A Review of Sid Meier's Memoir! by Sid Meiers

In today's video game industry, the main players seem to be Publishers or CEOs over the designers. This Wikipedia List of Game Designers (interestingly a list that has omitted Sid Meiers himself) specifically highlights the "unsung" nature most game designers have been relegated to. It is interesting to keep this in mind when considering how impactful Sid Meiers game philosophy and name has been upon the industry and our personal relationships with Games themselves.

This book was released with little to no fanfare, or at least I heard nothing about it until a few days after its publication. If anything, I think this leads to a better experience with a work of content; the book does not try to be anything it is not, it is happy being a playful collection of memories from a prominent figure in the video game industry.

The book follows a rough chronology tied to the release years of all of Meier's major game releases, easily listed at the start of each chapter and in the author's gameography at the back of the book. Though the narrative of the book sometimes jumps in reflection or projection, it still reads as a memoir first and the general notion of "from then until now" is present throughout the book. This does not mean, however, that the book takes its time building momentum. The Introduction alone is enough to pique even the more tepid curiosities and although the chapters are moderately short and narrow in scope, Meier employs a fair share of tactics to keep the pages turning (minor spoiler: yes, there are achievements).

I, like many others, have been a fan of the Civilization series for almost as long as I can remember, but it is really only from this point of interactivity that I was ever able to conceptualize some sort of 'mythos' behind the fabled name. Meier is an old-school style nerd. His computer programming days beginning in the dawn of the 1980s, with a few published games predating the decade, and his mindset is one and the same. He possesses the same calm of a computer-friendly mind that still never felt the need to get sucked down the social media path. His wit, deep understandings of complex topics and even humour are not only in high supply but are sprinkled throughout the narrative with the nimble touch of an artist rather than a programmer. In fact, much of the inspiration gleaned from this book came from the simplicity of the prose that housed so much of Meier's game design philosophy, computing know-how, and enjoyable storytelling.

The famous Meier lessons can be found throughout:

That last quote, being perhaps the most famous utterance attributed to Sid himself, is discussed in further detail in the book, so for those of you rolling your eyes at this certain iteration of it can rest easy (sidenote for those interested: the true origin of the Gandhi-Nuclear Missile bug is also revealed for what very well may be the first time).

Meier's mastery, and consequential comfort, with notions of game design and programming, are quite a throwback from the days of "work-heavy" computing: if you wanted something done, you could have the tools and power to go ahead and do it yourself. These whisperings of a bygone era are almost refreshing given our contemporary relationship to technology, a frustration Meier seems to share himself. That said, he only addresses these issues in passing with a simple lamentation:

"Sometimes I think we'd be better off going back to a time when communication took at least a minimal amount of investment."(Page 80)

Meier is not a very analogue person, but he does allow for ample involvement of non-automated thinking. This strikes me as a healthy view of technological implementations, as well as limitations, within our society. Even this blogpost itself utilises raw html written out manually, and I do not think that detracts from the utilisation of this platform. Meier, very much a product of his time, is optimistic for our leveraging of technology but never leans towards a utopic view. He is willing to think long-term when projecting for the future, as illustrated by what I think might be the most comforting notion mentioned in the book:

"Someday, if we're lucky, an entirely new industry will steal from us [video game developers]" (Page 195)

The book is lite on ardent pontificating, but heavy in "notions to ponder". A game designer through and through, Meier allows this book to be a springboard, rather than a platform, to cultivate ideas of intellectual property ownership, technological reliance, the 'apolitical fallacy', the development of the Internet, and even ideas of 'trying must predate doing'.

To sum up, this book encapsulates the very essence of strategy games as only Sid Meier himself could do so: simple upon any cursory glance, but incredibly in-depth upon first engagement. Though hardback is not my preferred style for books like this, the wisdom of Meier is just as enjoyable to listen to as it is to have listened to it. This surprise publication would make a great gift for any gamer or fan of computers under the age of 60.