Gaming Blog Post 1

When the class first began it was understood that video games would play a large part in the learning process. On the other hand, it was not as obvious to me how playing famous games like Assassin’s Creed, Sid Meier’s Civilization, and Age of Empires would help create a more immersive understanding of history. Growing up it seemed like video games where the most unlikely vessel to disseminate actual historical information. They were enjoyable for a pass time but did not hold much with respect to historical content. I never realized games like Civilization contained historically accurate information that provides a quality idea of what happened at that time. Since Civilization was the first game we would be playing I was excited to get back into playing a nostalgic game. First thing I realized playing Civilization six is that every choice matters. For my first entry into the game, I decided to play on prince difficulty with barbarians enabled. I figured this would be the best way for me to start the Game. I picked Sumeria and within twenty turns, I was taken out. I thought Sumeria was one of the better civilizations to try as they provided certain advantages that would give me the upper hand at the beginning of the game.

After suffering such a humiliating defeat I decided to restart the game with a new civilization. This time I picked the Kongo and King Mvemba Nzinga since they provided a more all-around approach to the game. Deciding your civilization has a drastic effect on what you can achieve in your efforts towards victory. Although it may lack historical consistency in gameplay, the information provided for each civilization and their leaders is second to none. It is accurate and provides decent detail. It was also interesting how once we meet up in class we discussed some basic ideas like Marxism, Capitalism, and World-System Theory. It was important to briefly go over these systems and discuss some of the history as well as their founders. We also compared the Concepts and Forces that affect the game and how they accurately represent many of the things civilizations in the game and countries in modern times must manage and handle in order to maintain their place in the world. In the end, it was a very interesting first couple of weeks.