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Post by WarningU2 on Jun 30, 2006 7:52:18 GMT -5
If the game hasn't launched the game has not started.
This issue is related to persons chosing teams and one or more people not liking the team they are on. A player who frequently leaves because of this will find they damage their reputation. I can understand that when you get on a team with people with little skill. The host should try to split the teams evenly in my opinion. Low Rank/High Rank pairing.
In a related matter I'm seeing an incredible increase in the number of non reports. Please folks if someone drops please go back to lobby to pick them up at least once when they can't hot join
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Post by WarningU2 on Jun 25, 2006 10:16:45 GMT -5
Hanging out in the lobby periodically I find it very difficult to know which players or even games are ladder or not.
In comparisons to CIV3 someone was normally advertising a game the majority of the time, and players were well known ladder vets.
With C4P there are so many new players and the names of games hang around until complete that there are too many to sort through.
I think we would increase the presense of the ladder and ease of getting a game if everyone informally agreed to some standards.
1) Include C4P in their name in the lobby as a suffix
If not the game lobby at least in C4F lobby.
i.e. [Clan]PlayerName_C4P
2) Include C4P in ladder games
i.e. C4P_game description
Then it would be relatively easy to sort the games and find all the C4P games. It would also increase our presense because other players would ask ... what the heck is C4P ?
I realize that is happening to a degree with ladder as the name prefix but I don't think that is used regularly.
Anyway ... just an idea that would be easy to implement.
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Post by WarningU2 on Jun 23, 2006 23:22:29 GMT -5
You'd be surprised how many times I've seen this apology for not reporting. ;D
Who's enter ?
Oh sorry short term memory loss.
btw I was kidding about making love while playing... my wife would kill me if I said excuse me ... just have to finish that turn ... I'll be right back ... LOL
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Post by WarningU2 on Jun 20, 2006 12:06:55 GMT -5
Ok this has turned into things done while playing a game and not pausing ... lol.
Ok... I've managed to take a crap, grab something to eat, something to drink and make love to my wife ... not necessarily in that order, or all at once.
That's not in a teamer game though ... I think if you are playing a teamer you need to devote yourself to the game with a little more focus ...
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Post by WarningU2 on Jun 18, 2006 15:40:22 GMT -5
Tommynit you contradict yourself. What action do you propose we take ? I still don't think the game is as bad as PTW was when it first came out. Count yourself lucky.
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Post by WarningU2 on Jun 18, 2006 9:33:29 GMT -5
The alternate way to make the ladder grow is have more tournies.
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Post by WarningU2 on Jun 18, 2006 8:32:33 GMT -5
I am adamantly opposed to allowing people to join without an invite. In the past it has caused nothing but problems, allowing multiple accounts and causing ladder disarray. Sure you will get more ladder members which is good but it encourages misuse and abuse and generates nothing but more work for the admins in both non reports and duplicate accounts. I 'd rather see a core group of responsible players than a large group of people that don't report, get kicked and rejoin. I can't for the life of me wonder why we would consider this again. It's a sign of madness to repeat the same actions over and expect different results.
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Post by WarningU2 on Jun 8, 2006 6:23:52 GMT -5
"HOW DO YOU QUOTE PROPERLY??? " To quote previous threads ... select the thread you want then click quote on the upper right of the thread. This will generate a new thread with the control characters quote author=nameoforiginator and a reference to the threadnumber and post number. You need to remove the text you don't want quoted.
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Post by WarningU2 on Jun 4, 2006 5:49:29 GMT -5
Posted this here in case folks are not aware of this, not members of Apolyton ... ApolyCon 06: Meet the Experts! Registration Deadline is *June 16th* This summer, the Apolyton Civilization Site will organize ApolyCon 06, the very first convention devoted exclusively to the historical-development genre of PC games pioneered by guest of honor Sid Meier of Firaxis Games and further developed by guest of honor Brian Reynolds of Big Huge Games. It is the event where players and developers come together as enthusiasts to meet each other, share ideas, and have fun. ApolyCon 06 has already secure! d commitments from two leading strategy gaming firms, Firaxis Games and Big Huge Games. In fact, some of the industry’s biggest names, like Sid Meier, Brian Reynolds, Jeff Briggs, Soren Johnson, and Tim Train will be at ApolyCon 06. In addition, the owners of Apolyton, Markos Giannopoulos and Daniel Quick will be present. Will you be there too? As an ApolyCon 06 exclusive, Firaxis Games and Big Huge Games will also (pre-)release some completely new content. Attend ApolyCon 06 and be one of the first people to play totally new maps and scenarios! ApolyCon 06 will be held in Timonium, Maryland, USA! near th e city of Baltimore. The exact location is the Holiday Inn Select Baltimore-North, which is near the headquarters of both Firaxis Games and Big Huge Games. When visiting ApolyCon 06, you can also stay at this hotel for a special convention rate! The fee for attending ApolyCon 06 is US$ 175 and includes a reception on Friday, entrance to the convention on Saturday, snacks and beverages during the two intervals on Saturday and a three entree buffet banquet dinner on Saturday evening. Additional details on the event and registration information can be found on the ApolyCon 06 website: convention.apolyton.netCome to ApolyCon and meet the experts!
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Post by WarningU2 on Jun 4, 2006 5:46:55 GMT -5
Congratulations Levi.
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Post by WarningU2 on Jun 2, 2006 22:05:52 GMT -5
Well isn't that nice. Although I question why I do this (being an admin) sometimes, I keep on doing it because I care about the game, the ladder members and how my role may help others to have a better game because of the ladder. It has been a pleasure being a part of this community for several years now and thank you for these well wishes ... it has made it worthwhile again. Thank you folks. And I am 6.714 in dog years.
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Post by WarningU2 on Jul 23, 2006 22:00:22 GMT -5
Thank you all for your kind words. I have removed myself as a global moderator on this forum. I will check my email periodically for new ladder pics and will maintain that small function.
... Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!
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Post by WarningU2 on Jun 25, 2006 15:15:02 GMT -5
Zerza its not blinking or in a different color, but Forums is already on the main page ... left frame 3rd item down.
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Post by WarningU2 on May 16, 2006 23:17:35 GMT -5
Hmmm I've been absent from the debates and CIV4 for some time. It's time to comment. Some background on me ... so you know from whence I come and why I feel I can comment.
1) My current job is working for a large financial institution in the QA area. I am responsible for ensuring a test environment is operational and performance/volume tests are being conducted and achieving their objectives.
2) My prior job (a short time ago) was working in QA and performing system, integration testing and pre production acceptance testing. I am intimately familiar with testing models, tools and processes. I also worked in the field testing software with customers. That is the real "real" test.
Ok I'll come back to this later.
What went right with CIV4 testing ?
Believe it or not the amount of effort extended during the beta phase for this game, which I played only a minor role, if any,was amazing. I realize you are not happy Zerza but the people you ceaselessly attack are not the enemies. CS, Friedrich, Nolan and many others worked around the clock to try to make CIV4 the best MP game ever. They had open communication with the developers that I think was very unusual and refreshing, and had real impact on how the game was developed. Although there are connection issues now which are unacceptable you would have seen much worse had it not been for the beta testers.
I am honestly not sure if there were any paid beta testers in Firaxis. I thought that odd myself and pretty damn amazing given the skill and dedication that the unpaid volunteers put into trying to better the game. We owe everyone a debt of thanks.
What went wrong ?
Very soon when playing the game during the beta I realized that the majority of people's computers would have issues playing the game, because of the reliance on high end graphics, higher memory requirements, and new peer to peer networking I realized that many people's PCs who play CIV3 would not be able to play CIV4.
This upgrade requirement is not only in games but everywhere due to new web enablement initiatives and software requirements to take advantage of the latest JAVA this or that. . You use the latest and greatest ... then the system requirements become more stringent and difficult to demanding. Hence any one person who has a computer without being properly configured would, or under configured would cause a glitch.
Here in lies the problem from my cheap seat. How do you know when there is a problem with the game and not the end user's configuration ? You can't unless there is the cooperation from all persons playing to document the issues. You want to make the game better ? Start a thread if there isn't one already and list each time there is a problem. Save the logs. Save the dumps. List your configuration. Communicate with CS and Friedrich, me and countless others who play this game that worked in the beta. They will take this to the developers. With your help it will get better. Without it ... well game over.
Now back to the field test comment above. I think what you are seeing is that the real test ... when it goes to the field out in public and the average Joe gets hold of the software. That is the test ... despite all the hours spent by the beta testers. Thats always the case. Hopefully prior efforts minimize the problems encountered but in this case, because its networking... and MP play relies on intercommunication ... it's worse.
To further complicate things ... because of doubts about people's PC's, and new initiatives for the game developers for expansion packs and a change in ownership or rather financing ... they (the developers) have to take a stance where they limit their fix work to where the game is playable by the majority. This unfortunately means that because of the minority (the odd player) and the nature of the game with it's reliance on high speed interconnectivity between peers ... we all become victim of the person with the bad connection or PC ... the lowest common denominator. You can only walk as fast as the slowest person in the line.
The challenge for us players and I no longer count myself as one as I have not played a MP game in weeks ... is to work through this difficult time and more importantly to work together to try to improve it.
Will it get better ... I sure as heck hope so but it won't currently with the attitude from some of you.
** please note the comments above are my own supposition - I have no knowledge of the workings of Firaxis or Take 2 ***
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Post by WarningU2 on Jul 20, 2006 8:35:22 GMT -5
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Post by WarningU2 on Jan 28, 2006 23:02:27 GMT -5
It isn't Firaxis ... its GameSpy that is making this the issue.
This should come as no surprise to anyone if you read the terms of service and license agreement for GameSpy. It was just a question of time before GameSpy detected the source of illegal access to their servers.
I would hazard a guess that C4F authors will be defending their position in court in the near future and anyone who is using the illegal access will be marked and prohibited from connecting to GameSpy servers.
It's my understanding, that there is some sort of dispute between GS and Sid so that's why there isn't a separate chat room in GS Arcade.
There is already another chat room set up for CIV4 using IRC that DTA created.
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Post by WarningU2 on Jan 22, 2006 16:09:08 GMT -5
Even if people are quitting and rejoining I am making the reports follow them. If the person is not on the ladder I am adjusting the number of wins on the persons record.
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Post by WarningU2 on Jan 22, 2006 8:18:10 GMT -5
We need more people to vote on this ... only a small percentage of the 1500 ladder members participate on the forums ... try and get more people in here to participate so it becomes more of a community. There is an awful lot of good info in the strategy forum that should be a draw.
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Post by WarningU2 on Jan 22, 2006 0:52:16 GMT -5
Thank you SPM for posting this poll. Suffice to say you know which way I voted. Just as an example of what is happening that may not be apparent to all . - I am getting about 15- 30 non reports a day. At one point over 3 days I actually had over 150.
- About 10% of these are disputed at any one time.
- Many non reports are filed almost immediately after the game. That's wrong.
- The majority of people filing non reports are the same people.
- Many non reporters don't report because they suspect others of cheating, or they think they have to only report to the overall winner of the game.
- Many non reporters continue to play games while in the box.
- There are some people who have 10 or more multiple accounts.
- Some are now in the habit of playing when not even activated. They can't report and you can't report to them. New to me was that you cannot detect this as a ladder player - they show as unranked.
- A very few are playing a game not reporting and withdrawing and renewing.
So tonight I have decided to get very severe in penalties regardless of what decision is made about going private or public 1) first non report - a warning a penalty on your record. Everyone makes a mistake 2) second non report - 7 days in the box and a bomb on your name. (used to be 3) 3) third non report - you get 90 days in the box or you're out and banned at the discretion of the admin. It used to be I'd give you 6 non reports with escalating penalties up to 31 days but if players are going to continue playing while penalized then there is no point to that. A player can always contact the admins and have their record wiped clean by being on probation for 90 days. They need to explain why they didn't report. I am for players that withdraw and renew causing the non reports to be assigned to the new account. Non reporting follows you. I am also getting very severe on multiple accounts. I would give some benefit of doubt but if I see a withdrawing, renewing, non report advoidance trend, I'm just banning them all. For players playing when their account is not activated, I was sending them an activation code and reporting for them without penalty but that stops after one person ignored the email (I know they received it) and carried on playing. I have now started to report on their behalf and remove and ban those users (oddly enough they are typically the multiple account holders) I have also started rejecting non reports that are filed the same day as the match. Sorry you MUST wait 24 hrs before you file. End of story. That gives someone to report or contest a match 4 days before non report penalties commence. If anyone here things its too severe ... let me know. I have not had it sanctioned by the other admins yet but I know they were calling for more severe penalties. I just made an executive decision tonight because of some individuals that are taxing my patience and at this point I consider this crisis mode. I would like to suggest that at this point some responsibility falls on the ladder players here too. Do not play games with non reporters. If you see the bomb on a player when you validate them, you've got a problem. Ask them what is going on. If you don't like the answer ... Do continue to play games with unranked players ... you will get the report regardless of their activation status. Everyone has to start somewhere. Do keep a mental list of players to play and avoid. We as admins do not publically black list anyone however personally the few games I play (and they are few now) I know who to avoid. Don't play a game with someone that you know doesn't report. It happens over and over with the same people and I have to question WHAT ARE THEY THINKING
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Post by WarningU2 on Jan 22, 2006 1:11:00 GMT -5
A definite NO. All ladder players should play with a noob once a day. Its sort of like watching a cat play with a mouse before it swallows it
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