Sometimes I think about the tribal villages of Civilization. They are just so friendly. All they ask is that I visit and take their gift and all I do is kill them.

When my unit enters the village, the village dies. Interaction with my civilization ends theirs.

How did I kill them? Did I bring the smallpox of the Spanish? Did I bring the weapons of the United States? Did I bring a Bible to the Andamans?

If I did not do it, someone else would. It might be a few hundred or even a few thousand years, but it would happen anyway.

I know that excuse to be false. Every year of existence matters. To deny a people every second they can get is unthinkable.

And yet, I want their secrets and their relics and their people and their gold. I want what I can take. Civilization is a brutal game and I want the edge they give me.

There’s quite a bit of honesty in Civilization asking you to eliminate native people for your material advantage and quite a bit of humor in presenting them as happy to see this happen. It’s a very apt name.