The tech tree remains the roadmap to scientific and industrial advancement, but there is now more than one path to milestone discoveries. Many of the most significant additions to this version of Civilization involve customization. A true living legend of computer game design, Sid Meier invites strategists to conquer the world all over again, in this fourth edition in the influential Civilization series. “And I’m hoping a lot of people agree with me and will say so publicly.”ĢK announced Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Colonization, a standalone expansion to the hit strategy game Sid Meier’s Colonization IV, in early June.From humble beginnings as a prehistoric tribe of hunters and gatherers, to a far-flung future of extra-terrestrial colonization, players lead their people to dominate Earth and beyond in this era-spanning game of empire-building. “But I think personally they shouldn’t release it, if it’s at all what it appears to be based on the early marketing,” he continued. Such a game may not require players to own and abuse slaves, but defense of the Confederacy is by default a defense of slavery, he claimed.įritz said he’s not calling for a ban on the game, emphasizing that 2K has every right to release it for sale. “The obvious comparison that springs to my mind would be if somebody released a game called Civilization IV: Confederacy, in which players have to ‘lead a proud people to defend their values and traditions against their oppressive neighbors to the north,'” he said. He also decried the game’s inherent racism, which he said is one of the underlying principles behind every colonization effort in human history. Whether it was British rule in India or slavery in Africa or Aboriginal children kidnapped and taken to Christian schools in Australia or the dislocation of Native Americans in the U.S., there were no positive colonization experiences.” “Anybody with a shred of moral conscience who studies the history will be appalled. “Throughout history, colonization regularly involved stealing, killing, abuse, deceit, and the exploitation or decimation of native people,” he added. Quoting Newsweek journalist N’Gai Croal, who said the imagery in the trailer was “messed up,” Fritz said a game about colonization is 100 times more messed up. “But the idea that 2K and Firaxis and Sid Meier himself would make and release a game in the year 2008 that is not only about colonization, but celebrates it by having the player control the people doing the colonizing is truly mind boggling,” he continued.įritz compared the situation to the uproar surrounding a Resident Evil 5 promotional trailer which showed African zombies being cut down by the game’s white protagonist. “However, I dismissed it as a relic from a time when neither developers nor players took videogames seriously as media with moral implications.” Describing information he was given about the original Sid Meier’s Colonization, released in 1994, Fritz says at first he took it for a joke. “Goddammit, am I the only one who thinks it’s morally disturbing to make a game that celebrates COLONIZATION?” Fritz said in the article. The recently announced Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Colonization has raised some eyebrows at Variety’s Cut Scene blog, where writer Ben Fritz calls the game mind-boggling and “morally disturbing.”
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