The Empire architect

Sid was born in Canada in 1954 to a Swiss father and a Dutch mother. He grew up in a household where order, precision, and history were valued.

He often credits his parents for an environment that encouraged curiosity, but logic was the tool used to explore it. He was never a child who
would just play with his trains or soldier toys.

He was obsessed with learning all
he could about rules, systems,
and the history of the world. 

Curious about how everything
in the world worked.

Sid started attending the University of Michigan, and he chose subjects that would give the most information on how the world operated, moved, and grew. He chose history, computer science,
and humanities. 

He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in computer science and bought his first Atari 800 a few years later. It was then that Sid realized that he could combine his love for history and rules and create something entertaining. 

Sid taught himself how to program on the Atari as a hobby, and soon after, he was already trying to build games. In 1982, while on a trip to Las Vegas, Sid was playing a flight combat arcade game with
a co-worker and former Air Force pilot, Bill Stealey, and he kept winning. 

Bill got frustrated and asked him how he was doing it. Sid had already figured out the enemy’s moves in just a few minutes of playing the game.

He was analysing the code while learning how it all worked. He also told Bill that he could write a game better than that in a week.

Will Wright released SimCity in 1989, and it was
a revelation for Sid. He saw that players wanted more than just blow-up things. They wanted to build, be creative, and manage complex systems. That was exactly what he wanted to program!
In 1990, he created Railroad Tycoon. 

It introduced to the players all kinds of new things. The new “God” view of the map, map expansion,
and resource management. Sid was the creator of
the “Tycoon” type of games. 

After the trains and railroads, Sid wanted to create something bigger. He shared at the time that his intention was to make a game about “everything.”
He was ready to create his best and most famous game, Sid Meier’s Civilization. 

Unfortunately, Bill was not really on board with it. He thought people wouldn’t buy a boring game about history and settlers.

But Sid still created the game using a very small team. With real history and real historical leaders of each country. Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, and Harriet Tubman were just a few of them. People loved it right away.

Civilization was able to define the 4X genre. Explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate. It also introduced brand new concepts that are now regular standards in
the industry. 

As an example, the “One more turn” gameplay loop. Because several tasks were in progress, like learning pottery, building a library, or exploring, and they all ended at different times, the player thinks that it is best to wait a little more for something to finish, and there goes 3 hours.

This took strategy games from boring simulations to addictive “just five more minutes” experiences. The game also introduced the cool Civilopedia, where players could learn real history
and better navigate the game.

The game pushed players to play with more brains than brawn. Pushed them to play with intelligence, planning, and strategy instead of just killing all in sight. Sid Meier introduced the idea that you could “win” the game through diplomacy, culture, or science.

In the game, you were not playing against random characters. You were playing against Napoleon along with other historical leaders.

There was a hilarious glitch in the game known as “The Nuclear Gandhi Paradox,” where the character that usually would have his aggression rating at 1 would rise to 12 and start sending nukes to everyone. Fun times.

Some of the reasons Civilization is still a fan favorite after 30 years are because of the cocktail Sid put in the game. The one more turn, where all seems to be done in just a few minutes. We know how important it is to learn fire or to read, so yes, we will wait.

It is also how we can decide what our humans will be. Will your people be peaceful philosophers or fierce conquerors?

The game is low-stress as well because you do not have to race anyone. You can just relax and enjoy it. Seeing your little settlement evolve and grow is
very satisfactory, and we believe that Civilization
will be around for many more years! 

Writing this article made us want to go and donate a few more hours to Civilization! Did you know that a new version came out in 2025? Give it a try and become the next world leader! Will you succeed through wits or blood? 

If you are curious about more iconic figures of
gaming history, 
click here
to learn about Carol Shaw,
the first lady of video games!