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#73 IT'S ALL A GAME DomK wants to see Apolyton OT as more of a game, not a life. #74 UNSOLICITED ADVICE FROM EMILY "POST" DaveV sugests a few things that should be self-evident #75 WE ARE NOT THE WORLD Simon de Vet warns about taking Internet polls as absolute indicators. #76 MY JOURNEY AS A GAMER Martin pours his heart out over his affection for Civ. #77 A CIVILIZATION 3 CHALLENGE Connorkimbro sets up a challenge for Firaxis. COLUMN ARCHIVE

I fear that I hear the term "Y2K" used in a sentence one more time that I am going to kick the person who said it into yesteryear so they don't have to contemplate such things and save my sanity. Am I questioning the importance of Y2K? No, of course it is important. It marks two thousand years since the birth of Jesus Christ. It marks one thousand years since Europeans first landed in North America, and the last one hundred years in which mankind has learned, built, and done more than it has done since its humble beginnings. All I'm saying is that there are other things to focus on now --- brighter things --- such as what the year 2000 and beyond will mean for computer gaming. I will examine this in terms of what has become to be known as the five "W's" of English writing (*squirm at the allusion to English class*).

Who will game will change as the next generation of youngsters grace the Earth -- they will have to fight with their Echo generation parents for control of the family PC, or network of PCs as the case may be. We are seeing a little bit of this now with Generation X'ers and their children: it is a window into the future. I mean, who can honestly admit that they are not the least bit intrigued at the possibility of being supreme dictator over a civilization made up of digital minions? Oh wait, I mean President... yeah, that's it.
Facing the possibility of having to take care of themselves into retirement as opposed to Uncle Sam, the Queen or whoever, Baby Boomers of both sexes are acquiring financial savvy. They too will need something to do on those cold, rainy nights. Ignoring the obvious, playing a computer game comes to mind. Right... right...!?

As for what we will be gaming, well, your guess is a good as mine. According to the November 1999 edition of PCGamer, Strategy (yeah!) and Action are the most popular genres, coming in at #1 and #2 respectively. In a distant third is Sports, fourth is RPG and so on and so forth. Given gaming popularity trends over the past decade, this is perhaps to stay roughly the same for the foreseeable future. The bigger question is what gaming TITLES will don our computer shelves and reside on our hard drives. Let's look at the numero uno category more closely, for instance.
Strategy can be broken down into Real-Time (RTS) and Turn-Based (TBS). RTS vs. TBS = Age of Kings vs. Alpha Centauri, for sake of argument. Will one crush the other, or will they be complementary? Only time will tell.

There is no place like home we say, so it should come as no surprise that I state that one's place of residence is where most of our gaming will take place, closely followed by our placements of employ--- *cough**cough*, 'erm never mind that. A friend's house should continue to be fertile territory, although is not as critical since the Internet hit the mainstream a few years ago and demo versions of commercial products became more readily accessible and desirable. It's still fun to bug the relatives though.

Next on the list is when will we game (that's a dangerous question if I ever heard one). We'll be gaming at: 11 o'clock at night, 4 in the morning, the day before an exam, and in the middle of a thunderstorm if we're crazed enough. You can try to plan ahead as to when you can and are going to set aside time for this recreational activity, but more often than not it is a spur of the moment thing. Cable out? Go for the games. Homework done? Go for the games. Hotter outside than the babes of Baywatch or colder than the breeze of an Arctic wind? Go for the games.

Last but not least, we come to how we will game in the future. Whew. There are so many variables to examine that it is nearly impossible to isolate them all let alone make predictions on them, so I will just mention a couple of the more pressing ones. One of the issues that is on the forefront of gaming is what platform will our games be delivered on; this goes for our software in general, in fact. Microsoft's Windows, unquestionably, has a sharp lead over the competition at the present time. Linus Torvalds' Linux is slowly but surely creeping up the later, and the once beleaguered Mac platform is soaring with Steve Jobs at the helm. My answer to this concern is that there will be a mix of games for all three of these platforms down the road and to rule out anyone just yet would be a grave oversight. Secondly, will multiplayer break the single player's back?

In closing, while you're preparing for the worst and hoping for the best as Y2K approaches, don't forget to pack the games amidst the flashlights, spare batteries and canned goods. If desperate times call for desperate measures, you can always burn the cardboard box and manual for heat.

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About the author: Dan, co-owner/webmaster of Apolyton Civilization Site, has been a webmaster within the online gaming community since August, 1996. He is in his fifth and final year of high school in Ontario, Canada.

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