Historical Problem Spaces Civilization V in the Study of History

Robert Blades

Robert Blades 1

Introduction “In Civilization V, players strive to become Ruler of the World by establishing and leading a civilization from the dawn of man into the space age, waging war, conducting diplomacy, discovering new technologies, going head-to-head with some of history’s greatest leaders and building the most powerful empire the world has ever known” (Civilization 5). This synopsis from Sid Meier’s Civilization V spells out perfectly the game’s progression from a primitive society to, if successful, an expansive, hegemonic, and ultimately dominant global civilization.

Civilization V (herein Civ) is a 4x (explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate), turn-based, strategy PC game in which the player assumes the role of a demi-god to create a successful civilization. The ultimate goal of the game is to dominate either militarily, culturally, scientifically, diplomatically, or end with the highest amount of points. This paper will discuss the impact of Civ on the understanding of history, as an interpretation, representation, and recreation of the past, through the cosmology/cosmogony and problem spaces, as well as the physical hardware needed and used to play the game. I will argue that these former considerations affect the way in which Civ handles history by sacrificing historical experience and validity1 to gamer immersiveness/experience, where the final product is a ludological gameplay: structured through the idea of progress but lacking a narrative ex ante.

Software Civilization V, the most current installment of the expansive series, was created by Sid Meier and his team at the US based Firaxis and released in 2010. Meier’s team founded the company in

1996 and has since released the expansive Civilization series and Civ-like games (Moby Games).

The company was bought by Take-Two Interactive in 2006, publisher of such games as the

1 In this paper, validity is defined in its logical etymology: in terms of Civ this does not mean factual historical accuracy that soundness entails. Rather, in this context, it means a direct divergence from focusing on history (in whatever methodology/understanding it could be) to the focus on the gamer’s experience. Robert Blades 2

Grand Theft Auto series and Red Dead Redemption, for cost-saving reasons (Gamespot, Moby

Games). One might assume that this corporate reshuffling affected Firaxis’ post-2006 games yet there is little evidence to suggest any major changes occurred in the games or gameplay. In fact,

Soren Johnson, a former lead programmer for the Civilization series who left Firaxis in 2007 for personal reasons, as development started on Civ, noted that Meier and his team have always been, and continue to remain, primarily focused on the user’s experience (Game Industry).

Johnson noted further that he is “still following Sid's traditional Firaxis model” at his new job

(Game Industry). This indicates that Meier and his team were more-or-less free to develop Civ as they saw fit and there is no evidence of any major deviation from the series’ path. Granted, Civ changed much more than the previous games in the series, in terms of aesthetics and accessibility

(i.e. units are spread out more, the physical topography and movement are more visually pleasing and easier to understand, etc.), yet it is likely that Meier’s familiarity with developing and publishing PC games was not affected in any major way. In fact Civ changed to become more accessible because “developers want to make it easier to understand and manipulate the complexity within the game. Most of these are merely matters of convenience rather than cutting back” (IGN). Civ does not deviate from the previous games in order to simplify or ‘dumb down’ the experience, but to the contrary – the complexity of the game is made more accessible to the average player and gameplay is cleaned up to immerse the player further into a narrative of their own creation.

It is also important to note the many expansion packs and mods that were developed since Civ’s release in 2010. The expansion packs made by Firaxis offer the ability to play with new civilizations, focus on different goals (i.e. religion), and in general expand the gameplay’s time, create new units, technologies, practice “enhanced diplomacy,” etc. (Civilization 5). Robert Blades 3

Players can also create their own mods – that is, a specific set of rules, resources, players, etc. – and upload them for other gamers to play. Though these mods are unofficial, they allow players to experience another’s creation and to share their own with the participating Civ community.

Mods are rarely as intricate as expansion packs, yet they produce a democracy of gaming by which players can deviate from the direct Civ rules and cosmology. This, as I explore below, is of great importance to experimenting with many different historical frameworks and methodologies. The problem inherent to Civ, however, is its ultimate grounding in progress.

Hardware Gameplay in Civ is also affected by the physical hardware (the computer and its components) which in turn affects and is affected by the problem spaces produced by the software. I run Civ on a Samsung RV511 laptop with 4gb of ram, 300gb free of hard drive, and dual Intel I3 processors. This is above the recommended settings for Civ and it runs smoothly aside from visuals because my graphics card is built in to the PC and of average quality. The Intel I3 processor, though default, runs most programs fine for my laptop (Intel). In fact the DirectX11 capability is optimal for Civ’s gameplay, though I play on DirectX9 to avoid overworking my computer. The problem I faced though was tracing the origins of the computer’s components, specifically the graphics card/processors. I ran ‘dxdiag’ first to find out basic information about my drivers and components, yet I was unable to trace specific components back expect to the designer/company (i.e. Intel processor). The problem, specifically with a laptop, is that the components are too generic and not easily accessible at all. Unlike a desktop computer, specifically one’s own build, the average laptop focuses on general accessibility over specialization. Though the best choice to play Civ is a gaming desktop PC, capable of the rigorous graphic demands and gameplay, I am still able to play consecutively for hours without Robert Blades 4 experiencing technical difficulties. Furthermore, the difference in graphics is quite insignificant for the average PC. Granted, there is probably a great difference on high end PCs in terms of visuals and speed, but the developers created Civ to adapt to the demands of a range of PCs, from a bare-bones laptop to a gaming supercomputer (Kotaku). Therefore gameplay is affected by hardware but on average, in this digital age, most computers are capable of handling the game. In terms of history, however, it is unclear as to whether this affects representation or not.

Civ does not run initially or fully from your PC either. It is distributed online by Steam and you need a connection to download the game, gain achievements, create and upload mods, etc. Steam is an online digital game distributor that operates on Windows, Linux, or Mac – any

PC, tablet, or other personal computing device capable of running Civ can play through Steam.

Civ is available for hard-copy purchase but all that does is lead you to download Steam anyways.

Once the game is downloaded you do not need an internet connection, yet you risk missing out on the mods, updates, patches, etc. Steam makes accessibility easier and allows the player to partake in a more social and expanded gameplay.

Problem Spaces Problem spaces involve first an ultimate goal in mind, choices that are made to achieve that goal, and within that, affordances (cultural frameworks, psychological tendencies, etc.) or constraints in those choices as a result of the cosmology (origins, evolution, and fate; rules and framework) of that universe (Play the Past).

Hardware The most obvious problem space in regards to Civ’s hardware is the fact that the game is only currently playable on a PC. Though Firaxis offers the game for most operating systems (i.e.

Windows, Mac, and Linux), there is currently no version for specific gaming consoles like, for Robert Blades 5 example, Xbox or PlayStation. Though it is not available for other major gaming platforms, Civ’s turn-based nature and available modding capabilities is much more fitting for PCs. Although the major gaming consoles are not limited to first person shooters, role playing games, etc., a strategy game like Civ is not overly concerned about targeting those consoles. The very nature of

Civ is to take your time, build, upload, and download mods through Steam, and use your mouse to direct the majority of the game’s actions, all on your computer. Although it is possible to create, say, a PlayStation version, it is not really worth the effort – most gamers interested in

Civ-like games who own other consoles will most likely own a PC. Furthermore, Civ on a

PlayStation would need a network like Steam to operate and while possible, may not be worth the effort or money on a corporate level.

Secondly, and a necessary subjective focus, is the hardware from which I experienced the game and directs my research. As I noted above, gameplay is affected by the type of PC and its graphics card/processor. For myself, as well as many gamers, Civ will run fine on even the lowest-end laptops. Of course a gamer such as myself will not experience the full extent of Civ gameplay, specifically speed and aesthetics, but that is neither necessary to win the game nor does it subtract much away from my involvement. Though I do not experience cutting-edge gameplay, the allure of the game and the final goal, combined with average visuals, movement, speed, etc., is enough to attract me to keep playing.

Within the Game Each problem space within Civ revolves around the primary goal of domination. The first noticeable problem space regarding software and gameplay concerns visuals and aesthetics.

Movement in Civ operates by hexagonal tiles and each tile represents one move. Movement is slowed/expedited by the topography of your map (for example, units move slower through Robert Blades 6 marshes than open roads) and the capabilities of a specific unit (mounted units, say, move further than workers). Though the hexagonal tiles lack historically in the fact that movement is unrealistically regimented, they compensate for the turn-based nature of the game and keep your units visibly ordered. Civ does not play out in real-time, and the lack of time constraints allows the player to think as much as possible about every choice. Furthermore, aesthetics are not affected in any negative sense. In fact, the visuals are very realistic for a strategy game – you can actually see waves crashing, livestock grazing, soldiers attacking each other, etc. This affords greatly towards gameplay as the player has a familiar attachment to the topography, feeling more connected to and immersed in the universe they created.

The game’s default settings also have the potential to essentially contrive a narrative. In no way would any single game be the same, yet the default settings select the leader, geography, time limit, resources, difficulty, etc. Then when the game is active, your economic, cultural, military, and science advisors counsel you on your choices based on the computer’s best possible contextual decision (a result of accessibility). For example, when researching a new technology the computer may recognize another civilization’s aggression towards you and recommend you research strategic resources over, say, scientific ones. Thus, you are persuaded on some level

(especially as a beginner to the game) to follow a best possible choice at the time rather than your own willful decision. The player has every option to protest the suggestions but they are always the best possible choice for that turn. Any player, however, is able to change these settings and essentially turn the advisors off. The issues with default settings hint at the importance of mods in the sense of experimenting with a variety of settings to enrich the Civ experience.

Historical Problem Spaces Robert Blades 7

The problem spaces of gameplay in Civ are intimately tied to the game’s handling of history, opening up a new frontier of problem spaces known herein as ‘meta-problem spaces’. The meta- problem spaces of the game offer the ability to experiment with a type of historical radicalism.

Using the definition of history as creation, in this context Civ is a spacious medium by which to more-or-less freely explore and experiment with counterfactuals, varying perspectives, pure creation & outright fiction, etc. The meta-goal is to push your brain to think and understand differently, becoming conscious of your own inherited perspectives. In civ, the problem spaces are a product of player immersiveness – aesthetics, accessibility, and game flow are directed primarily towards the gamer’s experience. Thus whether or not the player experiences some semblance of historical thinking or understanding, the problem spaces arise not from a misunderstanding in representing history, but Meier’s main goal of immersiveness. The player does not deal with various social, economic, and cultural problems that constantly affect states and citizens except in terms of hearsay – you only need to know basic information that your advisors and/or the quantified meters at the top of the screen pass on. For example, you may be told that your people are unhappy and you may know the reasons (i.e. starvation) but you do not need to know the problems common people face, the morale of your soldiers, everyday social life, etc. It is only necessary to understand the big picture and major events to win – as a non- omnipotent god you only see what you need to see for the goal of the game. This is also a major reason why Civ is ludological in nature – that is, you do not follow a specific narrative at all yet create your own vague progression. For example, I recently played as the Japanese warrior Oda

Nobunaga, conquered North America and Australia, and led an isolationist policy except to defend my cities when attacked by Otto von Bismarck. The narrative I created only focused on major events and is abhorrently counterfactual and anachronistic. Gameplay in Civ challenges Robert Blades 8 traditional narratives by outright rejecting the factual chronology of history2 but is condemned to focus on important and vague events for the sake of gamer experience.

Civilization & Progress Ultimately the main problem space in Civ regards the game’s Western historical focus on progress (specifically technological progress) through the Law of Accelerating Returns. This idea states that each major event in history builds upon the previous achievements, where the period between epochs shortens throughout time (exponential increase). For example, the time between the Big Bang and the first single cell organisms on earth (life) was about 14 billion years, give or take; then from single cell organisms to multicellular life was roughly two and a half billion years, and so on, as the period between events shortens (Fig. 1). Each major event is known as a paradigm shift.

Fig. 1. Linear representation of the Law of Accelerating Returns in regards to human history. Note the difference between biological and human – former and latter – events.

2 It is interesting to note, however, that the leader’s in Civ act similarly to their historical personalities. Genghis Kahn is probably the most famous example – he is inherently hegemonic, totalitarian, untrustworthy, and a warmonger. Robert Blades 9

This is the fundamental law from which Civ operates: every turn or paradigm shift (in this case, say, discovering a new technology) builds upon the past advancements of your society. When you begin and settle your city, discoveries, movement, etc. are unbearably slow. However, by the end of the game every major discovery/event is expedited due to the previous discoveries.

Granted, if you are attacked, go bankrupt, experience famine, etc. you may lose cities, money, and units and regress, yet the game operates on the idea of progress – you need to move forward to win.

Conclusion Whether or not you succeed in Civ, victory is the result of progress. Historical, linear progress is a notion inherent in the West by which a civilization, society, or culture build upon past achievements and knowledge towards some ultimate goal (read: the end of history). In Civ, whether this perspective is a result of the immediate problem spaces of the game or a subconscious cultural predisposition of the developer is uncertain, yet it remains that the game is fundamentally grounded in this framework in order to achieve victory. Yet the nature of gameplay, specifically the 4x focus, can be challenged. You don't have to exterminate, explore, exploit, or expand at your own will, but it makes the game easier. For example, killing barbarians and settling more than one city is not necessary to win but makes gameplay much easier and more fun. You even have the ability to simply turn the game on and do nothing. Yet because it is turn-based nothing will occur in the interim. Basically to play the game you have to follow the rules of the Civ universe. This does not necessarily mean that Civ is maliciously misrepresenting history. The inherent progress in the game is one of many historical representations from which to experiment and understand the past. Though lacking a narrative a priori, there will always be

(as is the case with any game) a methodology or structure that ultimately guides that narrative. Robert Blades 10

Thus, in the sense that history is creation, in Civ your main goal is to win through progress, yet you create your own narrative.

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