You’re probably not rational enough, then; see point 3 of lukeprog’s post.
clemux
Karma: −6
Since there’s a limited number of things you can do on any given turn, and since the multiplayer can be done asynchronously, everyone can simply agree to a rule like “we play one turn each morning and one each night”, and then (after a single synchronous night getting past all the ultra-short initial turns) there’s no way to spend more than 30 minutes or so a day on the game. Granted, each game takes a few months...
This is the purpose of Freeciv’s variant Longturn. (Freeciv being the open-source game inspired—mostly—by civilization 2.)
It bothered me at first, but I think it’s about greenhouse gas emission. For example, methane is another power source, with legal restrictions depending on the “cleanliness” of the gas when burnt. I don’t remember whether biofuels are still used at the time of the story.