There are many different MP Civ communities.
The first is Gameleague. They have a forum on this site under the Hosted Site "HS" section. Go check it out. It's just a bunch of civers who are a little organzied.
Another league is the Civfanatic group. There is a thread on the subject in the MP forum here:
http://apolyton.net/forums/Forum2/HTML/002027.html?14
They are just an alternative to Gameleague.
There is also the Gaming Zone... (I don't have a link available, would somebody please provide one) There you go and just play with other people. From what I hear, it's not as easy to find a game anymore. Most games there are very seldom continued, and many people drop out when they aren't doing well. However, there are alot of FINE players there, and it's a good place to learn.
Many of us just set up games in the MP forum here.
We also use ICQ (an instant messanger service that can be downloaded for free from ICQ.com) to see if any of the normal people are on line and want to play. I recommend ICQ only because most of the people involved in civ here use it.
I mostly play with a group of friends that enjoy similar settings to what I like. I probably have 50 people on my "civ MP" list. When I want to play, I just start surfing ICQ or post my intentions in the MP forum.
The trick is just to become "known" as a player. People will find you then.
Good luck!
------------------
Ming
CivII & Off-Topic Forum Moderator
Ming@Apolyton.net
[This message has been edited by Ming (edited February 01, 2001).]