History of MECC and Oregon Trail

Gammu writes "For the past thirty years, many children have been raised with a heavy diet of MECC games like Oregon Trail, Odell Lake and Lemonade Stand. These products weren't developed by a major game developer. Rather, they were developed by the state of Minnesota for use in their schools. What began as an initiative to get Minnesota students ready for the micro-computer age turned into a multi-million dollar a year business whose products are still used in US schools even a decade after MECC was sold off to another developer."

Comments

That takes me back...

[toleraen]

Was I the only one dorky enough to receive both the "Number Munchers King" and "Oregon Trail King" awards in front of the entire elementary school at the end of the year?

I still blame these guys

[swaminstar]

I think that Oregon Train is single handedly responsible for my addiction to resource management sims.

Oregon Trail

[paranoid.android]

AQUAMAN has drowned

YOUR MOM has died of dysentery

Good times.

Re:Oregon Trail

[Rob T Firefly]

Haha, that was the best!

We used to purposely pick names that would look good on the tombstone, since anyone who played the same disk after you would see it when they passed by wherever on the Trail you died. It also let you write an epitaph for yourself, which led to a trail full of stones like..

Here lies HEMAN
skeletor finally won

Here lies SANTA
no more presents for anybody

Here lies (TEACHER'S NAME)
still can't find the on switch on the IIc

Good times.

Fond memories

[MECC]

With fond memories I remember time spent on kronos and nos playing the mainframe 'oregon trail'. So many failed ventures, so many families lost, so many missed deer and buffalo. I was a poor shot.

And, using up the remaining minutes on xtalk and mmt (wait, was that YIM, AIM, or just texting) typing with people from as far away as luvern and worthington - the far reaches of civilization yet as close as a modem. All that time spent on appleseeds (oops, I suppose now I'm busted). And, of course, 'cheating' (no kidding, that was the accusation) on biology homework with just a brief soliloquy of code. *sigh*

It was all fun until the paper ran out. Thank god for crt's.

So much has changed, so much has stayed the same.

Re:Not a single bison shall stand

[gEvil (beta)]

The shooting sections of that game really brought out a kill everything that moves mentality. Half the time I wouldn't even need food, but just wanted to shoot things.

Paging Jack Thompson...Paging Jack Thompson...

Gateway software

[greg1104]

While playing "Lemonade Stand" seems harmless for children, the friendly way it introduces computer-based sales entrepreneurship can serve as a gateway to a dangerous lifestyle. Child gamers in the 80's who become addicted to the rush of successful lemonade sales can find themselves playing games such as:

• Elite: trading money is supplemented by violent piracy activity
  
• M.U.L.E: forcing your fellow players into starvation is encouraged as a way to maximize profits
  
• Taipan: selling weapons and Opium is the only path to success
  

If left unchecked, you can expect that these players will have moved onto a Dope Wars adulthood where they borrow money from shady lenders, sell drugs on the street, and shoot at law enforcement, all while holding onto just a slim dream of retiring to the Carribbean as their only possibility for redemption.

Re:Not a single bison shall stand

[jessecurry]

you got Cholera and died

I hated seeing that.

Re:Not a single bison shall stand

[Broken scope]

[save game]
River depth 3 feet
1: Ford the River?
2: Seal boat and cross the river?
3: Wait?
Ford the River!!

Your wagon turned over
You lost 3 Oxen
You lost 1200lbs of food
You lost 500 bullets
You broke a wheel
You broke an axle
You broke a yoke
Your wagon caught fire and exploded
Max drowned and died... we never found the body
Johnny died in the wagon fire
Betty was crushed by the panicking ox
Bill drowned
Jeff caught Cholera and died in under 30 seconds, a new record!
Jeff came back as a Zombie and killed everyone else, game over. .. wtf?

[load saved game]
river is 3 ft deep
1: Ford the River?
2: Seal boat and cross the river?
3: Wait?
wait

river is 7 ft deep
1: Ford the River?
2: Seal boat and cross the river?
3: Wait?
seal boat and cross river ... ......
The wagon sank, everyone DIED...
Mother Fucker..

[load save game]

river is 3ft deep
1: Ford the River?
2: Seal boat and cross the river?
3: Wait?
wait

The river is 19 feet deep, is flooding, full of debris, on fire, and has piranhas in it.
1: Ford the River?
2: Seal boat and cross the river?
3: Wait? ... you ford the river.

Everyone makes it across safely.

WTF?

Re:Not a single bison shall stand

[zarkill]

Thank you, now I can go back in my time machine and explain that to myself when I was in fourth grade.