NEW PIRATES? Meier glances in the rear view mirror - and makes new version of at least one old classic. - What people ask most for is "Pirates".

He conquers the world
- and the golf course

Idyllic. Sid Meier takes a tour on the golf course - together with "The Sims"-creator Will Wright. Pirates and world history Here are some of guru Meiers greatest creations. Pirates! (1987) You ravage as a pirate in the Caribbean. Sword fights, treasure searching and sea battles are mixed with strategy in trade and alliances. Civilization (1991) Lead the mankind from the craddle of civilization to the space age. War and peace, reasearch and trade. Part three in the series came just before Christmas. Alpha centauri (1999) A more philosofic variation of ”Civilization” when the mankind colonises a faraway planet.

Aftonbladet meats the game guru Sid Meier
What a ”dream team” in the gaming world.
  The ”Civilization”-creator Sid Meier and the ”The Sims”-dad Will Wright makes a game together.
  The somewhat unexpected result: the little people from ”The Sims” marches – out on the golf course.
   The game designer Sid Meier makes wild changes. From forming the entire history of the world in ”Civilization III” to tend the grass on the green in ”Sim golf”. ". In collaboration with ”The Sims”-creator Will Wright.
  – We talked some times and he gave me some ideas. But most game designers usually like to work alone, says Meier, who programmed big parts of the game himself.
  In ”Sid Meier’s Sim golf” we build and handle a golf course. The visiting little golf players are characters from ”The Sims”, with intrigues and discussions to eavesdrop to.
  – The people on the course shall be the meter on how the game is going, it was partly the new idea I wanted to test.

Was inspired by "Sim city"
  The cooperation is a unique ”dream team” in the game branch. But it isn't the first time Meier is delighted with Will Wrights' creations. The inspiration to his greatest success ”Civilization” came from Wrights' ”Sim city” (1987) where the player becomes a mayor of a city.
  – Most games were about blowing things up. I was fascinated of being able to build up something, says Meier.
  Few games have a face. Meier and Wright belong to the minority of designers who are known personally for their works. And Sid Meier was the very first to profile himself – by in 1987 put his name on the box of ”Pirates!”.
  – It was a way to tell that ”if you like that game will you like this game”.

More "author" then "movie star"
Meier probably thinks that a possibly well known personality helps the game branch – but doesn't really like the comparison with movie stars or pop stars.
  – Game designers should be seen more as known writers. To be a movie star is more about life style then the product, to look and be in a special way.
  47 years old Sid Meier has made games since the early 80s in his game companies Microprose and now Firaxis. Most of what he has touched has become successes. Now starts the game guru to glance in the rear mirror.

We are looking on new versions of old games

  – We look on the possibilities to make new versions of old games. We probably want to make an entirely new game and one based on our old ideas.
  And he gives more then a wink of what game it is.
  – What people most asks for is a new ”Pirates!”, says Meier.

Deceptively easy - in the beginning
What is it then that makes Meiers' games so captivating?
  He speaks about ”easy to get started, a challenge to master” – that the games shall be almost deceptively easy in the beginning, and then increase in complexity as the player learns to play.
  He speaks about ”just one more turn” – that the player all the time shall have something going on to experiment with so that it shall be hart to quit.
  But the real key is easier then so, according to Meier.
  – We use as mush time to play the games as to make them.