Editing 623: Oregon

Another aspect of hunting was that it made it fun to try to kill every animal available. You could end a hunt at any time, but if you played until time expired, you could amass thousands of pounds of food in a single hunt; a single buffalo could net 1,000 pounds. The game would then give a message like, "You collected 4,000 pounds of food, but you could only bring 100 pounds back." The discrepency was amusing to grade schoolers, who would practice shooting as much game as possible.

Another aspect of hunting was that it made it fun to try to kill every animal available. You could end a hunt at any time, but if you played until time expired, you could amass thousands of pounds of food in a single hunt; a single buffalo could net 1,000 pounds. The game would then give a message like, "You collected 4,000 pounds of food, but you could only bring 100 pounds back." The discrepency was amusing to grade schoolers, who would practice shooting as much game as possible.

The comic tries to document, as though in a historical fashion, what would have been the result if all the players had been real settlers who really had prepared for their journey on the Oregon Trail in that way. The parts before 1848 are historically accurate.  Starting from 1848, however, players of the game would form an unbelievably large influx of people arriving nearly simultaneously, with very little food or supplies being brought along.  Massive overhunting would soon strip the land bare, all large game slaughtered for meat, with hunger, starvation and disease soon to follow. {{w|Dysentery}} in particular was very common in the original game and perhaps the most infamous way to die, hence its listing as the most prominent epidemic.

The comic tries to document, as though in a historical fashion, what would have been the result if all the players had been real settlers who really had prepared for their journey on the Oregon Trail in that way. The parts before 1848 are historically accurate.  Starting from 1848, however, players of the game would form an unbelievably large influx of people arriving nearly simultaneously, with very little food or supplies being brought along.  Massive overhunting would soon strip the land bare, all large game slaughtered for meat, with hunger, starvation and disease soon to follow. {{w|Dysentery}} in particular was very common in the original game and perhaps the most infamous way to die, hence its listing as the most prominent epidemic.