TMWNN parent
Yes, but as you said so yourself, had you a brain you'd have bought an Apple II instead of that Heathkit PDP clone to port Empire to! It's quite possible that had you done so in, say, 1979, it might have become a second killer app for it alongside VisiCalc, akin to Star Raiders or Eastern Front for Atari 8-bit.
You are right. My mistake was thinking that everyone else would see what an obviously superior machine the -11 was, and it would bury the competition.
There are several reasons why I failed to become a billionaire, despite the obvious opportunities!
On the other hand, in that world where Empire on Apple II in 1979 is a gigantic hit, perceptibly boosts Apple sales (and inspires a spate of "Empire clones"), and causes a media frenzy of interest in the author of the first truly addicting video game that is available to a mass audience (as opposed to your PDP-10 version, or the MUDs at various other universities), perhaps some mentally ill young person—distraught over flunking out of school because of his inability to resist playing "one ... more ... turn ..."—decides to violently take his frustrations out in person on the author of his obsession. So that's that to consider.
I've been threatened a couple times over the addictive behavior Empire has engendered. On the other hand I've received quite a few letters and emails from people who said they derived many hours of pleasure from playing Empire.
Yeah, I was a moron to not port it to the Apple II. It was suggested to me more than once. I have no excuse.
It was, however, 1987's game of the year, selected by Computer Gaming World.
Setting aside the jokes (and the pecuniary benefits to you), it is interesting to consider the ramifications of Empire on Apple II in 1979 or 1980. The only competition is early Infocom and Scott Adams games, simple arcade games like Apple Panic, and early adventure games like Temple of Apshai, Wizard and the Princess, and Beneath Apple Manor. You're even ahead of important early Apple titles like Choplifter, Lode Runner, Ultima, and David's Midnight Magic. As successful and important as those games are, I daresay that Empire is far more addictive and compelling than all of them put together.
As successful as Interplay's PC version was in our timeline, its effect was diluted in the sense that by 1985 there was far more competition for attention and the videogame dollar. Empire in 1980 is ... well, I can only compare the effect to throwing chum into a pool filled with sharks. I do not hesitate in stating that you and your creation (Promoting war!!!) might very well have been the target of a significant moral panic.