Pubdate: Thu, 22 Mar 2001
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2001 The New York Times Company
Contact:  229 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036
Fax: (212) 556-3622
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Forum: http://forums.nytimes.com/comment/
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n458/a09.html

THE DOPEWARS FANTASY

To the Editor:

It's no great mystery why the game DopeWars should be so popular with 
computer and Palm users ("On the To-Do List: 1. Make Crime Pay," March 15). 
In an age when company chief executives earn hundreds of times what their 
workers do and workers can be replaced at will by temps and contract 
workers, what can be better than playing a drug kingpin?

GARY L. ADLER, Lynbrook, N.Y.

To the Editor:

I have played DopeWars myself and became addicted - irony intended - to it. 
The game is indeed simple, entertaining and intriguing. But I am a 
science-fiction fan as well as a gamer, so I was far more intrigued by a 
clone of the game entitled SolarWars (cronus.cnicinc.com/solarwars). 
SolarWars has the same game play and the same interface, with a few 
enhancements: you must always have fuel for your interplanetary freighter 
on hand as you move between planets (rather than boroughs) and other 
disasters can befall you.

I would recommend SolarWars as an alternative to anyone who does not agree 
with the theme of DopeWars and who doesn't mind some additional challenges. 
While I think that the current furor over DopeWars is a bit much and a bit 
late, I don't regret having played it one bit.

JENNIFER SCOTT, St. Louis
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