Fundemental Conditions of Human Existence

Humans in all places and times interact with the natural environment

See the ways in which the farms (green squares) alter the environment

          In my opinion Civilization V does and excellent job of showcasing this fundamental condition of human beings existence on this earth. Right from the start of the game you are plopped down on a map on a piece of land aka the natural environment. From the get go you start to interact with the natural environment by altering it all to often like humans do today. The first priority for a lot of civilizations in the game and in real life is to find a place to settle. In the game you do so by building your capital city.

                        Humans interact with the natural environment in others ways as well. In the game there are animals placed sporadically. With this animals you gain resources but you also interact with the natural environment by building stockades around the animals. By altering the natural migration of these animals (though they don't move in the game) is another way in which humans interact with the natural environment.

                        

Example of a mine in Civilization V

Using a settlement as the nucleus for interaction in real life and game play civilizations build out from it with roads, trading posts, and farms to produce food stuffs. One of the most substantial ways in which one can alter/interact with the natural environment in the game is by building mines, construction a lumber yard, cutting down a forest or clearing a marsh. Like in reality this leaves the land barren and somewhat not aesthetically pleasing but it is something the is needed for, though not necessarily in the extent in which is sometimes happens, for humans to exist.

Humans in all places and time interact with one another

Diplomacy in Civilization V

Nazi Diplomacy in Vichy

          In the game no matter what civilization you pick there will be interactions with other civilizations. From the start and into the modern era civilizations in the game with interact by open borders, creating peace treaties and research agreements.In the game in particular one is approached quite often with requests by other civilizations to open their borders or show the world that you have entered into an open peace treaty. City-States in the game want allies against civilizations that they don't get along with and vice versa.

War in Civilization V

        The choices that you make in the game and the way in which you go about interacting with others can severely alter the way in which you civilization exists. Deciding not to become allies with someone or opening borders or disagreeing on a political or religious ideology can spark conflicts and even world wars with devastating effects. In my fist Civilization V game in which I played under Ramses II my entire civilization was destroyed by the Iroquois because I had decided to declare war on them. I was not prepared for battle and didn't really think it through which in the end caused my destruction. In the game as in real life one has to be extremely cautious with the choices that they make.

World War II

Humans in all places and times develop and act upon ideas

               Civilization V displays this fundamental condition of human existence as well. Through the technology and social policies trees a player in the game is able to develop ideas and after a few turns are able to act upon these ideas.

                   Thinking on this fundamental element of human existence one can also apply it to the development of certain ideologies that can lead a civilization to act upon them by declaring war, creating new economic policies or having systems of government different from others. Deciding upon a certain victory in the game, I believe, follows this fundamental element. The choice that one makes in which way they are going to play the game showcases that different peoples and cultures develop differing ideas and carry them out. In the game and sadly in life war is one of the most common ways in which to achieve victory. Like in real life though their are other ideas and choice that people are afforded and all come with the opportunity to come out on top.

Overall Experience and Effectiveness of Civilization V

        Overall I enjoyed playing the game for class. I will admit that in the beginning I was really just clicking around and didn't think to critically about my game play. I didn't pay attention to the different bonuses that each civilization had. I am not much of a video gamer and to have to play a game not for fun was hard for me to do. I am not saying that this is not a good idea I just think students should go into it with an open mind and realize that even though it is technically and assignment it is a game and you should have fun with it. I began to like playing the game more after listening to other students experiences with the game especially those that had played the game before.

          I began to play the game in vastly different way then I did before. Instead of just clicking around I read to see what my new civilization Catherine the Great's added bonuses were. I still wanted to achieve a cultural victory so I began to build a LOT of wonders to bust my culture.  After altering my game play and paying more attention I was able to get farther then I had ever imagined I could before with Ramses II.

         I would have to say the Civilization V effectively portrays the nature of historical change in the best way a video game can. Of course they are aspects that are overly generalized or just left out but that is understandable. Civilization V allows people to have fun with history and see what the world would have been like if things hadn't played out like they did in history books. It can also be looked at as a way for people to look critically at their own history and personal identities and think about the choice they would make if they were in charge. All in all I like the game and think its a great way for students to get involved in historical change on a more personal level.

Differing Degrees of Spiritual Life and Moral Codes

                                                    Religion and Morality in Civilization V

                     

Religion in Gods and Kings

  As many of you all know I had the basic package of the game. With that being said I did not get to experience any religious aspects to my game play. Watching fellow students presentations who had the Gods and Kings or Brave New World expansion package I was able to gain insight into the added religious and spiritual elements that were added to the game. You could convert people in tiles near yours, influence others through your religious beliefs etc.However, picking a religion in the game is somewhat arbitrary like other aspects. As in real life when you choose a religion in the game you make it your own. No matter what religion you pick the game will still allow you to build wonders and other structures from different religions and it doesn't alter the things you can make or the social categories that you have.

              All religion is predicated on faith, which like science, production, and gold, you'll earn over time by building items and structures that increase it over time. Early in a game, you'll have the option to choose a "pantheon," a culture-specific religion that allows you one statistical benefit. This could be something as simple as more gold attained from spaces that generate faith, or more rapid border expansion via the "religious settlements" option. Once your pantheon is founded and your civilization begins to grow, you'll eventually spawn a great prophet, a unit that can be used multiple ways down the road, but initially will be consumed to create your religion.(http://www.giantbomb.com/reviews/sid-meiers-civilization-v-gods-kings-review/1900-501/)

Social Policies Trees

                       Moral Codes on the other hand were evident in all the editions of Civilization V. The social policies tree with the different branches of tradition, liberty, honor, piety, patronage, order, aristocracy, rationalism and commerce. I believe each one of these branches especially honor, tradition, rationalism and piety showcase moral codes that are represented in real life. All of these different branches affect how the game plays out and what a civilization deems as most important will have an effect on their culture and their relation with other civilizations.

                   Piety in particular, though I didn't see it in my game play, allows for some additions to the game through religion. Each respective branch in the piety tree represents organized religions, mandate of heaven, theocracy, religious tolerance, and reformation. Rationalism allows for free thought, secularism, humanism, and sovereignty. 

         

Technology and the Environment

                 Technologies in Civilization V are obtained through different researches which like all aspects of the game take turns to complete. With Ramses II and Catherine the Great the Civilization V thus far is using the same technology tree. Technologies, like in history, are ways that empires can advance themselves and rise above others. The quicker a branch of the technology tree is completed the better. Each technology that is unlocked provides for a civilization new buildings, units or other advancements. Like in history technology is an evolutionary process and not all things come at once in the game. As noted many times throughout the semester there are different eras in Civilization V each encompassing their own respective technology.

                   The Ancient Era provides the civilization with agriculture, animal husbandry, archery, bronze working, calendar, masonry, mining, pottery, sailing, the wheel, trapping and writing.

                  The Classical Era provides construction, horseback riding, iron working, mathematics, optics and philosophy.

   

                   The Medieval Era provides chivalry, civil service, compass, currency, education, engineering, machinery, metal casting, physics, steel, and theology.

                  The next era, The Renaissance Era was the last era that I achieved with Ramses II. The Renaissance Era provides acoustics, archaeology, astronomy, banking, chemistry, economics, fertilizer, gunpowder, metallurgy, military science, navigation, printing press, rifling and scientific theory. I was in the process of researching archaeology, which didn't really do me any good in the game but its what I plan to do as a career, when I was destroyed.

                  I did not make it to the next era in the game which is the Industrial Era. The Industrial Era provides biology, combustion, dynamite, electricity, flight, radio, railroad, refrigeration, replaceable parts, steam power and the telegraph.

                 The Modern Era provides advanced ballistics, atomic theory, computers, electronics, globalization, lasers, mass media, nuclear fusion, penicillin, plastics, radar, robotics, rocketry, satellites, and stealth.

                The Future Era provides future technology, nanotechnology, nuclear fusion and particle physics.


Civilization V like with many of the other themes we have covered in class lacks the cultural background for these technologies. It does however showcase some of the tools used for instance hoes and rakes in agriculture and catapults. Like real life Civilization V does not miraculously give away technologies the people in the  game must earn it be it through turns in the game or actual innovation. The order of said technologies given in the game might not run in concurrence with actual life but it does provide the gamer with some relation to history.

Artistic Endeavors

                  Artistic Endeavors such as art, music literature, theater and architecture play a large role in a civilization. Art can be used to display great victories in battle, record the building of a momentous palace, display the fashions of the day and much more. In my readings for class on November 12th, 2013 I read about the Japanese culture. Art for the Japanese, like in many other cultures, was used to display the peoples different myths and origin stories. Such as the Japanese Buddhist monks pilgrimage across the vast ocean riding upon a dragon. Visual expression of oral traditions is a value that artistic endeavors possess.


As mentioned previously artistic endeavors can be used to display important times/periods during a cultures history. For instance with the Japanese culture the use of the "Red Seal" ships. By 1952 the shogun Hideyoski licensed foreign traders ventures by Japanese ships, under the "Red Seal" This type of trade was abolished in the 1630s. This picture and others like it symbolize an important period in Japanese trade.




Art can show  cultural immersion and assimilation as well. The process of exchange of ideas and their influence on cultures across the world can be seen and heard through artistic means. Take for instance this image at the right. This image depicts global exchange of ideas in the 18th century. This piece of artwork depicts how three different cultures, Chinese, Japanese, and Dutch view each other and how they felt about the others technology. Spatial relation is used to show societal relationships. The Japanese man on the right is closest to the Dutch man while the Chinese man is more distant and closed off. The fact that the Dutch man's anatomy books is open showcases a respect and admiration for the Dutch cultures prowess in that field.


On page 800 in the text book there is a print that is part of the "Famous Places on Tokaido: A Record of the Process of Reform." that depicts the Tokyo-Yokohama railway line built in 1872. Artistic Endeavors can also be a remembrance of famous places that are in Japan and the important historical factors that played a part. In 1868 the Meiji Restoration opened Japan to foreign trade and ideas and by 1872 the railway depicted in the print was built with the help of foreign engineers something that would not have been possible without the Meiji Restoration.

Culture can be spread through artistic endeavors as well. Take for instance the image at the left. This image depicts a western woman in a traditional Japanese Kimono. The fashion for Japanese art and taste in the late nineteenth century West extended to women's clothing. Paintings of Westerners in Japanese kimonos like this image on left and on page 840 in the text books demonstrate the fashionable appeal of Japan. Iconic images are typically found in the background of these paintings including Mount Fuji in the text book image.






Artistic endeavors can harm a civilization too. Controversial artwork can hinder a country acceptance and images such as the swastika and the dioramas that we read about for class can reveal a part of a civilizations past that they don't want people to know about or wish would be forgotten. Art in its purest form makes people think more deeply then they sometimes would like to really see the world for what it is.

In the prompt for this blog post we are asked to answer "What role does, "culture", broadly defined, play in the game?" I would have to say that culture does have a large role in the game but that it is somewhat hidden. If you have not learned about these cultures in class and the history behind the way they built their civilization I would feel that you might be lost in the game at times. The back and forth between trusting and not trusting a certain civilization could have a lot to do with how that civilization acted historically. I did not know much about Japanese history but learned in class by Tiffany telling that the female Japanese leader should not be trusted. Historically she was a ruthless ruler and this is helpful to know in the game in which she displays that she is ruthless.

It's the Final Countdown

I felt it necessary to put it on here that my Civilization V game in which I was playing as Ramses II is over. My capital city was taken over by the Iroquois. I am continuing my game play though with Catherine of Russia. I decided to change up my game play and pick a drastically different civilization and one in which a woman leads. I will be making blog posts in regards to both Ramses II and Catherine for the remainder of the class.

Society and It's Categories

Ancient Egyptian Workers

             Society and categories comes out first thing in the game when you decide what "type" or category of citizens to produce. Categories of people include; workers, crossbowmen, pikemen, settlers, musketman, longswordsman and scouts. All of these categories have their own role to play within society. For instance workers can't fight an enemy, attack an invading army, or settle a city but they can plow a field or clear a marsh.

            Each of the classes of citizens can be distinguished by what they wear as well. Workers for instance wear a simple white tunic with a rope belt. Warriors on the other hand are clad in battle attire with helmets, chest-plates, dark pants? and shoes.

Egyptian Warriors

       
   My Civilization V game for the most part seems to only exhibit horizontal organization. I have not noticed any vertical organization, perhaps that is because I didn't get the package with the religious aspects added?

             In my Civilization V game I am playing as Ramses II and have seen no recollection of women actually being a part of the game play. I have only seen one woman and she is in the pop up window screen and acts as a diplomat. Race/ethnicity is prevalent when coming into contact with rival civilizations but within my own from what I can see of my characters the are all Caucasian. The game is this aspect does not accurately
represent Egyptian society. There are for instance for captive slaves, or indentured servants.

Egyptian Social Classes

Follow up on Economics and Networks Exchange with a dusting of Politics and Power

Temple of Abu Simbel

                       I felt that I should comment a bit further on the topic of Economics and Networks of Exchange before I moved onto the issue of Politics and Power. In Civilization V I had discovered that luxury goods play a large role for the Egyptian Empire. Like in our readings the Egyptian Empire controlled a large number of Asian Luxury goods including spices, porcelain, and dyes. Thus far in the game I have made my citizens and other city-states happy by connecting them with luxury resources like cinnamon, cotton, and various dyes. I find that my citizens get very well temperamental when it comes to what they want. It can be hard to find these resources for my people. The most recent luxury good that my citizens want are whales????? What okay I will work on that people. I have not to my knowledge participated in any caravans but I have set up a number of trading posts which has opened up my trading to various other civilizations playing the game. I am yet to fully understand the overreaching consequences of the trading posts but I look forward to seeing what they bring to the game.
     

Now onto Politics and Power!!!!!

Hieroglyphics of the Battle of Kadesh 

                    Politics play a large role in the Civilization V game. You can’t turn a corner in a game without running into a rival civilization. Walls spring up everywhere, including in my own civilization.

                     Diplomacy has been a key player in my civilization since the start of the game. It started out as being able to pass through others lands peacefully and then evolved into trade alliances with the Iroquois and Ottoman Empires. The more tiles that I started to buy the more I angered my diplomatic friends. The Ottoman Empire in particular accused me of being greedy and that my greedy ways would hurt me in the future and then a few hours later they are congratulating me on a new acquisition. Like power and politics in today’s day and age it is extremely confusing in the game.

Papyrus of the Battle of Kadesh

                     In the game you have to be careful to amass your power in ways that will not anger allies yet at the same time allow you to make the most out of the resources you have at hand. I try to amass power through creating trading posts, being allies with a variety of people, and making my people happier than other civilizations (something at which I am currently failing at). Power struggles are represented in the game in skirmished with other civilizations, fortifications of cities, and controlling and creating the bigger and best things. Creating wonders is one of the fastest ways to gain political prowess. I think I have only created two wonders which could be a reason why I am dead last in a lot of the standings.

Ramses II charging Nubians

                     Last night in fact the Iroquois and Ottoman Empires waged war upon my civilization and I lost a large number of my units. I can see how being a part of my own world war hurt my resources, decimated my people and created unrest just like it did in the parties involved in WWI, WWII, Vietnam and other wars of today’s age. The Civilization V game represents human history power struggles in good way in my mind. It does however make it seem somewhat skewed because it puts civilizations that would have not been around at the same time at war with each other but I think that is just an aspect of the game to make it intriguing to games at large. 

            Politics and power are play one of the biggest roles in the game in my opinion. Of course the other themes are influential in power and politics as well. If a civilization does not have resources that others want, doesn't have a larger number of cities that are producing exponentially then the power that they hold is minimal. Economic, military, and cultural prowess all aide in making a civilization politically powerful.

This video gives some history on the Battle of Kadesh. 

I like these one's better but for some reason it would not show up when I tried to add the link to the video uploader. These videos use video technology to showcase this decisive battle in Egyptian history.Watch all three for a complete idea. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnQ_J29wegU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK-R5Nz7o5k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kz3DoCjmBMw