Kind of like the puppy and the old hound. Owner used to visit and play with the hound everyday. Then along came the new puppy hogging all the attention. In the meantime the poor old hound just had to sit back and wait for his leaking doghouse to be fixed.

Snark I solute you.

Guys, Pat is giving the Metaverse issue as much time as he can spare. The metaverse is an old and finicky beast of code and I don't think there's really anyone else familiar enough with its innards to try fixing it. I understand it's a bit frustrating and sympathize, but you *can* still play the game even if you don't get scored for it (we do play the game for the "fun" part, right?).

It's no secret that everyone is spending the bulk of their time working on Demigod. It's not out of any desire to abandon GC2 (we are still planning another patch at some point, as you know). But there are a lot of people who just bought Demigod and cannot play the primary part of the game (multiplayer) reliably, or in some cases, at all.

I know you guys probably won't like to hear it, but not being able to play rates a fair bit higher than not being able to record game stats, so it's only logical that that's where the bulk of our efforts are going to be until that's dealt with (and we *hope* to get it squashed no later than early next week).

All I can ask for is your patience. I'm not going to lie to you and say it's going to be fixed instantly; we're doing what we can with what we've got.

Thanks Kyro any news is better than no news but in the meantime it might behove Brad to think about giving us a modicum of his time.  We are also the customers who will BUY a new game based on how the older games performed over time. Taken into consideration that many of us are going into withdrawl by not getting into metaverse is one thing, not being worth the Boss's time is another altogether and will hurt the bottom line way more in the long run. Still think GC2 is the best game out there bar none and will continue to support Stardock and by implication Impulse because of this ONE game. Take the time that is needed to fix the metaverse for the long term but please let Brad know we are still paying customers...for future games and expansions.

Going by the majority of responses in this thread and others i have seen elsewhere, we do seem to need Brad's input on this.

I do not, i fully understand SD's position and have believed for some time that GC2 is no longer the priority it once was. Kryo's comments cement what i have already been saying, they will get to fixing it, eventually.

That being said, i also understand many of my friends thoughts and feelings on this and can see where they are coming from. Having Brad be part of the scene here for so long and then to see what looks like an abandonment can be frustrating.

Many GC2er's feel that they helped get the ball rolling with SD and their Gaming dept and as such feel snubbed somewhat by the new kids on the block.

I understand that and can't say i don't feel the same. But it comes down to money and where it is going to be made.

But one cannot argue that the continued support of the many GC2 users out there is not worth 10 Mins of Brad's time.

There are going to be those, such as yourself Strato and me, that are fine with how this is playing out.

Others want..need to be able to hear the situation from the boss and be able to air their frustrations to him as well.

Can't hurt.

As I said earlier I share as much frustration as anyone about the MV being down.

Showing support for the metaverse is good. But doing so by denigrating SD is counter productive at best.

Friday 24th, 9 days later, MV still down...  aaagh!

Someone mentioned Civ4 - is that a good alternative until this gets fixed?

Cheers

CL, I appreciate your frustration but I have a slightly different view and am not worried that the MV is being abandoned for good. (As mentioned, the GC1 MV is still around!)

First, games are not Stardock's "bread and butter," at least not yet. Other work earns them more money, as far as I know. Second, the problem is not with lost backups it is a matter of infrastructure overload. Demigod is MP-only, and is in a critical launch phase, so it is reasonable that they focus work their first. I suspect it is also possible that getting Demigod squared away will be the better part of fixing the MV, so even if we're not getting the kind of direct-from-Brad updates that the Demigod folks are getting, we're probably "getting some help" even as we type.

Perhaps more importantly, maybe now's the time for MV lovers to try some real free play--check out a mod, build and playtest a (hopefully very silly) custom civ to carry the Twilight Pub's flag, or find a friend who does textures and build a fleet of tartan-hulled ships. The MV added some fun to the game for me, but it is by no means all there is to enjoying GC2. As far as I know, the Demigod folks *really* can't play without the network infrastructure.

p.s. If I didn't know how good Scots are at grumbling, I'd say that your rant is a clear sign you really do belong with us boring old Gerontocrats

Edit: Oh well, guess the MV is a bit ill all in its own right after all.

Ach, ye may well be right, GW. We're known for grumbling, being tight with our money, and being strong engineers. The latter being my primary source of frustration right now. Kryo is saying that the MV only works on one server...and although back-ups of the hard drive weren't mentioned, they're either not done or won't fix the problem. That's an all your eggs in one very fragile basket situation and the gods always come along and smack you around for that type of thing. Computers fail, hard drives fail, viruses abound, buildings burn down....it doesn't take Demigod to knock out the MV with this type of situation, nearly anything can. And it will, sure as Scots pinch their pennies. SD needs a redundancy plan and a disaster recovery plan; I hope they learn that from this situation. I'm really not trying to be a PITA (pain in the ass) but these answers are not satisfactory in the environment I come from. If SD were a bank, a hospital, an insurance company....the feds would have shut them down a long time ago.  What I keep hearing is exactly how vulnerable the MV is and no one seems to think there's anything wrong with that. The situation is what it is, but c'mon, this is a critical failure in an engineering/syetems/software environment....the Scots in me is finding it hard to let this go.  I'm not trying to rant, and I hope I don't sound like I am, but I'm very shocked and aghast and what I'm actually hearing: the MV is completely dependent on one creaky server, a recalcitrant software snarl, and a single person named Pat. I'm not sure why it's only me that has his eyes bug out when he hears that. Maybe it's my Scots side, we're kind of genetically hardwired to fix things like this. I'll just shut up now.

Tartan colored ships, though,,,,now there's an idea!

I mean it's one thing to intellectually know that this is being addressed but it's just as important for folks to get a little reassurance now and then. Any info like this that you can spare would be both extremely helpful and very much appreciated.

In GC2, you're still playing against the AI whether you're in the normal sandbox or in the meta. The scoring is a meta-game addition, and does not affect the gameplay itself in any substantive way aside from the prohibition on mods.

With Demigod, the AI is a significantly different game than multiplayer, where you can actually work together and play against other users in real time. Multiplayer is the main focus of the game, and if it's not working then that's a very big issue.

Play some Peggle Neilo...you'll be alright. 

DAMN THAT GAME!!!!