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Founders: #195 Sid Meier (Computer game designer)

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What I learned from reading Sid Meier's Memoir!: A Life in Computer Games by Sid Meier. ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work. Get access to Founders Notes here. ---- Sometimes it takes a misstep to figure out where you should be headed.Each game taught me something, each game was both painful and gratifying in its own way, and each game contributed to what came after it.We are surrounded by decisions, and therefore games, in everything we do. If my gravestone reads "Sid Meier, creator of Civilization" and nothing else, I'll be fine with that. It's a good game to be known for, and I'm proud of the positive impact it's had on so many players' lives.There was no such thing as a retail computer game, only free bits of code passed between hobbyists, so it would have been difficult for me to harbor secret dreams of becoming a professional computer game designer."I could design a better game in two weeks." “Then do it," he insisted, "If you can do it, I can sell it."At the time it felt like a fun project, but not any sort of life-changing decisi

[00:00:00] A billion hours ago, Neanderthals were making spearheads in the Stone Age. A billion hours from now, it'll be the year 116,174 AD. With a billion hours to play with, you could make roughly 13,000 round trips to Alpha Centauri at the speed of light. Or you could spend it all playing Sid Meier's Civilization, so I'm told. One billion hours is the sort of number that is humbling to the point of incomprehensibility. Or you could spend it all playing Sid Meier's Civilization, so I'm told. One billion hours is the sort of number that is humbling to the point of incomprehensibility, and…

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