Play Sid Meier’s CivNet Online

Game Overview

Remember the original Civilization? CivNet takes that addictive "just one more turn" empire-building and throws in multiplayer—so now you can crush your friends instead of just the AI. You still start in 4000 BC with a handful of settlers, scrambling to grab land before someone else does, but now every sneaky city placement or rushed wonder feels personal when there’s a real human on the other end.

The tech tree’s still there, the diplomacy still lets you backstab people, and the maps are randomly generated (or you can build your own with the editor). But the real magic is how differently games play when you’re up against unpredictable humans instead of predictable AI. Someone might rush you with chariots while you’re still researching pottery, or suddenly offer to split the world in half—until they don’t.

It’s classic Civilization, just messier and way more fun with actual rivals. The browser version makes it easy to jump in, though fair warning: losing to your friend’s surprise nuclear Gandhi will sting way more than losing to the computer’s.

Each game uses different controls, most DOS games use the keyboard arrows. Some will use the mouse , "Alt" ,"Enter" and "Space bar".