[Editor's note: ZargonX talks about Civilization for his Instant Replay Monthly Musing blog and reconfirms that I never want play this game for fear of my social life. -- CTZ]

Ceaser's knights stood arrayed along the hillside, shields and swords glistening in the sun. In the valley below, Elizabeth's longbowmen cowered behind the walls of the city, just as they had been doing for weeks. At first they had been confident, even defiant; but days of sustained bombardment from Ceaser's trebuchets had wiped those thoughts from their minds. Now they awaited the inevitable, hoping that perhaps aid would come from the north - It would not; the 5th legion had seen to that. Ceaser could feel the thrill of impending victory growing inside him, and he knew the time was nigh. With a simple wave of his hand he unleashed his forces, and dust kicked up by the thundering hooves of the horses rose into the sky, choking out the noonday sun. The first furious volleys of arrows began to rain out from the city walls, but they were hardly enough to halt the wave of steel that washed towards them. In a few hours time, the city of Liverpool would be in Roman hands, and the Empire would hold the jewel of England's southern kingdom.

And that was exactly how it happened. Well, that time, at least.
There is no game in my mind that sums up the concept of Instant Replay better than Civilization. Or, to be more accurate, no game series. Since the dawn of the series, Civilization games have had me, and many people like me, constantly coming back for more and more. Everyone has probably heard of "One More Turn" syndrome, that devilish drive that keeps us up until the wee hours of the morning, playing ever onward no matter how clouded our minds may have become with fatigue, just waiting to see what happens next. It takes a great game to trigger that kind of behavior in people; it takes an even greater game, however, to make you start another immediately after the last one comes to an end.

[The Monthly Musings theme continues on with ZargonX's take with customizing RPG parties. -- CTZ]

In most cases, when you sit down to play an RPG, there are a few safe assumptions you can make. You will probably be killing things, you will probably be collecting XP and earning levels, and you will most likely at some point have to go on an incredibly annoying fetch quest.

Where your assumptions may start to fall apart, though, is when it comes to how your characters are handled. While there are as many character management methods as there are games out there, they can generally be broken down into a few schools.