This is a severe distortion of what really happened. The co-designer of Civilization was <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Bruce_Shelley" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Bruce_Shelley</a>, who worked at Avalon Hill for six years before moving to MicroProse. The similarities were not coincidental. Civilization (the board game) was extremely successful and well-known, and is still influential on video games, being the origin of the &quot;tech tree.&quot; <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Technology_tree" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Technology_tree</a>