02-25-2004, 12:03 AM
Electronic Arts is a horrible, horrible company these days.
It makes me genuinely sad, because when I first got into computer games (1983), they were the paragons of artistic excellence. They pioneered creator/programmer co-ops, treating them as artists and superstars; the ads and the game materials featured the creators as if they were avant garde philosophers or famous authors.
Some of the notable games of that era:
MULE introduced economic symbiosis into multi-player gaming, and is still an excellent basic-economy simulator and one of the best party games of all time.
Archon turned chess into a mixture of strategy and arcade experience with a high fantasy spin. Its AI was quite vicious.
Seven Cities of Gold invoked questions of morality, racism, and the meaning of power - if you *can* slaughter people, and make more gold than if you befriend them, then *should* you? This game had a huge effect on my psyche as a teenager.
Adventure Construction Set, despite being a sloppy kludge, gave you the power to create your own immense graphic RPGs. You could even compile them to load on computers for your friends that didn't have ACS.
And now ... ?
:(
It makes me genuinely sad, because when I first got into computer games (1983), they were the paragons of artistic excellence. They pioneered creator/programmer co-ops, treating them as artists and superstars; the ads and the game materials featured the creators as if they were avant garde philosophers or famous authors.
Some of the notable games of that era:
MULE introduced economic symbiosis into multi-player gaming, and is still an excellent basic-economy simulator and one of the best party games of all time.
Archon turned chess into a mixture of strategy and arcade experience with a high fantasy spin. Its AI was quite vicious.
Seven Cities of Gold invoked questions of morality, racism, and the meaning of power - if you *can* slaughter people, and make more gold than if you befriend them, then *should* you? This game had a huge effect on my psyche as a teenager.
Adventure Construction Set, despite being a sloppy kludge, gave you the power to create your own immense graphic RPGs. You could even compile them to load on computers for your friends that didn't have ACS.
And now ... ?
:(