So, people here love to debate which civs should be in the game, which are better than which, which ones aren't even "civs", do I thought it would be interesting to see what people would pick given their own choice.
Say this what you'd like in Civ 5- for argument's sake, we'll have a 32 list civ, the first 16 representing the initial release, and then 8 more over two expansions. Offer notes or explanations, such as preferred leaders, if you wish.

1. Rome
2. Greece
3. Egypt
4. Persia
5. India
6. China
7. Japan
8. Babylonia
9. England
10. Gemany (representing all German speaking people)
11. France
12. Iberia (Spain and Portugal)
13. Russia
14. Aztecs
15. Mali
16. Arabia

17. Celts
18. Scandinavia
19. Turks
20. Iroquois
21. Khmer
22. Abyssinians
23. Inca
24. Carthaginians

25. Mongolia
26. Israel
27. Poland
28. Korea
29. Sumeria (with Sargon the Great, not Gilgamesh)
30. Zulu
31. Maya
32. Indonesia

Still possibly more Eurocentric than it could be, but that's sort of inevitable when I'm writing this from a western perspective.

There should only be one Civ and it should be the Humans.

But Humans are different, and certain groups will inevitably form to war and make peace and trade and bicker and survive.

Separate Iberia; Spain and Portugal civilization and governm,ent evolved differently and separately.

Poland is basically and extension of Germany

Add:
Phonecians in place of Poland

Separate Iberia; Spain and Portugal civilization and governm,ent evolved differently and separately.
But they are very similar, compared to the rest of the world- similar culture, similar religion, very similar languages, etc. Portugal is different than Spain, I'll give you that, but so are regions of Spain. Austria is different than Germany, Taiwan is different than China, but the similarities are far greater.
In the end, the Portugal/Spanish divide was due to political reasons, not cultural ones. Portugal never joined up with Castille and Aragon because it's rulers didn't want to, not because the Portugese people resisted.

You know, I was actually thinking about making this thread yesterday. Here's mine listed Alphabetically and grouped by continent.

Civ 5 Vanilla
1)America
2)Aztec
3)Inca
4)Sioux
5)England
6)France
7)Germany
8)Greece
9)Rome
10)Russia
11)Spain
12)Egypt
13)Zulu
14)Arabia
15)Babylonia
16)China
17)India
18)Japan
19)Mongolia
20)Persia


Civ 5: Strife & Turmoil
21)Grand Columbia
22)Mayans
23)Celts
24)Vikings
25)Carthage
26)Ethiopia
27)Korea
28)Ottomans

Civ 5: Discoveries
29)Iroquois
30)Byzantium
31)Dutch
32)Portugal
33)Mali
34)Siam
35)Sumer

I thought 35 civilizations would be enough.

EDIT: I did the math, and Civs per continent percentage goes as following:
Europe: 34%
Asia: 32% (rounds to 31% actually, but there was a percent missing & I had to put it somewhere)
The Americas: 20%
Africa: 14%

Why put in so many civs the average person never heard of.
Here is my list:

CIV 5
America
Aztecs
Inca
England
Spain
Portugal
France
Rome
Germany
Russia
Egypt
China
Japan
Babylon
India
Persia

Civ 5: Ancheint Battles
Sumeria
Pheonocians
Some Native North American Civ(Soiux or Iroquios)
Carthage
Arabia
Scandinavia
Korea
Maya

Civ 5: Modern Warfare
Canada
South Africa
Ottamans
Austrailia
Austria
Dutch
Modern Middle East(Iraq, Saudia Arabia, or Iran)
Brazil

The civs need to be countries that have had a major impact on the world.

The civs need to be countries that have had a major impact on the world.
But Canada? Not to be unfair to Canada or Australia, but historically, they weren't all that important, not in the grand scheme of things. Most of the important stuff they did- fighting in WW1 and 2, for example- was done under the control of the British Empire.

1. America
2. Aztecs
3. Babylon
4. China
5. Egypt
6. England
7. France
8. Germany
9. Greece
10. India
11. Japan
12. Mongols
13. Russia
14. Rome
15. Spain
16. Zululand

To make things more interesting, I shall divide the expansions so that the first one focuses on time before gunpowder and second on time after its advent.

17. Carthage
18. Celts
19. Incas
20. Iroquois
21. Mali
22. Mayas
23. Persia
24. Vikings

25. Austria
26. Korea
27. Netherlands
28. Ottomans
29. Poland
30. Portugal
31. Siam (Because I can't think up eight prominent enough late civs)
32. Sweden

And my list is fairly boring and, due to the nature of latter expansion, eurocentric. Trying to limit main game to have just 16 different civs is surprisingly difficult. I also know I'd get loads of bad rep for leaving Persia out of it.

Trying to limit main game to have just 16 different civs is surprisingly difficult.

I know, especially since Civ 4 started out with 18 civs and will have 34 once BTS is released.

Poland is basically and extension of Germany


Um, no. I've lived in Germany for three years and I can tell you that when Germany was powerful and can be considered as a Civ, Poland was not. Poland was more powerful before Prussia's rise to power-- mainly because Austria, Prussia and Russia conquered it when they became powerful.

Anyway, here's my list of civs (* denotes two leaders)...

1. Rome *
2. Greece *
3. Egypt *
4. England *
5. France *
6. Spain *
7. Germany *
8. America *
9. Japan *
10. China *
11. India *
12. Russia *
13. Turkey *
14. Maya
15. Inca
16. Zulu

Expansion 1: The Exploration Age
1. The Netherlands *
2. Portugal
3. Aztec
4. Scandinavia
5. Iroquois
6. Persia *
7. Arabia *
8. Mongolia

Expansion 2: Before the Gun
1. Babylon
2. Sumeria
3. Carthage *
4. Byzantium *
5. Sioux
6. Khmer
7. Mali
8. Korea

God, its really hard to limit it to 32 civs...

EDIT: I did the math, and the percentage works out as follows:
Europe: Percent of Civs: 31.3% Percent of Leaders: 36.0%
Middle East (includes Byzantium): Percent of Civs: 18.8% Percent of Leaders: 20.0%
The Rest of Asia: Percent of Civs: 15.6% Percent of Leaders: 14.0%
North and Mesoamerica: Percent of Civs: 15.6% Percent of Leaders: 12.0%
Africa: Percent of Civs: 12.6% Percent of Leaders: 12.0%
South America: Percent of Civs: 3.1% Percent of Leaders: 2.0%

USA
Russia
China
Britain (not england)
France
Germany
Rome
Greece
Japan
Incas
Aztecs
Egypt
Arabs
Persia
Zulus
Scandanavia

1. Aztec
2. Inca
3. Rome
4. Greece
5. Egypt
6. Spain
7. France
8. England
9. Germany
10. Russia
11. Persia
12. Arabia
13. China
14. Japan
15. Mongolia
16. Mali

-----

17. India
18. Zululand
19. Korea
20. Scandinavia
21. Babylon
22. Turkey
23. Maya
24. America

---

25. Carthage
26. Vietnam
27. Celts
28. Portugual
29. Dutch
30. Nubia
31. Tibet
32. Khmer

Britain (not england)

But Britain is only 300 years old, and even if you count the pre-Union dual monarchy it's only 404 years old. England, on the other hand, is almost 1200 years old as a nation, and even older as an abstract concept.
Still, I suppose that- as your list didn't have the Celts- "Britain" can also be seen to represent the Scots and Welsh. (I'd have added "Irish", but that's a touchy issue.)

But Canada? Not to be unfair to Canada or Australia, but historically, they weren't all that important, not in the grand scheme of things. Most of the important stuff they did- fighting in WW1 and 2, for example- was done under the control of the British Empire.

Canada was free in 1919 so they were a major part of WWII.
They joined the war 4 days after it started, so they were in the biggest war the world ever saw from begining to end unlike some countries.
They are a blend of two countries that hated each other for much of history.

Austrailia was free in 1941 so they were also a major part of WWII.
The Luner Landing was first seen in Australia.
Australia is a continent to its self.

Both have great economies.

Yes, Canada played an important role in WW2, and so did Australia-- but Italy also played an important role, and could represent not only the country but the powerful city-states of Italy beforehand. South Africa, however, didn't play much of an important role and was an oppressive place for a long time (the Zulus would be a better choice, IMO). Brazil didn't play a very important role either and may have a good economy now but there are more deserving civs (mongolia, southeast asia, etc.) Also, the modern middle east-- saudi arabia and arabia is worse the germany and HRE, and Iraq and Iran aren't exactly the most tolerable place for people of different religions or nationalities.

1. Rome
2. Greece
3. Egypt
4. Persia
5. India
6. China
7. Japan
8. Babylonia
9. England
10. Gemany
11. France
12. Mongolia
13. Russia
14. Azteca
15. Mali
16. Arabia

17. Spain
18. Inca
19. Ethiopia
20. Khmer
21. Netherlands
22. America
23. Maya
24. Sumeria

25. Portugal
26. Polynesia
27. Carthage
28. Scandinavia
29. Moche
30. Sumeria
31. Kongo
32. Celts

There should only be one Civ and it should be the Humans.

If only.... if only.

I don't understand why humans have such an obsession with finding differences and spliiting ourselves into smaller, and smaller groups. Bah, I hate this species! When spore launches, I'll make a far superior one!

[Edit] The Canada thing: We were a nation by then, but with lots and lots of ties to Britian. We were in from the beggining and had an important role in borth world wars (eg. Vimmy Ridge, Juno Beach). There's more than just war achievments, I mean Canada is a member of the G8 currently, ever heard of that guy Alexander Graham Bell? He invented iPods or something, but ya he was Canadian. I'd suggest you look up some of Tommy Douglas' achivments for some more tid-bits.

Yes, I'm biased since I'm Canadian :P But I would also be very happy with an Australian civ and a Poland civ. Two other places that I think are way to unrepresented.

Here is my list for Civ 6 when it is released in 2013:

1. China
2. India
3. Iran
4. North Korea
5. Costa Rica

First expansion:
6. California
7. Quebec
8. Guam

Second expansion:
9. Tasmania
10. Uzbekistan
11. Holland
12. Peru
13. United States (for one scenario)

^

Lawl.

A Qubec civ, wonderful idea.

Civ V: The Ancient World
1.Mesopatamia
2.Some Northern or Eastern Native American
3.Some Southwest Native American
4.Mayans
5.Aztecs
6.Zulu
7.Norsemen
8.Egyptians
9.Some Pacific Asian Civ
10.Persia
11.Italy/Rome
12.China
13.Greece
14.Carthage
15.Israelites
16.Japan

Exp. Pack: Life After Rome
17.Ottoman/Turkey
18.India
19.Some Slavs
20.Mongolia
21.Mali
22.Korea
23.Arabia
24.Inca

Exp. Pack: Haha We Finally Got to the Modern Mainstream Western Civs You Eurocentric Bastards!
25.Ireland/Celts
26.America
27.England
28.Spain/Latin America
29.France
30.Germany
31.Russia
32.Portugal/Brazil

Release: Greece, Rome, Egypt, Carthage, Persia, Aztec, Inca, Maya, Germany, France, England, United States, China, Japan, Mongol, Zulu

Expansion: Russia, Spain, Khmer, Babylonia, Byzantium, Ottoman, Indian, Celtic

Expansion: Sioux, Iroquois, Arabia, Sumer, Viking, Malinese, Phoenicians and a Scandanavian Civ (which, I don't know)

1. Rome
2. Egypt
3. Greek
4. Babylonians
5. Persians
6. Chinese
7. Japanese
8. Indian
9. Arabia
10. English
11. Ottoman
12. Russian
13. German
14. French
15. Aztec
16. American


17. Hittities
18. Inca
19. Spanish
20. Byzentium
21. Carthage
22. Malinese
23. Khmer
24. Celtic


25. Vikings
26. Dutch
27. Zulu
28. Korea
29. Assyrian
30. Mayan
31. Mongolian
32. Sumeria