Do you learn history from Civ V?

S

SeriousThreat

Chieftain
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Hello, do you actually learn something from Civ V according to real history? Are you reading civilopedia's "Historical info" section?
There is superficial information about everything, but anyways it is good enough to get the big picture, isn't it?
Most of the time, I procrastinate on this, but I am reading about everything - units, technologies, social policies and so on from time to time, though I find it very interesting to learn about civs and leaders I am playing with. How about you?
 
Yes! Most of what I know about history outside of Japan and Europe is down to Civ. (It says something that the only areas of history I can hold a conversation about on CivFanatics are from Britain and Japan, and to a lesser extent Germany.
 
Very little from actual in game descriptions, but playing civ has encouraged me to read up on this stuff online. Most recently playing Indonesia I have been reading a lot about them. I wonder, does the AI prefer to pick Hinduism or Islam as their religion?

Aztecs, Mayans and Incans are my favorites in this regard though. I've spent hours and hours reading about their history, and civ sparked my interest.
 
Well, I learn about things/people I never normally would have looked up myself, because I was never aware of or interested in them, and then go on to read about them more comprehensively elsewhere, for example, Emperor Pedro II of Brazil. Now, Pedro II is very much a figure I admire, thanks to some background reading on his enormous sense of duty despite his somewhat troubled and isolated life, and it's not the first revelation about a historical character I've had. I think games in general that have historical content are massively important, and I know a lot of my passion for history comes from playing Age of Empires ages ago; it'd be nice to imagine others build up the same passion by playing Civ.
 
Loreise said:
I think games in general that have historical content are massively important, and I know a lot of my passion for history comes from playing Age of Empires ages ago; it'd be nice to imagine others build up the same passion by playing Civ.
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I agree! As odd as it may sounds, I credit a lot of the fact that I'm going for a history major to the fact that I played Age of Empires III.
More on topic, I have learned some things from Civ. Not so much as I learned by playing AoE III, but reading the Civilopedia has taught me a few things about some of the leaders (more those from earlier in history) and, like many of the other posters on this thread, has resulted in me "independently" researching a number of historical people/civilizations/events.
 
I really do hope that the answer is NO. It can be a good incentive for search and reading but not actual learning.
 
I got a new flash laptop a few months which I took it with me on a visit to my parents. I showed it to my mother with Civ5 running and she then spent the rest of the evening reading the entire civopedia!
 
StrideColossus said:
I got a new flash laptop a few months which I took it with me on a visit to my parents. I showed it to my mother with Civ5 running and she then spent the rest of the evening reading the entire civopedia!
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hehe, I like to read civilopedia too. I find it very useful. :)

and yes, I've learned something from Civ 5.
 
Civ5 is woefully disrespectful regarding historical truth, it was far better in previous Civs. I don`t read it any more in fear of becoming stupid. Quote most of it at school and you`ll come across like an idiot... which is a shame. Civ used to have educational credibility once as I actually learned from it in previous Civs. But that`s the way society, education and gaming has gone.

It`s best to ignore most of what Civ5 tells you about history. Seriously.
 
Socratatus said:
Civ5 is woefully disrespectful regarding historical truth, it was far better in previous Civs. I don`t read it any more in fear of becoming stupid. Quote most of it at school and you`ll come across like an idiot... which is a shame. Civ used to have educational credibility once as I actually learned from it in previous Civs. But that`s the way society, education and gaming has gone.

It`s best to ignore most of what Civ5 tells you about history. Seriously.
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The fact that you don't like civ5, should make you feel obligated to jump in every thread and try to derail it with some irrelevant nonsense comment.
 
Civ 1 was among my inspirations to study history. Now do I actually learn it from civ? Of course not. It's more inaccurate than Wikipedia. It was written by game devs with sales in mind, and they did a sloppy job on top of that.

it was far better in previous Civs
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Yeah right. Civ 4 couldn't even get the picture of Kremlin right. And named Roman unique unit after a not really military unit. Civ 3 used Joan of Arc as a leader, who was never a leader of France. Every civ was terrible from historical accuracy perspective, and Civ 5 is definitely not the worst of them. Although I admit Mohandas "Our words are backed by nuclear weapons" Gandhi was at least funny :)
 
Let's be real here: Reading Civilopedia is more than you would read otherwise about most of these civs. It may not be top quality info, but it's still pretty darn good and very interesting stuff
 
Not everything in CiV is history. The Giant Death Robot and XCOM Squad and the Space Elevator are definitely not a history, same goes for the Space Station (it goes to Alpha Centauri, a star, where the furthest we've ever went was the moon). These are future stuff
 
Civilization 3 was the game that sparked my interest in history, so I'd say yes.
My favourite part of history was when the might french army of Musketeers marched into the academies of Babylon, with the support of Mongolian Keshiks, of course... Little did they know who those Mongols would be fighting next!
 
Haha I'd say its certainly a good way to get interested in it, but I haven't learned a lot of actual facts through the games. As others said though its inspired many journeys to wikipedia and other resources to learn more.
Also some of the historical scenarios may teach some real-world history.
 
Civking5 said:
The fact that you don't like civ5, should make you feel obligated to jump in every thread and try to derail it with some irrelevant nonsense comment.
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Rubbish. I never said I don`t like it. I said I don`t like some important aspects of the game. It could be a lot better. Go back and read what I wrote before mis-quoting me.
 
Civking5 said:
The fact that you don't like civ5, should make you feel obligated to jump in every thread and try to derail it with some irrelevant nonsense comment.
Click to expand...

seancolorado said:
Let's be real here: Reading Civilopedia is more than you would read otherwise about most of these civs. It may not be top quality info, but it's still pretty darn good and very interesting stuff
Click to expand...



If you gentlemen mind a professionals opinion on the matter, Socratatus is spot on. Not only some entries are false and might be considered disrespectful, but others are a blatant bending of the truth and one can only speculate as to why. Not to say the least that the info Illustrated is hopelessly incomplete (but thats to be expected),and all things considered the rest of the series cant be considered a thesaurus of knowledge either. Use it as incentive to get you going and try to find some publications of esteemed professors and historians to read or read it for fun and never take it for the actual historical truth.
 
I learned that Shaka didn't use his impis very well in the past. I mean...they are so strong! With proper decision, he would have been the king of the world and we would everyone be the slave of his majesty, the actual king of ZuluLand. What a noob...

Wuddel said:
Civ is certainly the jumping off point for reading a lot in Wikipedia.
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Seriously, mainly this.
 
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