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#158 THREE POLLS FOR CIV THREE MarkG comments on the currently running civ3 polls #157 CIV3 MEETS CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER! MarkG is combining two of his favorite games and creates a monster #156 CtP II PBEM - SHOULD WE GIVE UP? Solver is ready to forgive and forget... What about you? #155 THE INTERRELATIONSHIP OF WAR AND ECONOMICS A peacefull civer writes about the necessity of war... #154 CIV 2 DYING OUT? NOT AT ALL Jay Bee doesn't subscribe to the popular opinion that CivII is on its way out the door, and is prepared to back his statement up. COLUMN ARCHIVE

It's kind of hard for me to believe, but it's now been five and a half years since I first played Civilization II. I was in 7th grade in a programming elective, and somebody had installed it onto the computer I was using. I started playing it, and instantly became addicted. I bought it as soon as I could and spent countless hours on the computer playing it. I then bought the first Scenario add-on, which was very important to me.

I realized the opportunities that existed to create your own scenarios. I started dabbling in scenario making, primarily just ones that I would play by myself. While I still played the game normally, I ended up spending lots of time making my own scenarios.

Then, the Fantastic Worlds add-on came out, which really changed things for me. The scenario editors made it that much easier for me to make my own scenarios. The convenience and relative ease of scenario-making added so many layers of dimension to Civilization II that it had infinite replay value.

I had also been becoming more and more involved in the Civ II community around that time. I started having lengthy discussions with people on the "Addicted to Civ II" forums and exchanged tons of ideas with people from around the world.

The first scenario I made was a relatively unknown fantasy scenario called "Dragons." I linked up with a number of friends from "addicted to civ" to get some feedback. It was then that I realized the true phenomenon of Civ II. A whole community was built around the game, and I realized that probably the most important reason for that was the ability to manipulate the game.

The hayday of Civilization II was probably around two years ago, when there were a huge amount of scenarios being made and collaborated on. It was that collaboration that made a community for me, too. It was great to be able to consult with great scenario makers (and friends) Jesus Balsinde and Allard Hofelt. It was great to hear feedback from friends like David Floyd, Xin Yu, and Enur. While each person would author their own scenarios, they were always the product of the community.

Then, maybe a year and a half ago, a slew of new, modern civilization updates came along. They had better graphics, better gameplay, more dynamic diplomacy, and were generally better games than Civilization II. However, while the actual game play of these games may have been better, an important piece of the community was lost in these games.

Creation is far too complicated with these games, and is too often not worth the effort. Civilization II gave creators tools to manipulate the game with a high degree of ease. While not actually programming a game, there was such a creative element to Civ II that it gave people a real voice in the game. It wasn't self-expression, but each scenario was somebody's hard work; each scenario was somebody's chance to create.

That is what is lost in these new games, and I feel that the Civ II community has suffered as a result. We exchanged standard gameplay improvements for something more valuable: creation.

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About the author: Hoek is a high school senior who recently woke up from a long civ-slumber

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