note: This is The Column, a part of Apolyton where primarily Markos and Dan write whatever we want :). Well, not just the two of us. The Column is open to everyone. If you feel like writing submit your article to civ2@gamestats.com

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#32 BUMPER CROP, 1999 DanQ declares '99 the comeback year for turn-based strategy. #33 UNCONVENTIONAL EXPERIENCES A first-hand report from MarkG on the CTP front. COLUMN ARCHIVE

Christmas Eve, 1994. The sound of the season fills the room; the aroma of simmering turkey and plump dressing hovers, drifts , wetting your lips in anticipation in the process. Sitting on the living room sofa, I am presented with a neatly wrapped present from my grandmother with my name on it. A smile is born in an instant, brought on by the mere excitement that what I was about to open was mine. Yep, you can't beat the feeling of knowing you're really somebody special (even without the presence of a Werthers melting in your mouth). "Your grandma asked us if what's now in that package might be of interest to you", my mother says. "We all think that you'll really like it". Hey, I thought, that's encouraging. I first start to tear at the wrapper gingerly, but as soon as I see the first hint of a shrink-wrapped cardboard box I let my fingers envelop themselves into a feeding frenzy, haphazardly creating a mini-garbage pile by my feet. Low and behold, staring at me in front of the face is a browned cityscape and in skinny, tall beige letters reads the word "Civilization". Directly underneath, in solid blue states the phrase "Build An Empire To Stand The Test Of Time". Flipping quickly to the back, I skim through the product's description. "It's like SimCity, only bigger, from what I hear", my dad chips in, watching proudly at my approval of the gift as my mother takes a snapshot of time to remember the moment. From that moment on, gaming was just never the same.

I saved my dessert until later in the evening as I was very anxious to install Civ and give it a whirl. I remembering feeling instant satisfaction that the game installed quickly without incident. I managed to read just a few pages of the manual before I made up my mind to just dive in and to get accustomed with the interface which was, at the time, something else again. I don't remember all the details of my first game, but I remember playing the Romans, as Caesar on Earth, and being so damned cocky that in less than an hour the Chinese-or-someone-'er-either flattened my little empire to the ground. Quite frankly, I didn't care. I was thankful that not too many of my relatives were around to see what must've been a sorry display of a young teenager totally losing himself in nothing more than a game at the expense of their image (I didn't notice until the punch stain on my sleeve until I went to take it roll it up to help clear away some dishes).

Over the next several months, it was the only form of entertainment that didn't seem to bore me at any length of duration. I was amazed with all the different angles you could take in the game, and how each of your decisions had an impact on your future success or failure. Oh, and the harder I tried NOT to let it integrate into the rest of my life, the stronger the connection grew. "I note that your simple mind has yet to develop the concept of integers. Would you care to exchange papers?" Ok, so I made that up but you get the idea.

Fast-forward to April of 1996. This was when I first got hooked up to the Internet. Now a Minor Niner, I was feeling pretty spenorty about myself despite being "low on the totem pole". Bored of browsing through online materials for my Science project, I revisited Yahoo and conducted a search for "Civilization", just to see what would come up. Over the March break I had 'rediscovered' Civ sitting on my shelf, while although still on my HD I had not touched since Christmas and had gotten back into the swing of things. I swear my chin hit my chest when the first match came up as "Civilization II". I thought to myself, what the heck? Clicking the first link under this directory heading, I was still unaware that what I was about to discover would change my mind about computer gaming -- again. I left my dinner to turn cold that night...

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