PBEM4 - Email and Technical Issues

[Malakai]

Ok as no one has replied to this message and its STILL stuck on strike, have emailed him myself, as we have not yet met in game I can assure you it was only about playing his turn and did not include anything about the game itself.

Hope thats ok

[Malakai]

Ok so strike still has not played his turn and has not replied to my email either, Seifer tells me he PM'd him on the forum too, so I can only guess that for whatever reason he is physically incapable of going online at the moment.

So yeah greens game is somewhat held up.

[Malakai]

Start of rant....

If we count the day I got turn 1, as Day 1, we are now on Day 106

And if my memory serves me correctly we have not yet played turn 52.
This means we are averaging LESS than 1 turn every 2 days over the entire duration of the game.

Yet even at this stage in the game a turn only takes about 10 minutes maximum, in addition to any time the individual wants to spend uploading screen shots and working on their forum thread. At the start is was would have been even less than that, perhaps just a matter of seconds.

I personally do not feel that this is acceptable.

I know i am pretty much the only person posting comments of this nature on this thread, barring Kyans outburst around the time we were kicked out of the world cup (which we can all agree was acceptable under the circumstances).

Perhaps some lurkers could perhaps comment and give suggestions on what we as players should do about this.

I am not by any stretch of the imagination an experienced CIV player, but I have played single player games that have gone well into turn 150 or beyond, and so at this rate its entirely possible that it will take an entire year to play this game.

And thats not taking into account the fact that turns will only take longer to play as time goes on and peoples empires expand and more conflict happens between players.

So if perhaps people cannot afford to play regularly or if their circumstances have changed perhaps they can get someone to join them as a team mate to ensure that extended breaks on one player do not happen.

It is extremely hard to keep any enthusiasm or passion for the game when we have such long and unexpected breaks of play right in the middle of important displomacy or movements.

Sometimes we get a turn a day, in fact once we even got two in a day, I almost had a heart attack it was that good...and then like now we sometimes get a break of a week with no real notice or explanation.

This is another reason why there is little activity on my forum thread, as I quickly lose enthusiasm for the game due to the breaks and interuptions and if we were to be able to gaurentee regular turns on a daily basis then I would feel much more inclined to put regular updates and screenshots on my thread.

Rant over.

[Twinkletoes89]

As a lurker and serial PBEM player, I see what you are saying Malakai and I agree with you.

I think the problem is the proliferation of the pbem games. PBEM 3 begat PBEM4a and b and PBEM 6 begat PBEM 7, 8, 9 and 10! As one is proposed there isn't enough slots to fill dedicated demand and another game is proposed which then needs others to fill the vacant slots.

I can guarantee you now that this is not the first or the last time this will happen as there are way too many single player teams. There is nothing wrong with single player teams if you know you can guarantee the time to play it. Some people I think forgot this and signed up so they wouldn't 'miss out' despite their time restrictions.

I have a lot of free time on my hands (gap year), so that is why I can commit to many games - but I know that university is coming up in October and so I secured team-mates and dedicated lurkers for my latest two games so if my time is restricted - I can make sure the game doesn't stall for everyone.

Its always a shame when things like this happen - especially when they are unexpected and noone is notified. Personally, I would advise that (at least in future), every player should get one dedicated lurker/teammate to try and minimise the effects of this problem

[Strike700]

Sorry guys, my laptop and phone were stolen last week while i was traveling. Finally made it back home to my backup computer, so the turn will be sent on shortly. Sorry for the inconvenience.

And Malakai I'm totally with ya buddy, even though it was my fault this time.

--Strike700

[Adlain]

Ouch - i hope you had some kind of insurance!!!

[Malakai]

Sorry to hear about that Strike, I echoe the comments about insurance, I hope you are able to get them replaced.

And I hope you do not think I was picking on you, this has been a constant thing throughout our game and you are generally one of the faster players.

But it does become frustrating as I am sure you will agree.

Hopefully now the game will pick up again, I have to say that before this game I had not been able to really get into CIV and I am enjoying this one more than I expected which is why I am so eager to play my turns.

[Malakai]

Currently looking for an unspoilt lurker who might be interested in being a dedicated lurker for me with a view to possibly taking turns for me if I am ever unable to play.

At the moment I think its very unlikely to happen as worst comes to the worst I can download civ on a friends computer and I have about 5 PC's or Laptops in my house, but i want to practice what i preach about people covering themselves for the worst case scenarios lol...any suggestions of where else i might want to advertise for this?

[Cyneheard]

While I've got ASM to cover for me in PBEM10, we've had technical difficulties with this mod and his computer before, so I think if the turn gets to me Saturday or Sunday, it's going to have to wait until late Sunday when I get back.

[Whosit]

Oh, man, that sucks Strike! I hope you didn't have any sensitive information on either of those! Good luck!

Anyway, I'm just crawling out of the ductwork to say that, if everything goes according to plan, I should be up and running again by tomorrow evening. If not according to plan, then Monday. I should be able to play my turns regularly once again.