The "father of computer gaming" gave the keynote at GDC 2010 this past week, and while we really hoped he would tell us a lot about the upcoming Facebook version of Civilization, it got only the barest of mentions during the hour-plus talk. Instead, Meier shared wisdom with the gathered crowd, talking about the lessons he'd learned in player psychology over his long and storied career in game design.

First, he talked about what he called the "Winner's Paradox" -- "if you've played Civilization," he said, "you're an egomaniac," since anyone crazy enough to think that they can actually "build a civ to stand the test of time," as it says on the game box, must be pretty full of themselves. And because of that, Meier says his players always believe that if they don't win for whatever reason, fate or the random number generator or the crappy AI must be out to get them. As a result, his policy has become to let the player win -- the threat of punishment is enough to keep it interesting, but in the end, the player should win the game.