Call for Comments: Gaming an Empire | Vox Populorum
From Katya: Previously, we've have gaming episodes on direct violence in video games (I stab/shoot/punch/explode/magic the enemy.) This time we want to turn to another common theme in gaming: empire. Civilization VI Risk, Command and Conquer, Axis and Allies and other strategy games— analog and digital — allow players to command armies waging war, claiming/reclaiming territory, to, explicitly or implicitly, colonize the globe. Most emphasize martial power over political events (how big is your army and how good is your strategy, and the legitimacy of the player's crusade typically goes unquestioned.) Even in games where civilization building is less central the control of land is often of a theme of of video games. On previous episodes we've talked about the idea that games teach through interactive learning and procedural rhetoric. To recap briefly, playing a game requires learning a system of rules and procedures. These rules— and strategies developed in response to