what has civilization taught us?
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LEISURE AND PLAY / POPULAR CULTURE0
Can Civilization teach us about history?
BY RICHARD GUNNING · PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 13, 2016 · UPDATED SEPTEMBER 12, 2016
There are a thousand ways to make a game about all of civilisation – we only get to make one of them
— Soren Johnson, Civ IV
As a scientist, my interest in history came through video games. Having played the Civilization game series for almost fifteen years, the game was a useful tool for me as a school student. Sid Meier’s Civilization (Civ) is a series of games in which you play as a historical society from the dawn of civilisation to the present day and beyond. The first game in the series was released in 1991; since then, the series has expanded to 5 main games with additional spin-offs and a major new release, Civilization VI, is out in October 2016.
The game is free form while defining some key principles and then letting the player dictate the course of history. So could this game be useful for a historian? I have immensely enjoyed playing the franchise since Civ III, however, recently it is reading the thoughts by the game makers on what they thought should be included that is most enlightening for understanding the perception of history.
Soren Johnson, lead designer on Civ IV, comments, ‘There are a thousand ways to make a game about all of civilisation – we only get to make one of them’. As a result, there are key themes that have transferred between games in the series: civilisations, science, culture, civics, religion and warfare.
Answer:
LEISURE AND PLAY / POPULAR CULTURE0
Can Civilization teach us about history?
BY RICHARD GUNNING · PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 13, 2016 · UPDATED SEPTEMBER 12, 2016
There are a thousand ways to make a game about all of civilisation – we only get to make one of them
— Soren Johnson, Civ IV
As a scientist, my interest in history came through video games. Having played the Civilization game series for almost fifteen years, the game was a useful tool for me as a school student. Sid Meier’s Civilization (Civ) is a series of games in which you play as a historical society from the dawn of civilisation to the present day and beyond. The first game in the series was released in 1991; since then, the series has expanded to 5 main games with additional spin-offs and a major new release, Civilization VI, is out in October 2016.
The game is free form while defining some key principles and then letting the player dictate the course of history. So could this game be useful for a historian? I have immensely enjoyed playing the franchise since Civ III, however, recently it is reading the thoughts by the game makers on what they thought should be included that is most enlightening for understanding the perception of history.
Soren Johnson, lead designer on Civ IV, comments, ‘There are a thousand ways to make a game about all of civilisation – we only get to make one of them’. As a result, there are key themes that have transferred between games in the series: civilisations, science, culture, civics, religion and warfare.
Civilisations
The first key theme is the individual civilisations. The game defines a set of nations you can guide and a historical leader to play as. So which civilisation and leaders do you choose for your game? The original game had 15 civilisations to choose from including the Romans, Russians and Indians. The Roman leader was Julius Caesar, the Russian leader was Stalin and the Indian leader was Ghandi. Each of these leaders was given a personality which governed how the computer would play.
An interesting bug, which spawned multiple memes was the personality set for Gandhi. Gandhi was programmed as the most peaceful nation in the game, up until the adoption of democracy. At this point Gandhi became a nuclear warlord. Later game releases have played homage to this bug, often making Gandhi the most aggressive leader at the midpoint of the game. This bug highlights both how the gamemakers attempted to model actual personalities and how a simple bug could lead the game to dramatically diverge from actual historical events and personalities.