This is an interesting idea. It fits in with some of the things that the Metaverse Council is trying to accomplish with the AltMeta. Certainly don't let me dissuade you, but it's doubtful that Stardock would be willing to dedicate resources to get something like this accomplished, at least at the moment. It's also something that I think we would like to sponsor in the AltMeta, however at the moment we're working on the implemtation of a bracket system for the AltMeta. I don't think this is something that the Metaverse Council is quite ready to take on.

I like the idea myself. It would probably have to be more along the lines of your first example of course. Maybe have set 'rules' where those games have to have specific settings in order to 'count'. I myself have yet to play a single game using anything other than a custom race and to be honest, I haven't wanted to try using a different major... I like the ones I create, even if they don't always stack up to the in game civs. How about allow a competition of a sorts using custom races only ( I know it deviates from your topic, sorry) as that could turn out to be even more interesting to see what the players come up with and then how they compare.

This is going to be an awfully long post.


The Metaverse Council (MVC) is a group of players that were appointed by their empires to represent them in metaverse related issues. There were a number of very long discussions about this here in the December/January timeframe. The goal of the MVC is to increase interest and participation in the metaverse. Clearly if you haven't heard of us then we really haven't done a very good job.

Another goal of the MVC is to represent all metaverse players and not just members of the 'founding' empires. These empires consist of The Galactic Diplomats, the High Command Hegemony, the B.C. Space Orca's and the Arrakis Imperium. We started the MVC in this manner simply so we could realistically get the MVC off the ground and running. The intent was to eventually move to a more democratically elected council. As an aside we're probably going to be looking to 'elect' another representative (or two) to the MVC within the next few weeks via a 'democratic election' held here on the GalCiv2 forums.

The current members of the MVC are myself and DethAdder representing the Diplomats, Syrrus K representing the Orca's, TheGreatEmperor representing the Arrakis Imperium and Quixen and MarshallONeil representing the High Command Hegemony. We have also elected a number of 'at large' representatives who are, MBM1215, GW Swicord, Macmatt and AlexAtticus. Also Kryo is an honorary lifetime member.

We recently lost two representatives who were Thagee (to the Lord of the Rings Online Beta) and Vukasika (to his PhD thesis). It's these recent loses that we will be looking to replace by democratic election.


No. The bracket system will divide games into classes based on galaxy size (Universal = Gigantic and Huge, Galactic = Large and Medium, and, Solar = Small and Tiny). There will also be a distinction made based on whether it's a military conquest victory (Military class) or any other victory type (Civil class). This results in six brackets consisting of:

Universal Military Class
Galactic Military Class
Solar Military Class
Universal Civil Class
Galactic Civil Class
Solar Civil Class

These are basically divided by how many points these types of games score. The idea is that people should be able to compete against those that play similar scoring games and that people shouldn't be forced to play gigantic military victories just to be able to compete. The intent is to have the top ten lists of each of the six brackets displayed with equal prominence as well as be able to click on more… to get complete rankings in each bracket. By the way, we'll be looking at 'unveiling' a rough (very rough) preliminary Beta of the AltMeta Brackets for folks to play with and comment on very shortly.


You're into an area that I don't fully understand but the AltMeta uses the RSS feeds (I think that's it). Kryo is the Architect of the AltMeta and is the only HTML coder that we 'have'.

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The major point of what we're trying to do is to work on things that are realistically achievable. That's why we're concentrating on the AltMeta as the vehicle because is something that we can do ourselves (or at least Kryo can) without requiring any resources from Stardock. There are a lot of things that we wish to take up. A game of the month and/or tournaments (as you're essentially proposing) is certainly something that’s been discussed. Also Metaverse Scenarios as proposed by Wheeloffire and the ability to post games that incorporate graphical Mods to the AltMeta as proposed by Macmatt are things we wish to include. The AltMeta Bracket system is pretty much taking up all our time at the moment as well as considering how we’ll move to a more democratically representative selection process.

The Galactic Core, is the home on the MVC and we have opens forums for all to read and participate in our discussions. The Galactic Core also hosts private forums for The Galactic Diplomats, the High Command Hegemony, The Colonial Fleet, The Empire of Standards, The Arrakis Imperium and the Hitchhiker’s of the Galaxy empires. The Galactic Core offers private forums to any and all empires and is a place that should be the second home (after these forums) of anyone interested in GalCiv2 in general and specifically the Metaverse. Anyone can read anything in any public forums, however registration (only requires you to give an email address) is required to post. I encourage any and all to stop by and check out the Core and the MVC.

I want to reiterate the offer to host *free* private forums for any and all empires out there. I guess we would require that the empire have at least two members (not much point in having a private forum for one member is there) but other than that there's no requirement.

Stop by The Galactic Core today.

Hi. As a member of the Council, I really do not want it to descend into bureaucracy and will try to stop that happening.

As to the providing of ideas, if you or anyone else have any then please do not hesitate to provide them. The MVC was established with the idea of representing metaverse players and helping improving their experience, primarily through the AltMeta. That is why soon we will be trialling open elections of Councillors by members of this forum and the Core.

On another note, I have been in discussions with Cari to have the game create an XML every time you finish a game with all the endgame stats. This will hopefully in the future be used to create a mod metaverse (one of the Council's long-term aims), although it could also be used for scenarios, custom maps and challenges like Korath vs Krynn.

Well whether we do the Tournament through some database that records wins and losses (WHICH MIND YOU WOULD BE AN AWESOME THING TO CREATE BECAUSE IT WOULD ALLOW MORE TOURNAMENTS IN THE FUTURE) or through a gentlemens word that he won't post false information. You can count me in on a Krynn vs. Korath tournament.

as far as Stormbringers idea


I like the Major Races and my custom races so I would definitly join some seperate tournaments with you, but I don't see any significant way to record a database of tournament information. If you do figure one out though, that would be rad.    

Actually there is a stickied thread in the metaverse section of the forums Metaverse Council Suggestion Box The MVC is all about trying to find out what players want from the Meta and doing what's within our power to reasonably implement. We can't do any of this without the support and suggestions from the players. So feel free to stop by the suggestion box or click the banner below to go to our forum at The Core.

Thanks for the tip. I will check it out.

Ah, well sorry I misunderstood your first post Mumble. Again, my mistake. I apologize to the council for any problem.

And I don't want to take Kryo's time away from "official" business.

I've looked through the high scores, and Stardock already sorts things by both date and race (if you choose) which means the functionality is there. It may not be appropriate for me to get a copy, but I think I could do everything myself if I just had the information to access the meta data from Stardock's servers myself. I used to work in IT, and do work in IP legal work now, so I understand that is dangerous information to pass around, and I understand if Stardock and/or Kryo don't want a random player to have it.

If it is not a big deal... I don't plan on diluting any of their trademarks or copyrights, on the contrary I want to enhance them, my point is I think I can implement my idea on my own if I just get the base code Kryo uses to access the meta data. I have a web development and programming background... the biggest issue is how long it will take me once (if) I get the information I need.

Anyway, I guess officially I want to ask for tournaments. Although that already seems to be on your list. I'll ask Kryo what he thinks about the code when he's back around.

Take care.

Yes! This is a great idea.

Wyndstar, over in our HCH forum we have our own little council to assist Quixen and MarshallONeil in bringing ideas and suggestions to the MVC. I really think you would be invaluable in this endeavour, it would be ideal to have your insight and ideas brought to the fore, of course if you are interested that is.

It is still in it's infancy but really worth checking out.

Certainly, Kryo would be the one to answer these questions, however I'm sure that he would be the first one to stress that the AltMeta is a personal project of his and is in no way authorized by Stardock. I would also suggest that if you're volunteering to provide software development effort, that the best use of this effort would be to work with (or for) Kryo and to help us finish the AltMeta Brackets and then we can move on to these many other good ideas (such as tournaments) that we have.

I don't know if this is a reasonable thing to do. Sometimes too many cooks just spoil the broth but if Kryo can use the help then the MVC would be all for this kind of arraignment. Clearly, Kryo is the sole person to make this decision and his decision would be final.

Kryo mentioned that Brad told him to take 4 days off, but knowing Kryo he probably won't be gone that long. In fact if I'm not mistaken he's on the forums at this very moment.

[edit] Well he was online when I started typing my response but he was off by the time I finished. Anyway, I doubt he can stay away all that long. [/edit]

We appreciate your work in the community for this, Kyro.

It's a shame we cant do it this way, though I think the current way is a bearable alternative.