SimCity Creator Will Wright Donates Papers to ICHEG

Maxis co-founder Will Wright, creator of The Sims and SimCity, has donated a collection of his personal papers to the International Center for the History of Electronic Games (ICHEG) in Rochester, New York. The collection spans nine graph paper notebooks filled with the drawings, notes, and ideas that comprised Wright's creative process during the development of The Sims, SimCopter, SimCity 2000 and Spore. Wright's papers also include a selection of business notes and outlines for Maxis public presentations. "Games do not spring out of the minds of game designers full grown, like Athena from the head of Zeus," explains ICHEG director Jon-Paul Dyson. "These papers document the creative process behind some of the most important games of our time. They have transformed our society, and we are pleased to preserve this record of how Wright created them." ICHEG, an institution dedicated to the history and study of video games, hosts the United States' largest collection of historical material relating to electronic games at The Strong National Museum of Play in New York. "I'm proud to help support the International Center for the History of Electronic Games," said Wright. "They are preserving an important part of our culture that is frequently overlooked by society yet has a fundamental influence on who we are. I know of no other institution that is covering this topic as comprehensively as they are."