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Catan Online Set to Debut This Month
Thanks to GamingReport.com for the news that http://www.gamingreport.com/article.php?sid=14646>The Settlers of Catan Online will make its international online debut at Spiel '04 in Essen, Germany. "Catan Online will launch exclusively at MSN Games this winter. With MSN Games' base of 30 million registered users worldwide, more people than ever before will have access to this global gaming phenomenon." Besides being able to check out the game in depth, MSN is going to be running several tournaments and exhibitions of the game.
I wonder if they are aware of the open source (GPL) version of Settlers of Catan. Some guy wrote it for his thesis because writing the AI for a game where negotiation plays such a big role posed an interesting challenge. I was addicted to this version for several weeks when I came across it last year and I'd hate to see it disappear (but on the other hand, I don't think it was ever officially sanctioned by the owners of Settlers).
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Never before has a publisher tried so hard to avoid showing any screenshots on their website.
But I lacked the requisite number of Ores to attain it.
I really think the future of online gaming is not going to be 3D accelerated shooters. These types of games appeal to a much larger audience and almost everyone has the hardware to handle it.
Some of my favorite online games?
Kingdom of Loathing - Hilarious multiplayer RPG
The Game Show - A daily phrase puzzle similar to family fued.
Diplomacy - Famous war game without random elements.
Global Combat - Risk-like war game, except all moves are made at the same time.
OddManIn: A Game of guns and game theory.
Settlers of Catan is a German Board game created by Mayfair Games. In it, you use cardboard tiles to randomly assemble an island (Catan). You then begin the game by placing two settlements on the board. Each tile on the island represents a resource, with a number between 1 and 12. You roll a pair of dice, and the number that shows up dictates what resources "appear" for that round. Resources are used to purchase roads, settlements, and cultural improvements.
It's very simple to learn, but *very* hard to master, and is possibly one of the best board games ever made.
You don't have to be German to enjoy this game. I have a feeling that most slashdot readers will have played this game - it is a lot of fun and is a much more matured board game than something like monopoly. Also, it is constructive (you are trying to get 10 points) than destructive (you are trying to make everyone else bankrupt). A fantastic game, IMO. I happen to work at a commodities trading company, and people here play it every once in awhile. A word of advice: do not play this game against an actual commodities trader. They're crazy good.
I submitted this story last night, and it didn't get posted.
According to this article in Investor's Business Daily, "sales of fee-based content services on the Internet, including games, sports video and online dating, will reach $5.4 billion by 2007". Now, that's some serious dough. And Microsoft is doing what they're good at: supressing stuff they don't like while keeping all their bases covered.
They already have XBox Live which is a huge hit because they have basically no competition (another example of Microsoft's early-positioning). It's no biggie if something they invest in turns out to be a failure. And that's not because they have all the money in the world. It's because one idea that works easily makes up for 5 failed ones.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Settlers_of_Catan
Settlers of Catan is a board game that started in Germany and is huge in Europe. Apparently there are leages for it over there. Myself and many friends of mine play settlers often.
It's a great board game because there is a great deal of veriablity from one game to the next. This is due to the board being composed of tiles that change every game and the die roll. Depening on the way the tiles are layed out (randomly), certin resources become more or less valuable and this changes how one needs to play the game. The object of the game is to be the first person to get 10 victory points.
During the game there is a lot of player interaction as resources are bartered back and forth.
A game of regular settlers (there are expansions and variations) with people who know how to play typically takes from 30 to 60 minutes.
The game has some similarities to Monopoly and Risk but is really a completly different kind of game. Most people to like Risk seem to really enjoy settlers.
There are at least three different environments for playing settlers of catan online.
http://www.s3dconnector.net/ is a very nice client, with lots of options for choosing 'house rules'.
Also because of the ladder setup, many people don't quit just because they're losing, a perpetual problem with onlinegaming environments.
http://solito.free.fr/catane/ is a nice client, but there's no rating system, so not so many people use it.
http://settlers.cs.northwestern.edu/ is the 'original' site. It lacks the nicer graphics, but is often heavily loaded, with lots of players around, (when it's up)
I really like strategy games, and many of the games I like don't appeal to people who aren't really into games. Settlers of Catan is a great game in part because it appeals to people who aren't "gamers".
I think part of the appeal is that it is pretty simple to learn. Also, although it is competitive, it is not very confrontational or combative compared to most other strategy games. For example, stuff you build (settlements, roads, cities) can't be destroyed by other players. (At least in the basic game set). And, you have to cooperate in the form of trading resources with others, at least in the beginning, or you'll never get anywhere.
I wouldn't say that it's all that hard to master, esp. compared with games like Tigris & Euphrates or Vinci, but it definitely has a high enough level of strategy to be fun even for fairly hard-core gamers.
The game that gave us the unforgettable quote: "I have wood for your sheep!"
They actually have a t-shirt with that quote on it. Gamers giggle, and everyone else gives you a lot of room.
You don't have to be the person you've become.
Most of the best board games published these days come from Germany. I don't really know why. These games share common features:
Quick playing - usually no more than an hour or so,
No players are eliminated during play,
There is usually no "combat" and if there is it's only a small part of the game,
Simple rules but the games require careful strategy,
The games are usually not "simulations" of anything but rather have a "theme" pasted over clever mechanics,
Usually luck does NOT determine the winner,
Nice components, usually including wood pieces,
Go to http://www.boardgamegeek.com and check out the top-rated games.
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I don't know how many games of Catan I've played where the dice suddenly seemed to start rolling 2,3, and 4 over and over again then suddenly start rolling a huge long string of 9, 10, 11... Around here the Catan dice are infamous for that behavior.
Um, ALL sets of dice are infamous for clumping behavior. You might want to look at a basic book of statistics.
A famous example of clumping in real life (and how we perceive it) can be demonstrated by convincing two of your friends to perform a little experiment. Have one toss a coin 100 times and write down the results. Have the other write up a "random" assortment of 100 heads and tails that they came up with in their head. Don't let them tell you which person used which method, instead tell them you will figure it out. Ninety-five percent of the time, the person flipping the coin will generate a series of seven or more heads or tails in a row. You almost never see this in the list the other person makes up, as they invariable think that seven or more in a row will never happen.
In terms of what to expect in a game like Settlers, similar clumping of production numbers will occur. Just like the person making up the heads/tails, this will seem extremely unlikely (or really bad/good luck), but it isn't; what seems to be really strange clumping is in fact quite common.
You have to assume weird clumping will happen, and plan for it. For example, consider spreading out your production centers in the early game onto different numbers so this has less of a chance of happening to you. This is especially important if you are playing a strategy that emphasizes cities (i.e. the ore-grain strategy), as you will have less production centers (and by extension, be located next to fewer production numbers) to begin with, and therefore are at a greater risk from clumping.