If we take Civilization V at face value, the game argues that the foundation of new settlements, overpopulation, and the occupation of foreign cities are the primary causes of civil unrest. Modeling historical phenomena like cultural diffusion, civic dissent, and the spread of religion, all of which appear in Civilization V, entails making assumptions about the causes and effects of these phenomena. The methods by which history is writtenвЂ“вЂ“or codedвЂ“вЂ“are inherently ideological. Yet whether or not they intend to, games like Civilization constitute a form of what academics call historiographyвЂ“вЂ“the study of the writing of history. Historically speaking, this is, of course, bullshit. From this example, one might conclude that had Rome simply gone on the offensive, we might still be speaking Latin.

The вЂњFall of RomeвЂќ scenario vividly illustrates one of the many difficulties of making games that take history as their subject. If only the Romans had known that their crumbling empire could have been saved had they simply abused the terrible programming of their enemiesвЂ™ archers. Victory, unexpectedly, is most easily achieved by gathering what little forces remain and marching into barbarian lands. Historical wisdom does the player no good: abandoning RomeвЂ™s outer colonies in Spain, Gaul, and North Africa, prioritizing defensive structures, and defending at the few mountain passes of the southern Alps will only prolong an agonizing defeat. вЂњThe actual past is brittle, ever-dimming + and ever more problematic to access + reconstruct: in contrast, the virtual past is malleable, ever-brightening + ever more difficult to circumvent/expose as fraudulent.вЂќ вЂ“ David Mitchell, Cloud AtlasД«y common consensus, Civilization V вЂ™s вЂњFall of RomeвЂќ scenario is the most challenging of the twelve historical scenarios bundled with the gameвЂ™s complete edition.

Civ 5 fall of rome scenario