Sid Meier declaims on Civilization IV

Stern.de had a few quiet moments with Sid Meier in an interview published on the 26th of this month. When asked whether he studied history in the making of his games, Pirates and Civilization, he responded: "No, I didn't study history, rather programming. But I'm very interested in our past. I read a lot about it. But for our game, we didn't use any historical background. We make games so that they are fun. In this sense, history isn't important to me."

He also said his games aren't designed to have a pedagogical effect. "[The player] isn't supposed to learn world history through playing. As I said, gameplay is our highest priority."

Earlier attempts at educational video games like Donkey Kong Jr. Math have been notoriously un-fun. As I recall it was more like a work sheet than a game. Please chop off my hands now, so I don't have to... wait, that game was too boring to even make fun of, never mind. We can only presume that Meier learned from their mistakes.

Meier also said he's on "the list" to make games for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360. But the video game gods-that-be haven't called on him to ascend yet. When will the next generation get civilized? Kids today!

And which game does Meier wish he had developed? Tetris. "Oh man, why didn't I make that one!" Um... because Alexey Pajitnov did? µ