[Freeciv] Freeciv goals

[Tobias Brox <tobiasb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> I'm not disagreeing, however one of the stated goals of FreeCiv is to
> have a Civ2 compatible mode. I'm not saying I don't want CTP features,
> I'm not even saying we shouldn't have a CTP compatible mode. I am saying
> we shouldn't give up on the Civ2 mode.

Personally I dislike the Civ2 compatibility goal, but since it's that
important to somebody, I'm absolutely in favor of splitting it up into a
Civ2 mode and a Freeciv mode.

I dislike the idea about "civ2 compatibility" because it's cloning of an
(even quite old) concept rather than trying to create something new and
innovative, and because it's setting limits on our creativity.

The good thing about a goal like this is that it makes negotiation easier.
I think it's hard to find a common consensus about what a game should be
like, especially in such a large group.  It's important to have a
consistent and balanced game with good gameplay, I think it's difficult to
achieve when everybody have their own opinions about what thing should be
like.  I've heard about other open source game efforts which was shut down
before a single line of code was written because each person at the
mailing list had their very own idea about how the game should be, and
because most of the ideas was too complex.

Anyway, FreeCiv is a working game today - and that's when the Open Source
is strongest.  It should be a lot easier to accept, test and discuss
patches and discuss whether they contribute to better gameplay and reality
or not than to do the same with loose design documents.

-- 
Tobias Brox (alias TobiX) - +4722925871 - _urgent_ emails to
sms@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.  Check our upcoming MMORPG at 
http://www.anarchy-online.com/ (Qt) and play multiplayer Spades, 
Backgammon, Poker etc for free at http://www.funcom.com/ (Java)