IP: Markoff is God (or maybe Will Wright is)

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 21:53:38 -0700
> From: Rob Glaser <robg () real com>
> Subject: Markoff is God (or maybe Will Wright is)
>
> What a cool story.
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/04/circuits/articles/27sims.html
>
> -----
> Something Is Killing the Sims, and It's No
>           Accident
>
>
>           A Game Designer Secretly Releases a Virus That Plays
>           Havoc With His Own Game, for Fun
>
>           By JOHN MARKOFF
>
>             Imagine a computer game in which you follow all the rules, but
> your
>              characters still die, because someone has introduced a virus
> into the
>           game. Not only that, but the person who invented the game is 
> the one
>           who is distributing the virus.
>
>           Exactly that is happening with
>           Sims, the most recent creation
>           of Will Wright, the Sim City
>           game designer. When Sims
>           was introduced earlier this
>           year it immediately became a
>           best seller. Mr. Wright's earlier
>           games had focused on
>           planning cities and then
>           watching them come to life --
>           and frequently run amok.
>
>           Sims operates on another
>           scale. It zooms in on the
>           people, allowing players to
>           create individual characters,
>           build families, furnish their
>           homes and watch over a
>           dollhouselike suburban world
>           on a PC. Only this time Mr.
>           Wright, who co-founded the
>           design company Maxis,
>           secretly decided to push the
>           interactivity and realism of the
>           game one step further. Soon
>           after the game was released,
>           the Sims Web site began
>           offering components intended
>           to enhance the homes of Sims.
>           Party balloons, plants, a pet
>           guinea pig, a moose head to
>           hang on the wall, a cuckoo
>           clock, wall lights and slot
>           machines could all be added to
>           the game.
>
>        <snip>