Month: January 2017

Location: Bedroom

Device: Laptop

Time: 1 hour

Before starting the game, I looked up the manual for Civilizations online and was overwhelmed by the amount of information there was. I briefly read about how to keep a city happy / a major from repeatedly fleeing. It mentioned something about moving my military away from the city. Later on, I found that the advice didn’t seem to work.

I checked out the Civilization 5 version and after I positioned a city (as well as explored the area), I realized that I was isolated on an island again. Instead of starting a new game, I returned to one of the games I previously started. I returned to the same game from session three that involved a Roman tribe and a leader named Giovanni. During this session, I was able to improve my city a couple times by improving its appearance and construction out of three options: Doric columns, Middle Eastern architecture, or a castle-like expansion. I selected the early Greek/Roman look both times.

During the game, I captured a city called Canton until it was reclaimed by the Chinese after a barbarian attack. There was civil disorder in my main city called Bachi a Noi which involved in non-stop notifications about the major fleeing the city. I positioned the soldier units farther away from the city, hoping that the civilians and the major would somehow be happier (with the manual instructions in mind). It didn’t work and I didn’t want to take the time to consult the manual a second time. I received about 26 notifications overall, before barbarians killed most of the soldier units around Bachi a Noi and conquered it. That ended the game.

During these last few sessions, I played different versions of Civilization and discovered very few differences between them. Its core dynamic, according to the chapter from the Challenges for Game Designers reading, is primarily building and territorial acquisition (pg6). In the game, I had to focus on both advancing my civilization and territorial protection (or expansion). I wouldn’t play this game on my own free time mainly because of how slow it was and the pixelated appearance.

Location: Bedroom

Device: Laptop

Time: 1 hour

I started another new game. This time it was Civilization 4; difficulty level: Prince, tribe: French. The leader’s picture was different than it was during my first hour playing this game. However, the figure in the picture had masculine facial features and a grey helmet. This feature in the game seemed to reaffirm the game’s appeal for the male gender.

After I positioned another new city and started exploring the area, my screen presented a quiz over a symbol that represented a particular advancement in the game. My kingly reputation was at stake. I got the question wrong, but I wasn’t really affected by that. I was only irritated. The answers were probably in the manual, which I didn’t know where to find. I assumed that I could access the manual in the game by pressing a certain key, but that never happened. At the beginning of this game, my civilization was titled “Mediocre” which didn’t change.

I noticed for the first time that there were different physical land features: grasslands, forests, mountains, a swamp, jungles, and the artic. They were all part of the island. On the left sidebar, the names for the different locations changed when I moved my units around. I never really bothered to pay attention to it. My soldiers traveled around over rivers and streams with ease but for some reason, they were blocked by pixelated fish. I could move the soldiers around the fish but not over them. I couldn’t take them and feed / improve my civilization, which I found rather odd. They were pretty big.

During the game, I received reports about other civilizations building monuments. I couldn’t help but wonder why I couldn’t build anything. With the right set of advancements, I would probably gain enough knowledge to build something impressive. However, I didn’t know which combinations would yield a world-renown feature like fancy gardens or a Colosseum.

I became uninterested in moving my soldier units around a cut-off island, once again, and decided not to save my progress in this particular version of the game.

Location: Bedroom

Device: Laptop

Time: 8:40-9:10am, 10:05-10:35pm

I spent the first twenty minutes moving around my units, breaking a peace treaty with the Chinese, surviving three separate raiding parties, and uncovering more land. I wasn’t able to save my progress until I hit the thirty minute mark. During that time, I also couldn’t pause the game, which I found rather inconvenient. I left my laptop on and the game page open whenever I needed to take a break. After the first twenty minutes, I got bored of moving each individual unit and decided to try Civilization 3 to see if it was any different. It wasn’t.

I noticed that before I can select a Civilization version or a tribe (there were less tribe option in this version than in Civilization 7), there’s a list of names and then the title of the game. I’ve tried skipping it but to no avail. The intro section about the earth’s formation wasn’t skippable either.

During this game, I chose a Roman tribe, with a general named Zio. I created two different cities and moved soldier units around the land only to discover that I was on an island. A list popped up, stating the top five cities in the world, and none of them were on my island. All the other foreign cities must have been across the water.

I started listening to my own music as I played Civilization 3, which altered my interaction with the game. I was less concerned about the advancement of my tribe and more focused on engaging my attention. I got bored pretty quickly with moving several units around a confined space. In the previous sessions, I played Civilization with no sound. I tried experiencing the game with its original music but after about a minute, I turned the sound off. I ended this session without saving the game.

Location: Bedroom

Device: Laptop

Time: 1 hour

I started all over. Out of a list, I chose to play Civilization 6 (instead of 7, which I played during the last two sessions) and a higher level of difficulty (Warlord instead of Chieftain). My civilization was Roman and I named my leader Giovanni. Once I established my city, a sequence of images and text involving Archaeology (and the desire to learn about my civilization’s history / outcome) appeared on the screen. I’m not sure why they didn’t appear in Civilization 7.

I gained a legion plus a cavalry by interacting with houses placed in different spots on the island. I moved my legion around the area, uncovering more land with each move and discovered that I was stuck on a little island. I couldn’t attack or interact with any other cities. Ocean engulfed the land I had uncovered and my units couldn’t cross the ocean. I was stuck. After moving my units around the territory one more time, I determined not to wait for something to happen.

I then started a new game with Civilization 7, hopeful that I wouldn’t end up on an island. I found two mercenary parties and gained some cavalry. I defended my city against two random barbarian raiding parties, signed a peace treaty with the Babylonians (until they got in my way), convinced the Germans to wage war on the Babylonians, and explored farther beyond my city. My city increased in rank from “Hopeless” to the most “Glorious Civilization in the World”.

During this session, I discovered that I could save the game on drive C and was finally able to save my progress in the game. The lack of control over where and when I could save was really frustrating. I’m accustomed to games that would let you save at any point in time.

The next day, I returned to Civilization and played the game from about 10:30pm to 11:30pm in my bedroom. On my laptop. After the devastating loss of Anitarus, I had only Moscow to guard and control ( I lost Anitarus because I used all of my soldiers to go exploring). However, I didn’t have Moscow under control for very long. The mayor of the city kept fleeing. He fled about 34 times until I decided to restart. I have no idea whether the mayor was repeatedly fleeing or if there was an error in the game system.

Moscow was repeatedly attacked by barbarians but my allies intervened and offered their assistance. I eventually refreshed the browser because I was getting extremely frustrated with the endless “your Major has fled the city of Moscow” notifications and started a new game.
I noticed that when one of my soldier units met with leaders of different nations, the figures in the background generally stayed the same. I found that rather odd. Behind the image of Ghandi on the screen, there was a guy with a Fu Manchu mustache plus goatee as well as a guy in what looked like a samurai helmet. Mustache man also appeared behind Abraham Lincoln. I guessed that the figures in the background presented different allies. However, during the progression of my civilization, the background suddenly switched from a rural landscape to pyramids. The figures themselves were replaced by general Egyptian figures. I also noticed that the text box at the bottom of the screen looked different. You can see the differences in the pictures below. One of the most notable changes was Emperor Abraham Lincoln with the new title of King. I’m guessing that it’s because he conquered my city Anitarus, and became its leader, but I’m not sure.

I repeatedly tried saving the game on a drive but was unsuccessful. Drives A, B, and D didn’t work. Between this sitting and the first one, I kept my computer asleep and the Civilization page open. When I refreshed the page during this session and started a new game, the intro sequence (which couldn’t be skipped), froze. That pretty much ended this game session.

Day One

I played Civilization in my room, on a laptop for about an hour. My first observation was that both the keyboard or keyboard with mouse options in addition to the pixelated screen hinted that the game (the version that I’m playing) was originally produced in the 90s.
I encountered some technological issues, especially with changing the screen on the website to full screen (I couldn’t switch between the two) and I had to refresh the page a few times.

I created a civilization by choosing a nationality, I chose Egyptian. I had the opportunity to name my own Egyptian city, which became Anitarus. I named the ruler Anubis. Next to the name slot, there was a picture of a bearded man. Regardless of the name I would’ve chosen, it would have been gendered by that image. Almost immediately, Civilization is presented as a game for the male gender.

After naming my city and its leader, I positioned Anitarus close to the ocean and then chose an advancement for it out of several options. I could choose masonry, the wheel, or currency (those were not the only options). I selected one of them and initiated the development of my Egyptian civilization. Every so often, I would choose another development from a list. Each time, a screen appeared with information and a simple explanation about the advantages of my choice, whether it was mysticism or the wheel.

Once I established my city, I could move individual units of soldiers around the area with the arrow keys. However, each unit was limited to one movement, so covering a large space of land was both slow and tedious. When my units faced enemy or ally units, movement of surrounding my units was further restricted. Below is a screenshot of this particular instance.

I encountered the ruler of Russia, who was presented by Stalin, right before meeting Elizabeth I as the ruler of England. I even met the Americans, who were represented by Abraham Lincoln. This combination of leaders revealed the intention to provide a familiar face to a specific nation for a young age group. Due to both the simple explanations for developments like the wheel and the simultaneously existing leaders from different moments in time, I came to the conclusion that Civilization was created for preteens.

During my first hour with this game, I started war with England, broke a peace treaty with the Russians, captured a city called “Kiev,” seized Moscow, and lost Anitarus to a random attack by barbarians.

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