Author: Grace

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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