Sid Meier Wants to Friend You

CNN has a long story about Sid Meier's upcoming Civilization game for Facebook. The social gaming version of Civ, dubbed Civilization World (or CivWorld), has been rumored at least since 2009, and Meier posted a more detailed note about it last January. The game went into closed alpha-testing shortly thereafter, and remains in that state today. Sid had this to say about the game:

I’m having a really fun time hands-on designing and programming Civ World along with our terrific team at Firaxis. In the coming months, we'll be posting a series of gameplay updates here on the fan page detailing parts of the game. Today I’d like to talk a little bit about the organization of the game to tide you over until that time comes. 

Civ World games will have a well-defined beginning and end, each ending with a triumphant civilization and one person recognized as that game’s most prestigious player. Along the way, as you progress through the different eras of time, you'll have the chance to win era victories as well. We want players to have both a final goal to work towards, as well as short-term objectives to achieve as they play. The trophies you unlock with your triumphs will carry over from game to game, and you can show them off in your throne room.

A social game with a beginning and an end? As if. Social games need to go on and on and on forever, preferably while selling people imaginary coins and annoying as many friends as possible. This Sid Meier guy doesn't know a thing about how to design quality games, like FarmVille.