 of the Civilization series, followed by an interview with Sid Meier.
Friedman, Ted (1999). Civilization and Its Discontents: Simulation, Subjectivity, and Space. In: Smith, Greg (ed.) On a Silver Platter: CD-ROMs and the Promises of a New Technology. New York: New York University Press, pp. 132-150. Retrieved 23rd April 2007 from here and here. An exploration of player subjectivity whilst playing Civilization: you identify with the computer and enter into a 'cyborg consciousness'. Simulation games take geography as the narrative's protagonist.
Galloway, Alexander R. (2004). Playing the Code: Allegories of Control in Civilization. Radical Philosophy 128 (Nov-Dec), pp. 33-40. Reprinted as: Allegories of Control. In: Galloway, Alexander R. (2006). Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, pp. 85-106. Galloway argues that digital games, including Civlization, are "allegories" of today's information society, fetishizing control and resisting traditional ideological critique.
Henthorne, Tom (2003). Cyber-Utopias: The Politics and Ideology of Computer Games. Studies in Popular Culture 25.3 (April). Retrieved 23rd April 2007 from here. Assesses the utopian and ideological aspects of SimCity, Civilization and especially Alpha Centauri. As utopias these games allow players to rethink how power is distributed and exercised, though they also betray the ideological assumptions of their designers.
Jenkins, H. and Squire K. (2003). Understanding Civilization III. Computer Games (September, 2003). Retrieved 23rd April 2007 from here. Brief account of Squire's experience using Civilization III to teach social studies in schools, emphasising the contingency of historical events, the ideological biases of games, and their capacity for encouraging critical reflection.
Kapell, Mathew (2002). 'Civilization and its Discontents: American Monomythic Structure as Historical Simulacrum'. Popular Culture Review 13.2 (Summer): pp. 129-35. Civilization articulates imperialist American myths of progress and expansion into new frontiers, as described by the historian Frederick Jackson Turner.
Lammes, Sybille (2003). On the border: pleasures of exploration and colonial mastery in Civilization III Play the World. In: Marinka Copier and Joost Raessens, eds. Level Up: Digital Games Research Conference Proceedings (CD-ROM). Utrecht: University of Utrecht, pp. 120-129. Retrieved 23rd April 2007 from here. A discussion of colonialism within Civilization III.
Mäyrä, Frans (2008). Civilization (1991): Ideological Simulation or Just Strategic Play? In: An Introduction to Game Studies: Games in Culture. London: Sage, pp. 95-101. Short discussion which reviews much of the critical literature on Civilization.
Meier, Sid (2004). Commentary from Sid Meier. In: Demaria, Rusel and Wilson, Johnny L. High Score! The Illustrated History of Electronic Games. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill/Osborne. A brief commentary by Meier on each of his key games, including a few paragraphs on Civilization and Civilization III. Much shorter than Coleman and Meier.
Miklaucic, Shawn (2003). God Games and Governmentality: Civilization II and Hypermediated Knowledge. In: Bratich, Jack Z., Packer, Jeremy, and McCarthy, Cameron (eds.) Foucault, Cultural Studies, and Governmentality. New York: SUNY Press, pp. 317-35. Miklaucic analyses simulation and strategy games, especially Civilization II, relating Bolter and Grusin's (1999) notion of hypermediacy and Foucault's understanding of surveillance and governmentality.
Myers, David (2003). The Nature of Computer Games: Play As Semiosis. New York: Peter Lang Publishing. Chapter 13 (pp. 131-146) discusses the Civilization series at length.
Myers, David (2005). Bombs, Barbarians, And Backstories: Meaning-Making Within Sid Meier's Civilization. In: Matteo Bittanti (ed.) Civilization: Storie Virtuali, Fantasie Reali. Trans. Valentina Paggiarin. Milan: Costa & Nolan. Retrieved 23rd April 2007 from here. A difficult but rewarding article which argues that the 'backstory' of Civilization is irrelevant to under