This is a more difficult question than I would've thought. If the capsule were to be opened up in 100 years, I might put in items that reflect our culture and technology. If it were to be opened up in 500 years, I might put in items to help deal with the apocalypse, anarchy, and/or the decline of civilization. And if it were to be opened in 1000 years, I'd probably just include a tombstone or some sort of memorial. Forty years is tough though. That's, presumably, still in my lifetime. People will still remember what life was like in 2009, I don't need to remind them. And as much as I think we're headed in an inescapable, downward spiral... As much as I think we've doomed ourselves... I don't think we'll meet our end in the next couple of decades. I think we've got at least another one to two hundred years in us, depending on how we play things.
Anyway, like I said, tough question. Here's what I came up with...
DOS and vintage games
All of my favourites. King's Quest I through VI. Forget VII and Mask of Eternity or whatever it was, not worth it.
Zork I, II, III, and Zero.
Planetfall.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy text adventure.
Lands of Lore. Just the original Throne of Chaos, the sequels were crap.
Kyrandia. Again, just the original game. Hand of Fate could've been great... if the story hadn't been terrible. "Mr. Hand"? Come on, guys! WTF?! I know Markus was supposed to be in there for comic relief, and he was. I didn't have a problem with him. But the villain should be scary. Like Malcom was. He was creepy and slightly terrifying. You were afraid to face him. Mr. Hand was just hokey. And you never did find any more about the evil wizard he was supposedly a part of. The game had potential, but the story was decidedly lacking. The first game was fantastic though! Anyway... I digress...
SimLife. I still maintain that this was the best of the "Sim" series. Absolutely brilliant. It didn't get nearly the praise and attention it deserved.
EcoQuest, both of them. These games were fantastic. I've played them about a dozen times each, and I'd still go back and play them again.
Adventure... where it all began. The very first text adventure.
I'd probably throw Planescape: Torment in there too. Face it, that was a good game!
These games need to be included because they're friggin' fantastic and people need to start playing them again. Maybe if they found them in an awesome time capsule they'd pay attention and take note.
Documentation
Of course, along with all these games, I'd include any maps, guides, hints, or other documentation that would've accompanied them. Whatever will enhance the experience and allow people to get the most enjoyment out of these classics.
An old DOS/Windows PC
And/or a copy of Dosbox. 'Cause you need to have something to run these games on and I'm thinking that Vista or Windows 7 or Linux or OSX or whatever operating system is around in forty years might confuse these poor old pieces of software a bit.
Pens, pencils, and paper
'Cause sometimes you have to take notes, or make a map yourself.
A few of my favourite books
Crime and Punishment, the Tempest, Stranger in a Strange Land, Chocky, The Midwich Cuckoos, Flesh and Spirit, Breath and Bone, A Brief History of Time, Macbeth, Catch-22, The Once and Future King, The Adventure of English, Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynmann, Fear of Physics, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Satyrica, His Dark Materials...
(Hmm... This is shaping up to be a rather hefty time capsule, isn't it?)
Again, these are good books that people should read.
Uncontaminated elm seeds and leaves
Maybe, in forty years, they'll have found a cure for Dutch Elm Disease. The best thing we seem to be able to manage at the moment is injections to prolong the life of the tree. That and quarantines. I'd like to see DED eradicated. Or at the very least, effectively controlled.
Heirloom seeds
Less commonly cultivated varieties of various vegetables. We tend to pick one or two varieties and cultivate them to death, literally. We have beefsteak tomatoes, or cherry or grape if you want something smaller. We have only two or three types of corn. A couple types of peas... You get the picture. With no variety, we're just asking for a disease to sweep through and wipe out all our crops.
My time capsule would have some less than common strains of popular fruits and vegetables. Unless disaster has already struck by the time the capsule is opened, I doubt people will pay my seeds any mind. But it's worth a shot.
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