posted 03-02-99 10:18 AM ET     

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When I first brought SMAC home (Feb. 15th) my 11 year old son only looked at it with passing interest. He is much more into arcade style games (first person shooters, Star Wars, N64 and such). In my office at home, my son's computer is next to mine. Anyway, while I was playing my sixth straight day of SMAC, my son was playing one of his "kiddie" games (Tomb Raider III). He kept glancing over to watch as I played. Well eventually he started asking questions about what I was doing (He had never shown that kind of interest when I played CIV-II. . .must be the sci-fi). As I explained he started to ask questions about terraforming, why there are factions in ideology, social engineering, etc., etc., etc. As you might guess he became so interested he asked me to install it on his computer so he could try it. He played the starting level as a Believer and won (global conquest) on his first try (did I forget to mention he was in an accelerated program at school). Needless to say since he has been playing (on harder levels now) he has had an interest in discussing with me current events as they might relate to possible scenarios and technology posed in SMAC. I see this as being a more positive computer game than the ones he has been playing in the past. He even changed his wallpaper on his computer from Lara Croft to Diedra Skye! And, the best thing of all he has stopped bugging me about getting Half Life. (I wasn't going to anyway, didn't think it was appropriate for his age).

Hey Brian and Sid, got any ideas for Fischer Price. I have a 15 month old! :-)