Indeed an urban legend. Sid Meier himself debunked in his memoir, which is a pretty great read.
replyIt's fascinating to live through the entire lifecycle of:
replyWeird thing happens. People make up reasons why. One reason is possible. That becomes THE reason, and spread wildly, without confirmation, as an accurate explanation. "Actually that's not true". Now that not being the reason is widely disseminated and if we are lucky the original meme dies out!
But it took 30 years. For a very meaningless rumor.