CivAnon

There is a fun little viral ad campaign going on for "Civilization IV", the latest installment in the acclaimed real-time strategy video game series.

Web sites like GameSpy are running ads for a faux help group called "Civilization Anonymous".

The ad copy on the sites is hilarious, poking fun at geeks who may find themselves staying up until 4:00 a.m., just to get in "one last turn" (you know who you are).

One ad, showing a dorky guy ogling a woman walking past, reads: "Hey baby, do you like turn-based strategy?" Then below that: "Rock bottom isn't pretty".

Another shows a little girl in tears saying: "My daddy loves his Civ more than me." That one makes me feel guilty for some reason.

Some of it makes me think they hired some folks from The Onion to write the copy. On the "CivAnon" site, there is a photo of a sweet little old lady. Next to her is this blurb:

"I've been attending CivAnon meetings for approximately 18 months now. Partly because I began to get a perverse thrill out of wiping out entire civilizations with atomic intercontinental ballistic weaponry, and partly because they serve cake at the meetings. I like to kill, that's true. But I like cake even more."

Or this testimonial from a very white-lookin' dude:

"What up [sic], Sid Meier? How you like me now, foo [sic]? I'm all healed and [excrement]. Yo, your game ain't [excrement], and you and Civ IV [create a partial vacuum], yo. Because of CivAnon, I now realize that the entire Civilization franchise is [equine excrement], and I ain't gonna be mind-controlled by you Firaxis Games [individuals who have been borne without the benefit of wedlock] no mo' [sic]. So, you go and make as many games as you want, yo [sic]. Because of CivAnon, I'll be the one all up in this [canine female] not playin' it. Word."

I've been saying that my heart belongs to "Age of Empires III", a game so jaw-droppingly gorgeous that I have a screenshot as my PC wallpaper at work. But these ads do make me want to take a look at "Civ III".