Among fans of the Civilization computer game series, Sid Meier is something of a hero. This weekend, he spoke via satellite to attendees at the International Business School's "Get Civilized" symposium and revealed a bit about the vision behind what is widely hailed as one of the best computer games ever made.Unlike Meier, Jeff Briggs, founder and president of Firaxis, the company responsible for the Civilization game franchise, appeared in the flesh. Other prominent visitors were Firaxis Chairman of the Board Jonathan Plutzik '76, global entrepreneur Leonard Asper '86 and Walter Mossberg '69, a leading technology columnist for the Wall Street Journal.

The event took place Friday and Saturday to celebrate several happenings within the institution, including the third annual Asper Forum for Global Entrepreneurship, the dedication of the Asper Center for Global Entrepreneurship and the honoring of Firaxis Games with the 2006 Asper Award for Global Entrepreneurship.

The symposium began with a short speech by Peter A. Petri, Dean of IBS. He was followed by Asper, who, as the president of Canada's largest communications company CanWest, has not only funded the new Center for Global Entrepreneurship but has also played a vital role in its creation and vision. He expressed commitment on his behalf and for other alumni to maintain Brandeis' reputation as a top business school via the expansion of entrepreneurial studies.

Next up was Briggs, who in partnership with Meier, is largely credited with the creation of the "God Game" genre, in which the player directly controls manipulation of a microcosm, including the award-winning Civilization series. Briggs spoke of the game's history and Firaxis' unique, community-oriented business model that has made the company so successful, which includes mantras such as "Never compromise on fun or quality" and "Use profits to invest in employees."

The symposium concluded with a discussion panel moderated by Mossberg and involving the Firaxis members, who discussed business and its application in the game industry. The audience was impressed; attendee Alex Toplansky '07 described the event as "an important transition ... Brandeis [has] always been on the cutting edge, and the acceptance of games as a cultural phenomenon marks an important step in [the school's] progression."

Afterward, attendees were invited to participate in a hands-on Civilization 4 training session, and to participate in a tournament Saturday to see who at Brandeis is truly the most civilized.