Playing God

Will Wright, the creator of The Sims, has turned the story of evolution into one of the most ambitious computer games in history: Spore.

If you think about it, who would want to play a game that has no winner and no ending?

You can judge Will Wright for many things, but you can’t fault the man’s ability to design top-selling video games. In fact, The Sims is the best-selling video game in history. The graphics are mediocre, at best—but, the idea is radical, fresh, and most of all impossible. That’s exactly why game designers consider him a living god. And now, he wants to make you a god too.

Wright’s newest game is titled Spore (Doesn’t sound like much, does it?). At the beginning of the game, a comet crashes into the earth carrying organic material from outer space—this comet, as the game implies, bought life to earth.

Now, your job is to cattle this life form through its single-celled stage until it’s ready to crawl onto land. At this point, you get to decide where the eyes, the ears, the limbs, and the other appendages will be placed on your character—Let your imagination take control! After that, your creature learns to eat, reproduce, and eventually, communicate with other creature tribes. For the finale, you get to travel to outer space to meet other sentient beings.

My comment: you can't turn the story of evolution into a video game without wrestling some serious questions. Wright should be careful in treading the line between ‘great game’ and ‘religious blasphemy’... Right now, I'm thinking... great game!