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Citation link: https://doi.org/10.26092/elib/404
05_gamevironments_GarcíaMartín_CadiñanosMartínez_MartínDomínguez_pdfa.pdf
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The Face of Authority through Sid Meier's Civilization Series


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Authors: García Martín, Ruth 
Cadiñanos Martinez, Begoña  
Martín Domínguez, Pablo 
Editors: Pfister, Eugen  
Winnerling, Tobias  
Zimmermann, Felix 
Abstract: 
The turn-based strategy videogame genre tends to emphasize the military elements in detriment of other aspects. That is not the case in Sid Meier's Civilization series (1991-2016). Players are welcomed to focus on other aspects of society such as science, culture, diplomacy and economy, to the point of becoming a viable path to endgame victory themselves, though far more difficult. Narratively speaking, Civilization allows the player to explore different human societies across the species' history. In this paper, we want to place our focus on the authoritarian options the game provides and how they operate under a clear 19th Century cultural evolutionary framework. Civilizations are measured in different stages according to their development allowing choices such as type of government, technological advance or religion. The series shows the adoption of a functionalist thought pattern as authoritarian options do not carry a penalty worse than more liberal or progressive ones. While in the first installments of the game there was a clear bias towards liberal democracy and open society, that bias has been consistently blurred in more recent installments (now currently in the sixth game of the series) showing a certain degree of amorality in the exercise of power, thus giving us a window to analyze the changes in the power discourse.
Keywords: Sid Meier’s Civilization; Authoritarianism; Colonialism; Cultural Evolutionary Model; Strategy Video Games; Social Imagination; Enlightenment; Historical Games; Theory or Progress; gamevironments
Issue Date: 21-Dec-2020
Journal/Edited collection: gamevironments 
Start page: 138
End page: 173
Band: 13
Type: Artikel/Aufsatz
ISSN: 2364-382X
DOI: 10.26092/elib/404
URN: urn:nbn:de:gbv:46-elib46072
Institution: Universität Bremen 
Faculty: Fachbereich 09: Kulturwissenschaften (FB 09) 
Institute: Institut für Religionswissenschaft und Religionspädagogik 
Appears in Collections:Forschungsdokumente

  

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