but I decided to gamble on them being implemented before I had to kick another player.
3. Player names appear to change arbitrarily in Civ 4 PBEM games.
Read this thread for a description of the problem, as well as my Game 18 home thread.
If you have an issue you would like to see added, or just want to rant, feel free to reply. Please keep this post bumped - it's about time we PBEM players started getting some attention!
heihojin
