I'm glad we got that out of the way. Perhaps we should take a small break? Nah. Let's press on to one more change which you've announced! It might not be as important, but I feel we need to touch upon it.
Civilization 4 was your first game to employ the use of both religion and culture. Despite its novelty, I've read official reports stating that religion won't return. Why is that? You must've spent a lot of time developing the feature -- why would you suddenly decide to jettison such a well-loved aspect? Do I sense some political intrigue here? Perhaps you struck a sensitive nerve among certain religious communities. If that's the case, don't listen to fanatics. Pretend they don't exist (except as generic characters in Civilization 2).
Compassion, moderation, and humility.
I, for one, enjoyed the inclusion of religion in Civilization 4. It may not have been my favorite feature, but it did introduce new methods of play. And this is my main concern at this point. You finally decided to represent religion -- a very important social element -- and now you're taking it away? It wasn't necessarily groundbreaking, but it was important to the game's appeal.
My brother and I went out of our ways to create societies under religious banners. Not because of the meager benefits but because of the added realism. We started out with one religion and eventually, if our civilizations would allow it, included new beliefs to strengthen our community and culture. It sounds like real life, doesn't it?
If you remove religion from the game, Civilization 5 may seem "smaller" than its predecessor, simply because it offers less. Sure, you could always install new, different features, but they would feel like replacements, rather than additions. I humbly advise you, Mr. Meier, to build upon the mechanics afforded to players in previous installment.
In this same vein, I can only imagine the broadened appreciation you'll receive once Civilization comes to Facebook. Hopefully, your game will usurp Farmville's ill-gotten throne. The social network has an unfortunate reputation for offering petty, time-consuming games. With any luck, the introduction of Civilization to Facebook will usher in a new era of online, flash-based games. Who knows; it might even evolve the state of browser and social network games altogether.
It'll be like a real social network! Wait, we already have that....
It will be an actual civilization come to life! Yah, that sounds better.
On that note of flattery, I shall leave you to your business because I know you'll have plenty of busy days ahead. I hope I've done my part to influence your decisions in the future. Creating an entire civilization is hard work, and we all know Rome wasn't built in one day -- get back to work!
Sincerely,
Daav
