A note from our dev team: gameplay reveal & more coming this August!

[Nikolai II]

Imma be honest, never even heard of this before. I imagine something like Mastodon or Telegram would come first, as more well-known Twitter alternatives. Assuming they intend to diversify at all.

It's pretty big here in Europe and I've seen a lot of Amerocans on there too.

 

[Leyrann]

It's pretty big here in Europe and I've seen a lot of Amerocans on there too.

I mean, I'm Dutch myself, never heard of it as I said.

Granted, I'm not the most active social media person, but I'd still expect that the bigger, the more I've heard of it, hence the platforms I mentioned.

 

[Krajzen]

Huh, somehow I didn't know Andrew Johnson is a scholar

"I am a widely-published cultural anthropologist who has held teaching positions in established universities nationally (Princeton University, Columbia University) as well as internationally (Yale-NUS College, Stockholm University). My academic work focuses on environmental disruption and new subjectivities in the Thai/Lao area.

In addition to two books (Mekong Dreaming, Duke University Press, 2020; and Ghosts of the New City, University of Hawaii Press, 2014), I have published over 30 pieces in outlets such as Cultural Anthropology, Harper's, and the Atlantic.

I have also served as the historian for the Civilization franchise of video games from Firaxis Games, the best-selling historical strategy games on the market. There, I sought to maintain the accuracy of how Firaxis depicts historical time periods and figures, as well as writing dialogue and advising the design team on historical matters - in particular, on non-Western history."


LAOS CIVILIZATION CONFIRMED

 

[CivLuvah]

I’ve only seen this thread because I was so distracted by the Olympics haha

But I think this is a good step forward in making contact with the more hardcore section of Civ players. Welcome!

 

[tedhebert]

Just got back from a short vacation, so just noticed this.

High Welcome, @FXS_Sar, great news for us that FXS has hired a CM to engage with us. You'll see, we might bark a little but we never bite , and more seriously, discussions over here are mostly civil and enlightening !

 

[Krajzen]

@FXS_Sar I just wanted to say that I really appreciate the work you do and I hope you remember that on some bad day (and everybody has bad days sometimes)

 

[Roman Citizen]

It's always good to see someone from Firaxis here, welcome.

 

[Quintillus]

Any chance of setting up a Bluesky account for those of us no longer on Twitter?

I can't answer for Firaxis, but since we'll likely be sharing most or all of the Firaxis updates on the main page, you may find our Civ VII RSS feed, at https://www.civfanatics.com/category/civilization-vii/feed/, to be a good option.

We also have a CivFanatics Mastodon, although it's sharing everything from the front page and isn't easily limitable to just Civ VII news like the RSS feed is.

I can say that it adds overhead syncing to multiple social media channels, so if Firaxis/CivFanatics/your favorite indie game shop sets up a Bluesky/Mastodon/etc. account and you want to support their use of an alternative to Twitter, you should follow them there even if you'd rather it be Bluesky/Mastodon/[insert additional Twitter competitor here].

 

[Andrew Johnson [FXS]]

Huh, somehow I didn't know Andrew Johnson is a scholar

Yep! I worked in academia (and still do, much of the year) as a professor before joining Firaxis; I got my PhD in 2010. I teach on Southeast Asia, religion, and environment and write on similar things (a quick google of "Andrew Alan Johnson" and "thailand" or "anthropology" should get hits, if you're interested). I do primary research (ethnography, and a little archival stuff), though Civ is more secondary research (reading what other people have written, not going out on-site). Though if Firaxis wants to pay to send me around the world they certainly are welcome to do so. Waiting for the day when I can just use my own work as quotes in-game.

 

[Krajzen]

Yep! I worked in academia (and still do, much of the year) as a professor before joining Firaxis; I got my PhD in 2010. I teach on Southeast Asia, religion, and environment and write on similar things (a quick google of "Andrew Alan Johnson" and "thailand" or "anthropology" should get hits, if you're interested). I do primary research (ethnography, and a little archival stuff), though Civ is more secondary research (reading what other people have written, not going out on-site). Though if Firaxis wants to pay to send me around the world they certainly are welcome to do so. Waiting for the day when I can just use my own work as quotes in-game.

Could you do some content one day (video or a blog post, interview etc) telling your story of cooperation with Firaxis, how has it felt to work on a Civ game game as a scholar, challenges you have faced, some observations on the clash between gameplay and historicity etc? I think a lot of people would find that very interesting.

Mad respect because if I had to work on a civ game as a trained social researcher I would lose my mind over things such as "all the ways we could model economic fundamentals of civilization, referencing like a billion different theories of history and anthropology" and "oh wait we can't do that anyway, we need to simplify all that to +1 green apple icon", not to mention fundamental ever present awareness of Civ games being based on the "idea of progress", essentialist cultures, Great Men and other questionable philosophies of history.

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

fundamental ever present awareness of Civ games being based on the "idea of progress", essentialist cultures, Great Men and other questionable philosophies of history.

To be honest, ALL philosophies of history are questionable. No matter how solid you think some theory or philosophy is, there is always someone ready to challenge it. Since I was last in a university classroom in the 1970s, I've seen every one of the ideas mentioned above debated, rejected, accepted, revised, and debated again.

- Which, I suspect, makes it easier for game design: pick what you can sell, or make into something that will sell, and don't worry about how many historians can dance on the head of a pin arguing for or against it.

 

[Andrew Johnson [FXS]]

Could you do some content one day (video or a blog post, interview etc) telling your story of cooperation with Firaxis, how has it felt to work on a Civ game game as a scholar, challenges you have faced, some observations on the clash between gameplay and historicity etc? I think a lot of people would find that very interesting.

Mad respect because if I had to work on a civ game as a trained social researcher I would lose my mind over things such as "all the ways we could model economic fundamentals of civilization, referencing like a billion different theories of history and anthropology" and "oh wait we can't do that anyway, we need to simplify all that to +1 green apple icon", not to mention fundamental ever present awareness of Civ games being based on the "idea of progress", essentialist cultures, Great Men and other questionable philosophies of history.

The announced panel at PAX West should have some of these topics! And likely more as time moves on (and there's more and more that I'm able to talk about).

There is a real split between the scale of academic research and something like Civ. Understanding the complexities of a simple process or moment in time, how a particular historical point is dependent upon vast historical precedent, the decisions not just of "great men" but of all the different people present, the development of ideas, economic structures, not to mention issues like drought or the price of silver half a world away. It is very difficult to model such a thing, and any simplification is going to remove a model from the realm of accuracy. But we can take stabs at accuracy, and make nods to real history.

One of the most fundamental differences is the availability of information. A ruler sits in a palace and perhaps gets reports a secondhand, delayed by a few days, and wonders. A civ player sees what is happening in the world at a glance. Indeed, uncertainty and impermanence is a key part of my academic writing - nations, cultures, even selves are all temporary suppositions open to question and challenge at any moment.

 

[Solver]

Very glad to see you back at Firaxis Andrew, but I'm sad I pretty much missed your research stay at the Stockholm University. Would have been great to grab a lunch over nerdy talk of SE Asia and Carthage.

 

[Mr. Shadows]

This thread just made my day Welcome to the forum! It's great to know Civ VII is close enough to start getting excited about.

 

[Timothy001]

Welcome @FXS_Sar. We all look forward to all the cool stuff Firaxis will reveal about CiVII.

 

[Andrew Johnson [FXS]]

Very glad to see you back at Firaxis Andrew, but I'm sad I pretty much missed your research stay at the Stockholm University. Would have been great to grab a lunch over nerdy talk of SE Asia and Carthage.

Stockholm is my permanent position - I have tenure there! See you in the winter, then!

 

[Takfloyd]

Waiting for the day when I can just use my own work as quotes in-game.

Please do! Though to be fair, I'd take anything over the sarcastic quotes of Civ VI that often felt like they belittled history rather than revering it. One of my big hopes for Civ VII is that it brings more historical grandeur back to the franchise - and I feel the teaser trailer definitely hints towards that direction already, so I'm hyped to see more.

 

[Nikolai II]

Stockholm is my permanent position - I have tenure there! See you in the winter, then!

Norway is so close Andrew. I am much better company, and if you doubt it we can meet up with Solver all three to compare!

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1820838159405433096

The show will feature world premieres and exclusive trailers from some incredible upcoming games as well as two deep dive interviews with
@FiraxisGames
, the team behind the upcoming installation from the iconic 4X strategy series
@CivGame

 

[pokiehl]

Stockholm is my permanent position - I have tenure there! See you in the winter, then!

I just want to say, what a cool, wonderful career you've achieved. Actually being a professional academic historian is impressive enough in and of itself—many with graduate history credentials cannot put food on the table using their degrees. But you've done just that and also added to the mix a historian position working for the most successful, beloved history-themed videogame franchise of all time. Definitely a top outcome for those of us who studied history!