I love playing computer strategy games and will sometimes spend my “reading time” on them when I’m not in the mood to pick up another book or watch TV. My favorite is the Civilizations series. I like Civilizations because it’s one of those games where you basically start from scratch and build everything up. It’s a long game though for that reason.
One of my son’s favorites is Black & White but it took him a while to get me hooked on it. I think that was probably because it has a rather strange twist from the other games I’m used to. You see in B&W, you’re the all-powerful god of the world of the game instead of simply the governor or ruler. You even get a creature to raise and nurture and do your bidding, at least in the later versions. The really big twist is that your actions determine whether you and your creature are seen as good or evil. Seriously, the appearance of both the creature and of your hand (the cursor) change according to your alignment towards either.
So, here I am recently, playing along and doing my normal do-gooder stuff, or so I thought, helping my villagers build their cities, construct their wonders, etc. etc. when I suddenly notice that my hand has changed from nice looking to basically a claw. What the . . . ?
Now, I’m not completely sure but I think I got a little too carried away fighting. They attacked first, so, now I’m evil just for defending myself? Oh, well, rubbing my hands in glee. Let’s see just how evil I can be.
Well, maybe not. I tend towards plodding along building things too much to stay evil for long. OTOH, the occasional burst of mayhem keeps things interesting.
In the game. Sheesh. It’s fantasy, people. ;p
I play Civ all the time! Gonna have to give B & W a try sometime!