Civilization, Mods, and Historical Counterfactuals However, it happened in an online forum, among members of a group of modders (video game players who alter game code) discussing a new model for science and technology in the game Civilization. This discussion could have occurred in any university classroom. As the group grapples with definitions of science and technology, another citizen suggests that medicine should be understood broadly to include non-Western health practices. Another posits separate processes for technological development and scientific development. One citizen proposes that the history of scientific thought suggests that technological and scientific development provides the context for individual discoveries. Keywords: civil consensus building, Civilization, discourse analysis, discursive practices, historical authenticity, historical models, historical thinking, history, history of science, modding, possibility spaces, public understanding of science, simulations, strategy gamesĪ group of citizens convenes to discuss the relationship between technical and scientific knowledge and the role that knowledge plays in discovery and innovation. Game theorists, players, and scholars, as well as those interested in modeling the history, sociology, and philosophy of science, will be interested to see the ways in which Civilization III cultivates an audience of modders who spend their time reimagining how science and technology could work in the game. Community members value a form of historical authenticity, they prize subtlety and nuance in models for science in the game, and they communicate through civil consensus building. The study offers initial findings that Civilization modders value a variety of positive discursive practices for developing historical models. Through text analysis of modder discussion, this article explores the assumed values and tone of the community’s discourse.
This article explores the complex issues involved in interpreting a game through analysis of the ways modders (gamers who modify the game) have approached the history of science, technology, and knowledge embodied in the game.
Sid Meier’s Civilization has been promoted as an educational tool, used as a platform for building educational simulations, and maligned as promoting Eurocentrism, bioimperialism, and racial superiority. Unofficial copy of DOI: 10.1177/1046878110366277 published in Simulation & Gaming 2010 Copyright: Sage Publications Abstract
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