Our school's library has a strict "No Games" policy, but after reading that Daily Victim from a few months ago I couldn't go there without jonesin' for some Civ action. You know, nice quiet room... The musty smell of books... Secluded computer in the corner ... Man, I just wanted to play Civ!

A couple weeks ago, it was just too much for me. I came in, tossed my bookbag on the ground, and looked around. Nobody was watching. I slipped the CD-Rom out of my bag and quietly slid it into the drive. I was worried about how much noise the drive was making, so to try to be casual I opened up a couple of library computer programming books in front of me and pretended to read. It installed ... and installed. Then it was done.

I was so excited to start a game that I didn't really check around to see if anyone was looking. I double-clicked the icon and fired it up, making sure that the volume was turned down before I started. 'This is gonna be GREAT!' I thought. But then, as it was loading, a shadow fell across the screen from behind me.

I turned to find the school librarian looming over my shoulder, scowling. "What are you up to?" she asked. Before I could reply, the splash screen appeared on the monitor. In giant letters, it proclaimed: "SID MEIER'S CIVILIZATION!"

The two of us stared at the screen, she with stern indignation and me with a growing panic. Then I pointed to the screen and stammered:

"My name's Sid Meier, and this is my Senior Class computer project."

I held up my programming books to seal the deal, and her expression melted away. "Oh! That looks wonderful," she said. "You keep up the good work, Sid."

Yessir, I dodged a bullet. Well, I think I dodged a bullet. The Librarian calls me "Sid" every time I come in and asks me to help with her computer all the time. So of course, I had to sign for my Library card with Sid Meier's name. That meant that my friend in the school's print shop had to fake a Sid Meier student ID for me. I just got a copy of the schedule for the Fall semester, and I see that Sid Meier was enrolled in several classes by the school's computer system.

This may all come back and bite me on the ass.... but for the time being, I can keep playing Civ. God bless America.

[Daily Victim idea submitted by GameSpy Reader Jim Greenman. Nice one, Jim!]