Will Play by Mail be Play by Steam?

[EmpireOfCats]

Couldn't find this in the Steamworks FAQ, so maybe somebody here knows -- Civ IV had play-by-mail, which I always found to be a PITA. Now that we have Steam, glorious Steam, shouldn't we instead be able to just send the data from one Steam account to another, without having to save the file, open the mail program, link the data file from the mail program, send it, etc.?

Sending from Steam account to Steam account would seem to make everything so much easier.

 

[stealth_nsk]

There will be both Steam and classical (PBEM and HotSeat) multiplayer modes. Why replace one with another?

 

[lietkynes]

Couldn't find this in the Steamworks FAQ, so maybe somebody here knows -- Civ IV had play-by-mail, which I always found to be a PITA. Now that we have Steam, glorious Steam, shouldn't we instead be able to just send the data from one Steam account to another, without having to save the file, open the mail program, link the data file from the mail program, send it, etc.?

Sending from Steam account to Steam account would seem to make everything so much easier.

It could be possible, using Steam Cloud for example. It would be very cool if they do it

 

[Haydos]

People still elect to play by email? Given the other options available for multiplaye, people choose to play by email?

 

[CTH]

I belive that Greg2k has said that PBEM will not be included in the release but will be added later because so many requested it.

 

[paradigmx]

People still elect to play by email? Given the other options available for multiplaye, people choose to play by email?

PBEM is great when your playing a game with people that have differing schedules, I haven't run one in a while, but the last time I did it was probably one of the most strategic games I had ever played because you literally had hours to spend on one turn figuring out exactly how you wanted to do things, that game lasted 6 months.

 

[12agnar0k]

Their is no way to like send an offline message to a Steam friend (another way of saying Email ) as apposed to chatting with someone online at the same time, so no it will probably not be done via Steam's communication system.

 

[EmpireOfCats]

People still elect to play by email? Given the other options available for multiplaye, people choose to play by email?

Sure. All you need is different time zones and/or very, very busy people.

Thanks for the answers. Once the game is out, I'll go pester Firaxis about adding Play-by-Steam as an option. How hard can that be?

 

[Some guy]

People still elect to play by email? Given the other options available for multiplaye, people choose to play by email?

Considering turns are usually simultaneous on multi-player, yes.

 

[CanuckSoldier]

There will be both Steam and classical (PBEM and HotSeat) multiplayer modes. Why replace one with another?

Can you quote your source for stating their will be some sort of Steam driven PBEM?

Yes PBEM, pitboss and hotseat are all going to be post release features that has been announced.

As far as PBEM, I'm not sure why people still use it when pitboss has all the same features and not the reload cheating that is common in PBEM.

CS

 

[stealth_nsk]

Can you quote your source for stating their will be some sort of Steam driven PBEM?

No, all I said what these are different types of multiplayer and no need to mix them up.

 

[CanuckSoldier]

No, all I said what these are different types of multiplayer and no need to mix them up.

Ok well it looks like you are stating that perhaps Civ5 PBEM will be using the "steam cloud" something that AFAIK has not been released as being in the game. So I was just trying to confirm if this had been released and I just missed it.

CS

 

[Tylerryan79]

Ok well it looks like you are stating that perhaps Civ5 PBEM will be using the "steam cloud" something that AFAIK has not been released as being in the game. So I was just trying to confirm if this had been released and I just missed it.

CS

Your mixing up two different poster's posts. He never said anything about a "steam cloud" pbem feature. He said why even add one when the game is shipping with regular steam MP, and then later releasing PBEM and Hotseat later with a patch. Another poster said he thought it would be cool to do(steam cloud pbem), but thats never been officially said and I dont think its going to happen. It has been said that PBEM and Hotseat will be coming, but not at release but later with a patch. I dont feel like finding the source in this mess of threads, but its there somewhere if you want to find it

He said it, and was just saying it would be cool if they did(never has been confirmed or talked about btw):

It could be possible, using Steam Cloud for example. It would be very cool if they do it

 

[EmpireOfCats]

Another poster said he thought it would be cool to do(steam cloud pbem), but thats never been officially said and I dont think its going to happen.

Just out of curiosity, why don't you think it is going to happen? It would bind people closer to Steam, the storage space used would be trivial in the great scheme of things, and it would be easier for the users by far.

 

[PieceOfMind]

Keep in mind that while hotseat, pbem and pitboss modes have been unofficially promised to be coming in probably a matter of months, until they are actually in the game there's no guarantee.

@EmpireOfCats, did you ever try setting up the game to send the email automatically? It can be done from in the game. There's also the service of the PBEM Tracker website that makes uploading turns easy and knowing who's turn it is easy as well.
Finally, there's ruff_hi's PBEM mailer which I used to use, and it has full instructions for how to set it up if you use gmail. Tracking turns is not as easy with that program though.

EDIT
And as for a reason to argue PBEM should not be done strictly using the steamcloud... Sometimes I've had my games computer not connected to the internet and it might not be possible or practical to install steam on a computer where you can connect to the net (e.g. on campus) let alone install the game on that computer. Perhaps it sounds weird but one of the benefits of PBEM mode of play is that it doesn't require an internet connection at the beginning and/or end of turn.

 

[EmpireOfCats]

Finally, there's ruff_hi's PBEM mailer which I used to use, and it has full instructions for how to set it up if you use gmail.

Ah, thanks for the reference!

 

[PieceOfMind]

Well I assume you found it, but here's the link in case anyone else wants to try it:
Civ4 PBEM Emailer

 

[CanuckSoldier]

Your mixing up two different poster's posts. He never said anything about a "steam cloud" pbem feature. He said why even add one when the game is shipping with regular steam MP, and then later releasing PBEM and Hotseat later with a patch. Another poster said he thought it would be cool to do(steam cloud pbem), but thats never been officially said and I dont think its going to happen. It has been said that PBEM and Hotseat will be coming, but not at release but later with a patch. I dont feel like finding the source in this mess of threads, but its there somewhere if you want to find it

He said it, and was just saying it would be cool if they did(never has been confirmed or talked about btw):

No I'm not confusing any posts it was the one post and only one post that I referenced.

There will be both Steam and classical (PBEM and HotSeat) multiplayer modes.

I'm not an english professor, but the way this is phrased is clearly that Steam and classical are adjectives describing the nouns PBEM and Hotseat.

So the poster is in fact stating, not asking, that there will be Steam and normal versions of PBEM and Hotseat.

So I logically asked for his source.

This is all.

CS

 

[Tibblers]

Actually, Steam in that case could be interpreted as an adjective to multiplayer mode.

In other words, Steam multiplayer modes and classical multiplayer modes. It could also easily be Steam PBEM and Hot Seat. However, the latter would make no sense; why would you need/use Steam for Hot Seat? That's why I believe the former to be the correct interpretation of the sentence.

 

[CanuckSoldier]

Yes that could be as well, guess I focused on the Steam describing PBEM since calling PBEM and Hotseat "classical" MP made no sense to me either MP in steam is p2p as Civ has always been, it not unique to steam in any sense, Steamworks is just the engine this time instead of Gamspy.

If anything PBEM/pitboss and Hotseat are secondary MP modes and internet/lan p2p MP is the primary MP mode.

But then this is why we have discussions in forums so no harm done.

CS