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Will Wright Donates Design Documents To Museum

Posted September 30, 2010 by M.H. Williams

It was announced today that Will Wright, creator of classic franchises like SimCity, The Sims, and Spore, has donated a number of design documents to the Strong National Museum of Play’s International Center for the History of Electronic Games. The donation includes nine notebooks covering much of Wright’s career. They cover a number of games Wright has had a hand in, like The Sims, SimCopter, SimCity 2000, and Spore. Also included within are notes for keynote speeches and various business decisions Wright has made throughout the years.

"Games do not spring out of the minds of game designers full grown, like Athena from the head of Zeus," said 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."

"I'm proud to help support the International Center for the History of Electronic Games," said Wright, enthusiastic for the chance to contribute to the museum. "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."

The International Center for the History of Electronic Games is located in Rochester, NY. It contains over 120 vintage arcade cabinets, all major consoles released since 1972, and over 12,000 video game titles.

[Via 1UP]

M.H. Williams has been writing in some form or another for ten years and has been a hardcore gamer since the NES first graced American shores.  You can catch him on Twitter as @AutomaticZen, Google+ as himself, or on his personal Facebook page.