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Complaint: Silliness

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Complaint: Silliness

from GalCiv2 Forums
Hi Guys:

I've recently bought and started playing GC2. I really do enjoy it. This is a great game. Yet something irks me: the burdensome amount of silliness in the game.

Between the nerdy in-jokes and references, I feel like GC2 is trying to be more of a farce of itself than an actual true 4X. While I've got a fine sense of humor, for some reason I'm finding it hard to enjoy a game that doesn't seem to take itself at all seriously. And the worst part is the humor itself seems aimed at 14-year-olds. Case in point, the tech description for "miniaturization" -- "in this case, smaller is better" or something like that. Cute... for the eighth grade.

If I could request a MOD, it'd be a "maturity MOD", that treats the player like he/she wants to be immersed in the game's universe, rather than sit and read a series of one-liners. After playing for a half hour, I just zoom through any text/robot advisors/tech descriptions because I half expect them to be childish nonsense or sci-fi geek jokes. It just seems... immature.

And I don't think I'm being (overly) stuffy. Some of the best Sci-Fi/4X games took themselves deadly seriously, like Imperium Galactica 2 or the Descent: Freespace series. Am I totally off-base here, or does anyone else have the same complaint? I am armoring myself for the "remove-stick-from-backside" flame responses. Hell, maybe I deserve them. Thoughts?
35,079 views 109 replies
Reply #51 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Technology and sci-fi have imagination in common. So the same source that brings us new gadgets and machines is also the one that brings us sci-fi. The difference is that it's a little more involved developing a new technology than writing a story. But, they both start at the same place and one can inspire the other.
Reply #52 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
it's a little more involved developing a new technology than writing a story.


as a writer i have to disagree with that. writing a story, a good one anyway, is very involved - but the work isn't in math and mechanics, its in psychology and metaphor. each is rigorous, but in a different way. speaking as someone who started college as an engineer but finished as a writer and social thinker, i can personally attest to that (what made the difference for me was in what respect i was willing to endure the rigor).

the rest of your point is well taken, though, and i agree completely with your observations about imagination.
Elemental: Reforged
Reply #53 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Piece of string aye? nice, that'd work, but then you can't get nearly as many as easily and get a nice feed for brekki in the morning! Well you can but it'd take way longer.. still all good but!


Actually i used to catch many more yabbies that way than any other method! I could catch yabbies even in places where traps would get none!! Because yabbies get used to traps and simply won't go in them unless their really starving. I mean i could fill an 8 litre tub with yabbies in a day using the string method. I would probably have about 10 string lines out and that would be enough to keep me constantly busy.
Reply #54 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I could catch yabbies even in places where traps would get none!! Because yabbies get used to traps and simply won't go in them unless their really starving. I mean i could fill an 8 litre tub with yabbies in a day using the string method. I would probably have about 10 string lines out and that would be enough to keep me constantly busy.


Wow! I think I'm gona have to try it your way if ever I get a chance to go out and do it again Mystik! Get a good old feed for my next party! Wootage!
Reply #55 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
but anyway, i think it is a very potent quote to be considered in todays world. Here in Australia we are suffocating under the sheer volume of laws relating to safety, i'm sure it will soon be compulsory to wear pillows all over your body to protect from injury,,, every time some idiot gets killed, and the family goes on tv and cries and all that shxt and demand somthing be done, the government caves in every time and makes even more new stupid safety laws, i am totally fed up with it all, it is just getting rediculous!


Agreed, it's over the top and ridiculous now. I mean, it's pretty much illegal to make a tier swing or motorized go cart and use it at your own home now, and that's in a non-metropolitan town as well. It's become to 'politically correct' too.. Remember when the Senate stopped Parliamentarians from saying 'G'day mate'? That was a very good showing of just how ridiculous it is. I miss the times when I was little were I could go and play in the snake filled kangaroo infested bush with my neighbor and not have my parents give it a second thought.


And I thought that crap happen in just the USA. Well it is good to know we arn't the only nation suffering from this Political Correctness bullcrap.
Reply #56 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I think my problem is not so much that GalCiv is a self consciously 'funny' game (as has been pointed out humour and sci-fi go together like bacon and maple syrup) but that it is a funny game in an environment oversaturated with funny games. Sometimes knowing winks to the player are cute, but sometimes you want a genuinely immersive experience with the confidence to take itself seriously. Civ 4 suffers from the same problem albeit to a lesser extent. In this context, while Galciv on its own isn't at fault, where are the recent 4x games which eschew silliness?

I would take issue with the earlier posters who think sci-fi and fantasy are 'by definition' silly though. Some of the greatest and most important works of literature, tv and film have been in these genres without poking fun at themselves.


Well I love both games but I do perfer Nimoy's verbal quotes in Civ4 to the descriptions in GalCiv2. But they are both great games. They main problem I have with both games is which one to play when I have time to play a game.

Reply #57 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
And I thought that crap happen in just the USA. Well it is good to know we arn't the only nation suffering from this Political Correctness bullcrap.


This happens in the USA? We just had the I-35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis because of government negligence. All our tax dollars are going to outsourced toll roads and shiny new weapons in Iraq instead of our OWN infrastructure.
Reply #58 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Wow! I think I'm gona have to try it your way if ever I get a chance to go out and do it again Mystik! Get a good old feed for my next party! Wootage!


Good luck! keep the strings fairly far apart,,, and perhaps wear some gloves! lol

And I thought that crap happen in just the USA. Well it is good to know we arn't the only nation suffering from this Political Correctness bullcrap.


Is it political correctness? I thought political correctness was to do whatever minorities tell you to do do or else you must be racist? Anyway I do know you have the march of the safety moron brigade trampling your freedom in the US as well. I do watch the Simsons and saw the safety sign gone mad episode, and such quotes as "think of the children".

This happens in the USA? We just had the I-35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis because of government negligence. All our tax dollars are going to outsourced toll roads and shiny new weapons in Iraq instead of our OWN infrastructure.


Toll roads hehehe we recently had a toll road debarcle here in sydney Australia. The tollway company had it in their contract that if they did not get enough patronage, the state government would agree to close public roads to force people to use the tollway. So of course because the tolway was so expensive, not enough people were using it, so the government did infact begin closing public roads. No one could believe it was happening!! anyway, in the end several high level public servants and members of parliment ended up out of a job.

Reply #59 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The toll road thing is hilarious!

Lest anyone think the US is immune, let me remind everyone of the McDonalds case where they were sued, effectively, for 2.9 million dollars for serving coffee that was "too hot". Sure it was reduced, but if you buy hot coffee, it's your responsibility to not spill it on yourself...Except now, it might be a good idea to spill it!
Reply #60 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The toll road thing is hilarious!


yep, as is the NSW state Labour government that gave birth to it!

Although the road toll thing dousn't affect me personally, i am of the opinion that any government which can concieve of such a thing resulting in the reduction of hard one public infrastructure should be voted out to the last man and never heard of again.

As for the bridge collapse in America, well i am indeed suprised that could happen, given how scared any western gov/beurocracies are these days of getting sued. Usually they way tooo cautious with everything.
Reply #61 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Toll roads hehehe we recently had a toll road debarcle here in sydney Australia. The tollway company had it in their contract that if they did not get enough patronage, the state government would agree to close public roads to force people to use the tollway. So of course because the tolway was so expensive, not enough people were using it, so the government did infact begin closing public roads. No one could believe it was happening!! anyway, in the end several high level public servants and members of parliment ended up out of a job.


That was the single funniest and dumbest thing a Labor Government has ever done! Not even Mark Lathom as leader of the opposition comes close to matching that aye. When that got leaked.. god, there's precious few times in my life that I've laughed as hard as that! Go Johny Howard and the Liberals, West over the East!

*runs after poking the hornets nest*
Reply #62 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
As for the bridge collapse in America, well i am indeed suprised that could happen, given how scared any western gov/beurocracies are these days of getting sued.

I may be wrong, but I have the feeling that a very capitalistic country like the US (compared to the Netherlands, where I'm from) would always sooner invest its money in new, profitable and bigger stuff than maintaining old infrastruce, sewage systems or people (social security).

Government might also be less scares of lawsuits than companies?

For contrast, the Dutch government is well known for making rules about everything, resulting for instance in so many fire-safety rules for buildings that it is impossible for any building to comply with all of them! Of course this leads to the rules not being taken very seriously.
Reply #63 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
And I thought that crap happen in just the USA. Well it is good to know we arn't the only nation suffering from this Political Correctness bullcrap.


This happens in the USA? We just had the I-35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis because of government negligence. All our tax dollars are going to outsourced toll roads and shiny new weapons in Iraq instead of our OWN infrastructure.



Um HELLO!!! This Political Correctness crap happens all the time here in the USA. Our traitorous media spouts this crap out all the time. Oh and don't get me started on your ignorant Iraq commit.
Oh and I assume your blaming the current government (I assume Federal) for all the wrongs in the world. But Have you ever stopped to consider that these problems go back further than 8 years and that there were not addressed by the previous party that was in power before 2000. And that even if the Democratic Party were in charge that the bridges still would collapse. Also isn't it the State that is responsible for maintaining that bridge?
I’ll tell you one thing, I never want our Federal Government (no matter who’s in power) to ever cut down on defense spending. We have the most advance military in the world and I for one would like to keep it that way. What concerns me is the spineless liberal people in this country that would love to just hand our country away. And I’m not a conservative, I’m a moderate.
Reply #64 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Um HELLO!!! This Political Correctness crap happens all the time here in the USA. Our traitorous media spouts this crap out all the time. Oh and don't get me started on your ignorant Iraq commit.
Oh and I assume your blaming the current government (I assume Federal) for all the wrongs in the world. But Have you ever stopped to consider that these problems go back further than 8 years and that there were not addressed by the previous party that was in power before 2000. And that even if the Democratic Party were in charge that the bridges still would collapse. Also isn't it the State that is responsible for maintaining that bridge?
I’ll tell you one thing, I never want our Federal Government (no matter who’s in power) to ever cut down on defense spending. We have the most advance military in the world and I for one would like to keep it that way. What concerns me is the spineless liberal people in this country that would love to just hand our country away. And I’m not a conservative, I’m a moderate.


Hey Bellack, not meaning to rain on your parade mate but do you think you could tone it down a little and voice your opinion in a more friendly manner, rather than what seems to be an attempt at starting a political flame off rivalry in this thread. Just speak your mind civilly mate and people will listen to you and be likely to voice their own opinions back, rather than shooting you down with their own ideas and philosophies as I can see has a strong chance of happening here.

Fate,
Reply #65 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Um HELLO!!! This Political Correctness crap happens all the time here in the USA. Our traitorous media spouts this crap out all the time. Oh and don't get me started on your ignorant Iraq commit.
Oh and I assume your blaming the current government (I assume Federal) for all the wrongs in the world. But Have you ever stopped to consider that these problems go back further than 8 years and that there were not addressed by the previous party that was in power before 2000. And that even if the Democratic Party were in charge that the bridges still would collapse. Also isn't it the State that is responsible for maintaining that bridge?
I’ll tell you one thing, I never want our Federal Government (no matter who’s in power) to ever cut down on defense spending. We have the most advance military in the world and I for one would like to keep it that way. What concerns me is the spineless liberal people in this country that would love to just hand our country away. And I’m not a conservative, I’m a moderate.


Hey Bellack, not meaning to rain on your parade mate but do you think you could tone it down a little and voice your opinion in a more friendly manner, rather than what seems to be an attempt at starting a political flame off rivalry in this thread. Just speak your mind civilly mate and people will listen to you and be likely to voice their own opinions back, rather than shooting you down with their own ideas and philosophies as I can see has a strong chance of happening here.

Fate,


Sorry to sound so harse I wrote that before I had my morning coffee.

Reply #66 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I may be wrong, but I have the feeling that a very capitalistic country like the US (compared to the Netherlands, where I'm from) would always sooner invest its money in new, profitable and bigger stuff than maintaining old infrastruce, sewage systems or people (social security).


it's easy to make abstract generalizations; it's much more difficult to trace concrete lines of cause and effect. i'm certainly not up to it for this particular case. but if i may chime in with my own generalization, in this country (and others i'm sure) there's virtually no separation between government officials and private business. it's not necessarily that there's a blind worship of the new - otherwise we'd have made gasoline engines illegal when cleaner alternatives started appearing ten years ago. while explicit bribery is illegal, the world of private business paves the way into political office and keeps its doors open and lights on for retiring politicians. this goes beyond the close relationship between the Bush family and Haliburton: this is something that occurs at every level of government and with virtually every politician.

if only the country's founders had seen fit to lay down a provision for a separation between market and state, there would at least be a bit more constitutional/legal footing to try and stop processes like this in the U.S.
Reply #67 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Sorry to sound so harse I wrote that before I had my morning coffee.


hahaha always a good reason, no probs mate!
Reply #68 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
We have the most advance military in the world and I for one would like to keep it that way.


Pump tens of billions of dollars into shiny new missiles but let our own bridges collapse. And conservatives like to say they're pro-life. Helloooooooo....


What concerns me is the spineless liberal people in this country that would love to just hand our country away.


I am no fan of morally liberally people, but it's not about handing our country away. It's about GETTING ALONG with other people without bullying them. Promote good will and trade with Arab nations? Oh no...just call them all terrorists and bomb them. Sounds good. And might I point out that it's our "conservative" administration that's taxing us on our existing Interstate toll roads.


And I’m not a conservative, I’m a moderate.


Well...I am. I'm libertarian. That's righter than Reagan. Not that it was ever about partisan politics anyway.
Reply #69 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
it's easy to make abstract generalizations; it's much more difficult to trace concrete lines of cause and effect. i'm certainly not up to it for this particular case. but if i may chime in with my own generalization, in this country (and others i'm sure) there's virtually no separation between government officials and private business. it's not necessarily that there's a blind worship of the new - otherwise we'd have made gasoline engines illegal when cleaner alternatives started appearing ten years ago. while explicit bribery is illegal, the world of private business paves the way into political office and keeps its doors open and lights on for retiring politicians. this goes beyond the close relationship between the Bush family and Haliburton: this is something that occurs at every level of government and with virtually every politician.

Well answered Dystopic, I agree (as far as I'm able to judge politics) with your analysis. And I think many countries political systems have (these) problems. However I do believe that in the Netherlands, the chances are very slim for a bridge to collapse because of neglected maintainance. However, here we would much sooner have a perfectly good bridge closed down for a long time because of some formality about safety guide lines. Nobody gets hurt but it can be very annoying..
Reply #70 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
However I do believe that in the Netherlands, the chances are very slim for a bridge to collapse because of neglected maintainance.


that doesn't surprise me in the least. while i can't say i'm remotely familiar with politics in the Netherlands, i'm somewhat familiar with Sweden, and my sense was that northern Europe in general has much stronger socialistic policies than the U.K. and the U.S. on the opposite extreme.
Reply #71 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The bridge collapse doesn't surprise me. I've watched several educational shows about America's bridges and they're very high maintenance structures. It's actually pretty scary how many are behind the curve in that regard. In the US, it's pretty easy for things to fall through the cracks and for those in charge to keep putting things off until there's a disaster. I could see this as a problem in other countries as well. Unfortunately, the US Federal government does not enforce strict regulation for the maintenance of state or privately owned bridges. They need to, but that's government for you.

Reply #72 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Well ya'll I cant see anyone who plays this game can be a kumbiyah Lord come by here type. This game has taught me.

1. a nice sised military is a good thing.

2. a nice sized up to date military is better.

3. Never make a peace treaty with someone who poisons your planets.

4. Altarans never last long.

5. Never make a peace treaty with someone who likes skin.

6. Never make a peace treaty with a bipedal frog.

7. Use multiple fleets when fighting the Yor. Speed three sucks.

As for the silliest thing it was one time Kona became good and wanted to get cuddly with me.... Learned Dr Pepper and keyboards are as diametrically opposed as Nuns and Larry Flynt (if you dont know Wiki).

Peace is merely the time of build up for one side or the other. Heck look at the Chinese now or heck the Russians now.

Duh
Reply #73 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
This game has taught me


the greatest strength of democracy is that everyone gets a voice. unfortunately, that's also its greatest weakness.
Reply #74 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Personally I think democracy will evolve into something or die. Democracy works up until the masses start voting themselves bread and circuses... withness Athens.

Duh
Reply #75 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
That was the single funniest and dumbest thing a Labor Government has ever done! Not even Mark Lathom as leader of the opposition comes close to matching that aye. When that got leaked.. god, there's precious few times in my life that I've laughed as hard as that!


I'm not sure it was the dumbest at all! I think the dumbest thing any government in Australia did was done by Paul Keating when he sold the Comonwealth bank. All the bad things they warned him would happen, did happen, so now we have all these out of controll bank fees and everything thanks to his stupidity. Oh yea and his Native tital reform was bungled as well leading to the desasterous Marbo court case and all the various repercussions of that which have happened over the years. Yea know one can top Paul keating for stupidity.