Postcolonial History And Education In Civilization V-Ford
#notesFromPaper Year : Tags : Authors: Ford
http://gamestudies.org/1602/articles/ford
people talk about how great Civilization is as a game, especially for educating people about history. Thing is, it homogenizes “social progression” into a Western-centric notion of history.
The tech tree in Civ is static and progresses through Western “eras”. It implies that social progress follows technological progress and that this technological progress follows an inevitable course
It implies that the Western narrative is the “right” technological progression, which in turn diminishes the value of other culture’s technological progressions.
Land in the game is only useful insofar as its strategic value.
A civilization is reduced down to a few unique units, buildings, and abilities. “A civilization’s history does not provide them with a unique starting point, nor does it alter their ambitions as a society.” Since all the victory conditions are the same, the choice of civilization is a strategic decision, not a narrative one. One could argue that this abstractness is a benefit, that any nation can “be the colonizer”, that barbarian hordes are never specific ethnicities.
While all nations have the opportunity to become the imperial force themselves, they also cannot do anything but be that.
