Core Ideas

This article originally appeared on The Next Generation blog at Simtropolis.com

I want to continue on this idea of ownership, but this time in relation to the game itself. Who owns the game?

Or, the Fatal Flaw With the "Support Monte Cristo" Argument

This article originally appeared on The Next Generation blog at Simtropolis.com

Let me state right off that I don't mean for this post to be inflammatory, or to imply in any way that I am "against" Monte Cristo or Cities XL. I honestly hope that their game will be successful and that many people enjoy it. While I'm not particularly interested in it personally I wish them well, more city-building games on the market can only be a good thing as far as I'm concerned.

What I do want to address is something I've heard a lot on the forums here; the reasoning that goes something like this:

"No one else is making a game right now... we need to support Monte Cristo so they will be able to improve the game in the future!"

There are several problems with this argument that I want to discuss, but first let me talk a little bit about the nature of business.

This article originally appeared on The Next Generation blog at Simtropolis.com. If you're not familiar with Sim City 4, Cities XL, or the city sim genre of game, you can read some background for this article here.

It's beginning to look like Cities XL is going to be a major disappointment for all of us who were waiting for the next Sim City 4; I know a lot of you are still optimistic, but my personal opinion is that, succeed or fail, Cities XL will not be what we all hoped and believed it would be. So now, with our hopes dashed by three commercial releases and EA giving no indication that they will so much as lift a finger to make Sim City 5, where do we go next?