Sid Meier on Walk of Game

Firaxis gaming czar Sid Meier has been awarded a star on the "Walk of Game". He'll join fellow inductee John Carmack in getting a developer star alongside last year's winners Nolan Bushnell and Shigeru Miyamoto.

First, let me be clear that I think that a star decorated sidewalk that celebrates StarCraft, Lara Croft and Link alongside developers is a little silly. Plus, before long, recognized names in development will probably dry up, especially since the industry has moved to larger corporate committee designs and away from the one or two person design operation. And no matter how often American McGee puts his name in front of a game, he's a long way from star-status.

Still, aside from the AIAS Hall of Fame Awards (Meier was the second inductee - 1999), there is little public recognition of the people that actually design the games. Even game development companies get very little recognition for their efforts. No end of the year summary has "Developer of the Year" or "Best First Game". The only names recognized at the SpikeTV awards are whatever Hollywood stars slummed to lend their voices to a game - ignoring all the considerable voice talent outside of the A and B list of Tinseltown.

I've had the pleasure of briefly meeting Mr. Meier before he and Soren Johnson ganged up on my sorry butt in Civ IV at a press event in Hunt Valley. He's shorter than you would imagine. But obviously a class act who has worked with or helped develop some of the biggest name in the strategy arena.

So congratulations to Mr. Meier and to Firaxis. I hope none of these awards make him think he can retire. I still want my dinosaur game.