Friday and why Sid Meier ruined my Childhood

So it's Friday. And the populist politics of dying empires continues unabated. Leaders say stupid things to appeal to stupid supporters. The progress made during the prosperous years is squandered.

And the clock ticks down.

But that's pretty dire. And this is Friday. So I thought I'd ignore the problem a little and take the time to recommend some video games that deconstruct our smug first world civilized delusions. Or more accurately the first game to mess with my head (probably not, but let's go with that).

Civilization 2

Civilization 2 was the first game to truly mess with my head in an immediate way. I noticed what they did while playing. Other games I may have played earlier (told you), the effect of Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy 3 (as it was called on the SNES), were things that burrowed in my brain and only become clear after reflection years later. Civilization 2 taught me something uncomfortable about civilization and population growth. It taught a lesson about food supply and the limits of growth that was jarring. Also, unlike every other on this list, Civilization 2 taught through game mechanics and not through story.

Cities in the game will only grow in size if they produce excess food. Once the city has filled its food stores, the population will increase by one unit and deplete the food stores. Cities can only directly generate resources, including food, within a set radius around the city. Once a city is drawing resources from all available space within the radius a city must begin importing resources to continue growing. This necessitates new cities in less developed regions, but limits the growth of those cities by sending their resources away. There is an upper limit on this model, and the endgame occurs in 2020 just as most players will reach that limit. In trying to maximize my results I learned this system well enough that i knew our space program and the Good ending it provided were my only way to avoid stagnation or a war of genocide against my digital neighbours.

And then something occurred to me. Mines and oil well don't deplete in Civilization 2. But of course they do in the real world. You can't exhaust the land you farm in Civilization 2. But of course you can in the real world, the dust bowl and desertification worldwide make that clear. My vast digital empire was a carefully tuned system. If I were able to exhaust resources in game, my empire would face disastrous consequences.

And my brain suddenly had a thought.

2 + 2 = oh crap...

And there you go. Moving on.