Some dedicated strategy fans have just started simulating a world war featuring forty-two different Civs based across a huge real-world map.
The different Civs are AI-controlled (on diety), and they'll be gunning for a Domination victory. A whole bunch of different mods are being used to balance the conflict and create a compelling narrative, and it's going to be very interesting to see who emerges as victor. Our money's on Ghandi.
You can read more details about the simulation here on Reddit, or you can watch on Twitch (that is, when it's up and running).
Let's hope this latest simulation doesn't end up looking too much like another, where one player carried on playing Civ II for years after the end date as an experiment, and in the end the surviving Civs were locked in an seemingly eternal struggle to the death. You can read more about that jolly vision of future war here and here.