Man plays Civilization II for 10 years

So what happens when you play the same game for 10 years straight?

More specifically, what happens when that game is all about the evolution of the world, including building new cities, managing empires, and making the most of new technologies.

One player, who goes by the online handle Lycerius, has been playing the game for 10 years. Yes, it’s one of those games that really has no final end point so it can be played ad infinitum.

In his game, the year is now 3991, and there is no end to what has become a 1700-year war. Here’s partially how he describes what the virtual world has become.

He says that the ice caps have melted 20 times over due to the constant nuclear wars, which has led to massive amounts of swamp land.

“As a result, big cities are a thing of the distant past. Roughly 90% of the worlds population (at it’s peak 2000 years ago) has died either from nuclear annihilation or famine caused by the global warming that has left absolutely zero arable land to farm.

“Engineers (late game worker units) are always busy continuously building roads so that new armies can reach the front lines. Roads that are destroyed the very next turn when the enemy goes. So there isn’t any time to clear swamps or clean up the nuclear fallout,” he wrote.

Only three what he called “super massive nations” are left standing, with every other nation having been conquered and assimilated into the three remaining.

As for the state of government – “The only governments left are two theocracies and myself, a communist state. I wanted to stay a democracy, but the Senate would always over-rule me when I wanted to declare war.”

Is this what we can expect nearly 2000 years from now? Read his entire analysis here.