So, Dan, have you seen the sun rising while playing civ? :)
Ahh, you're playing my song! {grin}

Seriously though yeah -- in the first few months I got Civ1 and CivII way back when, I became a virtual nighthawk. I managed to curb this on most weeknights (forcibly, most of the time actually), and found myself cured ironically just a day before my copy of SMAC arrived at my door. And if that wasn't enough, my insomnia from it was only cured 24 hours before I got my hands on CTP! Whaa, imagine that! :-D

How did you get involved the civ community? Isn't it true that you're in it for the ad money?
Not at all (re: ad money). I got involved in the Community days after I got the game in '96. In fact, I found out that the long-awaited sequel for the original Civ (which, five years after I had gotten it as a Christmas present, it had yet to disappear from my HD) had been released! Believe it or not, but I was inspired by the creative user-created files I found on various Civ websites to create a couple scenarios and a map of my own that I eventually submitted (YES, there are CivII files created by yours truly, but in the case of the former it's nothing to write home about).

In August I was approached by Mike Delprete, aka The Overlord, from UCIVII to take over his day-to-day responsibilities. Needless to say it surprised the blue blazes out of me, as I had only been working on my first website, a PC shareware page no longer in existence, for a couple of months at the time. I thought it over for a few days, and agreed to his terms. From there, my involvement grew from Civ site maintainer, to owner, to please-don't-let-anyone-be-dissing-me-on-the-forums kind of guy. :)

Relax and remember, how where things in the civ community back in '96, '97, '98?
1996 saw a whirlwind of fan sites for Civ come and go... I like how Tiam MacDonald of PC Gamer put it in his December column on the subject: "many Civ sites have gone south lately". Competition between Civ sites was quite fierce, especially with the big hitters, and there was a lot of bad blood sloshed around between Civ site webmasters.

Fortunately those who I would fit under this bracket of behaviour, and yes I can still remember most of their names, left the scene almost as fast as they came. I think the turning point in the attitude of and towards the online Civ community came in the third quarter of the year (if memory serves me correctly) was when a certain Civ site owner made an arrangement with a commercial entity to produce a CD-ROM collection with CivII scenarios and MODs from his website. This was absolutely the most disgusting and unprofessional act on the part of any gaming community member, even to this day. It still pisses me off thinking about it, as I'm sure it does others those who were around at the time and can too remember it.

It was sometime in the fourth quarter that, the incident recounted above still resounding, the Civ community started to get organized. Those who were able to meet and agree to the general attitude to how those in the community should behave, stuck around; and those who didn't quickly turned their keyboards to other areas.

1997 and 1998 went by even faster, somehow, through it all. These periods saw Conflicts in Civilization, Fantastic Worlds, and MGE developed and released to the gaming public; it was also during this time that Firaxis announced their plans for SMAC. The Civ community began to mature and blossom into a force to be reckoned with. Now when I say that, I don't mean that we positioned ourselves for a seat on the UN Security Council! :) I mean, rather, that those companies in the Civilization industry began to really pay attention to the sites and the fans. That's not to say they weren't before, don't get me wrong, but as the community began to develop more sophisticated and continuous methods of communication, they took a chance on letting us given our own input directly, and boy has it paid off for both sides something sweet!

What the hell where you thinking when you merged with TFGC2S?
** crickets chirping **
No one has quite put it into those words before, but I suppose I can see how some people thought (and still might think) that I was crazy to merge with TFGC2S.

It just seemed to be the right thing to do. Popularity in CivII was dwindling and, after learning of Activision's development of CTP, I felt the time had come for a change of direction. I also knew that I couldn't handle the demand of all that was going to be needed to keep up such a megasite, and decided that if I could work with another accomplished webmaster proactive in the Civilization community, we could work on something bigger and better together.

So, did the move pay off? I think so... in spades. But be the judge for yourself.

Do you feel that Apolyton changed things in the civ community or was it just the result of a change?
Call me modest, but I would have to credit Apolyton's establishment and continuation to the latter. Up until the point when SMAC and CTP were coming along, it was all about "CivII", just the one game; the original Civ, of course, was too old to be bothered with by the gaming community as a whole. We simply met, and continue to meet, the changing and diversifying needs and wants of the online Civilization community given the circumstances.

Did a halo just form over my head? ;)

CTP, SMAC, SMACX soon, but Civ2 still rules in most civers' hearts. Explain.
It was a classic from the beginning, as was the original. A large portion of the team remained intact from day one of the Civ series to create CivII, and that winning combination shone through quite nicely.

SMAC and CTP have caused some discussion and controversy, mostly the latter. There is the eternal debate over which is the true sequel to CivII, or whether or not that will not come to pass until CivIII hits the shelves sometime next year (based on preliminary indications only).

Some stand by their belief that while you can take Civ out of Sid, you can't take Sid out of Civ. There is something to be said to that, and there's also something to be said for those who have chosen to try their hardest to follow in his giant footsteps. Whether those have succeeded or failed in their tasks is still to early for industry, and history, to conclude.

Change of topic, tell us the truth Dan. You like to ban people, don't you?
Heh heh, if that was true I think I'd end up talking to myself on the forums (that is to what you are referring, right?), posting messages back and forth between alter ego's that would have manifested itself from some form of twisted delerium.

Not at all. When it comes to acts of moderation, a level of caution must be exercised. You've got to ask yourself all of the questions that could come up as a result of your actions; see, whether you like it or not you are accountable to your visitors. Yeah, the site's your property and people must pay their respects in order to be able to use it as a public service. But if you've got any vested interest in its health and long-term prosperity, you will give a damn about what others are saying on your message boards.

It's not a matter of likeness, it's a matter of necessity. If someone's being a pain in the a$$, you've got to calm or, if the situation presents itself as deserving, eliminate it all togoether to restore order.

Ok, something else now. What will you remember as the best and the worse moments of this year?
Well now, let's see here... the past twelve months. Apolyton being mentioned in one degree or another in PC Games, Game-EXE, and PC Format magazines was a definite plus. Any recognition that ACS has received during its existence is something that I cannot begin to express as being absolutely gratifying. The Gone Gold award, Silver Fleece Medal, all of it means something. It means that we're doing something right, and that is it being recognized and respected. How can you beat that feeling?

Other excellent moments were being given four copies of MGE by MicroProse for the assistance on the development of the product, and the copies of CTP and its Official Strategy Guide some months later that made up the prizes for our succesful "Power Up!" contest.

Making contacts and forming relationships with men and women from MicroProse, Firaxis and Activision was and still is unbelievable. To be contacted and listened to by representatives of the teams of people that formed the divinitive source of the desire to create and maintain one's site is incredible, too magnificent for words. Even now I find myself splashing cold water on my face to make sure it isn't some fantastic dream.

The bad? Fortunately few and far between. The occasional squabble, internally or externally, often created some kind of headache that was hard to shake. The "um-your-CGI-script-is-running-rampant" was also an intermittent moment of anxiety. Nothing to write home about.

Bottom line, as any Civer would tell you? Getting the chance to play CivII (albiet the Multiplayer version of the original), SMAC and CTP, all in the single time-frame they came out.

Overall, was it a good or a bad year? Who would you like to thank (or condemn) for it?
It was a very good year! First and foremost I would like to thank my co-owner and webmaster, Markos, for being such a great guy to work with. He knows his stuff, he does what he says he is going to do and on time. Hell, he puts in 110% day in and day out. He's got a good head on his shoulders, and I'm glad he's pouring at least some of his know-how into making ACS the prosperous entity it is today.

From that, I've got to thank GameStats. Words cannot express the incredible sense of community these group of people have instilled in everything they do. Always professional, always willing to go that extra mile, and never bitching about the bumps on the road in-between the milestones.

Next, MicroProse, Firaxis and Activision: thank you guys for opening your lines of communication to us, lending your time and energy to talk to us just about anything. The same goes to all the other individuals over the past year who have developed or are developing "Civilization clones", which stemmed the move to establish and expand our Alternative Civ section.

Finally, you! Our visitors, our fans, our friends! Where would be with out you guys!? Great job!

What do you promise to our visitors for the next year?
To continue in the capacity that I set out with in August of 1996 when I took the reigns of UCIVII, and reaffirmed this time last summer with the creation of ACS: to offer the most complete, up-to-date and comprehensive coverage of Civilization-releated material on the Internet to create a virtual epicenter of information for anyone to access, share, learn from, and contribute to.

Keep On Civ'in!
Amen! :)