Conspiracy theorists and doomsday-goers can feel a bit better today -- or worse, depending on how you look at it. Screenshots and videos have spread through the Internet like wildfire these past few days, of a 10-year long Civilization 2 game, and the result does not look pretty. Thanks to one brave and very patient player, we now know that the future may consist of computer AI locked in a 1,700-year long war, and nuclear wasteland as far as the eye can see.

While the game itself is programmed to stop at the year 2020, players are able to continue their campaigns for as long as they like, allowing for this incredible play-through. Civilization creator Sid Meier has even taken notice, responding, "I can't believe anyone has been playing "Civ II" for that long!" In an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, he professed his excitement, as well as hope for future Civilization titles to receive the same treatment.

"It's been more than 15 years since we released that game, and I don't think any of us expected a decade-long game would come out of it. It would be amazing if we could come back in 2025 and find out if someone's had a 10-year game of 'Civ V' going."

Meier set the benchmark for forward-thinking and boundary-pushing PC gameplay in 1987 with Sid Meier's Pirates!, a ground-breaking open world game set in the 17th century. Since then, his Civilization series has unlocked a generation of inspiration and a wealth of potential in the area of video games, most recently with Civilization V, which earlier this year announced some exciting new DLC.

With the Internet being saturated with forced "viral" media, it's refreshing to see a project that pre-dates most of it -- especially with such an awesome game. Ranters, would you have the patience to undertake a project like this? How curious are you to see what happens after 10 years of Civilization V.

You can find the original document and imagery here.

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Source: Yahoo! (AP wire)