Is there such a game as DESPOT?

I have started reading Ian Banks novels. (Not Ian M.Banks sci-fi - same author btw)

And in one of them, a kinda journalist/pi whodunnit, he keeps talking about a game called DESPOT. His character even upgraded his laptop so that he could play it.

IS THERE SUCH A GAME? It sounds a bit like Civ.

In much the same way that Terry Pratchett's Only You Can Save Mankind reminds me of Elite.

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Nil Mortis Sine Lucre

 

I've always wondered if there's a game called Empire? It seems obvious for a civ-type game, so I figure the name must be taken, but I've never heard of one.