Hexes! City states! No more unit stacking! No religion! Fewer egomaniacal perpetrators of genocide as leaders!

For us aspiring historical revisionaries, Civilization 5 will be a much different experience than the previous installment. Some may find leaving behind their most frequently played scenarios difficult to swallow.

But fret not! I recently spoke with Jon Shafer, lead designer for the upcoming PC strategy title, at this year's E3 about Civ 5's in-game mod browser. During the interview, he revealed that the world builder tool will enable players to import and convert their favorite Civilization 4 maps!

Jon Shafer: You can import Civ 4 maps into the world builder and convert them into Civ 5 maps, including all the units and cities and stuff on it -- the conversion process will just do that for you automatically. We’re hoping that the first week Civ 5 is out, people will use that function and port all of the Civ 4 stuff over to Civ 5, so everything will be out there already.

What does this mean for players?

I'm really excited to see Firaxis include such a feature. They didn't have to give users the ability to import old maps and convert them to Civ 5 automatically -- units, cities, resources, and all. But doing so demonstrates dedication to the community of Civilization players and modders.

I wish more developers would support their fan base with ways that enable players to take ownership of the game in unique and interesting ways. Instead of charging us $15 for a measly five new maps (two of which are from a previous installment), why not give us the tools to import those older maps ourselves? Why not allow us to build our own maps and share them freely?

UPDATE: I reached out to 2K Games before going to print, and they've now clarified that "you can import Civ 4 maps into Civ 5 and units and cities within will carry over"; however, "you won’t magically be able to play an old mod" like Fall from Heaven or Planetfall, which the article previously suggested. I've edited the article to reflect this new information.