- Life Imitating Computer Games? (Oh I Hope Not)

Battlefield 3 is very nearly a perfect computer game for gun guys. There are hundreds of different weapons, each in different calibers, and with dozens of attachments, scopes, and other features available. Each attachment offers both an advantage and disadvantage. A suppressor for example will prevent you from showing up on the player map when you fire but will cause greater bullet drop at long range. A heavy barrel means better aimed accuracy but greater weight. It goes on and on like that.

Plus all the people you play against are other humans. I can't tell you how satisfying it is to have their sniper on that side of the ridge shooting at you while you're shooting at him from this side. Well... when you hit him it's satisfying. And I've gotten pretty good at that. But in truth, I'm really just an average player. I have too much going on in my life to be really good at computer games. Real dedication to them can take hundreds of hours.

Take this mildly frightening example. A man has played the classic Game "Civilization 2" for ten years. The game was extremely well regarded for it's complexity and similarity to the realpolitik world of global interaction. And the fact that he's played the game steadily for 10 years has allowed him to take the game far into the future. This says terrifying things both about him and civilization as well:

The year is 3991 A.D. Multiple nuclear wars have decimated the planet, melting ice caps and leaving the world useless for farming. The only land left for the three remaining superpowers to lord over are mountain tops. Those superpowers — the Celts, Vikings and Americans — have been waging war for 1,700 in-game years. And it doesn't look to be ending anytime soon.

"Peace seems to be impossible," writes Lycerius. "Every time a cease fire is signed, the Vikings will surprise attack me [he plays as the Celts] or the Americans the very next turn, often with nuclear weapons - even when the U.N forces a peace treaty. So I can only assume that peace will come only when they're wiped out. It is this that perpetuates the war ad infinitum."

Roughly 90 percent of the world's population is dead in the game, due to famine and nuclear fallout. It's not a pretty picture, though it is a totally fascinating one. But it gives rise to one big question: Who the heck would play a single game for nearly 10 years?

Maybe the Derb was right about his eternal pessimism on the future of mankind. Or maybe this guy is just nuts and needs to get out of the house a little.