#oneaday Day 1138: Memoir!

I finished reading Sid Meier's Memoir! recently — it was another great autobiography from an established name in the games industry, and like Howard Scott Warshaw's book Once Upon Atari, provided some interesting insight into how Meier put his games together and his overall philosophy behind them.

Meier has always been an interesting figure to me, because he's done so many different things over the years — and Memoir! makes it clear why. He's always looking for something new and interesting to do with gaming, at least partly to see whether or not it's possible — and over the years he's learned a lot of helpful lessons.

One of the most important rules he figured out quite early on was what he describes as the "Covert Action Rule", which essentially boils down to not trying to do too much in one game. I really like Covert Action, but Meier was deeply dissatisfied with it, believing that none of its disparate gameplay elements were quite up to his own exacting standards, with the result, to him, feeling like a bit of a disjointed mess. I see his point, but I still like the game — that said, following his Covert Action Rule ever since has led him to develop some magnificent games, so I'd say he probably knows best.

I was particularly interested to read about the early days of MicroProse, who were a software company that I grew up with. It was fascinating to hear the tales of Meier and "Wild" Bill Stealey establishing the company, and how it evolved over time to such a degree that Meier ended up giving up his part-ownership but continuing to work there. It was also noteworthy to read that although Meier was particularly well-known for his pioneering flight sims in the early days of home computer games, he wasn't especially fond of them, and certainly has never felt a desire to return to that field.

Mostly, though, it was a very good read. Meier is a great storyteller — though in a markedly different style to Warshaw — and he has plenty of interesting tales to tell from over the years. So if you're at all interested in this particular bit of gaming history — as the creator of Civilization and a pioneer in the strategy game space in general, Meier's kind of a big deal — I can highly recommend Memoir!