Civilization IV
By: Hope McClure
The Game
Civilization IV is a strategy game where the player takes on the role of the leader of a civilization. The players have many civilizations to choose from, each with it's own unique units. They may also choose different historical leaders, each of which have their own different character traits (industrious, scientific, militaristic...). All traits and units are aligned with the characteristics of actual historical leaders and civilizations.
Once game play starts, the player guides the civilization by building cities, buildings, improvements (such as farms and mines), and military units. The player must make decisions about what will most help the civilization. Do they need more military units for defense or should they build a library or market to stimulate research or commerce? Is it better to leave the forest to build more buildings quicker, or turn the tile into a farm to cause the city's population to grow faster? Players also have to make important decisions about how to place their cities, always trying to gain as many strategic resources as they can. Things like copper, iron, coal, wheat, etc. could be the difference between victory or defeat.
One very important part of the game is directing research. Technologies are presented that are available to research, and the Tech Tree shows all technologies for the game. The player must decide how to direct the civilization. Should the civilization focus on military technology, try to get technology to use a specific resource, or try to found a religion? In a full game e, players must discover everything from mining farming, and to learning the secrets of stealth technologies and nuclear weapons.
Culture plays a role in how the civilization grows. If a city is large and has buildings (libraries, theaters, radio stations) and ways to spread culture, it has a large sphere of influence. Cities that are recently built only have enough culture to take one tile in any direction. If two cities, of opposing civilizations, are built close together and the culture of one overtakes (surrounds) the other city then that city might ask to join the civilization of the city with more of culture. Culture also plays a role in a military campaign, causing military units to move slower within the enemies culture and they heal slower.
One final aspect of controlling the government is to control the civics. One could choose slavery early on and sacrifice population in a stagnant city to rush a building. Or they could choose the cast system and remove the limit on certain types of specialists in the city. Each one has it's own set of strengths and weaknesses just like in real life.
Educational Benefits
Students will learn the basics of how a civilization functions. They will learn the benefits and problems associated with different civic systems. They will see how they can play to these strengths. Perhaps for a given set of conditions, communism is the best choice for an economy. When going to war they may find that having a strong religious presence in the government has many benefits to keeping the people from getting tired of war and gives the military more motivation to fight.
Students will see how technology has changed throughout history and how this has shaped our society. They will learn that there must be a balance in society. If they are only focused on one thing, like technology or making money, then they will be overtaken. They will find that sometimes when diplomacy fails, that they will go to war for a needed resource to gain or maintain an advantage. It will help them to understand why some historic leaders made the decisions that they did.
The students will also learn to balance building their cities bigger with keeping them happy and healthy. Just as in real life, fresh water makes the city healthier and things like coal power plants and jungles make them unhealthy. Some buildings make the citizens unhappy, such as a slave market, and some make them happy, such as a theater. There is even a mod for the game where a city may revolt and try to become a new civilization if its needs are not met.
Aside from the benefits of guiding a civilization through history from the stone age to the modern era, and possibly beyond, Civilization IV can be modified by the user. There are hundreds of mods available on the internet, some of which focus on a particular part of history, such as the Crusades or the Roman Empire. One mod goes so far as to start with Neanderthals for enemies in the earliest part of the game. There are also mods which add new civilizations and leaders. Advanced students could even write their own mods to make civilizations based on the topic being studied in class.
Weaknesses
The game can take a long time to play. Even setting it on the fastest setting it can take hours. When the game is played on the fastest setting, some of the middle eras can seem to go by really fast and can not be fully enjoyed. Sometimes if feels that by the time the army is upgraded to long bows, the technology is available to make riflemen.
Students could also just focus on the game and not gain the educational benefits. One doesn't have to understand how democracy works to look at the benefits and weaknesses listed in the civics screen. They may not make the connections with how democracy works in real life either. It is also easy to disconnect from real life and destroy cities housing hundred of thousands of people because it is easier to control in the game, which is pretty unrealistic. War can be a more entertaining choice when in reality, things would be solved in a more diplomatic fashion.
Everything might not be historically accurate. The designers of the game were aiming to pick traits and unique abilities that were historically accurate, but when using a mod someone else made on the internet, it would have to be investigated closely to be sure that it wouldn't cause confusion over inaccuracies.
Project ideas
Students could be asked to focus on a specific aspect of a civilization. They could be required to play the whole game with a specific civic or certain leader trait and see how this shapes the entire civilization and decisions throughout history.
Project Ideas
The revolutions mod could be loaded and students goal would be to keep their civilization stable throughout history. They will find the difficulties of maintaining a large civilization and how some civics that they wouldn't choose in a normal game now look much better because of the stability they provide.
In a custom game, game play can be restricted to a certain period in history, such as only modern era, or prehistoric to middle ages only. Students can be put in a game focused on only a small time frame from history. A mod could be loaded that makes the entire game focused on just one time period, such as the Crusades.
As a whole class project, or just for the advanced students, a mod could be created. The time period of interest, civilization, leader, or civic of interest would need to be researched thoroughly, and then the new aspect of the game would be added.