NOTE: This is The Column, a regular feature on Apolyton where anyone can write about anything to do with Civilization or the gaming industry as a whole. If you feel like writing, please visit the article submission page.

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190# THIS WONDERFULL CONCEPT OF FAITH Response to #189 189# HAVE A LITTLE FAITH Do you trust Firaxis to have done a good job or are there to many signs? 188# A CIV3 PREVIEW Solver summarizes our knowledge of civ3 187# THE ESOTERIC ALLURE OF CIVILIZATION Will civ3 be as flexible as civ2? 186# LAMENT OF AN OBSESSIVE GAME MODIFIER A hymn to modification COLUMN ARCHIVE

With today's PC software market flooded with more titles than can be counted, finding a game that we actually enjoy can be difficult enough, let alone finding a game that works with our computer system specifications or isn't riddled with bugs. But in any case, each one of us is drawn to specific types of games- wether they be First Person Shooters, Real Time Strategy, or as we are all very fond of, Turn Based Strategy. I ask: why are we drawn to this game style? What is it about the slow, careful pace of playing turn by turn that captivates us so much that even in light of scholastic, financial, or relationship failure, we just can not stop playing? (If this is you, btw, please seek at least a little professional help ;))

History. History is a very fascinating subject of study, but too often the study of history is about as fun as watching C-Span. Nevertheless, learning about peoples of the past, and how they provoked, reacted to, and lived history can be a very epiphanic experience. CIV captures this essence of history, in that in a small way, we each get to live the history that we all have heard and read about, but could never hope to have a personal part of. CIV makes history personal, even if in a microscopic way. Short of rewriting textbooks, we do get to rewrite history, and react in our own ways to the things that transpire around us in every game of CIV that we play. What can be more provocative than this? What could draw a gamer, or anyone, more than the chance to live history here and now?

Yet there are other things about Sid Meier's legacy that compels us to play.

There is not a single one of us that doesn't wish to rule his own kingdom. No human, wether righteous or unrighteous, just or unjust, doesn't want a hand at ruling a nation, if only for a day. CIV lets would be Kings and Queens, Presidents and Emperesses, do just that. As head of a nation, policy and exploit is in the player's control. From managing the foundation of cities, to the creation of the immortal wonders, CIV is the release from the confines of our daily lives.

CIV is very deep. The depth of the game permeates in its every feature. From technological research, creation of armies, to the designation of the work force, levying of taxes, distribution of luxuries, building city infrastructure, diplomacy, a timescale that spans the whole of recorded history along with many other features, what other game can you name that has all of this, and implements it as seamlessly as CIV? And with each subsequent release in the Civilization series, this depth has increased. Which brings me to this point:

With all that can be done, must be done, in a game of Civilization, there is no arguing that CIV 'MUST' be a turn based strategy game. But this requirement is not begrudged, but rather embraced by CIV's many fans. Why? Is it that CIVers are workaholics? Or that CIVers are not able to keep up with the fast pace found in so many of today's popular games? It is rather that the true CIV fanatic wishes to embrace the imaginary, and to live the fantasy of a world, not too unlike our own; a world who's history is much the same as is recorded in textbooks in every library, but that is created by the people who play Civilization.

With Civilization III coming to us soon, be prepared to start another journey into history, into the imaginary, and into the fantastic; to live out your desire to rule justly, or unjustly; and to create a world unlike any other.