The meaning of an old mod for an old BASIC game

[grimjim]

Back in the 1980s, I got my hands on the source code for a crude US Civil War sim in BASIC. ( The game is briefly mentioned in passing here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_mainframe_games ) It bugged me that one could only play the Confederacy, so I modded a version on the PC platform so one could play the Union. As an indication of how crude the simulation was, after winning enough battles, the Union achieved negative inflation and was loaded with cash for every battle.

Looking back, it hits a bit different now, that initial design bias toward playing only one side.

Comments

[sabotabby]

Holy shit. I shouldn't be amazed that such a thing exists, but I am slightly amazed that such a thing exists.

[grimjim]

Someone else apparently modded a two-player version of the game, but I never saw it. Apparently it all originated in 1968 as a game on mainframe computers.

Another thing which would hit different today would be rewatching The Dukes of Hazzard prime time television show, with a car named "General Lee" with a Confederate flag on the roof.