Sid Meiers Civilization III: Complete Fact Sheet
Developer: Firaxis Games Publisher: 2K Games Platforms: PC Release Date: October 2004 Sid Meiers Civilization III: Complete is the ultimate Civ III experience delivering the most up-to-date version of this award winning game, along with both of the expansion packs: Civ III: Play The World - the updated and enhanced multiplayer expansion pack and Civ III: Conquests offering great new Civs, Scenarios, and Features. Civilization III: Complete provides more ways to win, more ways to explore, more strategies to employ, and more exciting modes of play all on 3 CDs in one little boxnirvana! Sid Meier's Civilization III is an exciting journey through time where players are challenged to create their own version of history as they match wits against the worlds greatest leaders and build, expand and rule a world dominating civilization to stand the test of time. New Strategies for Victory New Combat Options: Finer Levels of Control for Enhanced War Making Capabilities Greatly Expanded Diplomacy: Conversational Interface and "Bargaining Table". New Trade System: Reflecting the Central Role it Played in Mankinds Development New Technologies, Wonders of the World, and Great People Expand the Scope of the Game New Concept of Culture Easier to Use Interface and Streamlined Management Screens: Better Control of Your Civilization Full Set of Scenario Editors: Unprecedented Customizability The World Is More Alive: New Innovative World Map Generator The Most Detailed and Beautiful Art, Animations and Sound Ever Found in the Genre New Strategies for Victory You can still achieve victory by winning the space race or through military prowess and now you can plan the expansion of your empire and ultimate victory through: Diplomatic finesse: Become Secretary General of the UN or a ruthless trade baron through shrewd diplomacy.
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Sid Meiers Civilization III: Complete Fact Sheet
Cultural domination: Elevate your Civilization's status by creating a Culture that is the envy of other Civilizations.
New Combat Options Provide Finer Levels of Control for Enhanced War Making Capabilities Leaders: When your military is victorious in battle, great leaders may emerge who can create and command armies. Armies: Collections of different military units that act as one, massive unit. Air Missions: Conduct multiple types of air missions including reconnaissance, interception, and strategic and precision bombing. Bombardment: Pound the enemy with long-range fire from artillery and battleships to reduce units and city walls to rubble. Conscription: Employ the draft changing citizens into militia units. Greatly Expanded Diplomacy with a Conversational Interface and "Bargaining Table". Bargaining Table: Players can mix and match an infinite array of deals involving money, resources, luxuries, alliances, workers, maps and paying tribute. New Trade System is Integral to the Game Reflecting the Central Role it Played in Mankinds Development Integrated Trade system: Resources are required for building certain units and researching certain technologies and luxuries are used to increase the happiness of your people. Securing them is a new and interesting challenge. Resources and Luxuries: Important resources and luxuries are concentrated in strategic areas of the world to create a realistic and contentious race for raw materials. Trade Routes: Luxuries and Resources are moved along trade routes (on land, sea and air) that may be vulnerable to enemy attack and diplomacy. Trade routes must be protected. New Technologies, Wonders of the World, and Great People Expand the Scope of the Game. New technologies: New techs can lead to existing and New Wonders. o Laser leads to Quantum Mechanics
The Arts: a new type of technology that players dont have to build, but they provide special benefits that lead to cultural wonders. o Music Theory leads to Great Cathedral o Free Artistry leads to Great Playhouse Small Wonders: These are minor wonders of the world that each civilization can build only one of: o Epic of Gilgamesh leaders more likely to emerge out of battles o Forbidden Palace allows two capital cities per civilization o Intelligence Service players can build spy units Great People: Important Historical figures emerge and convey special benefits o Great Scientists allow you to complete technologies immediately o Great Artists create works of art, contributing to your cultural score o Great Leaders form and lead armies or complete great projects New Concept of Culture Now players can dominate a game by developing their Civs Culture, which is the impact of their nation's philosophy and arts on the world. Culture is now critical to the success of your civilization and gives rise to: Expanding Cultural Boundaries: As a citys influence in the world grows, due to Libraries, Temples, Wonders of world, and so on, your borders expand, giving you control of more and more area. Resistance: during war citizens of captured cities with a high culture rating resist the new regime and may refuse to work. Assimilation: citizens of a Civ with a strong culture retain their original nationality until assimilated into the new nation. Nationalism: enables a civilization with a strong cultural rating to mobilize its population and conduct total war. Great Artists: strong cultures produce great artists capable of creating great works that enhance your cultural power. Easier to Use Interface and Streamlined Management Screens give you Better Control of Your Civilization The Main Screen is Easy to Use: The player interface is streamlined to emphasize the play area and to reduce clutter. New City Management Screen: The city screen is combined with the main map,

New Advisor System: Your six friendly advisors (Foreign, Domestic, Military, Science, Cultural, and Trade) have all the information you need to make critical decisions and give you the ability to assign tasks for all your cities at once. They also give advice and help to new players learn the game. Build Queues: Set up build queues for units, improvements, and technology, which allows for greater flexibility in managing your empire. Full Set of Scenario Editors Allows Unprecedented Customizability Includes AI settings and scenario rules modifications that allow for customization of: Rules: Easy editing screen allows you to alter the rules, edit unit capabilities, city improvements and Wonders, to make the game a completely different experience every time. Maps: Create unique maps on which to play Civilizations: Build your own civilizations and cultures The World Is More Alive New World Generator: A new world generation algorithm creates more realistic and tactically interesting maps. Barbarians are more realistic: They have names, encampments that can be found and eradicated, and disappear over time. The Most Detailed and Beautiful Art, Animations and Sound Ever Found in the Genre. Innovative new mapping system: Our new innovative tiling system with over 2,300 distinct tiles to create the land, coasts, seas, hills and mountains, brings you the most detailed and beautiful world ever found in a turn-based strategy game. Cool Units: Every one of the 80+ units, from the lowly warrior to the formidable Aegis Cruiser, is meticulously modeled and animated in 3D, with over 170 frames per unit. Animated 3-D historical leaders: Some of historys greatest leaders will smile with delight and frown with disgust at you during diplomatic interactions. The music changes over time: Our original scores will reflect the sensibilities and sounds of each historical era.
Sid Meiers Civilization III: Play the World Rise to meet new challenges as you battle eight new Civilizations and Leaders in the exciting expansion pack to the game that many consider the greatest of all time! With exciting new single and multiplayer features, Civilization III: Play the World pits you against the best Civilization players from all corners of the earth. With new online modes of play like "turnless" and others, the battle for the ultimate in bragging rights will be intense! Also included is a powerful Scenario Editor, giving you access to scenarios created by the thousands of members of the Civilization III: Play the World community. Play scenarios created by others, or build your own -- replayability is now truly limitless with the new benchmark in strategy gaming! Game Features Eight new Great Leaders including: Genghis Khan Temujin, King Hannibal, Queen Isabella and King Brennus will challenge your diplomatic and combat skills Eight new Civilizations: Each Civilization features new units for even more strategic depth Multiplayer: Face off against the best Civilization players worldwide with multiplayer scenarios like Elimination, Domination, Regicide and King of the Mountain Multiplayer Modes: Includes Turn-Based and Simultaneous game types and appearing for the first time in a Civilization game, a Turnless mode. Complete Game Editor and Scenario Support: Includes feudal Japan and World War II unit paks, and allows players to create scenarios from any time period. New Map and Terrain Features: including airfields, outposts, radar towers and new tile sets to customize your maps

Sid Meiers Civilization III: Conquests The second expansion pack to the highly successful Sid Meiers Civilization III, Conquests delivers nine professionally designed conquests that let Civ fans re-write history and build even more incredible empires. Conquests takes players on a provocative journey through the ages as they pursue victory in nine of the most famous adventures in history. The conquests include Mesopotamia, Rise of Rome, Fall of Rome, Middle Ages, Mesoamerica, Age of Discovery, Sengoku: Sword of the Shogun, Napoleonic Europe and World War II: Pacific Battle. The conquests include new victory conditions, Wonders of the World, terrain elements, resources, city improvements and governments, offering exciting variations in the quest to rule the world. Conquests also includes Play the World and features improved multiplayer support. Conquest Descriptions Mesopotamia Mesopotamia starts the player at the dawn of civilization, learning the basics for survival in the world. The Mesopotamia scenario features: 2 New Governments Tribal Council, and Oligarchy. 5 New Improvements Burial Mounds, Amphitheater, Alchemists Shop, and others. 1 New Resource - Stone Quarry 7 Playable Civs Medes, Phoenicians, Mycenae, Egypt, Hittites, Babylon, and Sumeria Unique Tech Tree- Built around basic survival and construction of Epic Wonders Wonder Victory Condition Game reaches its completion when all wonders have been constructed. Victory Points A scoring system that rewards for not only battle, but also for expanding, and empire building. Rise of Rome Guide the Legions of Rome and conquers the Mediterranean or if you are up for the challenge, lead Carthage and do what Hannibal could notTurn back approaching Roman juggernaut. Rise of Rome features: 3 New Governments - Tribal Council, Oligarchy and Imperialism.
Sid Meiers Civilization III: Complete Fact Sheet
2 New Improvements Infirmary, and church 2 New Resources Olive Oil, and Silver. 4 Playable Civs - Rome, Carthage, Macedon, and Persia; 4 AI only Civs Celts, Goths, Egypt, and Scythia. Unique Tech Tree Focuss around advancement of the Roman Legionnaires and militaristic progression. Domination Victory Condition Game is won when 20% of the Terrain and 50% of the population of the world is owned by a side. Locked War Peace between the Romans and Carthage is an option your people will not allow.
Fall of Rome Rome is divided and its grip on the Mediterranean is loosening. Take control of one of the raging barbarian tribes and tear down the empire. Fall of Rom features: 2 New Governments - Tribal Council and Imperialism 4 New Wonders St. Peters Basilica, Hagia Sophia, Scourge of God, and Justinians Leadership 2 New Resources Olive Oil and Silver 8 Playable Civs Celts, Anglo-Saxon, Franks, Huns, Ostrogoths, Sassanids, Vandals, and Visogoths; 2 AI only Civs Eastern and Western Rome. Unique Tech Tree Emphasizing barbaric offensive power and expansionistic strategy. Elimination Victory Condition Any Civ to lose 8 cities will be destroyed. Victory Points - A scoring system that rewards for not only battle, but also for expanding, and empire building. Middle Ages Lead your zealous followers on Holy Crusades to Jerusalem; Pillage the European Coastline with Longships filled with Berserkers; or Defend the Holy Land from invaders. The choice is yours. But beware of the devastation of the Black Plague. 5 New Improvements Port, Joust Arena, Manor, Monastery, and Mill 6 New Wonders Bayeux Tapestry, Magna Carta, Notre Dame and others. 3 New Resources Tar, Quarry and Wool 13 Playable Civs: o 4 Viking- Kievan Rus, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden ; o 4 Catholic Germany, France, England, and Burgundy ; o 4 Muslim Abbasids, Cordova, Turks and Fatimid Caliphate; o Byzantines ; o 5 AI only Civs Poland, Maglar, Bulgars, Castile and Celts

Unique Tech Tree A diversified tech tree which grants each of the 3 Civ types unique advantages. Domination Victory Condition Game is won when 25% of the Terrain and 25% of the population of the world is owned by a side. Victory Points A scoring system that rewards for not only battle, but also for expanding, and empire building Reverse Capture the Flag As a Catholic Civ earn extra victory points by transporting your Holy Relic to the city of Jerusalem. Mass Regicide Protect your 3 king units, because if they die, so does you civilization.
Mesoamerica Appease the gods in this savage scenario by conquering your enemies and sacrificing their people to the gods. 1 New Government Blood Cult 7 New Improvements Sacrificial Altar, Stela, Ball Court and others. 8 New Wonders Siphans Tomb, Temple of the Sun, Temple of the Moon and others. 7 New Resources Maize, Exotic Birds, Cacao Plant and others 3 Playable Civs Aztec, Maya, and Inca; 3 AI only Civs Moche, Olmecs, and Toltecs Unique Tech Tree Built around the bloody history of Central America. Enslavement - Enslave your enemies units as workers. Ritual Sacrifice Sacrifice your captured to appease the gods, intimidate your enemies and increase the culture value of your cities. Domination Victory Condition Game is won when 35% of the Terrain and 50% of the population of the world is owned by a side. Cultural Victory Condition Game is won when 1 city attains a cultural value of 2000 or when your entire civilization obtains a value of 7000 Age of Discovery The bountiful new world has been discovered across the ocean. Obtain its riches and for your civilization, but beware of the natives. 3 New Governments Catholic Monarchy, Protestant Monarchy, and Blood Cult 13 New Improvements Spice Factory, Tobacco Plantation, Sugar Plantation and others. 10 New Wonders Dias; Voyage, Luthers 95 Theses, Temple of Kukulcan and others 2 New Resources Silver and Tobacco
Sid Meiers Civilization III: Complete Fact Sheet
8 Playable Civs England, France, Aztec, Inca, Maya, Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain; 1 AI only Civ Iroquois Unique Tech Tree Built around colonization of a new world and control of its resources. Enslavement - As the Central American civilizations, enslave your enemies as workers. Ritual Sacrifice - As the Central American civilizations, sacrifice your captured to appease the gods, intimidate your enemies and increase the culture value of your cities. Capture the Treasure- As the European civilizations, colonize the rescources to produce treasure units. Return these units to you capital for gold and victory points. But beware of pirates! Victory Points A scoring system that rewards for not only battle, but also for expanding, and empire building Cultural Victory Condition Game is won when 1 city attains a cultural value of 4000 or when your entire civilization obtains a value of 20000

Sengoku - Sword of the Shogun The warring clans of Japan have emerged. Guild your clan strength and honor and unite Japan under 1 Shogun. 7 New Improvements Noh-Kyogen Theatre, Izumo Shrine, Fief Establishment and others. 3 New Wonders War Council, Trade Network, and Kabuki Theater. 2 New Resources Jade and Sake. 8 Playable Clans - Date, Mori, Uesugi, Hojo, Miyoshi, Oda, Imagawa, and Takeda ;10 AI only Clans Chosokabe, Ichijo, Matsunaga, Mogami, Otomo, Ryuzoji, Saito, Shimazu, Tokugawa, and Urakami Unique Tech Tree Focused on strategic military units and the arrival of Portuguese traders with gunpowder. Ninjas, Monks, Samurai and Shoguns. Whats not to like? Upgradeable King Have your shogun advance from a 2/2 unit to a 13/13 unit that can enslave enemy units to Samurai. Regicide- If your shogun is struck down in battle your nation will surely fall. Diplomacy Victory Condition - Have the other Clans back your shoguns might to obtain a Diplomatic Victory Domination Victory Condition Game is won when 35% of the Terrain and 35% of the population of the world is owned by a side.
Napoleonic Europe The General Napoleon has mustered his forces and is looking to unify Europe. Can you guide his hand or stop his forces? 1 New Improvement Public School. 7 Playable Civs - Prussia, Russia, France, Britain, Spain, Ottoman Empire, and Austria; 5 AI only Civs - Denmark, Kingdom of Naples, Sweden, Netherlands Unique Tech Tree Focuses around the emerging might of artillery and swift attacks of cavalry. Locked Alliances France and Denmark form the French Coalition while the British align with Naples the Netherlands and Portugal. Locked War The members of the French Coalition and the British Coalition will never accept peace from the other, only surrender. Domination Victory Condition Game is won when 40% of the Terrain and 40% of the population of the world is owned by a side. Victory Points A scoring system that rewards for not only battle, but also for expanding, and empire building War World II- Pacific Battle a day that will live in infamy. Japan has bombed Pearl Harbor, pulling the USA into the Second World War. Attempt to claim victory in the most epic naval war this world has ever seen 4 Playable Civs United States, Japan, China, and the Commonwealth ; 1 AI only Civ - Netherlands Unique Tech Tree Emphasizing the naval combat, air combat, fearless kamikaze, and the arrival of the A-Bomb. Locked Alliances The allied forces of China, the United States the Commonwealth and the Netherlands. Locked War- Allied forces will only accept surrender from the Japanese, not peace. Victory Points A scoring system that rewards for not only battle, but also for expanding, and empire building Domination Victory Condition Game is won when 66% of the Terrain and 46% of the population of the world is owned by a side.

Civilization III: Digital Game-Based Learning and Macrohistory Simulations
By Alex Burns (alex@disinfo.com). Australian Foresight Institute/Disinformation, July 2002.
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Introduction: Implications of a Gaming Phenomenon
Sid Meiers macrohistorical simulation Civilization III was the gaming event of 2001. The latest edition in a best-selling series, Civilization III received unanimously positive reviews from the gaming press. Meanwhile, the public was entranced by the gaming objective of guiding an historical civilizations evolution from 4000 B.C. to the contemporary era. Game designers Jeff Briggs and Soren Johnson had responded to criticisms of earlier editions (Friedman, 1998) by expanding game-play options. Gamers could now achieve victory by cultural, diplomatic, geopolitical and space-race means, rather than by brute military force. The graphic user interface had been revamped, rules deepened and the artificial intelligence engine (the true heart of the game) rendered more complex. Meier has been elevated in the process to the pantheon of auteur designers (Prensky, 2000: 132). Civilization IIIs success amplifies certain trajectories of our mediascape, evident since SimCity (1988) inaugurated the God game genre (Prensky, 2000: 139). Sonys Playstation 2 has replaced The New Yorker as the arbiter of the Gen-X/Millennials psyche (Seabrook, 2000). Alain and Frederic Le Diberder touted videogames as the tenth art (Poole, 2000: 25). Simulations are now regularly used in interactive education (Beer, 2000: 297-298) and business training (Prensky, 2000: 146), anticipating how corporations harness simulations to accelerate strategic innovation processes (Schrage, 1999). Hollywood films and DVD packaging feature twitchspeed aesthetics and non-linear narratives. Open-ended game-play provides a laboratory that enables participants to test the geopolitical shibboleths of the post-9/11 worldSamuel P. Huntingtons clash of civilizations hypothesis, Robert Kaplans fears of a coming anarchy, the Pacific Age and China Century scenariosand to surface their hidden presumptions. Simulations also help to distinguish between core operating policies versus espoused policies that guide organizational behaviour (Georgantzas and Acar, 1995: 234). These trajectories suggest that macrohistory and problem-oriented futures may infiltrate the public consciousness through the vector of digital media. This cultural diffusion can be differentiated by Richard Slaughters four-level model of futures research (Slaughter, 1999: 145-146). Underlying the success of simulation games (the pop layer) are the post-World War II legacy of cybernetics and systems sciences (Georgantzas and Acar, 1995:194-196), environmental crises and historical wild-cards (the problem-oriented layer) and the emergence of dynamical historiography (Abraham, 1994: 8; De Landa, 1998), cultural transformation theory (Eisler, 1987) and the post-positivist revolt (the critical/epistemological layers). In a promotional video, the production team emphasized how hours of immersive game-playing had honed Civilization III. How realistic is its depiction of cultural evolution and macrohistory? If cybernetics and systems sciences underpin knowledge capitalism, what does Civilization III suggest about their legacy? And is digital gamebased learning a viable tool for screenagers or just Internet-driven marketing hype?
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Method: World Domination. Eventually
I explored these questions during industry research and sixty hours of game-play. I tested various models, including Cultural Diffusion (Jared Diamond), the Dominator/Partnership paradigm (Riane Eisler), the Group Selection hypothesis (Howard Bloom), and civilization-driven Game Theory (Robert Wright) as explicit tactics and strategies. While subjective, these findings hopefully suggest the potential of combining pop tools with the depth of critical/epistemological frameworks. Insights may be applied by Firaxis and Infogrames Interactive developers for future updates, or by the growing network of gamers who create mods (Au, 2002; Prensky, 2000: 268), or new features and module scenarios, for other players. For decades Hollywood has engaged researchers and specialists to hone film depictions of historical events. Now its time for academics and cultural scholars to embrace gaming companies and co-develop the next generation of digital game-based simulations.

Historical Precursors: Computer Simulations, Cybernetics and Systems Sciences
Stephen Poole contended that the genesis of turn-based and real-time strategy games was the Egyptian game Mancala. Strategy games emerged when societies grew in complexity and needed the modelling of diplomacy and strategic warfare (Poole, 2000: 175). The post-World War II focus on nation-building and strategic planning influenced the growth of cybernetics and systems sciences as a technocratic tool. Notably, the RAND Institute and Herman Kahn extended planning techniques from predict-and-control planning to most-likely scenario modelling. (van der Heijden, 1996: 15). The first computer God game of the contemporary era was Hammurabi. a direct ancestor of Civilization. (Poole, 2000: 32). Computer simulations for astronautics training (Schwartz, 1991: 200), crisis management (van der Heijden, 1996: 221), geopolitics, and futures research by Jay Forrester (urban dynamics), Buckminster Fuller (world resources) and others became prominent in the late 1960s. Donella and Dennis Meadows Limits to Growth scenarios, published by the Club of Rome in 1973, brought computer simulations of the global problematique into the public arena. This knowledge base laid the groundwork for current initiatives including the World Game and the Spaceship Earth model. The SimCity and the Civilization series thus demonstrate the interconnectivity of our political, social, and economic world. (Rushkoff, 1994: 183). Their 1990s popularity mirrors the intimate closeness (Schwartz, 1991: 222) of global media and travel vectors (Beck & Cowan, 1996: 68). Yet the ideological contours of this interconnectivity agenda have been shaped by other models. Civilization draws upon Jean Piagets constructivist learning, based on discovery and experimenting with artefacts (Prensky, 2000: 162). The Civilization series avoids the role of diasporas, colonization and genocide in shaping cultural history, stresses scientific determinism, and upholds nation-states as the primary type of geopolitical organization (Friedman, 1998).
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The omniscient Deity-perspective of God games depersonalizes violence (Friedman, 1998) and the effects of idiosyncratic individual people (Diamond, 1997: 419) on the historical process. The epistemic roots of God games may be Norbert Wieners cybernetic model of information processing, Forresters systems thinking and artificial intelligence research. This Deity-perspective, especially in the Monte Cristo business simulations (Prensky, 2000: 220), anticipated Henry Mintzbergs criticism of strategic planning as a disconnected tool used for political control within organizations (Mintzberg, 1994). In God games, timing and resource control becomes crucial for success (Poole, 2000: 200). Military domination strategies in Civilization (1991) and Civilization II (1996) highlighted the conceptual influence of turn-based wargaming simulations. One futurist think-tank has warned about the growth of the Military-Nintendo Complex (Naisbitt, Naisbitt, and Philips, 1999). Its oft-cited genesis was when the US Defense Departments Advanced Research Projects Agency commissioned Atari in 1978 to build a version of Battlezone as a simulator for real tank drivers. (Poole, 2000: 219; Prensky, 2000: 300). Marine fire-teams have been trained using Marine Doom, a special adaptation of id Softwares Doom (Prenksy, 2000: 319). Tom Clancys Rogue Spear (2001) is the latest commercial off-the-shelf game to be adapted for training in urban counter-terrorist strategies and non-lethal weapons. Commercial gaming simulations focus on entertainment, whereas military simulations emphasize realism and engagement (Prensky, 2000: 213). Trainers differentiate between low-fidelity simulations that are simplified encounters and high-fidelity simulations that model realistic situations (Prensky, 2000: 214). Computer gaming simulations are increasingly found at the high-fidelity end of the spectrum (Poole, 2000: 41), while ex-defence staff are hired by commercial firms to create off-the-shelf games (Prensky, 2000: 298). Since 1996 the Department of Defenses Defense Modelling and Simulation Office has held joint military-civilian seminars to enhance cooperation between the defence and entertainment industries (Prensky, 2000: 315). The Military-Nintendo scenario, where techno-military thrills (Delgado, 1996) infect their host society through adaptive computer games, has already surpassed future shock to become future fact.

The Rise of World Systems and the Power of Counterfactuals
Computer scenarios and simulations reveal transformation rules and social interaction paths that were not previously thought of. (Georgantzas and Acar, 1995: 234). Simulations can draw on historical events and processes as hindsight (Schwartz, 1991: 168). When constructing a games narrative, programmers turn, like scenario planners, to driving forces, the forces that influence the outcome of events (Schwartz, 1991: 106) and detailing the contextual and transactional environments (van der Heijden, 1996: 6). Like scenarios, gaming is a story, a narrative that links historical and present events with hypothetical events taking place in the future. (van der Heijden, 1996: 213). What are Civilization IIIs roots in historical research? The world of Civilization III is indebted to William McNeills landmark book The Rise of the West (1963), which influenced a generation of historians. Unlike definitions of civilization as geographical space, cultural homogeneity or developmental stage (Fernandez-Armesto, 2000: 3-4), McNeill emphasized how
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social change was driven by the exchange of knowledge bases and new skill-sets between different groups (McNeill, 1990). But he later re-evaluated his definition: The book is flawed simply because it assumes that discernibly separate civilizations were the autonomous social entities whose interactions defined history on a global scale. (McNeill, 1990: 7-8). For Robert Wright, the problem was that we viewed unfolding civilizations through a zoom lens rather than long focus: As the centuries fly by, civilizations may come and go, but civilization flourishes, growing in scope and complexity. (Wright, 2000: 108). Wrights insight explains why God games remain an attractive genre: Time can be sped up or slowed down at will, and interactions of data over time can be readily visualised. (Poole, 2000: 48-49). The flexibility of this time-sense underpins our collective social imaging of possible, probable and preferable futures. And we also judge the prospects of a civilization by the confidence with which it builds for the future. (Fernandez-Armesto, 2000: 442). Its open-ended game-play and the abilities to play different civilizations against up to fifteen AI opponents, or more in CivNet (the on-line multiplayer version), redeems Civilization III from the narrow focus on the European Miracle (Wright, 2000: 156) and classical Judeo-Christian civilization (Clarke, 1969; Fernandez-Armesto, 2000: 89). The game becomes a tool for alternate scenarios and stimulating counterfactual thinking, the domain of Hollywood science fiction films and speculative novels. (Ferguson, 1997: 2-3). If used in a scenarios workshop, Civilization III becomes a brainstorming tool for the historical analysis of key variables (van der Heijden, 1996: 138, 189). Through customizing the games intelligence agents (which track resource flows, cultural evolution and population growth) and the Game Editor (which defines the simulation world), the player can experiment with different thinking styles, from conditionals and counterfactuals to theoretical speculations and predictive hypotheses (Bell, vol. 1, 1999: 179). The flexibility of Civilization IIIs environment counteracts the criticism of alternative scenariosthat there is no limit to the number which we can considerby becoming an intelligence augmentation tool that challenges prevailing thinking (Ferguson, 1997: 83). While geopolitical analysts currently emphasize the threat to Western culture of the Sinic and Islam civilizations (Huntington, 1996), Civilization IIIs world lies somewhere between Fernand Braudel and Immanuel Wallestein in suggesting that this scenario did not have to eventuate (Galtung and Inayatullah, 1997: 169). One recent science fiction novel (Robinson, 2002) depicts a world where Judeo-Christian Europe did not come to pass, but was surpassed by Sinic and Islam civilizations (Wright, 2000: 189). Games like Civilization III, like popular media and speculative fiction, may therefore have a role in mediating a critical barrier of the 21st century: our socially-constructed values and stereotypes of the Other.

The Birth of Dynamical Historiography
The ability of God games to manipulate time, stimulate counterfactual thinking and augment our multiple intelligences has occurred in the midst of a tectonic shift within historiography.
Alex Burns (alex@disinfo.com) Page 5 Copyright 2002 Alex Burns. For individual private educational & non-commercial use only. All other rights reserved.
The pre-World War II era was largely defined by Oswald Spenglers neobiological rise-fall and Arnold Toynbees comparative model (Fernandez-Armesto, 2000: 1011). During the Cold War, historiography became a battleground between rival theoristsnotably Samuel P. Huntington, Eric Hobsbawm and Fernand Braudelfor the hearts and minds of the populace. The term civilization became a propaganda weapon (Fernandez-Armesto, 2000: 2) that defined the economic system, class structure, division of labour and historical systems most favourable to its proponents. Lay explanations defined civilizations in terms of literacy or having reached the level of nation-states (Wright, 2000: 92, 93). The post-Cold War period has witnessed the rise-and-fall of postmodern cultural relativists, the emergence of critical realism, and at least five conflicting pop applications of historiography to current geopolitical problems. Socio-biology has prompted some scholars to define civilizations by their human adaptiveness to natural ecosystems and environmental contingencies (Fernandez-Armesto, 2000: 24-25). The most promising new school of historiography to emerge may be dynamical historiography. Niall Ferguson dubs this school chaostory: a chaotic approach to history. (Ferguson, 1997: 89). Ralph Abraham defines dynamical historiography as the application of dynamical systems concepts and models to history, and observes that social evolution is a dynamic process: cultures are born in profusion, develop variously, submit to selection processes, and die. (Abraham, 1994: 8). Manuel De Landa acknowledges the influence of Ilya Prigogine (thermodynamics) and Arthur Iberall (physics) on chaos historians (De Landa, 1997: 14-15; Eisler, 1987: 129). This new approach came into vogue with breakthroughs in abstract mathematical models, computer simulations, and evocative computer graphics (Abraham, 1994: 59). It may also be a bulwark against determinist theories of history, which become powerful when people believe in them and believe themselves to be in their grip. (Ferguson, 1997: 88). Dynamical historiography shifts from a linear to a nonlinear worldview, from equilibrium to non-equilibrium states, from leaders and nation-states to flows and vectors. Since the material world and human consciousness are influenced by nonlinear as well as linear laws, the stochastic effects of dynamical historiography renders the search for universal laws of history. futile. (Ferguson, 1997: 89; Wright, 2000: 196). Civilizations are redefined in the context of morphogenesis (the pattern-formation process of history) as a vibratory field (a group of oscillators) that evolves towards coherence, cooperation and self-resonance. (Abraham, 1994: 17). Chaos historians also acknowledge the complexity of different cognitive maps, cultural symbols and the vagueness of history. (Abraham, 1994: 21).

Dynamical Historiography, Macrohistory and Civilization III
Despite popular misunderstandings about chaos theory, dynamical historiography offers both futures studies and game designers a powerful tool to interrogate the social psychological, political, economic, social, or cultural implications (Bell, vol. 1, 1997: 182) of simulation worlds and scenarios. Embedding the design of games like Civilization III within a critical/epistemological framework can counteract the blind-spots and defects inherent in the world-building philosophy of many programmers, which model specific aspects of reality but caricature others (Poole,
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2000: 61). For Sohail Inayatullah, epistemological boundarieslanguages, structures, and practicesdefine the significant and the trivial, the negotiable and immutable, and the real. (Galtung and Inayatullah, 1997: 163). So how significant or trivial is Civilization III? While the God game perspective of Civilization III erases the mutant individual from history, its artificial intelligence engine can model when a single, often trivial change, has momentous consequences. (Ferguson, 1997: 12). This reflects geopolitical history: a single decision during Chinas Ming dynasty to pursue an isolationist policy changed the world systems trajectory and technological flows (Wright, 2000: 163-164; Fernandez-Armesto, 2000: 265). Another extremely useful epistemological lens to study Civilization III is macrohistory: the study of histories of social systems, along separate trajectories, in search of patterns. (Galtung and Inayatullah, 1997: 1). Its nomothetic focus (Galtung and Inayatullah, 1997: 2-3) counterpoints William McNeils influence. In principle the God game perspective that upholds societies over the individual (Galtung and Inayatullah, 1997: 175), time as the unit of analysis (Galtung and Inayatullah, 1997: 182), and the ability to study macro-processes across time-space (Galtung and Inayatullah, 1997: 167) should be a core competence of games like Civilization III. The reality is different. Civilization III does not overtly implement insights from macrohistory but by understanding the perspectives of individual macrohistorians, we can develop a useful critique of its game-play. The games model draws upon many historical precursors, including Adam Smiths progression from agricultural to exchange economies (Galtung and Inayatullah, 1997: 42-43), Auguste Comtes positivistic society (Galtung and Inayatullah, 1997: 57), Karl Marxs techno-economic superstructure (Galtung and Inayatullah, 1997: 62), Herbert Spencers social stages (Galtung and Inayatullah, 1997: 72-73), Vilfredo Paretos degeneration of elites (Galtung and Inayatullah, 1997: 80), the player as a Weberian charismatic leader (Galtung and Inayatullah, 1997: 87), and Oswald Spenglers cultural lifecycle (Galtung and Inayatullah, 1997: 100-101). Each perspective has its epistemological insights, biases and blind-spots. Therefore its unfortunate that Civilization IIIs AI engine does not draw on this macrohistorical knowledge base and key factors (Galtung and Inayatullah, 1997: 161) more effectively. Perhaps this is a sign that Meier and his design team are caught in the cultural transition from Prabhat Rainjan Sarkers vipra (intellectual) to vaeshya (capitalist) mode (Galtung and Inayatullah, 1997: 135). Spengler might have contended that games like Civilization III personified the stifling inwardness of declining civilization elites (Galtung and Inayatullah, 1997: 239). Often the player is forced into the grab-what-you-can mentality that Pitirim Sorokin warned against (Galtung and Inayatullah, 1997: 117). Economic cycles and political crises created the cultural homogeneity critiqued by Antonio Gramsci (Galtung and Inayatullah, 1997: 130). Yet this dynamic, which is closer to biological and cyclical models than linear ones, also captures Spenglers central insight that there are many cultures, each with their own patterns within a general overall patternbirth, growth, decay, and death. (Galtung and Inayatullah, 1997: 180). The players leadership skill influences subsequent next historical stages (Galtung and Inayatullah, 1997: 189).

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The macrohistorical strength of Civilization III is that its isomorphic viewpoint accidentally embodied a basic understanding of macrohistory as sociography (Galtung and Inayatullah, 1997: 225). The games macrohistorical simulation may stimulate game-players to critically reflect upon their individual microhistory and the emergent sociocultural mentalities of their historical era (Galtung and Inayatullah, 1997: 227). Johan Galtung and Sohail Inayatullahs in-depth summary of macrohistorians offers Civilizations designers an innovative way to develop immersive game-play in future editions.
Civilization III and Digital Game-Based Learning
While Peter Schwartz was creating a scenario about 21st century adolescents (Schwartz, 1991: 126), several trends were converging to create a market for digital game-based learning. Early epistemic roots included Seymour Paperts exploration of microworlds at MIT (Horton, 2000: 574-575), David Kolbs learning loop (van der Heijden, 1996: 37), and social psychology experiments (Prensky, 2000: 42). The late 1980s fascination with MTV editing (Prensky, 2000: 13) foreshadowed Generation Xs hypertext minds (Prensky, 2000: 44). Changes in the early 1990s business ecosystem, notably the growth of corporate universities (Prensky, 2000: 333), design for doing (Prensky, 2000: 59; Schrage, 1999), knowledge management (Beer, 2000: 103), collaborative action learning (Beer, 2000: 42, 165; Prensky, 2000: 20), and communities of experts (Beeer, 2000: 57; Prensky, 2000: 107) laid the groundwork for digital game-based learning models. Today such models are increasingly used as recruiting tools (Prensky, 2000: 337) and teaching strategic thinking (Prensky, 2000: 359). Digital game-based learning highlighted the truism that new knowledge develops at the fringes (Schwartz, 1991: 73). Researchers found that simulations were intrinsic games that linked internal goals and gameplay (Prensky, 2000: 164). They replicated cognitive models of learning and organizational behaviour (Beer, 2000: 75). Simulations taught players to assume multiple roles by breaking the rules and experiencing the consequences. (Horton, 2000: 572). They provided natural case-based learning opportunities that were not possible in centralized learning programs (Beer, 2000: 170). Companies have applied off-the-shelf games like Civilization III to training problems. Shell developed a Quake mod for off-shore drilling orientation (Prensky, 2000: 321). The Civilization series has potential in conveying how complex social systems generate negative feedback loops (Prensky, 2000: 135). Its AI engine and adviser system enabled replay and critique (Prensky, 2000: 219). The initial release of Civilization III adhered to the asynchronous model of turn-based games (Prensky, 2000: 168). Its options for self-customizing had expanded, enriching the potential for custom-based training (Horton, 2000: 569). Future implementation of a multiplayer Web-based version would enable Civilization III players to tap group learning in order to solve unstructured or undeveloped issues. (Beer, 2000: 73). This would involve a shift from an asynchronous to a synchronous/real-time model (Horton, 2000: 55; Prensky, 2000: 57). In the closing section I will examine four different cultural models that critique Civilization III and potentially extend its knowledge base.

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M1: Cultural Diffusion (Jared Diamond)
Jared Diamonds book Guns, Germs and Steel (1997) presents a model of cultural diffusion that encompasses four key factors as to why some civilizations became more historically than others. He summarizes these four factors as geographic differences in wild plants and animal species; how axis orientation affected cultural diffusion and migration (favouring east-west Eurasia over north-south America); how differences between continents affected diffusion; and how geographic differences influenced a civilizations area and total population size (Diamond, 1997: 406-407). For Diamond, food production was the core technology that made complex societies possible (Diamond, 1997: 286) and its systems evolved by foresight decisions and planning (Diamond, 1997: 107). Effective food production created time to develop societal innovations. Axis orientations affected the rate of spread of crops and livestock, and possibly also of writing, wheels, and other inventions (Diamond, 1997: 176), accelerating the growth of Eurasian civilizations over American and Oceanic ones. Intercontinental barriers were surpassed by writing. weapons, microbes, and centralized political organizations. (Diamond, 1997: 215-216). Civilizations that spanned large areas and entire continents had more flexibility to adapt and adopt new technologies. They were enabled to nourish themselves better and to outbreed, displace, conquer, or kill off societies resisting innovation. (Diamond, 1997: 154). Civilization III models Diamonds insights through various methods. Your nomadic settlers begin by exploring their surrounding environment and founding early citystates. The number of cities and their food production capacity becomes crucial for geopolitical stability, negotiating diplomatic treaties and for keeping the populace happy. Diamonds kleptocratic solutions to revolutions and uprisings, which include disarming the populace, redistributing tributes, creating a monopoly of force, and constructing a self-justifying ideology (Diamond, 1997: 277, 278) are embedded in the AI responses. Lastly, the opening options for defining world size, land mass, water coverage, climate, and temperature yields many different initial scenarios. These have been extended by player maps and mods. Diamonds spectrum of blueprint copying (Russias nuclear-bomb program) and ideas diffusion (Sumerian and Mexicans both invented writing) can be found in expanded diplomatic, espionage and trade options (Diamond, 1997: 224-225). He notes the Middle Ages technology flow was Islam to Europe and Chinas inventiveness (Diamond, 1997: 253). Applying Diamonds observations on the myth of the heroic mode of history (Diamond, 1997: 245) and why technologies are accepted or rejected (Diamond, 1997: 247-249) would make the R&D technology tree far more realistic. Diamonds insights could flesh out the contagion effect of plagues, the dangers of food shortages and espionage options for gaining other civilizations technologies. Perhaps computer simulations may also be an invaluable tool for developing predictive capabilities in historical sciences, which is most feasible on large spatial scales and over long times, when the unique features of millions of small-scale brief events become averaged out. (Diamond, 1997: 424).

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M2: The Dominator/Partnership Paradigm (Riane Eisler)
Riane Eislers book The Chalice & The Blade: Our History, Our Future (1987) was a watershed in feminist scholarship and cultural transformation theory. This approach is nonlinear, focusing on both systems maintenance and transformative change. it includes the full span of human history. (Galtung and Inayatullah, 141). Gender relations become the unit of study (Galtung and Inayatullah, 181, 216). Eisler distinguished between Partnership (gylanic) and Dominator (andocratic) paradigms (Abraham, 1994: 141), in which the former were defined by affiliation rather than by violence-based rankings. (Eisler, 1987: 151). Dominator societies included the samurai of medieval Japan, Hitlers Germany, the Masai of nineteenth-century East Africa, and Khomeinis Iran. (Galtung and Inayatullah, 142). Partnership societies are beginning to emerge in Scandinavian countries (Galtung and Inayatullah, 143). She sums up this difference in a powerful poetic image: The power to dominate and destroy through the sharp blade gradually supplants the view of power as the capacity to support and nurture life. (Eisler, 1987: 53). Eislers perspective, elaborated in subsequent books, is beyond the scope of my analysis here, so I will limit my discussion to several key contributions. Eisler and her colleagues, notably Ralph Abraham, counterbalance the global problematique with a revitalizing world mystique (Abraham, 1994: 69) influenced by the Minoan Crete civilization. She deploys chaos dynamics (Abraham, 1994: 60-61) and cultural transformation theory (Eisler, 1987: 162) to study how abstract ideas are replicated throughout society and evolve into sociopolitical movements (Eisler, 1987: 170). Her ontological holism (Eisler, 1987: 136) reinerprets the period spanning the demise of classical Rome to the Renaissance (Eisler, 1987: 129, 131) that morphs the Hindu yugas into catastrophe theory (Galtung and Inayatullah, 1997: 184). Lastly, Eisler emphasizes the adaptability of human consciousness (Eisler, 1987: 173) and that our survival depends upon cultural evolution (Eisler, 1987: 196; Abraham, 1994: 68). Each Civilization game begins in 4000 B.C., Ground Zero for the Dominator paradigm (Abraham, 1994: 141). While cultural, diplomacy and trade strategies have been strengthened in Civilization III, the AI engine usually prompts resource wars when city networks become a geographic meshwork, re-emphasizing the nation-state as a cultural unit (De Landa, 1997: 49-50, Eisler, 1987: 200). Moreover, by assimilating other cities by kulturkampf and warfare, players re-enact how early Partnership civilizations that were not simply wiped out were now also radically changed. (Eisler, 1987: 53). Civilization IIIs focus is on the shift from agrarian societies (Galtung and Inayatullah, 145) to the industrial era (Wright, 2000: 190, Galtung and Inayatullah, 147) and eighteenth-century Enlightenment, in which rational man and scientific doctrines fused to create mass killing and environmental crises (Eisler, 1987: 157, Wright, 2000: 217). Civilization III relies on the act of imagination to enact environments (Georgantzas and Acar, 1995: 58) through metagaming the AI engines rules and responses (Prensky, 2000: 120), and applying Giambattista Vicos insight that history was the manifestation of creative human activity. (Galtung and Inayatullah, 1997: 35). Yet from Eislers perspective Meiers game is a failure of imagination. Its scenarios narrow the range of historical probabilities into narrow outcomes (Ferguson, 1997: 85). Encroaching city-states often trigger new resource wars and thereby become

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essential for controlling unpredictability in the game (Eisler, 1987: 47) by replacing Partnership possibilities such as Frances troubadour period (Eisler, 1987: 139) with familiar Dominator models. The game re-idealizes aggression and conquest (Galtung and Inayatullah, 148). Its handling of modern killing technologies and cognitive maps of human actualization could be improved (Galtung and Inayatullah, 148). The leadership model could be too easily interpreted as promoting the totalitarian archetype of the strong leader (Eisler, 1987: 187) and humans as dice (Ferguson, 1997: 86). Ashis Nandy reminded us that all utopias need exits to avoid becoming dystopias (Galtung and Inayatullah, 190). Jose Oretga Y Gassets criticisms that macrohistorians evaluate periods and stages through ethnocentric prejudices is also relevant (Galtung and Inayatullah, 242). Eisler believes that our survival depends on what kinds of symbols and myths are to fill and guide our minds: prohuman or antihuman, gylanic or andocratic. (Eisler, 1987: 184). Her suggestions would take Civilization III beyond its war-gaming past and create a scenario survival tool.
M3: The Group Selection Hypothesis (Howard Bloom)
Howard Blooms book Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century (2000) applies paleopsychological insights and the Group Selection hypothesis (Bloom, 2000: 4-6) to cultural evolution and civilizational development. Bloom draws on several epistemological models including social construction (Bloom, 2000: 66), complex adaptive systems, and the global brain hypothesis examined by Peter Russell and Joel de Rosnay (Bloom, 2000: 3). This panoramic view parallels Pierre Teilhard de Chardins noogenesis (Galtung and Inayatullah, 1997: 109) and James Lovelocks Gaia hypothesis (Galtung and Inayatullah, 1997: 152). The core of this vast synthesis is a quintet of adaptive learning mechanisms (Bloom, 2000: 144) that shapes how groups and societies self-select. Conformity enforcers shape group identity and norms, level individuals and coherence against external adversities (Bloom, 2000: 42). Diversity generators embody different cognitive approaches and values systems (Bloom, 2000: 43). Inner judges provide an emotional feedback loop to the environment (Bloom, 2000: 43). Resource shifters reconfigure flows in response to challenges and group needs (Bloom, 2000: 42-43). Intergroup tournaments, ranging from competitive gambits to international wars, accelerate social innovation and collective intelligence for survival (Bloom: 2000, 43). Bloom offers many provocative examples in his synthesis of how collectives test ideas, create fundamentalisms and groupthink, and interface with natural ecosystems (Bloom, 2000: 220). The dynamic processes modelled by Civilization III have their roots in the evolving biological substrate. Cynobacterial colonies embodied the social power of the network effect (Bloom, 2000: 16). Plagues and wars tested Toynbees creative minority (Galtung and Inayatullah, 1997: 120) and hastened urbanization (Bloom, 2000: 116). Cambrian life-forms discovered imitative learning (Bloom, 2000: 31). Primate research into the Pumphouse Gang found social conformity that also propagated information effectively (Bloom, 2000: 52; Wright, 2000: 289). Finally, Bloom warned of a looming battle between new viruses and human societies for survival in the global meshwork (Bloom, 2000: 215). By modelling these insights, Civilization IIIs programmers would create a richer gaming experience.

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Since Civilization III begins with founding a city-state, Blooms insights into citiesas-systems are relevant, echoing the distinction between cities as meshworks and networks (De Landa, 1997: 30-33). Biological time recapitulates as elite and generational shifts (Galtung and Inayatullah, 186). Transformations from nomadic bands to city-states was a resource shift from generalist to specialist, and in Catal Hayuks example, increasing social stratification (Bloom, 2000: 107). Predatory nomads like the Mongols gave way to urban metropolises (Bloom, 2000: 117), foreshadowing Ibn Khalduns primitive-civilization cycle (Galtung and Inayatullah, 1997: 27-28, 192). Increasing social complexity also generated more uncertainty. Creative bickering between city-states, a core aspect of Meiers game, was honed by natural selection to generate cultural diversity (Bloom, 2000: 94). City-states expanded the scope of reciprocal bonds to create cohesive regional alliances (Bloom, 2000: 110). Conquest and assimilation were not zero-sum: they were also an information swap that spliced cultures into mosaics (Bloom, 2000: 119). Blooms study of Sparta (a land-rooted military society. [that] faced resolutely inward) and Athens (a seagoing trading empire. [that] faced without without) highlighted how different choices shaped collective futures (Bloom, 2000: 135). Sparta explored tribal cohesion and wealth by force (Bloom, 2000: 137) and social conformity. Athens embraced mentorship and complexity-generating subcultures (Bloom, 2000: 142). City-state culture imprinted strategies for dealing with uncertainty. The games isometric perspective, where the player controls numerous units. within a vast playing area (Poole, 2000: 135), shifted the players focus to group dynamics. Here Bloom has many provocative insights. Dominant humans form leadership hierarchies based on controlling attention structures (Bloom, 2000: 168). Prestigious cultures and social mannerisms are copied by others (Bloom, 2000: 170), which Civilization III integrates by its system of cultural iconography and victory (Poole, 2000: 48). More problematic is the games handling of group constriction and projection (Bloom, 2000: 194), resolving crises by finding external enemies and how inner judges create fear-driven fundamentalisms (Bloom, 2000: 197; Wright, 2000: 213). Meiers AI engine generates resource scarcities and revolutions (Poole, 2000: 119) but does not offer overtly authoritarian belief systems as options, except by controlling the geostrategic space and resource flows of others (Bloom, 2000: 204). While the games ability to manipulate natural processes and time-space (Poole, 2000: 49) makes integrating Blooms research worthwhile, the paleopsychologist would not overlook why such videogames are already extremely good at providing an exhilarating blast of the animal emotions. (Poole, 2000: 235).

M4: Civilization-driven Game Theory (Robert Wright)
Robert Wrights book NonZero: The Logic of Human Destiny (2000) provides an intriguing starting point for Civilization III game-players: they became tribal leaders due to their social status (Wright, 2000: 26) in a Big Man society (Wright, 2000: 79). For usually leaders are an expression of the forces at work in their own societies (Schwartz, 1991: 146). By casting the players this way, Meier echoed Toynbees perspective on pioneer leaders (Fernandez-Armesto, 2000: 11). Wright views cultural evolution through the prism of game theory (Wright, 2000: 296, 338), social complexity theory (Wright, 2000: 344-346) and positive feedback loops (Wright, 2000: 313) in which cultural evolution is intensified by non-zero-sum
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dynamics and information exchange. This may be the hidden link between macrohistorical patterns and risk management techniques (Wright, 2000: 31; Galtung and Inayatullah, 1997: 173). He discerned an historical trend, despite wars and revolutions, of evolving toward higher and higher levels of political organization. (Wright, 2000: 58) and evading the second law of themodynamics (Wright, 2000: 244). Wrights macrohistory found Spencerian analogies between societies and organisms (Wright, 2000: 102; Galtung and Inayatullah, 1997: 70-71) and memetic co-evolution as a self-feeding process (Wright, 2000: 283). He also acknowledged the influence of William McNeils narrative history (Wright, 2000: 118). There were many reasons for this persistent and universal evolutionary logic apart from Jared Diamonds model of cultural diffusion (Wright, 2000: 76, 145). The public works in Civilization III facilitated public interest by serving the publics welfare (Wright, 2000: 85). City-state wars often led to political unification (Wright, 2000: 110) and commercial trade routes (Wright, 2000: 117). The non-zero-sum evolution of city-states exemplified how people became embedded in larger and richer webs of interdependence. (Wright, 2000: 6). This tension, exemplified by the Hanseatic League, was between the urban, more liberal future and the rural, oppressive past. (Wright, 2000: 151). The growth of commerce then fuelled the spread of governance and national political institutions (Wright, 2000: 179). Governance shifted from centralized bureaucracies to decentralized meshworks (Wright, 2000: 247). The structural underpinnings of the Hanseatic League foreshadowed international meshworks such as the European Union and the late 1990s Asian currency crisis (Wright, 2000: 211). Civilization III has several telling flaws from Wrights perspective. Biological and cultural evolution is too complex for what-if games (Wright, 2000: 293). Meier focused too much on classical civilizations like the Greeks and Romans (Wright, 2000: 131). Like several macrohistorians, Meier made made the fatal mistake, in the eyes of cultural relativists, of ranking certain societies as higher than others (Wright, 2000: 14). The game randomly generated barbarians as non-player characters, however, Wright argues persuasively that they had indigenous cultures and technology transfers (Wright, 2000: 126). Although we evolved amidst social hierarchies we were also status-seeking (Wright, 2000: 83), and so not necessarily consensus-driven sheep. In a brilliant critique of totalitarian logic, Wright noted that direction plus purpose doesnt necessarily equal goodness. (Wright, 2000: 318). Yet Meier gets many processes right. While its technology tree remains deterministic, Civilization III does capture how new technologies changed the balance of power (Wright, 2000: 152-153) and information processing capabilities (Wright, 2000: 250). This becomes a battle between laggard and leading cultures (Wright, 2000: 172) for geostrategic supremacy. Macrohistorical processes are often indifferent to individual political leaders (Wright, 2000: 228). The new cultural and diplomatic modes of game-play in Civilization III enable players to experiment with tit for tat game theory strategies (Wright, 2000: 340-342) and develop an appreciation of actor logic (van der Heijden, 1996: 211). Perhaps the most fulfilling legacy of a multiplayer Civilization game is that its participants will have a greater understanding of the logics of a geopolitical system (Schwartz, 1991: 141). Player-built mods and promoting on-line communities, offer a potentially vast scope to use Civilization III to boot-strap the civilizational challenge for a mass audience (Slaughter, 2002).

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