Analyzing a Firaxis statement

[Grim Legacy]

Ah the forums are finally accessible again... what joy... to find the same dull bickering upon return.

And as irony would have it, the more interesting discussions are becoming rarer, even in the Strategy and Creation forums.

At least I can rejoice myself by using an appropriate icon:

[Grumbold]

Originally posted by RobC
If I were Firaxis ...I would ask each major forum/website ... to appoint ONE person to submit questions. They could choose questions by voting or something more sophisticated like the 'modding-up' that is done on slashdot when picking the top 10 questions for an interview...I would then ONLY take questions from this one person, maybe three questions once a week, or 5-10 questions once a month or something like that, and do my best to give people some helpful information without making any specific promises or raising expectations any higher than they already are...

They went one better and created "Ask the Civ Team" to which anyone can submit questions. Unfortunately some posters still feel they have a right to be read and answered elsewhere on the basis that one or two Firaxis personnel have occasionally done so in the past.

[Libertarian]

Among my favorites are the many questions answered after the ninth of November last year.

Hey! I think I've just discovered the additive identity!

[gachnar]

Originally posted by Libertarian
Among my favorites are the many questions answered after the ninth of November last year.

Hey! I think I've just discovered the additive identity!

Has it ever occured to you that perhaps you are one of the reasons they dont answer questions?

Everything Firaxis has ever said to you has been used as reasons for you to complain. You have never apologized for your personal attacks against them. You have never apologized for your attacks against Firaxis. You can't even see why you should apologize.

I dont think you are even trying to help. You took other peoples ideas, re-asked them for the twentieth time, then insulted Firaxis for not giving you the personal attention you wanted. Every time you try to apologize, you slip in 2 more insults. You take over any thread in General that mentions the fact the game might be enjoyable, and try to convince people who enjoy the game that they should not.

I can honestly say that you are showing the lowest level of respect I have ever seen.

[Venger]

Originally posted by gachnar
Has it ever occured to you that perhaps you are one of the reasons they dont answer questions?

Oh yeah, it's one guy in one forum that keeps that company from answering questions from customers who paid $50 for their product.

Venger

[Grumbold]

What questions have you posted to them since 9/11/2001? Personally I haven't asked any so I'm not entirely surprised there hasn't been an update.

[CharlesUFarley]

Originally posted by jbrians
What the hell would be the point of telling people what they MIGHT do other than generating higher expectations? Even for features that they are working on RIGHT NOW they may get cut if they turn out to be too hard for one reason or another. If you knew half as much about software development as you claim to, you would know that the feature that.

Because no matter what a game company does or endures, there will always be high and low expecations of the variety. People will either "hate" a product or they will "love" it either way there will always be the element of criticism and disapointment, they cannot avoid this! And let me explain to you about software development since a few members of my family are currently employed with some large Canadian software firms. Nothing is impossible to code, only complicated. How they spend their time is just as important as how the product turns out. In other words Firaxis (in my opinion) not only rushed Civilization III, but they avoided some 'tough' areas during development to avoid burning more time. Hence why the product was rushed and eventually turned out to be a disapointment to the mod community. And the value of keeping the mod-community well informed plays hand in hand with consumer reviews and a posative flow of "word-to-mouth" hidden market advertising. And the hidden market *IS* eventually going to affect the overall company reputation. In short, they are being asked to tell us what they are working on so we can better distribute our thoughts and criticism, and possibly eliminate it. Sounds fair to me.

There is no point in trying to please agitated 13 year-old kids. There are people like you for every game, and you will not be happy for any length of time no matter what they do. In fact, you stated that you WERE satisfied after Dan finally said that they knew late-game tedium was an issue and weren't sure whether or not they would be able to work on it. Yet 2 days later you could no longer stand not having your voice heard.

Now see an analagy like "13-year-old kids" reminds me of the assorted variety of language used by the "fan-boy" element of the community. First, it holds absolutely no substance or truth. And second, by resorting to simple "name-calling" and "slander" because you don't agree with someone reveals that you have more of a problem with it than they do. Not to mention how tasteless it is to defend in in-animate object like a game. You tell these people to stop complaining because it won't gain result, and here you are "complaining about complainers" aren't you in a sense the fool who follows the foolish? As the saying goes, who's more of a fool, the fool himself or the fool who follows. Makes sense to me. And there you stand in neon lighting.

Ultimately your goal is to get as much personal attention as possible from Firaxis employees and feel like you are a part of the game development process because you cannot break into the industry on your own merits.

Yeah that's always been my personal goal, in fact I'm kind of jealous that Lib got to sleep with Sid's wife. That's where my heart has always been, forget the game! [....fling....] You honestly believe that phycological babble about people wanting attention? I'm putting my money on the fact that the game wasn't what they wanted, and they're pissed off as a result. It's only human to act so when disapointed. Here's another saying for you... let the person without sin cast the first stone! So in other words you've never been let-down and acted on it, in your entire life? [....Guilty....]

Charles.

[Libertarian]

I dont think you are even trying to help.

Trying to help what, pray tell?

[CharlesUFarley]

Originally posted by gachnar


Has it ever occured to you that perhaps you are one of the reasons they dont answer questions?

As mentioned earlier it's going to take more than one voice to cause even a ripple in the water when it comes to Firaxis-Customer relations. Be realistic!

Everything Firaxis has ever said to you has been used as reasons for you to complain. You have never apologized for your personal attacks against them. You have never apologized for your attacks against Firaxis. You can't even see why you should apologize.

Apologize? What is this a dorm room? They're a game company you fool. Little bits of data and text has absolutely no effect on them personally, and it never will. And when one person's opinion begins to sway the development process world-wide, then and only then will an apology or formality be required. Geez.

I dont think you are even trying to help. You took other peoples ideas, re-asked them for the twentieth time, then insulted Firaxis for not giving you the personal attention you wanted. Every time you try to apologize, you slip in 2 more insults. You take over any thread in General that mentions the fact the game might be enjoyable, and try to convince people who enjoy the game that they should not.

I can honestly say that you are showing the lowest level of respect I have ever seen.

Another line of crap.

Forum Terrorist: New orders, instead of complaining about the product, we have a new objective; argue with everyone until everyone world-wide burns their copy of Civ3 and the stores that carry them! Oh and take no hostages, not a single posative posting can be made in the forums! Get on it people!



Charles.

[Libertarian]

Charles, Venger, et al: Don't forget meeting of secret clique tonight at eighteen hundred.

[Heliodorus]

Jbrains or some such, by extension of statement, inferred that I'm a 13-year old kid suffering from some sort of psychological or intellectual agitation... Just to correct the official record, I'm 33.

All of this discussion about Firaxis' PR is interesting, but to me is circumnavigating the point, which is that this culture instills in its citizens the idea that stating negative information is detrimental to the speaker. It's not JUST Firaxis engaged in this, it's virtually everyone, and the most egregious practicioners are politicians, followed only narrowly by corporate entities.

Examples:
Issue: Firaxis promised things during the design and programming stage of Civ3 that they did not deliver with release.

Analysis: Firaxis certainly knew that MP and a few other major and minor items were not going to be able to be included in Civ3 before release (say, at least 3-6 weeks for the CD burn/market delivery cycle). They had the option to announce during that time that MP and those features were NOT present in the released version, but they CHOSE not to. This is a lie of omission. They let stand a false perception because to dispel it COULD mean that sales of Civ3 would suffer.

Philosophical point 1: This is dishonest. This is in my moral universe the equivalent of lying. It is tantamount to SAYING they would include MP for the game (or whatever feature you wanted) with NO intention of ever implementing it. But then, in my moral universe I think telling kids that santa claus is real is morally objectionable...

Philosophical point 2: There's nothing you can do about it EXCEPT call them on it, and most importantly learn from it by NOT ACCEPTING it, and using caution in believing anything anyone ever tells you about something they profit from. Caveat Emptor is over 2,000 years friggin old!

Now, in our current post-release conundrum, we debate whether or not Firaxis is obligated somehow to provide us with details about its future plans for the game we now own. Given my libertarian leanings (pardon me, Lib), I think Firaxis is free to do anything it wishes about sharing with us its future plans, whether that be to fart in our general direction and laugh at we silly-consumer types, or to show us the code and solicit ideas from us on how to implement new ideas...

That being said, the modern culture has created a very impressive array of tools with which to communicate a wide variety of misleading information. In very fact, the use of the terms "spin," "public relations," and "damage control" belies the cultural acceptance of lying and concealing real information (I would say truth, but who among us wants to debate that concept on this forum other than me).

Jack Nicholson's character said in A Few Good Men, "you can't handle the truth" but that's not what he meant: What he meant was that he couldn't handle the way we would handle the truth...

So to expect Firaxis to reveal their actual thinking and methodology (and specifically, the shortcomings therein) is naive, in my opinion. The corporate culture simply can't accept putting itself in a vulnerable position. They cannot stop themselves - it's a sad pathology - made worse by the fact that we accept and encourage it institutionally.

Speaking of Libertarian himself and his curious sojourning for information - my apathy betrays me. I admire his persistence greatly. Still, I find myself resisting the urge to tell him to move on, for this is among "the little things" about which I wish we wouldn't get so upset. But then, maybe he isn't upset so much as he is principled, and I am projecting my repressed disappointment onto him because I am reluctant to admit it....

To belittle him for his efforts is evidence of arrogance and envy, and I pity you who feel it necessary to pen polemics aimed at him personally.

Sometimes, while I'm reading and writing these posts from my little cubicle at work, I think that my powers of perception and expression are completely wasted in this job...

[Libertarian]

Splendid expository, Helio. Very meaty. As for me, I expect to take a sabbatical from the boards when our copy of Exile arrives. (Not kidding... we're that hard up for some decent gameplay.) It's gotten to the point that, frankly, I don't even care now what Firaxis does with its game. I feel all icky for having bought it. It is, after all, a matter of principle.

[Heliodorus]

Lib,
I have added at least two words to my personal vocabulary list because of your posts, not to mention tracking down the Latin of Ockham's razor, and then you go and say that you feel "all icky inside"...

I sincerely hope you plan to apply for a patch beta tester position. I'm also amusing myself to no end imagining how you would explain why you should be chosen with such things as:

So Jeff Morris can finally sleep at night;
Because you are single-handedly qualified to sermon for the redemption of Sid Meier's soul;
et cetera...

[Zachriel]

Originally posted by Libertarian
It is, after all, a matter of principle.

It's a game.

[Libertarian]

For which I paid. Besides, what praxis cannot be called a game?

[Zachriel]

I move we rename this thread, "Over analyzing a Firaxis statement"

[Libertarian]

Actually, you should rename it "Overanalyzing Lib". Analysis of the Firaxis statement was rather swiftly hijacked.

[CharlesUFarley]

Originally posted by Libertarian
Charles, Venger, et al: Don't forget meeting of secret clique tonight at eighteen hundred.

got it.

[jbrians]

Originally posted by Libertarian


The hell point would be to salvage some customers. We already know that they MIGHT do anything (or nothing) under the sun. Do you believe the zipped-lip tactic has quieted expectations?

It would not have that effect. It would simply quiet the voices of a few people for a short time at the expense of possibly causing a greater uproar later on. The way to "salvage" some customers is to RELEASE a patch, not talk about it.

Mendacious. Satisfaction with Dan's response does not imply satisfaction with the status quo.

It implied that you understood and accepted this specific issue, on which you have now started 4 threads.

And what is your ultimate goal, oh Chihuahua? To get as much personal attention as possible from me and feel like you are a part of the debating process because you cannot muster rhetorical skills on your own merit?

Displaying a large vocabulary and re-phrasing the same complaint ad infinitum does not constitute a debate.

[Libertarian]

Why the rather anal fixation on my vocabulary? Does the sempiternal mention of it somehow lend credence to your points?

As to the four threads, I'm flummoxed by your canonical schemes. I would image that, by your recknoning, I have opened a thread on nothing else — including the one I recently resurrected which was a rather vehement attack on whiners.

[ACooper]

I guess what we are saying Libertarian is that we have all heard you, Firaxis has heard you. They did post a response, even if you didn't like it.


BTW, I don't mind the big words, I've even had to look a few up.

[Libertarian]

[...sigh...]

I suppose you're right, Shaggy. For whatever reason, I keep feeling the urge to demand from Nurse Ratchet the return of my cigarettes.

[CharlesUFarley]

Originally posted by jbrians

It would not have that effect. It would simply quiet the voices of a few people for a short time at the expense of possibly causing a greater uproar later on. The way to "salvage" some customers is to RELEASE a patch, not talk about it.

It implied that you understood and accepted this specific issue, on which you have now started 4 threads.


Displaying a large vocabulary and re-phrasing the same complaint ad infinitum does not constitute a debate.

And it will keep getting re-hashed until we feel compromised for being misled and done so at a cost. In other words if people want to complain, let them. What business is it of yours? Is someone forcing your face up against the monitor telling you to read all this. Find something better to do.

Keep the voice Lib, stay the course. I back you.

Charles.

[jbrians]

Originally posted by CharlesUFarley
And let me explain to you about software development since a few members of my family are currently employed with some large Canadian software firms. Nothing is impossible to code, only complicated. How they spend their time is just as important as how the product turns out. In other words Firaxis (in my opinion) not only rushed Civilization III, but they avoided some 'tough' areas during development to avoid burning more time. Hence why the product was rushed and eventually turned out to be a disapointment to the mod community. And the value of keeping the mod-community well informed plays hand in hand with consumer reviews and a posative flow of "word-to-mouth" hidden market advertising.

Firaxis itself is probably not to blame here. The rush came from the publisher I'm sure. I agree that keeping in touch with the mod community is a good idea. Under the current circumstances though, they have collected enough feedback and now just need to go implement what they can. "What they can" will change from day to day until it's done (features can be cut during the testing phase). Telling the mod community what they're working on serves no purpose unless the release is planned for over a month away or so.

Not to mention how tasteless it is to defend in in-animate object like a game.

You mistake Firaxis for an inanimate object. In truth, it is a relatively small number of real people with real thoughts and feelings.

You tell these people to stop complaining because it won't gain result, and here you are "complaining about complainers"

Indeed. My ire is too easily aroused. I guess I want the designers to feel like this is a good and useful place to read, and the more repititions of Lib's threads there are the less likely they will. I get the impression that developers that have been in the industry for some length of time "learn" that there is no point in listening to or participating in on-line communities because all of your data is poluted by vocal minorities, and that is unfortunate.

You honestly believe that phycological babble about people wanting attention? I'm putting my money on the fact that the game wasn't what they wanted, and they're pissed off as a result. It's only human to act so when disapointed

In this specific case, yes. I believe Lib can't help himself, and this ceased really being about the game a long time ago. In general there are some people who are pissed off and that's fine; the game isn't perfect. I think the game is fun; an incremental improvement on Civ2, and I think it will get better with the (hopefully) 2 more forthcoming patches.

Apologize? What is this a dorm room? They're a game company you fool. Little bits of data and text has absolutely no effect on them personally, and it never will. And when one person's opinion begins to sway the development process world-wide, then and only then will an apology or formality be required.

Non-sense. As I said before, a game company is a not-as-large-as-you-think number of REAL people. It only takes 2 or 3 prolific poluters to make a couple of specific people from a specific company decide that a community is too time-consuming to wade through.

That being said, the modern culture has created a very impressive array of tools with which to communicate a wide variety of misleading information. In very fact, the use of the terms "spin," "public relations," and "damage control" belies the cultural acceptance of lying and concealing real information

I agree. I still believe though, that in this specific case Firaxis is behaving correctly by not saying anything. Better that than saying half-truths or meaningless fluff. There is no meaningful information to be distributed at this time.

[jbrians]

Originally posted by Libertarian
Why the rather anal fixation on my vocabulary? Does the sempiternal mention of it somehow lend credence to your points?

I didn't realize I had mentioned it before. People ought to state things in the simplest precise terms possible. Obfuscating (now I'm doing it ) your arguments with 18th century prose fools a few into thinking they are very convincing, but in fact belies muddled thinking.

As to the four threads, I'm flummoxed by your canonical schemes. I would image that, by your recknoning, I have opened a thread on nothing else — including the one I recently resurrected which was a rather vehement attack on whiners.

Honestly, I haven't seen you post on any other topic. In all fairness I haven't looked that hard, though.

[Libertarian]

Keep the voice Lib, stay the course. I back you.

Your words of affirmation are nourishment for a weary soul. Thank you, Charles.

-----

There is no meaningful information to be distributed at this time.

It would be (or would have been) meaningful to me to know what issues of late-game tedium are being considered. People are beginning to remove the game from their computers, and some are placing their copies on e-bay. Having invested a lot of emotional energy in the game as we anticipated its release, many of us would have hung in there had we known for a certainty that what we thought mattered.

Surely, you can understand that we're not asking Firaxis to give us everything we want, but merely to acknowledge that what we want has merit. And if they cannot aleviate the game's tedium, they need to offer us advice on how we might mitigate it. And finally, if they don't listen and they won't talk, why should we hang on?

If they don't know what they can do (up to a point), then I can accept that. But the not knowing looks more and more like not caring. And that I cannot accept. There has been enough time.

They cannot still "not know" whether group movement is feasible after two months. That's not possible. They do know one way or the other.

In other words, they do have useful information that they choose to withhold, owing to a bizarre and rigid policy of pushing away consumers and ignoring them.

[yin26]

Inside a Firaxis head (a few feet beneath sand):

"Gee, so many whiners and people who hold a grudge out there. Why is it that they keep growing in numbers whenever we release a game?

Hmmm, just bad luck, I guess. Ignore them and focus on the 6 (wait, another dropped) ... 5 guys who love us. Carry on."

[jbrians]

Originally posted by Libertarian

It would be (or would have been) meaningful to me to know what issues of late-game tedium are being considered.
They cannot still "not know" whether group movement is feasible after two months. That's not possible. They do know one way or the other.

My guess is that they placed a higher priority on scenario and customization issues, and that is what they are working on. If that is the case, it is entirely possible that they have not put enough design-thought in to late-game tedium issues to know what, if anything, is feasible to do. Or for that matter, they may not even know if they will get buy-off for a 3rd patch at all.

On a somewhat related note:
I too have trouble finishing games. Towards the end of the industrial age the prospect of starting a new game gets more and more tempting. However, I've had this problem with every such game I have played. Civ2, Moo2, MOM, and other games; it's the nature of the beast. That doesn't mean that it can't get better, or that Civ3 doesn't suffer from it more than other games, but for me it doesn't ruin Civ3 or strike me as a totally unexpected aspect of the game.

[CharlesUFarley]

Originally posted by jbrians
Firaxis itself is probably not to blame here. The rush came from the publisher I'm sure. I agree that keeping in touch with the mod community is a good idea. Under the current circumstances though, they have collected enough feedback and now just need to go implement what they can. "What they can" will change from day to day until it's done (features can be cut during the testing phase). Telling the mod community what they're working on serves no purpose unless the release is planned for over a month away or so.

As usual I'm going to have to disagree with you. Did the publisher design the game? Did the publisher threaten Firaxis at gunpoint forcing them to sign the contract with the poor time table? I think not. As far as game-tedium goes and overall design they are completely to blame for any disapointments. The publisher is only to blame for a sh_tty contract and poor business ethics. But if you sign it, you agree with it. And in this case the terms that Infogrames stated were acceptable to Firaxis. I'm not saying that the game is horrible, and that they completely ruined it. All I'm stating is that any disapointments or bugs are a direct result of the "design". Also you speak as if you're on the design team and you have direct knowledge as to what they are working on. I think not. No one really knows what they are working on, all we can know for certain is that they are "considering" everything. But how do we know that they've heard everything? More importantly how do you know? Fact is, no one really knows. Unfortunetly the only thing that speaks right now is their silence. And silence can be easily and greatly misunderstood, from where I am standing the "silence" is a form of hiding or deception in some manner. So all we can really do is sit back and speculate until they prove us wrong. But again it is bad business policy to ignore your customers, regardless of time tables and complications.

You mistake Firaxis for an inanimate object. In truth, it is a relatively small number of real people with real thoughts and feelings.

I didn't say they weren't. But any adult human being with secure self-esteem and maturity is obviously un-affected by simple things like emails from complete strangers all over the world regardless of it's content. When was the last time you read a hateful email from someone and called the police? In real life it's assumed that the general populace of users that point and click are entering into a fantasy world where nothing can hurt them, unless you call a computer virus life threatening. However, I'm not excusing the concept of "etiquette" or common courtesy I'm just simply saying that Firaxis is a proffesional business enviroment and to suggest that they perposely hide from computer game forums due to someone "being rude" or abusive is complete nonsense. Fact is they don't care. If they see abusive mail, they'll just ignore it.

Indeed. My ire is too easily aroused. I guess I want the designers to feel like this is a good and useful place to read, and the more repititions of Lib's threads there are the less likely they will. I get the impression that developers that have been in the industry for some length of time "learn" that there is no point in listening to or participating in on-line communities because all of your data is poluted by vocal minorities, and that is unfortunate.

I too would like the designer to participate more in these forums, however I'm not going to bow down or kiss a game company's ass because they hold the source code. Fact is whether you like your customer or not you are obligated to listen, or you sacrifice sales which in long term ruins the future reputation of the company in question. And I too agree that there is an element of hate-mail and criticism that is detering Firaxians from becoming more involved with thier communities. However to suggest that the elements and bodies of complaints are a minoritiy is a foolish assumption based on your biased opinion to defend your mute point, I say mute because your crusade to rid the forums of complaints and criticism is only attracting the people that love to argue with you. We're wasting our time *****ing at Firaxis, but your wasting even more time asking us to stop its like the blind leading the blind. Instead of becoming part of the problem, try becoming part of the solution I assume that is what your crusade is all about, but I have yet to see the light to reveal evidence of that.

In this specific case, yes. I believe Lib can't help himself, and this ceased really being about the game a long time ago. In general there are some people who are pissed off and that's fine; the game isn't perfect. I think the game is fun; an incremental improvement on Civ2, and I think it will get better with the (hopefully) 2 more forthcoming patches.

I agree it has gone past the issues regarding the game itself, now its about the glory of respect and acknowledgement. I mean we aren't talking about a bunch of people spending half their day playing games and the other half in forums. We are talking about people with families, people who work and have careers in the everyday and more than likely complicated fastlane. And these people have very few precious moments (hours) to spend. And where have they spent it? On a game. So than it becomes more than a game product it becomes a fixation, an addiction. Some people alienate thier families to play this game. And I can't speak for everyone, but I can say that I've spent the better portion of 8 years involved with the active game community as a fan and devoted player. I must have spent over $500 in gaming products from Sid Meier's legacy alone. Now you can sit back and continue to criticise people for having opinions or you can come face to face with one certainty and that is this we've earned our seats!

Non-sense. As I said before, a game company is a not-as-large-as-you-think number of REAL people. It only takes 2 or 3 prolific poluters to make a couple of specific people from a specific company decide that a community is too time-consuming to wade through.

Not likely. Give Firaxis some credit, they are proffesionals who have serious minds with serious responsabilities. At the most they don't have time for the forums, to suggest that they "fear" the forums due to 2-3 people complaining out of the millions of consumers is rediculous. They don't care, ask them yourself. But don't expect an answer.

I agree. I still believe though, that in this specific case Firaxis is behaving correctly by not saying anything. Better that than saying half-truths or meaningless fluff. There is no meaningful information to be distributed at this time.

Again you presume that there are only two colors in the world, black and white. Why is it say something "concrete" or say "nothing" at all? Those are the conclusions of a typical black and white close minded individual. Again you talk like you know something we do not. "There is no meaningful information to be distributed at this time." How do you know this? Lets go out on a limb here, even if there isn't any information to give (which I assure you there is!) what possible harm would it do to admit that? That's presuming that they have large egos and inflated pride that they need to defend ofcoarse. If we use your way of looking at this, I picture a bunch of game developers sitting around drinking beer and playing caps during business hours. But if we think realisticly here, they are more than likely pounding away at the keyboard 8 - 10 hours a day everyday and in turn making great progress with the game issues and newer products. So if they're making progress that means that have information to share to with us, don't they?

Charles.

[jbrians]

Originally posted by CharlesUFarley
However to suggest that the elements and bodies of complaints are a minoritiy is a foolish assumption based on your biased opinion to defend your mute point

The elements and bodies of the compaints are not a minority. I did not suggest that Firaxis should ignore them. In fact, they should heed them by working and releasing a patch. Spending time working is a good idea. Spending time in forums catering to every spoiled kid who wants a personal response would be time wasted on the minority. The point you were aiming at was moot, but it wasn't mine.

Not likely. Give Firaxis some credit, they are proffesionals who have serious minds with serious responsabilities. At the most they don't have time for the forums, to suggest that they "fear" the forums due to 2-3 people complaining out of the millions of consumers is rediculous

They're not going to be afraid to post/read here, nor are they going to go home and cry about it. They might, however, decide that it is a waste of their time to wade through it all.

Why is it say something "concrete" or say "nothing" at all?

It is the nature of software development. Even Microsoft only talks about features in the most general of terms until they are actually done. It is just too easy for something to fall-out at a late hour. Firaxis has said that they are working on improving the editor, but not specifically how. They have also said that they are interested in late-game tedium. That is the most information that is reasonable to release assuming that they are indeed working on an editor patch and are pretty much focused on that at the moment.

Those are the conclusions of a typical black and white close minded individual.

An sad and unnecessary swipe in an otherwise even-handed post.