The Oregon Trail (Apple II): Fact or Fiction? - Gaming Historian

[@GamingHistorian]

Hi all! I'm glad everyone is enjoying the video. I know it is different than my usual stuff, but sometimes you gotta switch things up, ya know? I love playing games based on history, so it is fun to talk about them.

[@DeliciousHotShmoze]

You are pretty sly to turn a gaming video into a history lesson. Well played.

[@GH_EmotionalGuy]

Can you a history on a namco character named Klonoa?

[@DeliciousHotShmoze]

matt fahringer I meant American history.

[@NecesaryEvil]

Oregon Trail & Mario Teaches Typing were the best part of my day at grade school

[@walmartcartpusher]

When I was a Freshmen in college, they still had an Apple IIe in the computer lab...for the expressed purpose of playing The Oregon Trail :-) It was part of the American History 101 course :-3

[@joshn2564]

I consider Oregon Trail to be the first Survival Horror Game.

[@RhythmGrizz]

Norm said himself in a previous video that he considers 3D Monster Maze to be the first Survival Horror game

[@Thebossstage1]

@@RhythmGrizz Completly missing his point

[@JessieProductions]

Josh N I thought that was Tunnel Runner

[@loganwoolverton7329]

1st survival game

[@chrismc410]

I say Shadowgate is more worthy of that title. Millions of ways to die, including suicide.

[@Morgil27]

Every video I've seen online about Oregon Trail never looked like the version I remember playing in school as a kid. This is the first time I've seen footage that matches what I remember. So it was Apple II, huh? When I was a kid, no one in my class knew the name of the machine; we just called it "the computer".

[@fnjesusfreak]

+Morgil There was in fact a PC port of this as well.

[@DustinRodriguez1_0]

The machines we played on, which looked just like that "Apple II" version as far as I remember, had a Franklin brand name on them I know.

[@fnjesusfreak]

Dustin Rodriguez That makes some sense; the Franklin computers were Apple ][-compatible.

[@JakeTaco83]

Morgil I remember it being an Apple computer, but that's about it. had to have been around 1990 for me.

[@nathenhutchison6182]

I played this game a ton as a kid on the Apple IIe, and this is exactly what it looked like. It's what I always think of when I think of Oregon Trail. Another game that I played a ton was Odell Lake. Both of them were supposed to be educational, and I learned absolutely nothing from either one of them despite spending hours and hours playing them.

[@AttractionSpot]

This and Number Munchers was my childhood in elemenrty school. Ahh the simpler times.

[@erichquinones598]

and carmen sandiego

[@WebVManReturns]

And Word Munchers.

[@iwanaGoFast2010]

Number muncher was a bunch of ASSSSSSS

[@f2pscaper4lyfe93]

Mine was this and this one game where you're playing some dude throwing snowballs at penguins and polar bears. I think?

[@riograul2043]

Where in Time is Carmen San Diego, ECCO the Dolphin, ODell Down Under

[@leokrupp4442]

Here lies buttmunch "What would you like on the tombstone?" pepperoni and cheese.

[@mwolkove]

There's an Oregon Trail card game now. I played it with some friends a few months ago. The first card i drew was "you've died of dysentery"😒

[@redaknight]

I own it but haven’t played it lol

[@JilmM7936]

"The three of us are working on this game called 'Oregon Trail'." "Can I help out?" "Do you own a jean jacket?" "No." "Sorry, you can't help then."

[@deepspacenibby]

Omg good catch hahahahaa

[@ccricers]

Now THIS is the Oregon Trail I remember from my childhood. I have seen many other videos out there with versions on PC with upgraded graphics and sound, but it doesn't hit the spot like this one does.

[@FLonYT326]

Play it on scullinsteel.com

[@Ozbrithian]

I remember our class being banned from playing this game because someone kept leaving graves with epitaphs like "____ is gay" and swear words. No it wasn't me but I find it more hilarious now than I would have then XD.

[@trifecta9810]

that's hilarious.

[@jdavis234]

This post is gay. RIP

[@SamtheBravesFan]

I bet whomever it was got a swirly from others for ruining computer time for everyone. :P

[@scorchx3000]

We didn't have the Oregon trail at my school, UK schools had little interest in the history of the states but similar jokes would be played on the games on the PCs and micro computers. One game on the old BBC electron was called museum, a simple text adventure, you search the museum for a stolen artefact and avoid the ghost which could be defeated with holy water. Problem was, you could write your own adventure with the game and someone made a game where the ghost was called a naked nymphomaniac and you get rid of it with a vibrator. The staff were not amused.

[@gaoutlaw]

I died of dysentery while watching this.

[@max.vtk_]

Sigh.......... But you commented

[@SuperCartoonist]

Then that must mean that they are a ghost then! O_o

[@max.vtk_]

***** Oh snap

[@cranelane2882]

R.I.P

[@YouLikeDiz]

I died of dysentery reading this comment. (Metaburn)

[@NeptuneatDawn]

Loved this game. The real challenge was seeing if you could kill off your entire party before the first river.

[@l1uchill]

One of my favorite activities was going to the computer lab and playing interactive learning games and Oregon Trail. It was always so fun and exciting! This was a blast from the past! As always awesome content!

[@cbsabhwhejejdjdvkxnzebnekx4767]

I remember playing Oregon Trail on Apple II and DOS. Its been a treat going to computer class learning BASIC and playing Oregon Trail in 1993 in 7th Grade.

[@tribaltroll]

I grew up in Oregon and we used to beg our teacher to let us stay in during recess and play Oregon Trail on the Apple II. Everyone loved it.

[@ConnerTheWaffle]

I'm getting flashbacks to the 3rd grade!

[@LivingPaperLol]

ConnerTheWaffle zukk

[@theurbanloner8879]

Lol exactly !

[@rippetoe38]

4th and 5th grade for me.

[@LessTh3nThree]

That's so strange, I just finished watching your new video before I clicked on this brother 😂😂😂

[@nebulouscat5477]

Hi there!

[@jbailey598]

Your videos hit home and resonate with me so much. I remember playing this game in elementary school.

[@stuffingtonjfluffypantsiii]

I've got an "You have died of dystentary" shirt. I wear the crap out of that thing and people love the reference

[@TheFoodieCutie]

1:58 if you want to research chimney rock, the old pictures prior the time the top fell off was extremely impressive. I can see absolutely how it was a landmark. I think a lightning strike took the top off of it and although its still tall today, it was utterly amazing back then.

[@chuckycheesechucky]

Your channel is positive and soothing.

[@elviswjr]

I wish you had another channel with videos on world history! With the quality you put into your gaming history videos, I would watch the sh*t out of them!

[@Arcademan09]

Welcome to the Oregon Trail, how tough are ya?

[@HoopyFroodood]

lol

[@Sosig-0]

Arcademan09 I cured dysentery 31 times

[@mawinstallation6626]

Dude TTG! is true trash.

[@SamtheBravesFan]

How tough am I? How tough am I?! I ate a bowl of dysentery for breakfast this morning!

[@CcatVideogames]

How tough am i? HOW TOUGH AM I? I already live in Oregon

[@SimMermaid]

First I want to thank you for making such great videos for not only us game geeks, but also for those of us who also love history. Secondly Thank you so much for pronouncing my home state correctly! You wouldn't believe how many times I've heard it mispronounced in professional documentaries or just in general. This game was a staple in the classroom while growing up, though this is not the version I remember playing the most in grade school. I think it was a few versions newer, but the hunting was more of a mini game like duck hunt, and you had to aim as the animal darted across the screen and hope you hit it.

[@ericsalidbar1693]

I love this style of gaming history videos with actually works/US history. Wish it was longer

[@geraldperez2768]

I remember playing this game in the second and third grade in Tacoma WA, it WAS the best part of computer class.I sucked something awful at it. My characters always died... of dysentery! Great video

[@RedFlameFox]

Oregon Trail may just be the most popular educational game of all time, but I never heard of it.

[@CampingMIG]

Recess, lunch, gym, and computer class were the best part of school, because on those great days when class work finished early, you could spend the rest of the class playing Oregon Trail and Carmen San Diego.

[@bjmajor]

I wish I had known about this video when I covered this software in my Apple History Corner presentation for work! As usual, you did a very thorough job & it was super enjoyable. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@brillopad6901]

Man this goes back to my days when I first started Jr High, I remember them breaking out some new Apple computers and they had this game. We could only play it after whatever we were doing in class that day was done. Fun times. Those first few years of games on computers that had graphics instead of text adventures sure blew me away. My favorites ended up being the King's Quest games, have you ever done a history of those games?

[@thecrazycoder]

Nice touch injecting the soundtrack from PBS' Civil War documentary in here. :-)

[@Kohbruh]

Jonathan Thoms this guy is awesome huh?? like a young Ken burns. I love his content.

[@mtfan]

The music was also used in The Oregon Trail Deluxe Edition which was for IBM PC. It’s the version we had in my elementary and middle schools.

[@wc4201]

This is the first video game I ever played. I never beat it cuz my wagons always got washed away or I died of dysentery. Still have fond memories with this game

[@jameshetfieldserbia]

I hate it when my grass is inadequate

[@GamingHistorian]

I know...it sucks!

[@jameshetfieldserbia]

Love your show and your style of videos :) Keep making great content, and much love from Serbia :)

[@jameshetfieldserbia]

well.. let's just say I am now forced to smoke a weed that smells of cabbage :/

[@ricemenarq6230]

jameshetfieldserbia You should stop shaving down there...

[@adamhovey407]

jameshetfieldserbia got those dang snake bites too

[@Kahn4]

I played this one in my 4th grade class back in the mid 90's, lots of fun but i always loved the second one i played at home. It was more advanced, with more options and the live character animations provided a sense of reality.

[@TheRebelofGaming]

I remember playing it a bunch of times on an old Apple II that I once had along with Lode Runner, Karateka and Prince of Persia. Then an updated version back in elementary school. Surely enough there's a good clone called The Organ Trail that is kinda the same thing but you have to escape zombies and stuff.

[@TortureVisionTV]

"Oregon Trail" was great because you could spend most of your time *hunting*, which bypassed the "learning" aspect of the game entirely. It didn't matter that you could only carry "x" amount of pounds back to your wagon... you killed those wild animals for *sport*. "Waste" was immaterial. Also, it was a better alternative to "Number Crunchers" or "Math Blaster."

[@nathenhutchison6182]

Oh man, I forgot about Number Crunchers!!!

[@johnlewisbrooks]

This is also the longest running series, from 1971 to 2011. This game also sold nearly half a billion copies world wide!

[@Spyderist]

New fan here, after going deep into the archives I have to say--your work now is a lot better than when you started out. Who would've guessed?

[@Zalia13]

I remember this game so well as a kid. Although in the version I played in elementary, we didn't have the option of choosing a profession and if someone in the family died, it would show a grave with the family member's name in a small cutscene. However it was like 1996-1998 when I did play it and that was years ago for me.

[@md28stads]

These videos give me such crazy nostalgia! I used to play this is elementary school in the early 90s on an Apple II. Our school had an entire computer room of Apple II's from the 1980s that they had yet to update; and I am so grateful for that because I am obsessed with the 80s and we got to play all the 1980s games 😂

[@clemfandango3041]

I think I found you after finding the Nerd, what a contrasting style you have. Love it brother

[@brickman409]

I remember playing this on the apple ii computers in 3rd grade. I was in 3rd grade in 2003/2004. My elementary school had a really outdated computer lab, I think my grade was the last class to use the apple iis until they got new pcs the next year. I'm really glad it was like that though, or else I never would have had a chance to play an awesome game like the Oregon trail on an awesome machine like the apple ii

[@sorenunderdahl6853]

Thank you for pronouncing Oregon correctly. As an Oregonian, I am too familiar with public figures mispronouncing this game, and my state.

[@buff985]

Ahh... Ashokan Farewell. Always make me think of Ken Burns' Civil War. Great video as always Norm!

[@amandaschoen6421]

Love the Ken Burns Civil War documentary music at the end.

[@RetroR0bbie]

Yup played dos version in elementary school late 80s/early 90s. So good.

[@danzigmcnaniel5226]

“While Louis and Clarke did find a route, they mainly buggered each other in the wilderness”

[@mateoincognito8004]

“Ashoken farewell” was a nice music choice for the ending

[@RarelyReplies]

ALWAYS good stuff and entertaining. I loved forging the river and losing it all. Including Mary, she was alway sick.

[@ThePirateprincess23]

I have fond memories of playing educational games like Oregon Trail, Math Blaster, Reading Blaster, and Gizmos & Gadgets (everyone in my 6th grade class loved playing this game whenever the teacher let us play on the computers in class).

[@jtszabo1691]

I have this on a DOS that still works. I play it from time to time. This and Carmen San Diego are two games I can play over and over again and never get tired of them

[@Neighborly_Content]

He must have used a fancy machine because the original I played was only on the green screen Apple. We have two computers in the whole school that were color, one was in the resource room and the other in the principals office. So it was a treat to get to use the resource room one and play OT in color!

[@roguerifter9724]

I have fond memories of playing this in school, in fact the week we were playing this in third grade history class I was the first student to complete it. That said I prefer Oregon Trail II. It was the first version my family owned and while 3rd edition was ok I don't like it quite as much and things only went downhill from there.

[@Kohbruh]

Dude your documentary skills are level 1000. keep up the good work. if their is anything I can do to assist in a feature length film let me know. dope

[@DAcheekO]

I love seeing all these new game historian episode

[@ArtimusDragon]

fond, fond memories about playing this classic. although I never understood it's gameplay as a boy I just knew it was fun to play seeing as how I love history.

[@TearyEyesAndersonReacts]

Wow I forgot about this video. It began Noman's 9 year journey to making the "The Story of The Oregon Trail" he released just two days ago. There is also a similar documentary from 2020, "Trailheads: The Oregon Trail's Origins Documentary" by MinnMax. I like to think that the creators of the game somehow got to see the old 1867 stereoview card series "Across the Continent on the Union Pacific Railway" from about 157 years ago, and implemented the landmarks along the way, in a similar style.

[@mariabenz07]

OMG, you do not know how much I played this when I was a kid. In my grade school, they have two intersession times during each day where you can either go to the library or go the auditorium to watch a movie. I always went to the library, where on the computers had a port of Oregon Trail and Carmen Sandiego. That was my bread and butter.

[@djmicnifacent]

WOW the color version looks awesome!!!! My Elementary school only had the green and black version, still fun as heck though to go to the computer lab back then!!! Thank You Oregon Trail!!!!!

[@maiajones9765]

DJ Micnifacent my junior high had the color version fond memories as a child growing up in the 80s fond memories love this game

[@Vichedges]

We had the non-color version too. I don't know if the game wasn't in color or we just didn't have a color monitor at my school.

[@AttractionSpot]

Yes it does. Our elementry school and only the green and black version.

[@Cryotek1]

i've just stumbled across this channel.. WOW!! AWESOME. Great content!

[@GreyWolfLeaderTW]

Interesting Fact: The last song that starts playing in the video at around 4:28, "Ashokan Farewell", was used by Ken Burns as the unofficial theme of his fantastic Civil War (1990) documentary series. Ironically, the song is not from the 1860s, it was written in 1982.

[@emarskineel]

Love that violin outro. It's played in a fantastic civil war documentary series. It's beautiful and heart-breaking at the same time.

[@93corvettebaby]

That game taught a lot.History,math,computing skills.

[@chrisroberts78]

I remember playing this in school 30 some years ago

[@WorKoHolik84]

Did i already said that you channel is so freaking awesome?

[@Vampire__Squid]

I think this is my favourite Gaming Historian video, have watched about 7 times

[@klatuk4u1]

Ashokan farewell at the end there. Great choice in music~

[@erinjoy377]

Upon hearing about the late & great: “Oregon Trail”…(“I was working “very hard”…”with all of my might!”)… Even then I remembered being super determined to rescue any living thing that was experiencing any malady! This post brought me back, comforting yet kind of uncomfortable “, (memories), lol Though I thank you for sharing, (because this is really powerful and speaks volumes (TO ME)… Thank-you for posting this…

[@emgunter5962]

I loved the homage to Ken Burns' Civil War at the end there!

[@lonewulf44]

Love that Ken burns mutuality added in, nice job.

[@marvelgeek9577]

One thing Oregon Trail was accurate about, A lot of people died of Dysentery

[@Compucles]

Yep, this was the most popular game in computer lab in my elementary school, as well as the only one that forced you to switch discs halfway through the game. I was terrible at hunting though, so I was really glad to find a much more user-friendly hunting system when my family eventually got the Windows 95 version.

[@kobuseksteen411]

I recently got an Oregon trail card game from Target, it has the same art style as the Apple II version.

[@maiajones9765]

OMG I used to love this game growing up in the 80s I remember my computer class in school I was in junior high and this game was in my computer class I used to love playing it

[@cbmeeks]

+1000 Would love more 8-bit computer gaming history. Keep up the great work.

[@kuruptein]

Loved playing this in school and now it's on the switch remastered..probably other platforms as well im sure. Just played it the other night. Still holds up. Great game.

[@Kippykip]

So that's where that "Fuck Oregon: Let's Go Find El Dorado" game came from.

[@Saxcat20]

Just saying, I'm glad you came back full force on this show. I missed it when it wasn't a weekly (or bi-weekly) thing.

[@CharlesEBright]

I remember playing this game back in 1986, I was only 6 yrs old but this game got me interested in video games lol. This was the first game I ever beat and did so 4 times lol. Each level was harder lol. But my fondest memory of the computer age back in the 80's is when I wrote my first program on the Commodore 64 using the program called basic if I remember correctly when I was 7. That took like 7 months since I only had 30 mins a day lol. Great video and I just subscribed.

[@jspinac1]

Thank you Gaming Historian, The Oregon Trail is a great educational classic. In the future, could you make a documentary focusing on on Microsoft's: Age of empires Series for the PC? RTS Games Rule :)

[@josephjones1886]

OMG That song at the end is from a Civil war documentary and I can play it on my violin!

[@jonathanbynoe4375]

I remember playing that computer game for the Apple II in elementary school. I also played in on the Mac. Other educational games I played were Number Munchers, Reader Rabbit, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? and Mavis Beacon.

[@adamhovey407]

I am so glad I got my nieces and nephews into this game as well as my little sisters

[@Banjo362]

I remember playing this game at the library, I loved it so much that my Mom loved it too.

[@ESport211]

I remember as an elementary kid, the class would all get to go together to the "computer class" and have a coice of Oregon Trail, and another game I do not recall. I would always choose the former for all the obvious reasons, as the game was so engaging for a computer game in the late 80s. We only had about an hour to play, so we made the most of every minute, and every trip to the " computer class" was filled with excitement and a hurried frenzy, as we knew the time limit, and so we would want to get to a computer as fast as possible! oh, the good ol' days!

[@cliffordernest7825]

I remember playing the hell out of this in school. This, Carmen San Diego, Odell Lake, and Number Munchers.

[@Trampflick]

Hey Game Historian, any chance you can upload your old Chrono Trigger video's from...I can't even remember what the website is called ATM. It was really well done and I wish to share it to friends. Thx.

[@Xx1SailorScoutxX]

This was my go to game on a computer before I found out about emulation. Thanks for the memories!

[@sleepydragonzarinthal3533]

the easiest way I found to play was to hunt to full capacity right before you hit a trading post and sell off extra food for supplies, but the difficulty of hunting depended very much on which platform/version you played.

[@jesternario]

I'm waiting for the "We don't want history in your game historian videos" comment that will eventually crop up. I'm hoping people jump down that person's throat; this video was delightful.

[@ChillandQuill]

We don't want history in your game historian videos, =3

[@jesternario]

***** nothing is wrong with me. I just know internet human nature, and there are people who would voice that opinion. As I said, I found this video delightful and hope that people jump down the throat of the first person to say it and not be poking fun at me.

[@DeadRaymanWalking]

Thanks for so many memories of playing Oregon Trail at my schools when I was younger. After seeing this video, I felt like a 4th grader again :)

[@Mr.Foxhat]

I never played this in school, however I played the demo of it on Java as a kid and absolutely loved it. Would love to see a full on AAA version of the game some day.

[@charliemirus4124]

"It's definitely the most-popular wagon-simulation game ever made." - classic Gaming Historian!

[@acereaper201]

Thanks for the ken burns at the end!

[@prettypic444]

I grew up with version 3, which allowed you to change your destination. I always picked California 1947, so I guess you could say I liked to play on hard mode lol

[@DoubleJump]

I was always so close to Oregon when "computer time" ended in elementary school. Never made it, but it was a lot of fun.

[@ryang239]

I remember only making it once at school but I loved the game so much I got the version on windows a few years later...I didn't fare much better than I did at school fun game though!

[@bigbaddawg101]

It's funny, we were just talking about this game at work today, then I get home and this video was in my recommended videos feed.

[@TheYakuzac]

Love the Ken Burns music at the end

[@BASSOBEN]

Jay Ungar is the composer: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4vQqY2KncdjbpY

[@johnnypierce1526]

I Played this in school in the 80's. I Loved playing this in school!! Awesome Video!!!:)

[@FerdandOfThe]

What I remember about the Oregon Trail game that I played which was probably for Windows 98 in school, was getting confused, quickly overwhelmed, and losing the game quickly and feeling like I didn't have a good grasp of what I was doing. It seems to be what a few of my friends remember too, but maybe it was just that version of the game that was like that.

[@DJSGAMEBOX]

thanks for the cool video gaming historian! great old school game!!

[@DustinRodriguez1_0]

I would love to see a modern ultra-realistic game. And I mean realistic. No pulled punches, no silly assumptions. Run out of clothes? Well then you'll run around naked and be fine until the weather actually gets cold. Get dysentery? Then it'll increase your water consumption by a realistic amount, and your survival rate will be exactly what statistics say it would have been at that time. The ability to ditch the trail and join a native American tribe should be there (this actually happened a good deal, back before the Revolutionary War the British had a real problem with settlers running away to live with the native Americans because they offered a much better way of life... so they made it a capital crime to do so), although just to control the scope of the game it would probably just have to end your journey there and give you a narrative summary of how that worked out (end up massacred alongside the natives after a few decades most likely, though you accidentally introducing a disease that wipes out the part of the tribe you join probably wouldn't be outside the realm of realism). Deeply understanding the extreme extent of the risk people faced on the trail, and the amount of tragedy which was considered a normal part of their lives is valuable I think. My own great grandmother, for instance, had a profoundly different sense of the value of the life of a child. In telling her story a few years before her death (which I luckily have a recording of) she described one of her children dying from a disease that was probably dysentary. It was a bit of a bummer, but nowhere near the cataclysmic event that the death of a child is today. When she grew up, seeing friends, siblings, neighbors, and other people die or be permanently disabled or disfigured by disease was normal. We would have fewer anti-vaccine simpletons if more people understood this. Videogames can be a really valuable and effective way of conveying not just the facts and figures of history, but of giving people an immersive sense of what it was like to be there. But they can only do this if true care is taken to be realistic and to not accidentally (or on purpose in a wrongheaded attempt to spare the student distressing realizations of what people lives were like in the past) omit or misrepresent certain parts. It is downright dangerous to whitewash history through omission or out of an attempt to make people of the past seem romantically purehearted. They were human beings in desperate situations, and some of them did things which were terrible. Understanding that they did them, and why they did them is important. It's more challenging than most people might expect. Do you let the player/student attack native Americans that they come across? Do you give them that choice? If so do you include the full range of possible outcome, including other settlers or even their own family turning on them? Ignorant hate is not pretty, but it was a real factor of the time period. Inspiring students to ask how that came to be, and what fueled such hate would be far more beneficial (and controversial) than just making a student capable of parroting 'a thing called dysentery killed some people somehow' which is pretty useless on its own. And, of course, it would also be important to do things in such a way that students would understand that there absolutely were many people back then who were open-minded and free of hate, but those people were simply the minority and were also persecuted, though in the wilderness with not many people around, that side often won out, leading to in-person interactions between native Americans and settlers often being benign or positive while the same people would feel compelled to remain silent in the face of their compatriots who promoted or acted on hate. It simply is not possible for history to avoid being ideological. Every slight variation from being unflinchingly objective and relying upon the student to draw their own conclusions, though, is, in my personal opinion, morally dubious at best.

[@greenmumm]

That would be interesting but I don't think it would be fun, and it would be very difficult.

[@Saber0003]

That sounds like a terrible *game*

[@mateussilva635]

Dustin Rodriguez As said above, such a realistic game would take a lot of work and not be very fun (people get addicted to games for a reason), hence, probably hard to sell and not worth all the work. But practical considerations aside, I completely agree that educational games have enormous potential, if only one can make them attractive without sacrificing the learning. I'm studying to be a game designer and this is one of the fields I aspire to try and develop.

[@EmeraldEyesEsoteric]

NO FUCKING NEEDLES. Kids and workers are totally fine without that Illuminati genetic control bullshit.

[@mwolkove]

I think you could actually be onto something. A period realistic open world game would be really cool. Expansions could open up different quest options, and land area. The main goal could just be to survive long enough for your kids to grow up, so you're focused on ensuring your survival and theirs.