Catan makes for civility on Xbox Live?

by Richard Mitchell { May 8th 2007 at 5:45PM }

Connectivity, friends, fun, racial epithets: unfortunately, all of these things are trademarks of Xbox Live. You can also throw in the screeching voices of the prepubescent and those who think their personal soundtrack should also be heard through everyone else's headset. And of course, there are even a few wretched souls who insist on singing.

But not in Catan apparently. Joystiq's Alexander Sliwinski reports that Catan is a veritable bastion of civility and grace in the sophomoric minefield of Xbox Live. It seems he has been able to play game after game without one player-related issue. Not one. He even played a round with our own David Dreger (who must have held himself in check). As Sliwinski notes, Catan presents a different kind of experience on Xbox Live and it presumably attracts a different kind of player. If this is the kind of precedent set by board games on XBLA, Microsoft may just be in for an unexpected jump in sales.

800 points for some peaceful, enjoyable gaming doesn't sound bad at all, now does it?

Tags: arcade, catan, live arcade, LiveArcade, xbla, xbox live, xbox live arcade, XboxLive, XboxLiveArcade

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

jigsaw hc @ May 8th 2007 5:57PM

It makes sense that Catan players are well behaved. The game is all about trading and no one will trade with you if you are a jerk.

Jeff @ May 8th 2007 6:02PM

i liked the demo of this but im reluctant to buy it. what happens once all territory is built upon? it kinda bugged me that you can't finish a game in the demo. kinda reinforces my concern that there's not much left after that point in the game. opinions?

Joe Schmoe @ May 8th 2007 6:53PM

Jeff: Catan is actually worth it. Ususally someome wins before the board is completely built. Actually, you are limited to a certain amount of pieces each anyway. Once you have 4 settlements, you have to convert them into cities to get a settlement piece back. But honestly, most people play to 10 points. Between Victory cards, settlements, cities, longest road, and largest army: The board doesn't get full. However, you could end up with one resource on the board that is really rare that A: the one person with the resource will refuse to trade or will offer rediculous trades or B: it will make the game last longer with almost no development until someone can acquire that particular asset.

Secret to winning? Buy lots of dev cards, and go for one particular resource and lots of it, but also go for a port so you can port trade 2 for 1 for anything you want. This makes it easy to keep people from hoarding resources and also means you don't have to give them any of yours. Monopolize and port trade to win. Oh yeah, and some dev cards give you extra points towards a win.

FUN GAME!

James @ May 8th 2007 7:36PM

SOOOO pissed that this doesn't support 2 players on the same box. I *really* wanted to be able to play this with my wife, but I guess I'm stuck hunting down an "unofficial" Windows port...

Xyzzy @ May 8th 2007 7:36PM

Not to mention the "Monopoly" card rocks -- if someone is hoarding, use that card to steal all of the resources for yourself.

I just won the game on "moderate" level today. I think I'm ready to try my hand on XBL. I'm glad to see that there aren't many jerks playing it online.

Jeff - the game is definitely worth the $10, even if you only play against the CPU. My wife played it today and had a good time as well.

Jonah Falcon @ May 8th 2007 8:31PM

I thought I'd be hearing a lot of the old Settlers of Catan jokes ("I got WOOD for your SHEEP, dude. Yuk Yuk")

Jonah Falcon @ May 8th 2007 8:31PM

"SOOOO pissed that this doesn't support 2 players on the same box. I *really* wanted to be able to play this with my wife,"

Er, um, how exactly would such a game work?!

Gwyddn @ May 9th 2007 2:00AM

I've enjoyed playing Catan on XBLA, I've met and made more new friends in 2 days of Catan than weeks of Texas Hold'em and Gears of War.

I bought it even though it lacks the fun of the full game with expansions (Cities and Knights is the best!), with the hope that if we fanboys support it they'll develop it further.