JBAdams
01-12-2012, 05:49 PM
Greg:
You may recall that some years ago I posted a topic on this forum that generated many thousands of hits. This thread focused on the unplayable nature of Civ 4 multiplayer (due to patch 3.17), which was plagued by constant "OOS" errors which you ROUTINELY blamed on GameSpy. In reply, GameSpy routinely (and rightly) blamed these issues on 2K's game coding. At the time, I pointed out that there were dozens of advanced gaming titles on the market which involved MANY megabytes of data exchange per minute (i.e., Battlefield 2 and similar games) with none of these lag or "sync" issues.
Years have passed, but unfortunately lessons have not been learned. I waited until this month to finally break down and purchase Civ 5. A major factor in my decision was your announcement that the game's Christmas 2011 patch had resolved several major functionality issues in multiplayer, of which I had heard only secondhand.
With all due respect, you have somehow managed to make the multiplayer experience even worse in Civ 5 than it was in Civ 4. The worst aspects of Civ 4 multiplayer were the inexplicable lag problems and the ability to "double-move" units. Together, these problems created an environment in which game hosts had an impossible-to-surmount advantage. It also transmogrified the game from a strategy game to a child-focused click festival. Such is life, again, in Civ 5, where more time is spent reloading, re-syncing, and re-starting games than is spent playing them.
The year is 2012, and six people cannot connect lag-free in a computer game? I can videoconference in high definition with 9 people on my laptop, lag-free. Something is wrong when I can't have a warrior move onto a hill in a simultaneous-turns strategy game without watching the world freeze up all around me.
Having played literally thousands of Civ multiplayer games over the years, going back even to Civ II, I respectfully ask that if by some miracle of God there is another Civ title, that 2K just cease and desist marketing this franchise as multiplayer capable. 2K should be ashamed of repeating the very same mistakes that were made in Civ 4. If you want to design the game with a single player focus, don't make it minimally multiplayer functional. A little bit buggy is like being a "little bit retarded." Don't play us for fools anymore.
Sincerely,
JBA
You may recall that some years ago I posted a topic on this forum that generated many thousands of hits. This thread focused on the unplayable nature of Civ 4 multiplayer (due to patch 3.17), which was plagued by constant "OOS" errors which you ROUTINELY blamed on GameSpy. In reply, GameSpy routinely (and rightly) blamed these issues on 2K's game coding. At the time, I pointed out that there were dozens of advanced gaming titles on the market which involved MANY megabytes of data exchange per minute (i.e., Battlefield 2 and similar games) with none of these lag or "sync" issues.
Years have passed, but unfortunately lessons have not been learned. I waited until this month to finally break down and purchase Civ 5. A major factor in my decision was your announcement that the game's Christmas 2011 patch had resolved several major functionality issues in multiplayer, of which I had heard only secondhand.
With all due respect, you have somehow managed to make the multiplayer experience even worse in Civ 5 than it was in Civ 4. The worst aspects of Civ 4 multiplayer were the inexplicable lag problems and the ability to "double-move" units. Together, these problems created an environment in which game hosts had an impossible-to-surmount advantage. It also transmogrified the game from a strategy game to a child-focused click festival. Such is life, again, in Civ 5, where more time is spent reloading, re-syncing, and re-starting games than is spent playing them.
The year is 2012, and six people cannot connect lag-free in a computer game? I can videoconference in high definition with 9 people on my laptop, lag-free. Something is wrong when I can't have a warrior move onto a hill in a simultaneous-turns strategy game without watching the world freeze up all around me.
Having played literally thousands of Civ multiplayer games over the years, going back even to Civ II, I respectfully ask that if by some miracle of God there is another Civ title, that 2K just cease and desist marketing this franchise as multiplayer capable. 2K should be ashamed of repeating the very same mistakes that were made in Civ 4. If you want to design the game with a single player focus, don't make it minimally multiplayer functional. A little bit buggy is like being a "little bit retarded." Don't play us for fools anymore.
Sincerely,
JBA