I loved the game Master of Orion.  I haven't played it in awhile.  I usually go through a phase every year or two where I get back into playing it.  If you're not familiar with it, it's the greatest galactic strategy game--ever.

This is stupid, but when I play the game on a laptop, it almost takes it to another level.  Perhaps it is because of the black laptop Captain Picard had on his desk in his ready room, but I like to think it's how the leader of a galactic empire would go about giving orders to his empire.

Lame.  I know.  Buried somewhere in my mind is a 12 year old playing pretend space empire who needs to grow up.

I got me thinking about an idea for a game--a business simulator that has the look and feel of ERP software like SAP.  The interface would be easy.  The game would abstain from graphics any more sophisticated than this.

Maybe the idea of turning SAP into a game isn't unique.  I know Thomas did a competition involving SAP in graduate school.  I've heard of business simulators from friends in college taking business or MIS classes.  I think the only difference between my idea and the others would accessibility.  It shouldn't be any harder to get into and play than Hedgehog Launch, for example.

If the game could scale up to something like Master of Orion, easy to learn, hard to master and still fun to play after hundreds of hours lost to playing the game, you might have a situation similar to me pretending to be a galactic emperor.  You could pour yourself a glass of single malt Scotch, sit down at your desk at home, open up the laptop and play my game.  You'd be a regular Jack Donaghy, managing your corporate empire of television programming and microwave ovens.

whatever.

Right now I have real software to write...