New Landscape....

Game 3 is officially underway. Although I had started it when I was getting bored with the 2nd game, this game now has all of my focus. This time I have decided “randomly” choose a landscape. When I saw randomly I ran my finger up and down the list with my eyes shut and where I stopped is what I choose… I want to see if Diamond’s theory that people on the east/west axis along were Mesopotamia lied was holds to be true in the game of Civilization. People are born into their environment, like the people of Papua New Guinea in Diamond’s book- Guns, Germs and Steel. So I decided I would randomly choose my landscape. It will be a neat experiment to keep in mind while playing this game. I have been given the landscape of an “archipelago.” And it is different already. All of you neighbors are not necessarily on the same landmass on you. Which is a lot different from my previous games and already pretty weird. Because of this I have already began to focus on cities along the water and building all types of boats to strengthen a future navy because of this. I figure trade via water and protection is all going to occur through the use of ships, by developing this early I give myself an advantage in this new landscape.

Finally Finished

I have finished another game of civilization. I am really excited to be able to start a new game because I really do find the end of the game more boring the rest. Yes you get to get ‘Rock and Roll” and start to introduce Broadway plays, you city takes on a new look in the form of a New York Skyline, but the city and foundations are built, there is not really any new land to go discover or take. It just simply gets rather dry. I have started a new game and it has caused me to reflect on the beginning of this game. It is interesting though looking back on the game how other civilizations around you have changed. Or me civilizations that once rivaled mine at the start of the game either are no longer a threat or have been taken over. And once small civilizations that posed no threat are now my biggest competitor. It is funny how things change. On to the new game…

Industrialization

My civilization is thriving economically and trading with neighboring nations. One could say that I have strong economy. I am the richest civilization in the game, and other leaders tend to listen to me when I ask them to do something. In the game we industrialize our cities and create new technologies throughout the game. However there is a specific turning point where the more modern we become the quicker we are able to acquire new materials, technology and infrastructure. Our cities that were once small and condense expand exponentially before our eyes as a direct result of industrialization.

There was a point in time, which I had reached twice in the game where I reached the “Industrial Revolution” era in the game. To me it seemed to come out of the blue. Historically it occurred rather quickly also, however it took years to happen. Civilizations long before the Middle Ages had the technology that they would be discovering during the Industrial Revolution, it is just that these societies choose not to focus on these things. The game from this point on changes drastically is large part because of the discovery of new technologies. According to Heilbroner, “It is indicative of the lack of interest attached to productive technology that so simple and important an invention as the horse collar had to wait the Middle Ages for discovery; the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, who were capable of a magnificent technology of architecture, were simply not concerned with the technique of ever day life itself.” (61). In the Industrial Revolution we see the switch from the focus on everyday life techniques to a focus to invention, new technology and things that will make a drastic change in production.


Work Cited:

Heilbroner, Robert and William Milberg. The Making of Economic Society. New Jersey:

Pearson. 2002.

Okay, So I am getting frustrated with Civilization. I don’t know if it is because I have been playing it for two months and am getting tired of the same thing over and over again. I am finding that I am getting into a rut while playing the game using the same tactics throughout. In fact in order to make things interesting I have to come in with a focus or goal to get something done. Otherwise I get to caught up all of the hustle and bustle with multiple cities, explores, ships and settlers. All of it can be quite overwhelming when asked what you want to do with each individual EVERY turn. I have found that I need to slow done and realize I do not need to have a move for every player every time but it is more important to think individual moves through making sure it will benefit the civilization and economy to the fullest extent possible. I think maybe next time I begin the game I am going to start on an Island or something to see how far I get, a new landscape would shake things up a bit......

Protection

One of the first things that one seems to do after creating a city is protect it, by putting arms there or building a wall around it, Why is it they we take such a strong stance, even in the world today about protection. The United States boasts itself on having the strongest military in the world. I recently heard Francis Fukayama speak. Fukayama has written about the international political economy and the modern economic society. When I heard him speak he spoke about the world and economy in terms of multiculturalism. In Civilization we do not see so much the other civilizations interacting with one another other than in war or in trade. Only the leaders communicate with one another. Average Joe Smith in my Civilization does not have the ability to communicate to Average Joe Smith in the Roman Civilization.

According to Fukayama the United States Army equals that of all other armies in the World. This has never been the case the World’s history not for Rome or the Untied Kingdom during their reign and colonization of the world. Which made me think, if I made a military force that was bigger than all other forces in the game I would be unstoppable in the game. I could bully other civilizations into giving all of the resources and technology I need, I would have unlimited access to water and could most likely conquer any lands I wanted Today I think we place such an importance on military and military force because of the society, which we live. Because of this one of the first goals in Civilization is to create a strong, impenetrable city that cannot be taken over by raiders or opposing armies. Fukayama went on to say rather than putting all of our funding toward the military why not educate our selves on other cultures around us that pose to be a threat. Fukayama suggested why go to war right away with a nation that we know so little about, few speak the language of and understand. So, yes we can have walls that reach the sky and the strongest military in the world. However until we and all civilizations make and effort to understand the world around us intellectually before picking up the big guns and going in we will be vulnerable to attack until the end of time. I applied this idea to my game of civilization, while I cannot have all of my citizens directly communicate with other civilizations. But rather than having my first goal be military in my game I now devote half of my turns to creating technology and intellect.

I have started a new game of Civilization. I find myself experimenting with some of the things I do in the game, more so than I did in the beginning. I have no progressed to the Middle Ages and have established trade and power amongst the other Civilizations, and like last time I created a strong military force. However one of the changes I have made in my strategy regarding trade is that, I am more forthcoming about trading with other civilizations that have more to offer rather than them coming to me. This then helps me appear to be a stronger empire.
I recently read the book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by Jack Perkins. I refers to how countries, particularly the United States are able to expand there “empire” the money, loans and debt. Although it applies to the modern world, I think parts are applicable to my own came of Civilization. I do believe that this theory of having an empire through acquisition of debt could also be acquired through trade like this has consequently influenced my strategy in playing the game. So instead of going to war with other countries that I really do not need to expand my boarders, I am attempting to control the smaller civilizations through trade. Jim Garrison is quoted in the book saying:

Taken cumulatively, the integration of the world as a whole, particularly in terms of economic globalization and the mythic qualities of “free market” capitalism represents a veritable “empire” in its own right…. No nation on earth has been able to resist the compelling magnetism of globalization. Pg 199- 200

Although in the game it does not quite apply to the scale you can take aspects from it and apply it to the game. By supplying them with key elements they need for their economy, they consequently listen to me and I therefore have influence over what they do. I am able to go to them this game and tell them to stop trading with my civilizations biggest threat. I am therefore in control without ever going to war.

Reference:
Perkins, John – Confessions of and Economic Hit Man.

My game of civilization has come to an end. I have finished the game! I am so excited, and have already started a new game of civilization. It is great because I am able to use my first game and for background knowledge. I can use all of the mistakes I made in my first game and learn from them.

Back to my original game, I did finish my game being the top civilization. However other civilizations were quickly catching mine. Civilizations that were a threat before are now almost none existent while one’s that I never paid attention before are suddenly right on my back. This whole portion of the game reminds me a bit of an “arms race”. Everyone seems to have the tactic of whom cam get the most the fastest and you will come out on top. Towards the end of the game we are all trying to development the cities more, get better technology and make new discoveries to come out on top. We want to be the civilization to discover rock and roll and have strong military power.

I look forward to playing my new game and using my other game as almost a trial and error experiment. Maybe this time I will go to war sooner…

War

After playing civilization, I have decided to experiment with new methods and aspects of the game. This week I decided to declare war another a neighboring civilization. Here were my reasons in choosing that particular civilization.

1.Location- it bordered my civilization. I am the largest civilization and by acquiring this civilization and can add to my landmass.

2.Resources- this civilization had a surplus of ports, harbors and resources. It has fantastic infrastructure but lacked military making it prone to attack.

I am currently in the war and winning. Because of my strong standing in the game I found it easy to get civilizations to join. I ended up getting the other civilization to ask me to end the war and surrender. I consequently expanded my empire and became even stronger. I do however think that who you choose to go with is key. My opponent was weak and had the risk of being attacked. This is why I was able to defeat them so easily. I was lucky as it has all of the aspects in my favor, this does not also happen.

How Realistic is Civilization?

After playing the game for a few weeks now and catching myself playing for 3 hours in a row without realizing it, I am advancing pretty quickly in the game. I am the leading civilization, and have been throughout the entire game and have been since I started. I am currently in the 18th century. In reality how many civilizations begin as the most powerful and held that power for that length of time. None. Not the Greek Empire, Roman Empire, the Persians or the Egyptian that all at one point were at the top of their game. While empires like Japan and China have survived the length of time, they never were the top civilization. Because of this I am beginning to wonder how realistic the game is? Yes you can give your cities different names, but historically is the game accurate? For example in one of my cities currently houses the Parthenon, the Scottish Yard, Versailles, Palaces Stone Henge, The great library, an Academy to a great scholar, The Sistine Chapel, and Oxford University, and I am currently working on the Statue of Liberity amongst other things. It houses all this while producing both a strong military / naval forces and while building factories and industrializing my cities. In the world today all of these famous national landmarks exist. However some of them don’t even exist in the same country, so why is it that I have the ability to build them all in one civilization? I just begin to wonder, how long could a city really remain this powerful in reality without falling apart.

The Roman Empire eventually failed despite its apparent sophistication eventually. It lacked taxes and simply ran out of wars to fight, land to conquer and consequently their economy weakened making in vulnerable to invasion. I begin to wonder…why has this yet happen to my Civilization. I am not going out and conquering the land as the Romans did. But in reality why has not another civilization invaded my territory or attempted to? In all the years my civilization has now “existed” in reality with its wealth and power it would not go untouched for so long. I just begin to think it is unreasonable. Civilization does a great job of teaching you about empires develop and finding a balance between culture, religion, protection, food and development. However I think in the aspect of going to war, nations invading or lasting to the extent that mine has I am not sure if it true to the real world.

The theme of military and protection became very important while playing civilization. One of the first aspects you need to consider when building a city and later and empire is the type of protection that you are going to use. I learned there is a variety of ways to protect your civilization, and as time progress methods that were successful before no longer are, thus it requires the constant development of technology in metals to be able to keep up. Of course to be able to develop steel, iron and copper one needs to establish a food surplus. According to Heilbroner “In premarket societies, wealth tended to follow power” (Heilbroner 21). Therefore in order to be able to protect yourself and be powerful you need to have wealth. Wealth in a premarket economy parallels the amount of surplus of food you have. As time progressed to basic warrior would no longer survive when fighting an opponent. Therefore all my attention was focused at developing military and later naval forces. Including swordsmen, gunpowder, developing chemistry, engineering and later ships that would fight offshore including the galleon. I quickly learned that even if I was not going to be fighting wars, my military capabilities reflected the ways in which other civilizations interacted with me, The stronger military power I had, the more civil out interactions were and the more seriously they took me as a leader of the empire.

Works Cited:
Heilbroner, Robert L and William Milberg. The Making of Economic Society. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 1998.

Civilization- Week 1- Getting Started

In the game of civilization one becomes increasingly aware of the importance of protection. Warriors, soldiers and weapons are a key component of the game as I quickly learned. It is not a matter of.... I will get around to it otherwise you don’t last long in the game as I quickly learned. As Diamonds states “ The history of interactions among disparate peoples is what shaped the modern world through conquest epidemics, and genocide” (Diamond 16). However in order to be able to create a force that both allows the you to protect your cities as well as eventually expand your power one needs a surplus of food. Jared Diamond expresses this throughout his book Guns. Germs and Steel. Food surplus is accomplished through both farming and the domestication of animals. The ability to grow food however is also reflected in the geography of the area in which the civilization is. This plays a large role in both starting the game as well as choosing were you build your cities because there is a correlation between where the city is built and how successful it is at growing food. For example, building a city on a hill does aid it from being attacked, however it decreases it success of being able to grow food. As a result of this when creating a city you begin to weigh the pros and cons on protection vs. food surplus. However in the end as illustrated by Diamond in his book, food surplus and protection are interlinked with one another.

Works Cited
Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1999.