Playing the Game
The Culture of Digital Games
Playing the Game: The Culture of Digital Games
Civilization is a turn-based strategy game originally created by Sid Meier in 1991. Players control a fledgling civilization such as the Aztecs, Romans, English, et al. Beginning in 4000BC with just a single settler, the objective is to build an empire - by means of exploration, colonization, scientific research and diplomacy - which will last into the 21st centry. Civilization II, revised by Brian Reynolds, was released in 1996. There have since been three more updates, Civilization III (2001), Civilization IV (2005), and Civilization V (2010).
Additional information about the Civilization series is available on Wikipedia. An introductory worksheet entitled 'How to Play Civilization II' is available here.
The following articles discuss different aspects of the Civilization series. If you find any more please .
Atkins, Barry (2005). La Storia è Un’Assurdità: Civilization come esempio di barbarie storiografica? [History is Bunk?: Historiographic Barbarism in Civilization.] In: Matteo Bittanti (ed.) Civilization: Storie Virtuali, Fantasie Reali. Valentina Paggiarin, trans. Milan: Costa & Nolan, pp. 65-81. On Civilization's approach to history, its educational promise, and the pleasures and value of exploratory rather than competitive play.
Bevc, Tobias (2007). Konstruktion von Politik und Gesellschaft in Computerspielen? [The Construction of Politics and Society in Computer Games?] In: Bevc, Tobais (ed.) Computerspiele und Politik: Zur Konstruktion von Politik und Gesellschaft in Computerspielen. Berlin: Lit Verlag, pp. 25-54. Bevc analayses a number of games, including Civilization, from a political science perspective.
Bittanti, Matteo (ed.) (2005). Civilization: Storie Virtuali, Fantasie Reali. Valentina Paggiarin, trans. Milan: Costa & Nolan. An Italian collection of essays on the Civilization series.
Bitz, Bako (2002). The Culture of Civilization III. Joystick101.org. 15 January. Retrieved 23rd April 2007 from here. A thoughtful critique of the treatment of culture in Civilization III.
Burns, Alex (2002). Civilization III: Digital Game-Based Learning and Macrohistory Simulations. Retrieved 16 August 2008 from here.
Carr, Diane (2007). The Trouble with Civilization. In: Atkins, Barry and Krzywinska, Tanya (eds) Videogame, Player, Text. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Retrieved 23rd April 2007 from here. Response to ideological critiques of Civilization by Poblocki, Myers, Lammes and Douglas, which argues that no conclusions regarding the game's effect on players can be drawn from just textual readings.
Chick, Tom, Meier, Sid, and Shelley, Bruce (2001). The Fathers of Civilization: An Interview with Sid Meier and Bruce Shelley. CG Online, 31 August . Retrieved 30th May 2007 from here. Includes discussion of the early development of Civilization, its design and mechanics, and (briefly) its politics.
Chick, Tom (2002). The Teaching Game: All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Civilization. Computer Games Magazine. January. Retrieved 23rd April 2007 from here. A short, wry article ridiculing the claim that Civilization is realistic or educational.
Coleman, Terry and Meier, Sid. (1998). The Sid Meier Legacy. Gamespot. Retrieved 6th August 2005 from here. Reprinted by Thunderfall (2000). Civilization Fanatics' Center. Retrieved 23rd April 2007 from here. An overview of Sid Meier's games from 1984 to 1997, incorporating an interview about each game. Includes brief discussions of Civilization and Civilization II.
Douglas, Christopher (2002). "You Have Unleashed a Horde of Barbarians!": Fighting Indians, Playing Games, Forming Disciplines. Postmodern Culture 13.1 (September). Retrieved 23rd April 2007 from here and here. Douglas explores the Civilization series' implicit ideologies (of colonization, culture, technology, equality) within the context of the emerging discipline of digital game studies.
Edwards, Benj (2007). The History of Civilization. In: Gamasutra (18 July 2007). Retrieved 30th August 2010 from here. An overview